>Introductory Yakking -
In any organisation, if the top does not lead, the whole organisation suffers. It is no different in the football world.
I am no ardent football fan who will stay awake at 3 am just to watch a match. To me, if I have nothing better to do on a weekend night, I’ll watch a BPL match. Otherwise, missing it won’t hurt. As such, I dare say I can comment the ManU-Rooney saga without being bias or skewed like a crazy foolball, I mean football, fan with emotions blocking rational judgement.
The Big Showdown -
So who’s bigger? Man United or the man who has been leading the strike force in Man Utd? I believe no one is indispensable. That should include the world’s best striker.
What I also believe is that the management should make decisions quickly and efficiently. Keeping the situation in a “KIV” mode won’t do the team any good. But that is what the management has decided to do, after calling an emergency meeting to address the Rooney issue. Football: No resolution to Rooney saga after crisis talks
Yep, Management has decided to do NOTHING (for now). Or is it that they are unsure as what they should do? Either way, that shows a weak and inefficient management team.
No one player is big enough to bring down a football club. But management being the leaders, can. Saw how bad financial management brought Portsmouth down? Saw how bad management nearly brought Liverpool down? It is written all over the wall. Man U isn’t too far off, are they?
It is quite obvious to everyone (especially Man U fans – poor blokes, but then they get no sympathy from me because they have always been arrogant when they were on top) that the Rooney issue is one big fat demoralizer on the team. If I were in charge, I would have truly “put the Rooney issue to bed” (yeah that’s what Ferguson said) by making a decision to sell Rooney off, and use that money to buy another striker – like Torres Fernandez, who appears to have his own problems at sinking Liverpool.
So why the heck is the management not able to make a decision to sell Rooney? Is it because they want to “punish” Rooney to keep him guessing if he would be sold? But that is suicidal. Keeping an unmotivated player with such a high pay and who doesn’t deliver goals – not to mention his depreciating value because his contract would end soon – does not make good financial sense.
Or does the lack of decision to dump the Rooney issue simply due to indecision, which means management is inept when it comes to handling crisis?
Financial Debts -
Putting the Rooney saga aside, management has its own problems. It has huge debts that just doesn’t seem to go away, no thanks to the high interest payments the Glazers have gotten themselves into. Even Ronaldo’s record sale of 80m pounds could not erase that huge debt. No doubt Rooney’s current value of 50m pounds won’t bring the club out of the red either.
In my opinion, management has to clear that debt first. It is because of that debt, Man U are not able to buy star players they were able to before the Glazers bought the club. That’s why players like Tevez left, allowing Man C to be the beneficiary.
But this is a chicken and egg situation. Man U now does not have the financial power to bring on big stars the way Chelsea or Man C can. That would mean less trophies and less revenue too. In the meantime, they need more revenue to clear their debts. So what is probably going to happen is that they have to settle for second stringers of strikers who won’t score as many goals as Tevez or Drogba – or even inconsistent Walcot. Second stringer strikers are not going to bring in as many trophies.
In the long run, if the club does not win trophies, the top strikers will move. When top strikers move, the ability to win trophies is affected. There you have the vicious cycle.
So where did Man U go wrong? -
I put the blame squarely on management. They should not have gotten themselves into huge debts in the first place. The immediate concern now is to clear those debts. As long as it is there, Man U won’t move because of financial constraints.
Rooney is just a pain in the a**, compared to the huge financial burden. The management should have just made a quick decision to sell him to offload his fat pay that is unjustified because the goals (which is what he is paid for) just ain’t coming.
By delaying to make a decision on Rooney, the management has clearly shown ineptness and lack of leadership qualities.
Sorry to disappoint Man U fans, but the stark reality of Man U’s problems is not Rooney. It is the management. Stop making Rooney a scapegoat to cover the ineptness of your club’s leaders.
Dare Man U fans lobby to get rid of their leaderless and rudderless management? Nope, they’ll just deny the obvious and keep scapegoating Rooney.
