ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE:ALEX FERGUSON has decided against airing any grievances with Wayne Rooney in public and instead turned his ire on an unusual subject, picking out the US surgeon who is credited with helping to save Owen Hargreaves's career and making it clear in no uncertain terms he did not welcome his "interference" about when the player returns to the team.
While Ferguson described the perceived disagreement between himself and Rooney as “water off a duck’s back”, the Manchester United manager was more forthcoming when the subject turned to Hargreaves’s chances of playing against West Bromwich Albion today, and specifically the fact Dr Richard Steadman had said in the week his patient “should play some part on Saturday”.
Steadman, operating in Vail, Colorado, has developed a reputation as one of the world’s most prominent knee surgeons, with his list of former clients including Ronaldo, Alan Shearer and Alessandro Del Piero. United also have good reason to be grateful for his expertise, with Steadman treating Michael Owen and Ruud van Nistelrooy in the past, but Ferguson was distinctly unimpressed with his remarks, particularly as Hargreaves has been unable to train this week with a calf problem.
“I pick the team and I have been doing that for a while,” Ferguson said. “Unfortunately we’re having some difficulties at the moment with the doctor in Colorado making inaccurate comments. It’s not fair to the player, to the fans and to ourselves to say he is going to be playing. It’s ridiculous. It’s a small interference that has caused a bit of confusion. But Owen is not available for West Brom. He’s injured and missed training for the last few days.”
Ferguson did not explain Rooney’s comments after England’s game against Montenegro when the striker contradicted him by making it clear he was not suffering from an ankle injury. Ferguson had stated several times in the past few weeks this was the reason Rooney was being left out of games but if the United manager felt undermined in any way, his policy when it comes to disagreements with players is to try to keep them in-house.
“The lad’s got a high profile and the press are always going to seek him out for an interview or a quote. But it’s water off a duck’s back, really. You’ve got to put that aside to know the real things that are happening at the club. It just runs off me. You don’t know where these stories come from, and it’s important how you handle it in my experience.”
Rooney has been left out of United’s league games at Everton and Sunderland, and the Champions League tie in Valencia, and it is a measure of his poor form that last season’s footballer of the year can no longer be regarded as a mandatory first-team pick.
Dimitar Berbatov has established himself so far this season as the club’s most important forward and Ferguson’s options have also been boosted by the return of Ryan Giggs from injury.
Guardian Service
