WAYNE’S MOMENT OF TRUTH
By
Mickey Blue Eyes.

In the game’s current state Wayne Rooney’s Moment of Truth was bound to arrive sooner or later. In his case I suspect it has arrived a good deal earlier than he wanted. It may well have been absolutely the last thing he needed in the wake of last week’s tabloid newspaper disaster. At eighteen years of age, still a rookie, it is up to him to assert himself on the situation. It is a big ask.

The Moment of Truth revolves around whether or not his despised agent Paul Streftford really HAS asked the club for sight of the books and/or guarantees concerning the financial security of the proposals on offer to the youngster. If we believe this line, it jibs against all our natural instincts of fair play where Murdoch newspapers are concerned. We utterly loathe them with a purple passion that rightly increases each passing day. I hope it stays that way. So why should we believe them THIS time? What if Murdoch and his slimy collection of rat-bag journo employees are peddling their usual contemptible lies? Apart from cheap sensationalism and desperation to sell newspapers (for which they and their ilk are notorious) what have they to gain?

But maybe the answer is Streftford and ProActive have more to gain personally and they have paid someone in Murdoch’s employ to place the story? After all, what other source could there be? The likelihood of someone at the club doing it is surely small. Seemingly the last thing the club needs now is the sort of furore surrounding last week’s events because a going-of-separate-ways at this juncture must mean a transfer fee a lot less than later. Equally, I doubt very much whether it is Wayne himself, since, understandably, he probably doesn’t know one end of double-entry book-keeping from the next. No, the only ones to gain in this situation are Streftford and his repulsive company of “businessmen” and “entrepreneurs.” I just wish this collection of cunts would join their natural stable mates in Murdoch newspapers and get the fuck out of everyone’s life, Wayne’s included. If the story has no foundation then Stretford should immediately say so. If the newspaper is lying then Stretford can easily sue them since it is him they are making the allegations against.

Firstly, everyone knows the club’s finances are in a parlous state to match almost every other club in the game. The club itself keeps saying so. And anyway most of us can read a balance sheet and see where the dodgy items are, or read a Deloitte and Touche tract. You don’t need to be an accountant or have an MBA. But no club in its right mind would give way to an agent (ANY agent) request to look at the books. No player is bigger than any club and it will be a day of termination of my interest in professional football if that ever transpires. It wouldn’t matter if the agent represented Edson Arantes dos Nascimento at the top of his form. Once the contract is signed the club becomes liable to meet its obligations. And if they couldn’t, they are in breach and Wayne could move on probably to even greater earnings and recover unpaid money through the legal system. He would lose nothing.

I don’t believe the arguments are any more esoteric or straightforward than that. The truth is usually that basic. Who benefits?

Of course none of it is unexpected. It has merely arrived a lot earlier than most of us thought likely even given the corrupt nature of our right-wing media, which is virtually all of it. I suppose it was foolish of us to hope they would give him a little more time to grow up. After all, he hasn’t yet completed a full season as first choice. And that is where the biggest tragedy lies, what it is doing to the young man himself. You can’t help but note what a near-perfect reflection the whole farce is of our rotten-to-the-core right-wing national culture and its inevitable corruption of The Beautiful Game.

There really is a simple and straightforward resolution to what is happening. Wayne could make a personal statement disassociating himself from Murdoch newspapers, preferably with a rider that he won’t accept any offers of any kind from that source in the future, that he made a mistake through bad advice. He could reinforce it by signing the new deal on offer. Since five year contracts have no real affect on a future wish to move it won’t be a total commitment. Even if he ran its full course – unlikely as it is – he would, injuries notwithstanding, still be only twenty-three and presumably at the top of his form and earning power. He has his whole life before him and is in the position of making a winning choice almost whatever he does. But I suggest he does need to settle his conscience and clear the air for the fans. He still has that room to manoeuvre.

I have little doubt the young man is besieged by doubts and indecision. It wouldn’t surprise me if he was mightly bewildered too. After all, it is patently obvious all he wants to do is play football. After this experience is concluded one way or the other he will have completed his first Rite Of Passage, negotiation with the system. Probably it will draw his very first line in the sand. I hope he manages to understand the full meaning of personal choice. Nothing anybody tells him will affect him more than his own choice of action. Afterwards he will have to bear the consequences, “right” or “wrong.” It’s his life and nobody should seek to tell him otherwise.

I only wish he had picked better company than Paul Stretford and Rupert Murdoch. They can only lead him to corruption and dishonour.

Good luck, Wayne. You’re going to need it. (11/07/04)

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