Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Wayne Rooney's agent loses appeal over 'muscling in' on striker

Stretford had appealed against a regulatory commission's sanctions imposed in July after seven of nine charges of breaching Fifa and FA regulations were found proved.

An independent appeal board announced that they had upheld the original punishment on Monday.

A statement said: "The board dismissed Mr Stretford's appeal in its entirety and the decisions of an independent regulatory commission in July 2008 were confirmed."

Stretford can still go to an arbitration panel to contest the findings and his ban will be suspended until he has made that decision.

In their findings, the appeal board said: "We are entirely satisfied that the overall penalty was not excessive and was well within the range open to a reasonable regulatory commission considering matters of this seriousness."

The commission had ruled Stretford, founder of Proactive Sports Management which became the Formation Group four years ago, "muscled in" to persuade Rooney to breach his representation contract with previous agents Pro-Form.

Other charges included improper conduct, in relation to Stretford's "making of false and/or misleading witness statements to police and giving false and/or misleading testimony to Warrington Crown Court" about the circumstances of how he came to represent Rooney.

After the hearing in July, Stretford labelled the verdicts "a travesty".

Stretford will only serve half of the suspension if he is not found to have broken further regulations.

He became Rooney's agent in September 2002, helping the striker transfer from Everton to Manchester United two years later.

The charges concern evidence Stretford provided to a court in October 2004 in which three men were accused of blackmailing him in 2003.

A judge threw out all charges against the men, while Stretford was found to have made false statements to the court and was declared an unreliable witness.

Stretford said during the trial that he signed Rooney in December 2002. However, documents showed he had signed him three months earlier when the player was still under contract to his original agent, Peter McIntosh.

The FA also found that Stretford had signed Rooney to an eight-year contract, exceeding the maximum limit of two years.

Two additional charges of failing to lodge representation contracts with the FA were also proven, though a third was not.(telegraph)

Sunday, November 30, 2008

rooney celebrates goals

rooney celebrates goals
4566223, originally uploaded by qq3807484587.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Alex Ferguson and Wayne Rooney pull the tiger cub’s tail ahead of Manchester derby

16.00 THE HEADLINES AT THE END OF THE DAY

Joe Kinnear was only supposed to be at Newcastle for a couple of matches. One touchline ban, a foul-mouthed rant at the fourth estate, an FA charge for insulting a referee, Mike Ashley’s inability to sell the club and two wins in eight games later and he’s earned himself a contract through till the summer. Good effort.

Read more here...

Despite not having played enough full internationals to qualify, someone at the Home Office obviously shares Sir Alex Ferguson’s high opinion of Serbian flier Zoran Tosic and has granted him a work permit. The Partizan Belgrade winger will join in January and is the long term replacement to Ryan Giggs.

Read more here...

Arsene Wenger admits Arsenal aren’t in the title race at the moment – but almost in the same breath said that if they beat Chelsea on Sunday then that all changes.

Read more here...

And Luiz Felipe Scolari has offered support to his opposite number this Sunday, claiming he is in the top five of managers currently working today. Much as he is in the top five of the Premier League, eh?

Read more here...

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15.25

Marseille can feel themselves a little unlucky, in a way. Whoever was in charge of the investigation has broken with Uefa convention and actually done something in a relatively timely fashion, meaning the French club have been charged in connection with some soft-minded hoon lobbing a lighter at Steven Gerrard – just two days ago!

Marseille will answer the case at a Dec 11 meeting of its control and disciplinary panel.

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15.00 THE HEADLINES THIS HOUR

There’s another Super Smashing Great Sunday heading your way this weekend and the main protagonists are obviously getting excited. How else to explain away the series of explosive press conferences we were treated to this afternoon?

Luiz Felipe Scolari has controversially branded Arsene Wenger a ‘friend’ and says his adversary’s teams play ‘beautiful’ football. Take that!

Wenger retorted with a withering assessment of the game as one that will be ‘difficult’ against a ‘good’ team’. Kerpow!

And in the north west, Mark Hughes dropped the bombshell that Manchester City will be capable of attracting some better players this January than they could have done just a few months ago. But then cheekily suggested making City a top team would ‘take time’. Have some of that!

Praise the lord then that loose-lipped mischief maker Joe Kinnear has been handed a contract at Newcastle till the end of the season. Someone get a disparaging newspaper article and a microphone in front of him, quick smart.

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14.00 THE HEADLINES THIS HOUR

There must be something in the London air today. Both Luiz Felipe Scolari and Arsene Wenger believe Arsenal are still in the title race, and don't mind telling anyone who'll listen. Though Wenger at least admitted that it requires his side to beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge this weekend.

Manchester United winger Ryan Giggs, 54, is to have the young lad to help around the place he increasingly needs now that the Home Office have rubber stamped the visa application of Serbian flier Zoran Tosic.

And Joe Kinnear will be terrorising lazy journalists a while longer yet. The interim Newcastle manager has been handed a contract that runs till the end of the season.

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13.00 THE HEADLINES THIS HOUR

Zoran Tosic – the Serbian Ryan Giggs by all accounts – said earlier this week that he knew nothing of Manchester United’s bid to sign him. But that hasn’t stopped the club successfully applying for a work permit for the Partizan Belgrade winger.

Referee-baiting pretend Newcastle United manager Joe Kinnear has been handed a proper contract at the club, at least until the end of the season anyway.

And Luiz Felipe Scolari rates Arsene Wenger as one of the top five managers in the world – looking at the Premier League table this morning the other four must be Rafael Benitez, Sir Alex Ferguson, Martin O’Neill and himself, eh?

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12.30

England goalkeeper David James is a tree-hugging liberal, literally. As part of National Tree Week, James will spend three hours with his arms wrapped round a great oak in Exeter on Monday, to promote environmental awareness. Either that or he has nothing better to do with his days off since he knocked the old PlayStation on the head.

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12.00 THE HEADLINES THIS HOUR

Potty-mouthed rabble-rouser Joe Kinnear has had his contract with Newcastle United extended until the end of the season because club owner Mike Ashley can’t find someone with the requisite money-to-sense ratio willing to buy the club and he is the best manager they can hope to attract. Or because his two wins in eight matches have convinced the Newcastle suits he knows what he’s doing, depending on your stand point.

Money can’t buy you love, or the respect of Sir Alex Ferguson and Wayne Rooney, it seems. Speaking ahead of the Manchester derby both men have dismissed Manchester City as nothing more than middle of the road patsies. No danger of that coming back to bite them, eh?

Agricultural route-one merchants Bolton are taking po-faced malcontent Nicolas Anelka to court over an image rights dispute. Really, they are.

And William Gallas isn’t content with bad mouthing his current team, now it’s Chelsea’s turn to feel the sharp end of the Frenchman’s overactive tongue.

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11.30

You will often hear it said that Sir Alex Ferguson is the master of the mind game. Indeed the phrase only entered football lexicon when the fiery Scotsman started messing with opposition managers in a process that reached it’s apex with the mental breakdown of Kevin Keegan during a famous post-match interview back in 1996.

Getting a rise out of Keegan is the psychological equivalent of stealing candy from a particularly slow witted baby. While it is asleep, and so Ferguson’s undisputed title in the field is perhaps a touch unwarranted.

Especially when he is busy going about setting himself up for a fall in this weekend’s Manchester derby. To be fair, Wayne Rooney started it, but Ferguson should know better than to follow the youngster's lead.

“Where are they at the moment?’’ inquired Ferguson of Mark Hughes’ 11th-placed City. “Excuse me! At this moment in time our threats are still Chelsea and Liverpool, who are sitting above us. Aren’t they? That’s the focus.’’

Rooney said earlier this week that he wasn’t bothered about all the noise coming out of Eastlands and was equally dismissive about the current City side. “If City were winning trophies, it would irritate me,’’ he said, “but while they are still lingering in mid-table, I am not really too bothered about it.’’

With United failing to get a point against their neighbours last season and City coming off the back of a fantastic result against Schalke in the Uefa Cup, someone really ought to tell Ferguson about what order pride and falls usually come in.

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William Gallas just doesn’t know when to quit does he? Fresh from undermining Arsenal’s (admittedly moribund) title chances with his warts and all expose of life in the Emirates dressing room, he has revisited a previous crime, when he agitated for a move away from Chelsea by threatening to score an own goal if picked. At least that was the version at the time. But history has been rewritten.

“They ignored the truth,” he said. “For them I was a player who would score an own-goal. Who cared if I’d given them five years of my life, my passion, a Premier League title to share.” When Jose Mourinho said he was still going to pick the Frenchman, he says now, his response was more considered. “You are going to put me on the pitch OK,” recalls Gallas of his reaction at the time. “But if the heart is not there and I’m not concentrating I risk making errors I’m not used to making.”

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Football continues to cripple itself under the weight of it’s own self-importance. Don’t believe me? Then consider this. Bolton have submitted a claim to the High Court over disputed image rights in relation to Nicolas Anelka’s time at the club.

Considering that Anelka’s moody mien would only have a chance of being used to sell bits of tat in the club shop once a year at Halloween, just what kind of figures can they be disputing? And after pocketing around £7 million in profit on the buying and selling of the player between 2006 and 2008 – a time when Anelka scored 21 goals for the club in 53 appearances – you’d have thought they would have sent him on his way with their best wishes.

Not so, apparently, and to the highest court in the land it is for them to squabble over a few shekels and the whys and wherefores of a few mugs and key rings with Anelka’s name on them.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Wayne Rooney kit

Wayne Rooney kit
Wayne Rooney, originally uploaded by ldnvinh_hunter.

Wayne Rooney

Wayne Rooney
Wayne Rooney 10, originally uploaded by Moosejaw!!! (big) michael.

USA v England Football

Manchester United Experience Macau

USA v England Football2

USA v England Football1

Wayne_Rooney

Wayne_Rooney
Wayne_Rooney, originally uploaded by jake02_nt.

Rooney inspires United

Rooney inspires United
Rooney inspires United, originally uploaded by jubeiz.

wayne rooney at his best

wayne rooney at his best
wayne rooney at his best, originally uploaded by Huzefa Juzar.

Wayne Rooney and team MU2

Wayne Rooney and team MU2
Rio Ferdinand & Wayne Rooney, originally uploaded by Katie Nelson.

Wayne Rooney and team MU 1

Wayne Rooney and team MU

wayne rooney and ronaldo

wayne rooney and ronaldo
wayneandcris, originally uploaded by capturean.

Old Trafford erupts

Old Trafford erupts
Old Trafford erupts, originally uploaded by seanog_72.

Wayne Rooney Red Devil

Wayne Rooney Red Devil
Wayne Rooney-Red Devil, originally uploaded by venustraphilic.

Wayne Rooney dirty cheat

Wayne Rooney dirty cheat
Wayne Rooney dirty cheat, originally uploaded by Claptonandy.

United

United
United, originally uploaded by Nicky Deez.

23rd Feb 08 Newc - Man U IX

23rd Feb 08 Newc - Man U IX
23rd Feb 08 Newc - Man U IX, originally uploaded by Hayrr.

Rooney & Nike T90 Laser II

Rooney & Nike T90 Laser II
Rooney & Nike T90 Laser II, originally uploaded by Ly Ning.

MU Away Kit

MU Away Kit
MU Away-Kit 0708 CL #10 Rooney, originally uploaded by dandiputra.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Wayne Rooney on course to rack up century when Manchester United visit Everton

Like Michael Owen, another who exploded into football while he was barely shaving, Wayne Rooney appears much older than he is.

In fact, he celebrates his 23rd birthday on Wednesday and it would be fitting were he to mark it with his 100th career goal on Saturday at the ground where he grew up.

"It would be special to do it at Everton," he said after a display in Tuesday's 3-0 victory that the Celtic manager, Gordon Strachan, described as "unplayable". "To do it at the club where I started; that would be really pleasing.

"It would be a sweet moment. It is a big game for Manchester United and myself because of my background at Everton. I scored my first ever goal there and I remember when I came into the Everton team, at the age of 16, Alan Stubbs told me to enjoy every moment because it goes a lot quicker than you think.

"Over the years I have realised he is right – the last six or seven years have flown by – so I want to enjoy every game and every season because before too long I'll be finishing."

The quality of his finishing is something that should strike fear into an Everton side who have not won at Goodison Park this season.

Should he score, Rooney will not receive the mass ovation Steven Gerrard, was granted when bringing up his century at Anfield last month. His leaving of Goodison four years ago was too bitter on both sides for there to be any pleasure from Merseyside's blue half.

His first senior goal, in October 2003, is still, however, etched into Everton's history – the long ball from Thomas Gravesen brought wonderfully under control by the teenager, the turn, the run and the shot past David Seaman and the commentator crying out: "Remember the name: Wayne Rooney."

It has been difficult to forget, although through his career his goals have come in waves. This present run with nine in seven matches for England and Manchester United is something of a tsunami.

He said: "I think I am starting to play a lot higher up the pitch and attack defenders a bit more than I did earlier in the season. I would hope I would get 20 goals this season.'' (telegraph)

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Wayne Rooney rediscovers his best form for England

Five goals in three games have announced Wayne Rooney’s return to international prominence. His performance against Belarus last night, and the build-up to it against Croatia and Kazakhstan, indicate that the Manchester United striker is ready to fulfil his potential with England.

His recent performances, particularly an outstanding display against Belarus, are among his best in an England shirt since he burst onto the international scene as a fresh-faced 17-year-old in 2003. He is no longer the impact player who ran rings around Turkey on his first England start or who threatened to single-handedly win Euro 2004 for England before being halted by a foot injury, but he is a more intelligent footballer.

He has probably lost a touch of that teenage energy since those optimistic days of his early England performances, and opposition defences are now acutely aware of the danger he poses. But he now works better as a team player rather than trying to take on the world by himself, and recent performances show that when his confidence is high and he is played in the right position he can still produce magical moments of football.

Rooney himself acknowledges his return to form. He said: “I think it’s probably the best I’ve ever played for England. I’m enjoying my football, getting on the ball and scoring and making goals.”

Fabio Capello and Emile Heskey have to take some of the credit for bringing the best out of Rooney once again. Capello’s decision to omit Michael Owen from recent squads is looking increasingly like a favour to Rooney rather than a slight to Owen. The pair have on occasion played well together - a friendly against Argentina in Switzerland and those Euro 2004 matches spring to mind - but this has not always been the case.

Rooney has been asked to play up-front by himself, which ended in disaster against Portugal in the 2006 World Cup, and with Peter Crouch. The Portsmouth giant may be a big man, but he is not the right sort of big man to bring the best out of Rooney. Crouch is Pele trapped inside a giraffe’s body. He wants to show off his skills and score spectacular goals (or at least attempt to). His aerial ability is not great for someone who is 6ft 7in tall.

Rooney needs to play alongside the stereotypical British centre-forward to be at his best. Someone who will lead the line, be a threat in the air and occupy defenders while he drops deep to work his magic. Rooney and Alan Shearer in his heyday would have been a formidable partnership. In Shearer’s absence, it is Heskey who is best suited to partner Rooney. Capello has not only recognised this, but also decided that it is worth sacrificing another goal-scoring striker in order to bring the best out of Rooney.

On the basis of last night, it is difficult to disagree with him.(soccerlens)

Friday, October 17, 2008

Wayne Rooney

Wayne Rooney
Wayne Rooney, originally uploaded by freshnaijaboi.

Wayne Rooney, Lodge Lane, Liverpool

Wayne Rooney at the Moss Rose

Wayne Rooney at the Moss Rose
Wayne Rooney at the Moss Rose, originally uploaded by ;-) SHAGGY.

Wayne Rooney

Wayne Rooney
Wayne Rooney, originally uploaded by joneseyboy.

Friday, August 15, 2008

Wayne Rooney ( 01 )

Wayne Rooney ( 01 )
Wayne Rooney ( 01 ), originally uploaded by wesley_wmh.

wayne_rooney

 wayne_rooney
wayne_rooney , originally uploaded by maimai1tinhyeu_8112.

wayne rooney 31st july moss rose vs macc town 022

Wayne Rooney

Wayne Rooney
Wayne Rooney, originally uploaded by imperianto.

Wayne Rooney

Wayne Rooney
Wayne Rooney, originally uploaded by ngoc_tram.

wayne rooney 31st july moss rose vs macc town 031

Wayne Rooney 01

Wayne Rooney 01
Wayne Rooney 01, originally uploaded by vu_manutd_4ever_1988.

wayne rooney 31st july moss rose vs macc town 052

23rd Feb 08 Newc - Man U VIII

23rd Feb 08 Newc - Man U VIII
23rd Feb 08 Newc - Man U VIII, originally uploaded by Hayrr.

Wayne Rooney

Wayne Rooney
Wayne Rooney, originally uploaded by darkknight_2301.

Wayne-Rooney-Wallpapers7

Wayne-Rooney-Wallpapers7
Wayne-Rooney-Wallpapers7, originally uploaded by tommyjason_97.

wayne rooney 31st july moss rose vs macc town 004

WAYNE ROONEY

WAYNE ROONEY
WAYNE ROONEY, originally uploaded by i.like.you.

Wayne-Rooney-Wallpaper-002

wayne_rooney_wallpapers_2

wayne_rooney_wallpapers_2
wayne_rooney_wallpapers_2, originally uploaded by phanngoctuonggl.

wayne rooney 31st july moss rose vs macc town 047

wayne rooney 31st july moss rose vs macc town 068

wayne-rooney-wallpaper-1[1]

Wayne Rooney

Wayne Rooney
Wayne Rooney, originally uploaded by aRieLLe212.

Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez

Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez
Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez, originally uploaded by Rooonaldo7.

wayne-rooney-england

wayne-rooney-england
wayne-rooney-england, originally uploaded by schandra888.

Wayne_Rooney

Wayne_Rooney
Wayne_Rooney, originally uploaded by changkhothuychung3011.

Wayne Rooney crying at the FA Cup final

Wayne-Rooney-Wallpapers

Wayne-Rooney-Wallpapers
Wayne-Rooney-Wallpapers, originally uploaded by tommyjason_97.

Wayne Rooney Manchester United earners_4