What a shame the Rooney saga didn’t go on longer

A good performance in Moscow was followed by a “workmanlike” show against Wolves — that just about sums up the Chelsea football of the past week.

The only other noteworthy thing associated with either game, other than the Zhirkov stunner at the Luzhniki, was the abuse for Stephen Hunt, which was unabated. Last time we played against him I sharpened my poison pen and poured forth my bile so I shan’t do it again. But we won’t forget Stephen.

The only story in town this week was Wayne Rooney — it was so entertaining and I just wish it had gone on for longer as the various characters lining up to make fools of themselves was seemingly unending.

First there was Alex Ferguson. His press conference was brilliant — the hurt, almost teary-eyed, betrayed, father-figure display was worthy of an Oscar.

Then there were the United fans giving their former hero dog’s abuse — “no one is bigger than the club”, “he’s a spent force anyway”, “a liar with what he said about the team”, “it’s just greed”, “never be welcome in Manchester again.”

The hooded Mancs all converging outside Rooney’s home was a bit Scouser-style but they just stopped short of burning his shirt in front of the TV cameras.

And what was the media on last week — reporting the end of United (and the world) as we know it, concluding that Rooney leaving was “proof” that Ferguson is not the manager he was and that he had lost ‘it’, whatever ‘it’ is. Press and TV hijacked anyone with even the most tenuous link to United for an ‘exclusive insight’, that was anything but; I even heard a psychologist interviewed about Rooney’s ‘possible’ state of mind.

Apparently Manchester City fans thought (again) that they were on the verge of football’s biggest coup. An Eastlands variation of the “once a blue, always a blue” t-shirt was flying off Manchester street corners. I’m sure they’ll make useful dusters along with the Kaka and Terry replica shirts.

The funniest contributions came from Spurs fans and Harry Redknapp. Harry talked about it seriously when a journalist asked him tongue-in-cheek whether Spurs were going to throw their hats into the ring. Spurs supporters besieged radio shows stating that they were the “natural choice” for Rooney. A “big club” (snigger) with a good chance of winning the league (guffaw) and a world class squad apparently (stop it now).

Rooney is not the first to exploit a threat to leave to extract an eye-watering salary increase (step forward JT) but the direct manner in which he questioned United was a slap in the face for a club that usually conducts its contract negotiations with discretion. Now this little sideshow is over we can return to proper matters of football and this weekend’s impending clash with dirty Blackburn could be a challenging return for the much-missed Frank Lampard. Despite the run of favourable results his absence has been felt and our conservative goal tally has been a direct result of his lay-off.

As sickening as the Arsenal win was, (another penalty and another opposition team reduced to 10 men) it has put a bit of space between ourselves and the immediate chasing pack and that distance needs to be maintained at Ewood Park before we visit Anfield in what could be a fascinating encounter on Sunday week. Heavy pitches and cold weather injuries may be just around the corner so it’s good to have a buffer.

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