Sir Alex Ferguson implies agent is to blame for the Wayne Rooney saga

Posted Monday, October 25, 2010 by theguardian.com

Sir Alex Ferguson implies agent is to blame for the Wayne Rooney saga
Manchester United's manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, celebrates after victory over Stoke City.

Sir Alex Ferguson tonight launched a thinly veiled attack on Paul Stretford. The Manchester United manager implied that Wayne Rooney's agent, and not the player, had been responsible for last week's turbulent events at Old Trafford. Ferguson appeared to suggest that Stretford had made life "difficult" in the talks that eventually led to Rooney agreeing a new five-year contract with the club.

"It is always tough at United," Ferguson said. "There are always issues to deal with. When your top players come towards the end of their contracts you have to do something to get them a new one. They are all the same. You have to deal with agents of this world today, which is difficult. The players are no problem. There is no problem with players. Some agents are difficult."

Ferguson was speaking after United, without Rooney, beat Stoke City 2-1 with two Javier Hernández goals for a first Premier League away win of the season. The United manager urged his players to use the result as a springboard in their pursuit of Chelsea. "Hopefully we can now kick on," he said. "We have some important games between now and Christmas time and we have to make our mark in the league now."

United have made a habit of letting leads slip this season and Ferguson praised Hernández for ensuring that more points were not squandered after Tuncay Sanli had equalised late on. "When their goal went in you start to say to yourself, 'Is it going to be one of those seasons?' [But] Chicharito came up with the winner. He knows where the goal lies.

"The supporters' reaction was fantastic to the goal and our players' reaction was fantastic. It is the kind of goal Manchester United score over the years; a late goal met by incredible enthusiasm by the supporters. They knew that it was an important one."

United, however, should have been down to 10 men before half-time. Gary Neville had already been booked for a clumsy challenge on Matthew Etherington when he brought the winger down again, in the 42nd minute.

Neville admitted that he had been fortunate that Andre Marriner, the referee, had chosen not to show a second yellow card. "I was [lucky] really," he said. "I was disappointed with the first booking. I thought I got the ball, obviously the second [the referee's] been a bit easy on me, to be honest."

Ferguson, who replaced Neville with Wes Brown at the interval, has been infuriated with his defence at times this season but he had only praise for them here.

"You have to defend well because [Stoke City] get so many set pieces and throw-ins. We did defend well and if we can defend like that for the rest of the season we will be back to a real solid determination to deal with all these things and it will make some difference to us," he said.

A spokesman for Stretford's company, Triple S Sports and Entertainment Group Ltd, declined to comment on Ferguson's remarks.