| All is not lost for Wayne the celebrity Like David Beckham and George Best before him, Wayne Rooney must reconcile football's relationship with celebrityThe hardest-working person in the country at the moment must be Robbie Savage's agent. Closely followed by Savage himself, one might conclude, what with the necessity of showering quickly after Derby County games to take part in 606 phone-ins, a book just out, a newspaper column to pen and an attempt to set a new world record by popping up in every single punditry chair the television industry has to offer. Good luck with the Queen's award for industry, but it is still possible to suppose the agent is doing all the donkey work.Savage doesn't actually say much into any of his microphones, after all, including the ones that capture his thoughts for the printed page, and given his present ratio of ubiquity to insight it would not be difficult to imagine commissioning editors beginning to think that less might be more. So fair play to whoever is backing the Savage campaign for total media domination, banging on all the doors and making all the bookings. Only a cynic would suggest the need to grasp every available opportunity all at once betrays a suspicion that popularity may turn out to be short-lived.All these thoughts and some even less charitable ones occurred when ESPN brought together Savage and Kevin Keegan to discuss the Bolton Wanderers-Manchester United game with Ray Stubbs, and I must admit my first reaction was to reach for the remote. Yet perhaps ESPN knows something about chemistry that I don't, because the company appeared to bring the best out of Keegan.Normally a fairly neutral panel performer who usually manages to give the impression he would rather be doing something else, Keegan came up with an opinion on Wayne Rooney's tribulations that was not only forceful enough to make the following day's back pages but could end up marking a watershed in the United striker's career. (For the benefit of the half dozen or so people who don't know this already, Keegan said Rooney's confidence is shot, which is obvious, and that he could not turn off the celebrity tap when it suited him. Sell your wedding pictures to magazines, Keegan warned, and you put your family life into the public domain.)Perhaps it did not require Sherlock Holmes to make that connection, yet with a vivid awareness from his own playing days of the pressures a high-profile persona can bring, Keegan put his finger on an issue that will undoubtedly have been troubling Sir Alex Ferguson. Rooney is both a footballer and a celebrity, as most leading internationals are. But so was George Best, once, before the celebrity aspect of his life began to complicate his hitherto straightforward relationship with his core activity.David Beckham is arguably a bigger celebrity than he is a footballer at present, though it was not always so, and the transitional period began at Old Trafford, even if he was long gone by 2007, when Ferguson observed: "He is such a big celebrity now that football is only a small part of his life." And of course there was Cristiano Ronaldo, perhaps the best example of a mutually successful relationship between football and celebrity, unless you happened to be the club that wanted to hang on to him. Ronaldo outgrew United, and not many modern players can say that.Rooney is nothing like Ronaldo or Beckham, not even that much like Best, yet what the events of the last few weeks have shown is that he is not necessarily going to turn out like Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs or Gary Neville either. While it appeared in the first couple of years after his transfer from Everton that only injuries could possibly stop him from becoming the greatest footballer of his generation, now a few more complications have raised their head, and he is still only 24. That is not automatically a comfort to the club that first experienced problems with Best at the age of 25 and lost him completely when he was 27, though for purposes of comparison, Beckham was 23 when he returned in personal turmoil from the 1998 World Cup and received an arm round the shoulder from his manager. "Come back to Manchester and the people who love you," Ferguson said, while elsewhere in the country Beckham was experiencing hostility and abuse.The big difference between Beckham at 23 and Rooney at 24 is that the former had only put himself on the map a couple of years earlier, with his remarkable goal against Wimbledon embellishing his first full season. Beckham had been loaned to Preston North End as a relative unknown in 1994-95, the World Cup in France was his first, and in 1998 United's treble was still in the future. Rooney at just over a year older has played in two World Cups, lit up the European Championships in Portugal six years ago and won a Champions League medal at the age of 22. Like Best, who also won the European Cup at that age, he already seems to have a full career behind him, when in reality he could be looking at another 10 years at the top.There is no need to make gloomy forecasts about history repeating itself or Rooney being unable to recover from a dud World Cup and being upstaged by Dimitar Berbatov and then Michael Owen. All that has actually happened is that he has allowed other aspects of his life to interfere with his talent for playing football, discovering in the process that natural ability is not something that can be taken for granted. That doesn't happen to every footballer, even if United have seen off-field issues sideline careers before.Ferguson possibly never imagined it would happen to someone as uncomplicated and enthusiastic as Rooney but, as Keegan rightly pointed out, it just has. Nothing from here on can be as certain as it once was, and Rooney's entire career to date has been based on the certainty that he would make an exceptional footballer. What follows is terra incognita. Having worked out that Rooney was not going to play through his problems, much less be inspired by adversity, United were wise to give him some time to rest up and prepare.Wayne RooneyManchester UnitedPaul Wilsonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Valencia v Manchester United: match preview Follow match preview of the Champions League Group C match between Valencia and Manchester United at the Mestalla Stadium on Wednesday Sept 29 2010, kick-off 19.45 BST. telegraph.co.uk |
Glory insist Fowler will return Perth Glory skipper Jacob Burns says star recruit Robbie Fowler will return to the club next week. foxsports.com.au |
In full: statement from New England Sports Ventures and Liverpool • John W Henry: 'We are stewards for the club'• Martin Broughton: 'Comprehensively resolves club's debt'• All the latest takeover news on our live blog"New England Sports Ventures (NESV) today announces that it has completed the purchase of Liverpool Football Club. NESV wishes to extend its sincere gratitude to the board of Liverpool FC for their diligence and their efforts on behalf of the club and its supporters.The transaction values the club at £300m and eliminates all of the acquisition debt placed on LFC by its previous owners, reducing the Club's debt servicing obligations from £25m-£30m a year to £2m-£3m.New England Sports Ventures is committed to winning and currently owns a portfolio of companies, including the Boston Red Sox, New England Sports Network, Fenway Sports Group and Roush Fenway Racing."NESV principal owner John Henry said:"On behalf of the entire NESV partnership, I want to express how incredibly proud and humbled we are to be confirmed as the new owners of Liverpool FC. We regard our role as that of stewards for the club with a primary focus on returning the club to greatness on and off the field for the long-term. We are committed first and foremost to winning. We have a history of winning, and today we want LFC supporters to know that this approach is what we intend to bring to this great club."Liverpool FC chairman Martin Broughton, said:"I am delighted that we have been able to successfully conclude the sale process which has been thorough and extensive. The board decided to accept NESV's offer on the basis that it best met the criteria we set out originally for a new owner. NESV is buying Liverpool in order to put it on an excellent financial footing and continue to develop it internationally. This is a good deal which comprehensively resolves the pressing issue of the club's debt and should give staff, players and fans great confidence regarding the future of Liverpool FC."NESV chairman Thomas Werner said:"We recognise that Liverpool Football Club is an historic institution ultimately grounded in the community and the fans. Our first step as new owners will be to listen. We want to hear from the manager and the players and those who are part of the daily operation of the club. We will be visible at Anfield and will embrace and listen to those who have stood by this club and who are the rock on which its future success will be built. We want to hear from the fans, local leaders and the local community. We want to hear from those who know LFC best, who have made it the best and share our desire to return to a culture of winning."NESV is committed to creating a long-term, financially strong foundation for the club and dedicated to ensuring the club has the financial resources to be successful again and attract the best players. To that end, the transaction has been structured in such a way as to eliminate all of the acquisition debt on the club.In the coming days and months, NESV will work closely with the LFC executive team to listen and learn about every facet of the organisation. During this time, the new owners will begin to look at areas for greatest opportunity to increase the appeal of the club nationally and internationally. NESV wants to once again create a culture and environment to allow people to excel at the club on every front. During this period, NESV will also begin to examine opportunities to enhance the matchday experience in the short-term, while also carefully studying the various long-term options that may be possible.Mr Henry and Mr Werner added:"We are eager to commence with our plan, spend time with the organisation, its leadership, its supporters, and the local communities. We will take these steps alongside the club's executives with a shared objective of stabilising the club and ultimately returning Liverpool FC to its rightful place in English and European football, successful and competing for trophies."John W HenryLiverpoolguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Soccer invitations start pouring in for rescued Chile miners The freed Chilean miners are being flooded with invitations to visit leading European and Latin American soccer teams. Real Madrid president ... rssfeeds.usatoday.com |