[asiancigar]

Ferguson still swimming against the tide

"Once a blue, always a red," rings out the Old Trafford terrace anthem in tribute to Wayne Rooney. Or at least, it did. Rooney's clear engineering of a stand-off with Manchester United will likely have made him into just another greedy footballer in the eyes of his current club's supporters.

Few will warm to Rooney's seeming inability to admit to his own lack of both decorum and performance but the reasons given by sources close to him - for that, read his agent - for his disquiet would seem to point to the root cause of all of the club's problems. And all roads here would seem to lead to the Floridian mansion of one Malcolm Glazer.

Manchester United used to be known for their money, their ability to spend big and a healthy bank balance that allowed them to retain their stars and buy the best young prospects. It has taken five years but the full effects of Glazernomics are now being felt. Once in the black, now deeply in the red, it is thanks to the depths of resources that United once had that only now is true decline setting in. Ferguson faces the prospect of a tarnished legacy by presiding over it, yet allaying the fall of United for as long as he has may well be among the greatest of his many achievements.

Still reliant on a geriatric trio of Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Edwin van der Sar, United have lurched into mediocrity this season, with a series of draws reflective of a squad no longer capable of putting teams away, with defensive problems key to the slide.

It is said that Rooney, who carried the team for much of the 2009-10 season, is unimpressed by the quality of reinforcements brought in to support him. Javier Hernandez, Chris Smalling and the mysterious Bebe may equal 'value', the new Old Trafford watchword, but they are barely credible as players to enrich a squad well short of Chelsea last season and who exited the Champions League at the quarter-final stage.

Finalists in the Champions League in consecutive years just 18 months ago, United have weakened into also-rans, with Rooney now likely to follow Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez into the ex-players' lounge. Only the most hopeful United fan will hope for a superstar replacement in the light of the dealings of the last two summers. After all, Ronaldo and Tevez were replaced by Michael Owen, Gabriel Obertan and Antonio Valencia.

The secrecy of the Glazer regime does not help. What we know of them comes through financial reports and the picking through of their various deals. It is left to chief executive David Gill to proclaim that upwards of £700 million of debt is not a problem - to barely credulous reaction - and Ferguson to sully relations with fans by praising his paymasters while they themselves fund an ailing team.

Ferguson's intimation that he has been blindsided by Rooney and his agent further confirms that he is swimming against the tide, despite his claims that United can and will offer an unmatchable deal. Those pointed press conference remarks about United's gloriously decorated history were clearly aimed at Manchester City, a nouveau riche neighbour said to be the favoured suitor and now infinitely more powerful in financial terms.

Rooney's departure seems ever more certain, given he is clearly going to dislike further dirty linen being aired. We have been granted the rare sight of Ferguson opening the door on club business, but the helplessness of his words betray what looks a bleak future for Manchester United.