Matt Dickinson in the Times:
As Ruud van Nistelrooy attempts to quantify the long-term significance of his omission from the Carling Cup final, he should know that the recriminations can last a lifetime. Jim Leighton was the most famous victim of Sir Alex Ferguson’s axe and there are signs that, almost 16 years on, he still cannot share the same dressing-room as his former manager.
It was in 1990 that Ferguson dropped Leighton from the FA Cup Final replay against Crystal Palace after an eccentric performance by the Manchester United goalkeeper in the initial 3-3 draw and a restaging of that match, at Selhurst Park on April 6, seemed a perfect opportunity to bury the hatchet.
It is all in a good cause, with the proceeds going to the leukaemia charities that helped to save the life of Geoff Thomas, the former Palace captain, but Leighton remains the only player yet to respond to the invitation. He has not spoken to Ferguson for years and perhaps the wounds are still raw. Linda Leighton was so upset with the demotion of her husband that, as the other families celebrated, she stuck two fingers up at Ferguson. "That stung," he said later.
There were no reports of anything similar from Mrs Van Nistelrooy on Sunday and, rather than Leighton, the more accurate comparison may be with Patrick Vieira. The Frenchman has described Van Nistelrooy as a cheat, a coward and a "son of a bitch" — go on, Patrick, say what you really think — but they may soon have much in common.
At 29, Vieira was tossed out of Highbury. The club had pleaded with their captain to stay in previous summers, but just when he must have thought that he would see out his career at Arsenal, they sold him, against his wishes, to Juventus. Van Nistelrooy is also 29 and a transfer free of about £15 million would probably seem about right for him, too. Like Vieira, his performances, while better than most, have reflected the staleness of a man who has been somewhere too long.
Axeings from finals are not to be taken lightly, as Ferguson knows, having been the victim of one in 1965 when he was omitted from Dunfermline Athletic’s team in the Scottish Cup. He called Willie Cunningham, his manager, "a b*stard", but went on to "feed on the injustice" by scoring 45 goals in 51 matches. Van Nistelrooy may have to respond similarly if Sunday is not to be the start of his long goodbye.
