'Conspiracy theories abound about the process that started with a bid made by Newcastle United and ended with Wayne Rooney joining Manchester United last August, but Sir Alex Ferguson will be grateful that it happened. Signing the forward was an act of pure caprice from a manager who had spent £20 million on two strikers in the previous seven months, but one shudders to think how this disappointing season might have turned out for him had Rooney stayed at Everton.
Manchester United were drifting towards their third consecutive defeat — and their opponents on course for a much-needed victory after five straight losses in all competitions — when the ball dropped on the edge of the Newcastle penalty area with 33 minutes remaining. There seemed little or no danger, but Rooney, who had hitherto endured a frustrating afternoon, swung his right boot and unleashed a volley that seemed to be swerving away from Shay Given’s goal until it took a vicious diversion and flew into the top corner of the net at the Stretford End.
On such moments do matches turn. It was that touch of genius that prompted Ferguson to blow this summer’s entire transfer budget on an 18-year-old with only 15 Premiership goals to his name. Rooney has done no more than live up to expectations in his first season at Old Trafford, but, in a season in which so many of his team-mates have fallen short, it is little wonder that Ferguson has joked about sending Freddy Shepherd, the Newcastle chairman, a bottle of champagne to thank him.
In the space of seven months since that spectacular hat-trick on his debut against Fenerbahçe, Rooney has gone from callow outsider to one of the most influential players at the club. Ferguson was about to substitute him yesterday as he was labouring with a dead leg, but how thankful he was that he could not do so. "While he’s on the pitch, he’s such a threat," the Manchester United manager said. "It was an absolutely fantastic goal, especially considering he was injured."
Whether or not they thought they had a hope in hell of signing Rooney, Newcastle had cause to curse the teenager yesterday. It hardly bears thinking about how such an impressionable individual might have been affected by the malodorous spirit that exists at St James’ Park.'