VAN DRIVEN OUT - RUUD REACTION

Last updated : 08 May 2006 By Ed

FERGIE

"There have been a couple of incidents this week which concerned me. This was such an important game and in that situation I felt Ruud should stay out. I'll be discussing this with the club directors."

THE SUN

One eye witness said: "Ruud looked absolutely furious when he left."

Van Nistelrooy is understood to have been in a bad mood in training all week and arguing with team-mates.

He also had a big row with Ryan Giggs after the 0-0 draw with Sunderland on Good Friday.

Fergie took a swipe at Van Nistelrooy in his programme notes yesterday.

He said: "If there is a non-trier, he deserves to be singled out. You cannot kid supporters.

"They are very sensitive to that kind of situation — and so am I."

Van Nistelrooy's former club PSV Eindhoven are favourites to land the player for between £5million and £8m. Spurs are also interested.


THE MIRROR

Ruud van Nistelrooy's Manchester United career is over after he stormed out of Old Trafford yesterday when he learned he had been left out of the team.

Sir Alex Ferguson will today tell the United board that he wants van Nistelrooy out of the club after the sulking striker disrupted team spirit following a series of rows with teammates.

Van Nistelrooy clashed with his colleagues in training this week and Fergie took the decision to leave his leading goalscorer out of yesterday's game with Charlton for the sake of team morale. "There have been a couple of incidents in training this week that left me concerned about the team spirit at the club," said Fergie.

"This was such an important game for the club that I wanted everybody together and therefore I felt it was best to leave Ruud out.

"That's all there is to say at the moment. I will be discussing this issue with the club directors on Monday and Tuesday. We will discuss the whole thing."

Van Nistelrooy stormed out of United's team hotel after learning of his omission at a squad meeting at 11.30am yesterday.


THE INDIE

Sir Alex Ferguson will discuss the future - and in all likelihood the sale - of Ruud Van Nistelrooy with the directors of Manchester United today after the £19m striker produced a furious response to his omission from the final game of the season against Charlton Athletic.

The Dutch international was informed over lunch at the team hotel yesterday that he had been left out of the squad by Ferguson, who later revealed his decision was taken in the interest of team spirit following several incidents behind the scenes this week. Van Nistelrooy immediately took a taxi to Old Trafford, where the United players' cars are left on a match day, and drove away almost three hours before kick-off to place further doubt over his long-term future at the club.

Van Nistelrooy has been repeatedly linked with a summer move from the club he joined from PSV Eindhoven in April 2000 since being left out of the starting line-up for the Carling Cup final. This ill-disciplined reaction, and the public condemnation from the United manager, suggest his departure will be up for discussion when Ferguson delivers his end-of-season report to the Old Trafford hierarchy today.

Sir Alex Ferguson will discuss the future - and in all likelihood the sale - of Ruud Van Nistelrooy with the directors of Manchester United today after the £19m striker produced a furious response to his omission from the final game of the season against Charlton Athletic.

The Dutch international was informed over lunch at the team hotel yesterday that he had been left out of the squad by Ferguson, who later revealed his decision was taken in the interest of team spirit following several incidents behind the scenes this week. Van Nistelrooy immediately took a taxi to Old Trafford, where the United players' cars are left on a match day, and drove away almost three hours before kick-off to place further doubt over his long-term future at the club.

Van Nistelrooy has been repeatedly linked with a summer move from the club he joined from PSV Eindhoven in April 2000 since being left out of the starting line-up for the Carling Cup final. This ill-disciplined reaction, and the public condemnation from the United manager, suggest his departure will be up for discussion when Ferguson delivers his end-of-season report to the Old Trafford hierarchy today.


THE GUARDIAN

Sir Alex Ferguson will decide whether to transfer-list Ruud van Nistelrooy within 24 hours, after the striker reacted to being dropped by driving home before Manchester United's 4-0 defeat of Charlton. The Dutchman's fit of pique looks certain to have sealed his departure and signifies the end of a relationship with the manager that has gone downhill since he omitted him from the Carling Cup final in February.

Ferguson has told some of his closest associates that Van Nistelrooy, 29, has no future at the club and that he has been incensed by the striker's attitude since it became apparent that he could no longer consider himself a fixture in the team.

Van Nistelrooy's sympathisers will argue that 150 goals in 219 games mark him out as one of the best strikers in United's history.


THE TIMES

Sir Alex Ferguson has already seen off one Manchester United icon this season in Roy Keane and today he will urge the club's board to offload another, after Ruud van Nistelrooy dramatically walked out of Old Trafford over his shock omission from the final game of the season.

Tension has been escalating between Ferguson and his leading goalscorer since he was left out of the side for the Carling Cup final against Wigan Athletic in February, but the rift has seemingly become irreparable over the past week, with the United manager citing "a couple of incidents in training" that prompted him to drop the forward against Charlton Athletic in favour of Giuseppe Rossi, a 19-year-old making his first start in the Barclays Premiership.

United won 4-0, securing an automatic place in next season's Champions League ahead of Liverpool, but the Van Nistelrooy issue overshadowed the match on a dramatic final day of the campaign, which began with Tottenham Hotspur calling in the police after six of their players suffered food poisoning before the 2-1 defeat away to West Ham United that allowed Arsenal to beat them to the fourth and final Champions League place.

It was at Old Trafford, though, that events took the most dramatic turn, with Van Nistelrooy failing to join his team-mates on the bus to the stadium after learning of the latest snub while at a pre-match lunch at a Manchester hotel. Furious to discover that Ferguson had preferred Rossi alongside Louis Saha, the striker took a taxi to the ground and drove straight home in his own car, which was waiting for him.

Ferguson, often one to keep such issues private, left his views on the matter in no doubt. "There has been a couple of issues, a couple of incidents in training during the week, that concerned me in terms of the spirit in the club," the United manager said. "In such a big game for the club, I wanted everyone together. In that situation, I thought Ruud should stay out. That's all I'm going to say. I will be discussing this with the club's directors tomorrow and Tuesday. I will be discussing the whole thing."