Wayne Rooney caused outrage in 2010 when he was linked with a shock Manchester United exit as he questioned the club’s ambition.
Rooney insists he had the club’s best interests at heart, in new comments made in the lead-up to his new Amazon documentary being released.
Speaking to PA, quoted by The Mirror, Rooney said United’s disastrous 2009 transfer window was the beginning of the end.
Rooney said: “Ronaldo left in 2009, Tevez left and after that you could see it was going to go backwards before it can move forwards.
“That’s what I could see and that’s why I was asking the questions. Unfortunately, they probably still haven’t recovered from that to this day.
“It wasn’t a great team in 2013. For us to win that League title was a miracle, really, I think.”
Glazers at fault, Sir Alex papered over cracks
2009 was the summer the Glazers’ lack of spending really started to hurt United. It was a critical juncture, with City starting a spending spree which would set them up for future success.
United were too content to stand still, despite banking £80 million for Cristiano Ronaldo, and letting Tevez walk, to join City.
The club’s big transfer moves were to sign Michael Owen on a free transfer and give him the number 7 shirt, buying Antonio Valencia from Wigan, and Gabriel Obertan from Bordeaux.
United hoped Nani could step into the void left by Ronaldo, and while Sir Alex Ferguson did indeed work miracles, it fell apart after he left.
Rooney and United narrowly lost the title in 2009/10 to Chelsea, before bouncing back in 2010/11 partly thanks to bargain signing Javier Hernandez, before City won the next year and Robin van Persie was brought on board to win in 2012/13.
Even though United could easily have won four straight titles in these years if not for fine lines, and also reached a Champions League final, the rot had begun to set in.
As Rooney noted, Ferguson made the 12/13 title team look a lot better than it was. David Moyes came in the next year and the team fell apart.
United should have listened to Rooney when he protested about the lack of investment. The club would be a lot better off right now.
Instead we find ourselves now in 2022 nowhere close to a league title, facing a fifth successive year without a trophy.
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