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The issue of captaincy at Manchester United has always been a contentious issue. Sir Alex Ferguson, during his 27 year reign at the club, exhibited a preference for responsible team players over charismatic but irreverent individuals like David Beckham and Lee Sharpe. As a result, the club did field several captaincy-material players at the same time. Veron, Blanc, Forlan, Giggs and Gary Neville all played under the leadership of Roy Keane at a point of time.
Rooney, who has a habit of losing his temper almost as frequently as Roy Keane, has recently been appointed club captain, and the decision has drawn mixed reactions from United fans, with the negative reactions shading the positive ones. Rooney’s immediate rival to the post was Robin van Persie, who had been thought favourite to succeed the departed Nemanja Vidic as club captain because of his close links with coach Louis van Gaal. Van Gaal had annointed Van Persie as the captain of the Dutch national team, and fans are slightly taken aback he chose not to continue the working partnership the two enjoy.
Fans have come out saying that the Englishman lacks the basic credentials required of a captain. They point to his seeming lack of club loyalty and a sense of honour, drawing mainly on the two occasions he held the club to ransom – threatening to leave unless given a pay raise – once in 2010, and once as recent as last year.
Some others have decided to be humorous, like one fan who stated, “Wayne Rooney has got four days to learn the difference between heads and tails.”
Obviously, too much is being made out of the issue. The role of a captain on a football pitch is hardly as important as in a sport like cricket – no complex calculations are required, even field placements are not his headache. The football captaincy is mostly a ceremonial role, and someone with experience and the respect of his peers can carry off the role as well as an extremely cerebral player.
History between Rooney and Van Persie
However, what makes Rooney’s appointment over Robin van Persie a laden decision is the kind of professional relations the two have had. Ferguson, by the end of his reign, had become frustrated with the Liverpool local’s understandable reluctance to play in the Dutch striker’s shadow. Moyes, attempting to redress that balance, alienated Van Persie to the degree that the Flying Dutchman spent the end of the season keeping himself fit for the World Cup following his recovery from injury, rather than giving his all for United.
It is a commonly held notion that Rooney’s best years are behind him and that United have lost their last chance of getting a large sum from his sale. Therefore, the £300,000-per-week man must be accommodated in the team, and the best needs to be wrung out of him; and to attempt to make him play second fiddle to Van Persie was sure to have been money down the drain.
With this in view, Van Gaal has made a shrewd move in naming Rooney captain. He is the club’s longest-serving and most experienced player right now, and so the move makes sense even if the Rooney-van Persie equation is ignored.
Moreover, the left footed Dutchman has just freshly come from Arsenal, and his club loyalties have not been established firmly either. He is also much more injury-prone – if he spends the amount of time outside the field that he did last season, he will be of no great impact as captain.
Rooney’s Route to Captaincy
The question whether Rooney has what it takes to be a captain has been posed from his Everton days. While he showed maturity beyond his 17 years back then, the 28 year old has also retained till date the red-faced, combustible, petulant nature normally associated with a teenage adoloscent. Rooney is the Peter Pan of the footballing world.
The leadership qualities of the boy from Liverpool have never been in doubt, but of late his passion and work ethic have not quite been what they used to be.
Rooney has said, “It is a huge honour for me and for my family to be named captain of this great club...It is a role I will perform with great pride.” The manager’s reaction to the issue has been that English striker was his choice because he is sure to put his heart and soul into the task. There can be no doubts as to the veracity of this prognosis.
Perhaps this delayed gratification is exactly what Rooney requires to take his game to the next level; perhaps this move will give a new lease to his career. The prodigal son has finally been recognized as the man of the house, and only time will tell whether he uses the honour to motivate himself or to lose his head one career-terminating time.
