Ian Holloway's Rooney Rant - Spot On.

Ian Holloway is a colourful footballing man. Indeed, we'd be the poorer without this intrepid breed of individual.

Today, he's outshone himself with his own inimitable take on the Rooneygate saga.



Holloway I feel, speaks for many of us, normal and run-of-the-mill football fans when he rants off about the situation.

I'm an Aston Villa fan. I could quite easily say two hoots to Manchester United and laugh at their predicament.

But I'm also a a football man and I dislike intensly the way that the game has been taken over by the money men in recent years. The increasing power of the agent is scarring the game. But having said that, ultimately it's the football player that makes the decision on what he wants to do.

The Shameful Wayne Rooney
So Wayne Rooney should rightly hang his head in shame at this moment in time. Manchester United are not ambitious? Are you joking or just stupid Wayne? Whatever is said of him, no-one can honestly take away from Sir Alex Ferguson all that he has achieved in the game. He will go down in football history in the same breath as Paisley, Shankly and Busby. Rightly so too - in this modern world of merry-go-round football management, the fact that he has remained at the same club for 24 years and counting is extraordinary.

So to see him looking completely bewildered at the press conference a few days ago was pretty sad. Rooney should be bloody well thankful for what he has been given by Sir Alex and Manchester United over the years. He's been paid a six-figure sum on a weely basis to play for one of the best and biggest teams in the world. I hear that there's figures of £300,000 a week being bandied about by the likes of Manchester City to entice him over.

This is incredulous. Quite frankly, if Wayne Rooney, or indeed any player can be so greedy as to want to play for the club who can pay the most, then the likes of Manchester United are better off without.

Am I being too simplistic in my thinking? Is Ian Holloway an out-dated relic of a bygone footballing age? Well if we are, what about Ryan Giggs?

The Ultimate Football Professional - Ryan Giggs
Ryan Giggs has played his entire career for one club - the same Manchester United as Wayne Rooney. An unprecedented near 850 appearances over 20 years. He was won more league titles than any other in the history of the game, two European Cups and countless other domestic trophies.

Yet, off the pitch, he has been an exemplar of good behaviour. Now married with a young family, you'll only see him on the back pages for his exploits on the pitch, not on the front pages of the tabloids for his exploits in a club or in someone's bed.

For any aspiring young footballer, for dedication and commitment on the pitch and for a level-headedness off it, they need look no further than Ryan Giggs.

Partly for the reasons that Ian Holloway pronounced in his rant earlier today, and for others, Wayne Rooney should certainly not be held up as a footballing role model to youngsters.

Well done to Ian Holloway for saying it as it is.

If this is what Wayne Rooney is all about, then Manchester United are better off without him. Sir Alex - sell him. Get rid of him. He's an idiot and doesn't deserve to play for a club like Manchester United (and this from an Aston Villa fan).

Football needs more Ryan Giggs's and less Wayne Rooney's.