Manchester United have made no comment on claims that Wayne Rooney missed the shock defeat by Blackburn due to disciplinary reasons.
Questions raised over striker's absence from Blackburn defeat
Manchester United have made no comment on claims that Wayne Rooney missed the shock defeat by Blackburn on Saturday due to disciplinary reasons.
Rooney was not even selected as a substitute for the astonishing 3-2 Premier League defeat, despite Sir Alex Ferguson being forced to name five untested youngsters on the bench, with the Scot stating prior to the kick-off that the England international was injured.
The 26-year-old watched the match from an executive box, along with Darron Gibson, who has been mentioned along with Rooney, and currently injured defender Jonny Evans, in relation to reports of a night out that took place on Boxing Day, after the 5-0 win over Wigan.
It has been claimed by the
Mail on Sunday that Ferguson got wind of the night out, ordered the players to do extra training on Wednesday, which was supposed to be their day off, then told them they would not be involved on Saturday.
Rooney and Gibson are reported to have trained in the morning before heading to Old Trafford to see their team-mates fail to assume top spot in the Premier League, as had been anticipated.
Implications
The implications of what has been reported could be major for United, and in particular Rooney's relationship with Ferguson.
However, whilst Red Devils officials were aware of the story circulating on Saturday evening, Ferguson's 70th birthday, there was no official response.
Instead, the club's
official website continued to report the statement Ferguson made about Rooney's surprise absence to
ESPN prior to kick-off.
The Scot said: "Wayne hasn't trained well this week, he's missed a few days and we're hoping that he trains today, tomorrow and, by Wednesday, he should be OK. It's little strains here and there."
Those words suggest the initial fall-out would be limited to a single game, with Rooney - and possibly Gibson, who made his first start of the season against Wigan as United faced a chronic injury list - set to be included at Newcastle in midweek, and the FA Cup tie at Manchester City next weekend.
