Song for Children

We're getting into proper international mode today, so there's not a great deal in the papers.  The Guardian take the opportunity to slag off Rooney.  What's that you cry?  He's not even playing for England.  No, he's not, but that gives Jamie Jackson a roundabout way to slag him off.

Wayne Rooney has been awol from international duty for most of the past year, yet still he has never been out of the headlines. ...

As a result Moldova, Tuesday's meeting with Ukraine and, possibly, next month's qualifiers with San Marino and Poland could all be yet more opportunities missed to increase his 29 goals from 76 caps. This injury is not Rooney's fault, of course.

I like that distancing tactic, "he's never out of the headlines.... so I'd better write about him." The stupidest thing is writing a piece about he's injured and not playing and imply it's a fitness issue and then go, "but he's out because of a gash that wasn't his fault, and yet...."  I'd expect this from The Mail

Speaking of whom, financial fair play rules which are being discussed today boil down to this for The Mail,

"Running scared! United want to put brake on City's kamikaze spending"

No we don't, it turns out. Standard financial fair play story dressed up as us trying to get at Chelsea and City.  Everyone else supports it if I remember rightly:

The proposals, similar to UEFA’s financial fair play rules, could lead to clubs being forced to break even every year or face sanctions.

While that might suit the likes of United and Arsenal, it would be bad news for City, whose losses of £197million in 2010-11 were the biggest in football history.

So yes, supported by UEFA, and it would also seem The Mail are suggesting that losses of almost £200 million are a good thing.  Shame on them...

The Independent have the us-getting-at-City angle from the mouth of Rent-a-quote Dave Whelan, even though he supports the idea, and at least the Independent also point out Liverpool's heavy involvement.

The Mirror are publishing extracts from Rooney's new book and they have three stories on separate pages today.  Why on earth they can't just put it on one page, oh yeah, clicks = more money from adverts, sod the readers.  They are here, here and here. The description of his overhead kick against Man City is quite good but the most interesting bit is the suggestion, or even admission, that he's lost his competitive edge:

I look down at him in my arms. He looks up at me and smiles. How can I be grumpy now? I smile back. I can’t help but be happy. He’s only four months old, but he’s taking me out of my bad mood.

‘Here, Coleen, we’ve lost and this is the first time I’m not stewing in it.’

She laughs. It’s a first, we know. I used to take a black mood home with me whenever we’d got beat.

Maybe fatherhood puts it all into perspective. Now that I have a family I have other responsibilities.

I'm not suggesting that he shouldn't care about his son but here, in black and white, he's putting things into perspective, it's only football, the smile of a kid can take the pain away.  I hope he's not thinking that when we're losing, "ah sod it, if we lose my son will take the pain away so why even bother..." Maybe it is time to sell...

Three other stories to look at quickly.

New medical centre we're opening up soon, hopefully resulting in less injuries, from the Telegraph:

The medical centre, which will be supplied with CT and MRI scanners and other cutting-edge equipment as part of a five-year agreement with the Japanese company Toshiba, is set to be the first of its kind in the Premier League, with Manchester United planning to emulate the physiological and sports science benefits enjoyed by AC Milan at their world-renowned Milanello complex.

Research carried out at the end of last season by the sports injury website physioroom.com showed that United suffered the worst injury list in the Premier League during the 2011-12 campaign, with the club suffering 39 significant problems – those lasting for at least two weeks – which amounted to a total 1,681 days lost to injury by Sir Alex Ferguson’s squad.

Scholes quotes on talent at our disposal in The Daily Star:

He said: “You always like to see new players come in, even if they’re in your position. It’s healthy for the team and exciting to play with the new players. We have got strength everywhere in the squad.

“We’ve struggled with injuries to defenders, but when we have everyone fit, I think there are two teams the manager has available to him that could compete in the Premier League and cup competitions.

“It all looks very healthy and, as players, we know when we get ­given our chance, we have to take it. If you don’t, you’ll be out of the team. Simple as that.”

And we've completed the signing of Angelo Henriquez.