Wayne Rooney has no beef with Sir Alex Ferguson after costly dinner

Wayne Rooney was brought in to do an extra
day's training and then left out of the squad
against Blackburn. Photograph: Matthew Peters/
Man Utd via Getty Images
Sources close to Wayne Rooney have denied
there is a rift between the striker and Sir Alex
Ferguson that threatens the England player's
future at Old Trafford, insisting that Rooney
understands the disciplinary reasons that led to
him being dropped for theNew Year's Eve defeat
at home by Blackburn and has accepted his
manager's decision.
Rooney, along with Jonny Evans and Darron
Gibson, were brought in to do an extra day's
training then left out of the United squad to face
Blackburn after reportedly going out for a meal
together with their respective partners in
Manchester on Boxing Day, the evening of their
5-0 win against Wigan. There is no suggestion
that any of the players misbehaved, stayed out
too late or consumed too much alcohol, but
Ferguson is understood to have found them in
breach of club rules and disciplined them
accordingly when he was made aware of the
situation.
The forward was at the Blackburn game and
watched from the stands in a club tracksuit,
seemingly confirming that while unhappy about
his treatment he is not yet at loggerheads with
the management. He has not expressed any
views on the subject via Twitter and friends
suggest he is willing to accept Ferguson's
punishment and move on, rather than provoke
another stand-off similar to the one that saw him
threatening to leave the club at the start of last
season.
His value to the club was amply demonstrated by
United's limp performance without him when
going down 3-2 at home to a team who were
bottom of the table at the start of the match, and
Ferguson's judgment was also called into the
question on the day the manager not only turned
70 but also said he would like to stay on for at
least another three years. After the Blackburn
defeat Ferguson cited a shortage of centre-backs
and a lack of experience in midfield as
contributing factors, without acknowledging that
it was his own decision to make some players
unavailable.
It may be the case that Ferguson wants another
three years on his own terms and wished to
send out a strong signal that he is still in charge,
though it seems more likely the United manager
will now be accused of either underestimating
Blackburn or overreacting to a fairly innocent
night out.