With just minutes played, Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand found themselves on the receiving end of loud boos whenever they went near the ball. Like Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole and Joe Cole were on the receiving end of hassle from travelling Newcastle fans earlier today, the Villa fans were letting it be known they are none too impressed about our lads pulling out of the England friendly against what appeared to be Germany’s ‘B’ team midweek.

If the Villa fans had anything about them, they’d realise their boos were totally unwarranted though…

Whilst I’d be more than happy to see our players stick their fingers up at England and tell them to do one, unfortunately, Rooney and Ferdinand are never going to be those kind of players. They love representing their country.

Both Ferdinand and Rooney missed United’s last match in the league, so it shouldn’t have come as any surprise that they were unable to play a few days after the weekend. Why should a player who isn’t fit enough to play for their club at the weekend be expected to play for their country midweek?

If the belief is that Sir Alex Ferguson was wanting to keep his players fresh and therefore put pressure on them not to play, then why is it that eleven other of our players were out on duty, travelling much further than bloody Germany! Anderson, Ronaldo and Nani all flew to Brazil for their Wednesday game, whilst Berbatov and Vidic were in Serbia and Park Ji-Sung was in Saudi Arabia!

Yet the small-time Villa fans boo every time Rio touches the ball and cheer every time Rooney gets tackled. Get a grip!




------------
The RoM Manchester United 2024-25 season preview is now available. It includes articles from the country's best football writers about our expectations for the season ahead and our brightest talents, as well as proposed transfer business and which youth players to keep an eye out for. All profit goes to The Christie so please support this fantastic cause.