Wayne Rooney says Sir Alex Ferguson left Manchester United as ‘quick as he could’ once he realised the club was in decline.
The Scot retired in 2013 after 27 years at the theatre of dreams and he left a title-winning team for his successor, David Moyes.
Rooney famously requested to leave United in 2010 when he questioned their ambition and he fell out with Ferguson again during the manager’s final year at Old Trafford, when he once again asked to leave.
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Rooney was unhappy after the Red devils allowed Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez to leave in 2009 and they signed Antonio Valencia, Michael Owen and Gabriel Obertan as replacements.
Ferguson managed to guide United to two further league titles in the next four years but Man City were on the rise and Rooney says he left because he knew United were in decline.
‘They were offering me a contract of £200,000 a week, so it would have been quite easy for me to say, “five years, £200,000 a week… let me sign it now”,’ Rooney says.
‘It would have been quite easy for me to do that. But I wanted success on the pitch – that means more to me.
‘Actually, if you look five years down the line from that meeting – Alex Ferguson knew where the club was going and he got out of there as quick as he could, and they’re still picking up the pieces now.’
Speaking about the meeting with Ferguson in 2010, Rooney said he was told to get out of the Scot’s office after raising issue with his transfer strategy.
‘We sold [Carlos] Tevez, then we sold [Cristiano] Ronaldo, I was the one player left who was high profile,’ said Rooney.
‘I went into Alex Ferguson’s office, and I said to him: “What’s the plan here? At the minute, we’ve brought in two young English players who are unproven.” I remember Alex Ferguson’s response was, “Get out of my office”.’
