M.U.S.T on Rooney: Disappointed, and unhappy that ‘we are unable to compete even with small clubs like Manchester City’
By Nick Harris
19 October 2010
The Manchester united Supporters Trust (MUST) has responded to the news that Wayne Rooney wants to leave the club, with a spokesman saying he is “disappointed”, and that “we still hold out hope that the situation can be resolved.”
MUST also use the development to highlight concerns over the ownership of the club, and have a pop at rivals Manchester City - bookies' favourites to sign Rooney - for being a “small” club.
"We back Sir Alex's judgement as ever but our concern lies with the owners,” the MUST spokesman said. “They have saddled us with a huge debt and they are taking more and more money out of the club every season and the lack of net investment in the squad since they arrived is clear to all. They've bought players but are they like for like replacements in terms of the quality of Ruud van Nistelrooy, Roy Keane and Cristiano Ronaldo?"
“Our club is generating record revenues yet it appears we are unable to compete even with small clubs like Manchester City let alone Chelsea, Madrid and Barcelona. We know where the money is going and it has to stop. The question being asked by many fans is does the ambition of the owners match that of Rooney or indeed Manchester United supporters? On the evidence so far it would appear the answer is clearly not.
“The contrast could hardly be starker between the owners at Manchester City who are pumping millions into their club while the Glazers are leaching huge amounts out of ours. People talk about players being greedy with multimillion pounds contracts but those figures pale into insignificance compared with the hundreds of millions the Glazers have extracted from Manchester United through their takeover."
A protest march against the Glazers is planned before the Tottenham game on 30 October.
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