Why Sir Alex Ferguson blocked Wayne Rooney’s pay rise

FORMER Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed why he blocked a Wayne Rooney pay jump.

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - MARCH 09: Wayne Rooney of Manchester United celebrates after scoring a goal to level the scores at 1-1 during the FA Cup Quarter Final match between Manchester United and Arsenal at Old Trafford on March 9, 2015 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

FORMER Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson has revealed he refused to allow Wayne Rooney to be paid more than him during a contract stand-off with the striker in 2010.

Rooney vowed to leave United after accusing the club of a lack of ambition, only to perform a sudden U-turn and sign a new five-year deal reportedly worth $390,000 a week.

But that was less than United initially offered him, with Ferguson revealing in his new book, Leading, released this week, that he told United’s owners the Glazer family and then-chief executive David Gill he “did not think it fair that Rooney should earn twice what I made”.

“It was simple. We just agreed that no player should be paid more than me,” Ferguson said.

Rooney fell out with Ferguson prior to the Scot’s retirement in 2013, but was appointed United captain by current manager Louis van Gaal last year.

Ferguson says Everton pulled out all the stops to prevent Rooney joining United in 2004, including an emotional phone call from the player’s mother.

“After we gave them our final offer, (Everton manager Bill) Kenwright got Rooney’s mother on the phone and she told me, ‘You are not going to steal my boy,’” writes Ferguson, who is now a United director.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s selfish play.

Other revelations in the book include the disclosure that Ferguson considered a move for wayward Italy striker Mario Balotelli in 2010, only to be dissuaded by his contacts in Italy.

“In 2010, I briefly flirted with the idea of signing Mario Balotelli, the talented but controversial Italian striker,” Ferguson says.

“I did my homework on him, speaking to a few Italian contacts, but the feedback I got confirmed it was too big a risk.”

The Scot said he had also lined up Pep Guardiola as his potential successor but he didn’t call him before taking the Bayern Munich job.

After Guardiola left Barcelona in mid-2012, Ferguson had dinner with the former Barcelona coach in New York but there was no “direct proposal” for the Spaniard to one day take over at United.

“I asked Pep to phone me before he accepted an offer from another club but he didn’t and wound up joining Bayern Munich in July 2013.

“It became apparent that Jose Mourinho had given his word to Roman Abramovich that he would return to Chelsea, and that Carlo Ancelotti would succeed him at Real Madrid.

“We also knew Juergen Klopp was happy at Borussia Dortmund, and would be signing a new contract. Meantime, Louis van Gaal had undertaken to lead the Dutch attempt to win the 2014 World Cup.”

Van Gaal did eventually take charge at Old Trafford after the World Cup, replacing Moyes after the Scot failed to qualify United for the Champions League with a squad that had won the Premier League by 11 points in Ferguson’s final season.

Originally published as Why Sir Alex Ferguson blocked Wayne Rooney’s pay rise