Comment & analysis round-up

Quote of the day: “They could win everything. They are ticking games off and when you get to this stage of the season, they have been here, understand what needs to happen and what it takes. It is a big ask. Sir Alex would say himself it is very difficult to do. But trust me, it is something they will try and achieve. Good luck to them.” – Mark Hughes.

Runner-up: ”It was the response I wanted and expected after Real Madrid. I was pleased for Crouchie. I wasn’t sure whether to play and him and I wasn’t sure what reaction he would get from the crowd. Sometimes they can turn on you when they think you’re to blame for something but they were great with him and they made a great atmosphere today. He was okay. He wasn’t nervous going into the game.” – Harry Redknapp.

Today’s overview: Perhaps the football hacks are too busy with the Grand National this weekend, because Wayne Rooney remains the hot topic of conversation despite it being a week since his “what f***ing what” outburst and even though he missed the win over Fulham yesterday.

A number of papers report that Rooney’s Sky show has been canned and for the second week running Patrick Collins saves his ire for Sir Alex Ferguson. Simon Turnbull compares goal celebrations nowadays to days gone by using the video this website is named after and Kenny Dalglish is supportive of his bitter rivals, arguing the FA should look closer to home.

Chelsea are the other big topic of the day with the news in the Mail on Sunday that Roman Abramovich has had enough of Fernando Torres and will sell El Nino in the summer whilst Carlo Ancelotti’s P45 is readied following a Champions League exit at Old Trafford on Tuesday.

Elsewhere, Steve Tongue previews a big week for Manchester City, Ian Holloway prepares for the visit of Arsenal and both Paul Hayward and Henry Winter hails the dominance of Spanish clubs in Europe.

Wayne Rooney swearing at a camera a week ago is still news: Lara Gould reports that Wazza has been dropped by Sky. “Wayne Rooney’s TV series has been dropped by Sky – days after Coca-Cola ended its £600,000-a-year sponsorship deal with the foul-mouthed Premier League star. Rooney will not be appearing in another series of his popular Street Striker show, which saw the Manchester United and England player lead a nationwide search to find the country’s best young footballer. The programme, sponsored by Coca-Cola’s Coke Zero drink, was first shown in 2008. The third series ended last November and Sky will not be screening a fourth.”

Patrick Collins has another dig at Sir Alex Ferguson. “His attack upon Supt Mark Payne, of the Wolverhampton police force, was genuinely disturbing. Payne, the man charged with managing responses to crime and operations in Wolverhampton, said that had Rooney behaved in a public place as he behaved at Upton Park last week, his officers would have arrested him… Some of us felt desperately sad when Sir Alex Ferguson demeaned himself so crassly. Because it showed us that the game’s madness has undermined his old judgment, that he is no longer the man he used to be. And it demonstrated that football’s arrogance is not confined to the pitch.”

Paul Wilson explains how Lady Cathy Ferguson knew better than her husband on Wayne Rooney. “Lady Cathy Ferguson may not know as much about football as her illustrious husband, yet she appears to have a better understanding of what is permissible on the pitch. The Manchester United manager has revealed that his wife’s first reaction, on his return home from the eventful game at West Ham last Saturday, was to inform him that Wayne Rooney was likely to be banned. ‘She just said: ‘They’ll do him’,’ Sir Alex Ferguson said. ‘I told her they couldn’t possibly do him for celebrating, but it turns out she was right.’ That is because Mrs Ferguson had been following events on television, rather than being caught up in them at Upton Park. She knew precisely how ugly and unacceptable Rooney’s behaviour had looked, because it came straight through the camera lens and into her living room. Others within Manchester United must have reached the same conclusion fairly quickly, because an apology was formulated within hours with a view to damage limitation. This was not just a case of Rooney using industrial language on the pitch, as he has done countless times before.”

Simon Turnbull explains “How the once beautiful game can get rid of its snarling face.” “Picture the scene: Manchester United are playing West Ham and they work the ball to the brains of their attacking operation on the edge of the opposition penalty area. He hammers a low drive into the net, then raises his right arm in fleeting celebration. He has a sheepish look on his face when two team-mates walk up to congratulate him. ‘A Bobby Charlton goal is always one of the popular sights at Old Trafford, Manchester,’ Kenneth Wolstenholme says on the commentary. It could be EM Forster talking about a foreign country. That’s what it feels like when you watch and listen to the reactions to Bobby’s dazzler from September 1969 and the other blasts from the past on the BBC’s 101 Great Goals video. They certainly did things differently then.”

Kenny Dalglish also gets involved in the Wayne Rooney affair. “You cannot condone swearing but it’s too simplistic to say Wayne Rooney’s outburst at West Ham will influence the youth of the nation. If you hear a young kid swearing, it’s more likely to be because he or she picked it up walking down the street or in the school playground. Thirty years ago you wouldn’t hear a swear word on television but somehow most 15-year-olds still got to learn about the words from somewhere. So it’s an exaggeration to say youngsters pick up all their habits from TV. What concerns me is that by punishing Rooney — and getting a week’s headlines out of it — the authorities are pushing more serious matters under the carpet. We’ve just heard two men, former Football Association chairman Lord Triesman and Premier League chairman and FA board member Sir Dave Richards, have an argument over who gave the England national team manager, Fabio Capello, a new deal before the World Cup.”

Michael Calvin writes of Rooney’s search for happiness. “Now he has time on his hands, Wayne Rooney should reconnect with David Hunt. He might learn a little about himself and the value of simple pleasures. Rooney and Hunt share a profession, but inhabit ­different planets. One earns £250,000-a-week as a martyr to ­emotional ­incontinence.  The other feels privileged to play a game which deems £250-a-week a living wage. They have spoken just once, at the end of Crawley’s FA Cup tie at Old Trafford in February.”

Manchester United: Paul Wilson sums up Old Trafford on Saturday. “Sir Alex Ferguson appealed for the famous fighting spirit to see Manchester United through the crucial games that remain, though there was really no need against Fulham, who were about as convincing as their new statue and nowhere near as frightening. United are now 10 points clear at the top of the Premier League with six games to play and, like this match, the title race no longer appears much of a contest. This was more like a lap of honour than the later stages of a marathon, an undemanding stroll in the sun in front of warmly appreciative supporters in their shirt-sleeves.”

Mark Ogden also writes of the win over the Cottagers. “Dimitar Berbatov pressed his claims to maintain Manchester United’s Treble bid in the absence of the suspended Wayne Rooney by putting the league leaders on course for victory against Fulham at Old Trafford. Sir Alex Ferguson’s team moved ten points clear of second-placed Arsenal, who face Blackpool at Bloomfield Road on Sunday, by cruising to the three points against Mark Hughes’s team. With Antonio Valencia scoring the second before half-time, United were able to conserve energies ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League quarter-final against Chelsea. And they also proved they can cope without Rooney, who will also miss next Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City at Wembley.”

Rob Draper speaks with Gary Neville. ”Gary Neville has always said that he was a Manchester United fan who would have stood on the Stretford End if he had not been wearing the shirt of the club he joined when he signed schoolboy forms 25 years ago. Only now is he beginning to understand the indignities that can entail. He was recently in London enjoying his retirement from football on the day that United took on Chelsea in the Premier League match at Stamford Bridge. ‘I was with three or four friends and they wanted to go to the match,’ said Neville. ‘I said, “We’ll just go and sit with the fans. I’m not going to get three or four tickets in the directors’ box”. I probably could have got a ticket myself but I just wanted to sit with them and watch the game. We went in but we got in 20 minutes late because they wouldn’t let us in …’”

Tottenham: David Hytner says Spurs made a bid for Rio Ferdinand. “Harry Redknapp has admitted that he attempted to sign Rio Ferdinand from Manchester United at the start of the season as he urged the Tottenham Hotspur chairman, Daniel Levy, to prioritise the acquisition of leaders with “real character” and the ‘will to win’. The manager will send his team out to face Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-final second leg at White Hart Lane on Wednesday 4-0 down from the Bernabéu and he is determined that it will not be the club’s valedictory appearance in the competition. Redknapp wants to turn Tottenham into Champions League regulars but he feels that to do so he needs more players of a particular ilk. Levy likes to sign young players with potential who can be developed into stars, but Redknapp craves tough professionals with big personalities.”

Chelsea: Bob Cass has the lead in the Mail on Sunday: “Roman Abramovich is already going cold on £50million flop Fernando Torres and will consider selling him this summer. The Chelsea owner drove through the record-breaking signing of the striker from Liverpool in January in the hope that he would make the club a force in Europe. But after losing to Manchester United in the first leg of their quarter-final in the Champions League last Wednesday, Abramovich’s patience is wearing thin. A Chelsea insider said: ‘I know the owner is not happy with his investment. He could even sell Torres in the summer, despite having just bought him.’”

Paul Smith suggests that “Carlo Ancelotti is doomed if Chelsea are knocked out of the Champions League by Manchester United on Tuesday. A Blues failure will trigger the change at the top in the summer. They are 1-0 down from the first leg. Roman Abramovich, Chelsea’s billionaire owner, has finally run out of patience with his manager. And even if the Italian is able to inspire a Chelsea fight-back to reach the Champions League last four there will be no guarantee that his job is safe. To ensure his survival Ancelotti may have to guide Chelsea to Europe glory this season.”

Paul Hayward wonders over the future of Carlo Ancelotti if the Blues go out the Champions League on Tuesday night. “There is only one way this is heading. Ancelotti has 90 minutes to save his job. For a long time the word on the street has been that he would leave the club in the summer anyway. Elimination from Europe at the last-eight stage would end the discussion. A regression from two major trophies last year to early Cup calamities and a low podium finish in the Premier League would be much more offensive to Abramovich than any minor retreat ascribable to Claudio Ranieri, José Mourinho, Avram Grant or Luiz Felipe Scolari, who never made it to the business end of the 2008-09 campaign.”

Manchester City: The Mail on Sunday add some spice to next week’s FA Cup semi-final. “Manchester City midfielder James Milner had a row with United striker Wayne Rooney’s agent Paul Stretford to add spice to Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final between the Manchester rivals. The pair exchanged angry words after Milner warned Stretford about his behaviour at team-mate Gareth Barry’s 30th birthday. Their spat followed a verbal disagreement between Stretford’s wife Gemma and Milner’s girlfriend at the party in Cheshire, attended by several members of the City squad.”

Steve Tongue previews a big week for the blue side of Manchester. “There have been big weeks before in the ‘project’ that is Manchester City under Roberto Mancini, and because this is City, predictability was never part of them. There was the critical period last February, when a dull goalless draw with Liverpool was followed by elimination from the FA Cup at Stoke and, three days later, a memorable 4-2 victory at Chelsea. That win prompted optimism about claiming a Champions’ League place but when the two other claimants to it, Aston Villa and Tottenham, arrived at Eastlands in the space of five May days, only Villa were beaten and Spurs took the prize. Almost a year on, it is the red brigades of Liverpool and Manchester United who lie in wait, at Anfield tomorrow night and then Wembley on Saturday. So the question to be ans