9/10 United Fans Want Rooney Out!

We ran a poll on Twitter this afternoon, to see which games Manchester United fans want Wayne Rooney to start in, this week, with Zorya Luhansk and Stoke City on offer, here's what they came back with;

A whopping 56% of the 2,537 people who answered the poll believe that Wayne Rooney, club captain should feature tomorrow night in the Europa League, but not against Stoke City in the Premier League. A perhaps more concerning 31% don't want him to feature AT ALL! Meaning 87% of United fans, almost 9/10, do not want him involved in our next league match. 

I can't say I'm shocked at the result at all, which shows how far Rooney's stock has fallen. Even his omission for the starting XI against Leicester didn't elicit the response I expected from the media. Last weekend we saw the tabloids begin to accept that Rooney is on the downslope of his career and probably isn't good enough to feature. The last ones holding out are the pundits, especially English ones and especially those who've played with Rooney. But even that has started to turn ever so slightly. I doubt we'll ever see the scathing put-downs that some United players have been on the receiving end of, but England captains have traditionally been protected in such ways, think what we have seen with Terry, Gerrard and Shearer to name a few. 

I would love it Wayne was able to accept this transition in status with grace and become a vital squad player, with dressing room leadership, much like we saw from Ryan Giggs. That might be a way he can prolong his career and change the perception a lot of fans have of him. Either way, we are still awaiting that response. If he doesn't feature against Stoke and is still on the bench vs Liverpool, I would think a reaction is imminent.