Fans will 'forgive' Wayne Rooney, says Bryan Robson

The outpouring of vitriol from the Manchester United fans on hearing about Wayne Rooney putting in a transfer request was quite a vocal one. However, Bryan Robson, former Manchester United captain believes the club’s fans would ‘forgive’ Wayne Rooney if he decides to stay with the club.

Rooney’s transfer request was rejected by Sir Alex Ferguson and now the new manager David Moyes has stated that the striker isn’t for sale

“If he starts the season, scores a few goals and enjoys his football, the fans will forgive him, if there’s anything to forgive him for,” the 56-year-old Robson said.

Robson, who has more than 450 caps for United, says the situation was similar, when Rooney was sent off during England‘s World Cup quarter-final against Portugal in 2006. On that occasion, Cristiano Ronaldo winked as his then club team-mate Rooney as he left the pitch, leaving both England and United fans furious.

“After two games, Ronaldo was playing fantastically when he came back to Old Trafford. Everybody forgot about it and everybody loved Ronaldo,” said Robson. “And I think that’s the scenario for Wayne.”

“Wayne’s a great footballer and sometimes when you’re a great footballer you look at pastures and ask are they greener than where you’re at?”

“He’s got everything you could possibly want at the football club so, hopefully, he can be happy and entertain us. As a football supporter and as a Manchester United supporter I want to see the best players playing at our club.” said Robson.

Moyes also suggested that Rooney may have a second thought, keeping in mind that he has a chance of breaking United’s all time-scoring record. Rooney is currently fourth in the list with 197 goals in all competitions for Man United. He is 52 goals behind Sir Bobby Charlton, the club’s record holder, who scored 249 times for the club.

Andy Cole, who has also scored 121 goals in nearly seven years at Old Trafford thinks that winning the Community Shield against Wigan next month will be important to Moyes.

“If you win that, that’s your first trophy,” added Cole.

“People say ‘that’s not a trophy’, but of course it is. It would be David Moyes’s first trophy and, hopefully, would propel them forward to where they can win the Premier League.”

Robson and Cole were speaking at the launch of United’s new five-year partnership with Aeroflot, the Russian airline.

Source: BBC