Five talking points - Manchester United vs Swansea City

On an emotional and unforgettable afternoon at Old Trafford, Manchester United supporters heralded their champions and bade emotional farewells to Sir Alex and Paul Scholes after a 2-1 victory over Swansea.

It was a momentous occasion which would always be remembered for the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson walking down the Old Trafford touchlines for the very last time as United manager, and hence there were no shortage of talking points. Let’s have a look at five of the major ones:

1) Wayne Rooney not even in the squad

Wayne Rooney was left out of the match day squad completely on such a momentous day for the club, thereby fuelling the speculation of his future at United. Sir Alex Ferguson later confirmed that United have turned down a transfer request by Wayne Rooney.

“He’s asked for a transfer, we’ve refused it and that’s where it lies,” the boss told MUTV after his final home game in charge of the Reds.

“It was better he didn’t play today; he can mull it over now. He’s not happy about being taken off a few times but Wayne in top form would not be taken off.

“He should think about his future here because he will be here.”

Although United have turned down the transfer request by Rooney, it still casts a huge shadow on his Old Trafford future as the new manager and fans won’t be willing to keep a player who does not want to play for their club. Now, it remains to be seen whether Rooney does a similar kind of U-turn which he did when he put in a transfer request in 2010.

2) Emotions getting the better of United players

The last time such emotions flooded Old Trafford was when United commemorated the 50th anniversary of Munich air crash in 2008. On that day, United under performed under the weight of heavy emotions and thereby lost 1-2 to Manchester City.

The result this time, however, was in the favour of Manchester United who beat Swansea City 2-1. But the performance was quite similar to that day 5 years ago. United players lacked sharpness and incisiveness and rather played through the motions to get over with the match and be part of the post match celebrations. If Swansea would have been a little more clinical in front of goal, they could have easily got something out of the match.

3) Perfect tribute through a late winner

There’s no better way to pay tribute to Sir Alex Ferguson than scoring a later winner at the Stretford End; Rio Ferdinand did just that. After going five years without scoring a goal, Ferdinand chose this moment to stamp his authority on the game, taking advantage of some poor defending by lashing home at the Stretford End after van Persie’s corner had been allowed to bounce through to him.

The goal came a couple of minutes short of the actual ‘Fergie time’, but it was still very reminiscent of the late winners that had been the hallmark of the Ferguson era – a perfect tribute to the great man.

4) Paul Scholes retires

Paul Scholes announced his retirement a couple of days ago, and this time for good, thereby bringing an end to an incredible career that spanned across two decades and was decorated with 11 Premier League medals. Scholes made his final home appearance yesterday and marked the occasion with a couple of his trademark tackles.

The crowd shouted shoot every time the ball fell to the feet of the Ginger Prince. Sir Alex also paid tribute to Scholes in his post match speech, where he hailed him as one of the best midfielders of his generation. It would be really hard to imagine Old Trafford without the midfield artistry of Paul Scholes.

5) Sir Alex Ferguson’s speech

No matter which club you support, if you had watched Sir Alex speak after the match yesterday, you would certainly have had watery eyes.

He summed it by saying, “My retirement doesn’t mean the end of my relationship with the club, I’m able to now enjoy watching them rather than suffering with them. If you think about it, those last-minute goals, the comebacks, even the defeats, are all part of this great football club of ours. It’s been unbelievable, thank you for that.

“I’d also like to remind you that when we had bad times here, the club stood by me, all my staff stood by me, the players stood by me and your job now is to stand by your new manager.”

…and the new era begins.