Once a blue?

James Lawton asks how Rooney can question United's current failings when his own form is so poor. Or he could have said how can he have a go at Darron Gibson as it was alleged he did when at the moment he couldn't trap a bag of cement himself.
Henry Winter is another thinking Rooney is making a big mistake, apparently his temperament would not be suited to going overseas and he should think long and hard before deciding to go. I'm afraid that moment seems to have passed, he looks to have made his bed. The very fact that he has let it be known that he would be interested in a move to City means in any media war between Fergie, the club and the people Rooney has spinning for him have already lost. As it seems likely that Fegie is going sanctioning selling him, it will be interesting if he lets him go to City. If he did, it would surely mean that he thinks that we may have seen the best of the player.
I don't know why but our competitors seem to be being very coy at the moment. Mourinho has come out and said he thinks the big man will keep him, and now Wenger has said he thinks that Rooney will end up staying at old trafford. Though Wenger also questions the way United have gone about contract negotiations. Chelsea seem to be acting more honestly as Ancelloti admits that the press would have to ask Abramovitch if his club would be interested in trying to entice him to London.
The Telegraph report that Rooney could buy himself out of his United contract for as little as £5 million during the final year of his contract. I'm not sure any buying club would encourage him to choose that course as it could end up happening to them somewhere down the road.
Jim White reminds us that one of Alex Ferguson's major character traits as a football manager has always been to be a gambler, but he thinks that this will be his biggest gamble yet. And he worries that if he is wrong there is only one way for Manchester United Football Club and that is down. Paul Hayward calls this Fergies biggest challenge and thinks Rooney holds most of the aces. Who is going to carry us as Rooney did last season, we have seen so far this season there is no one at the club anywhere near being able to assume that mantle. Having said that i still think he will sanction Rooney's transfer and i sadly think he will be right to do so.
The big question to me is will the Glazer's back Ferguson's judgement as Mark Ogden describes this a nightmare scenarion for the gimps. I toally agree with his analysis that as much as they would love the money to pay off the debt, they know that they need at least one big name star in the team, for advertsing purposes if not for actually performing on the pitch.
Phil McNulty of the BBC thinks United won't be able to compete without Rooney and need to come to some arrangement. Well he is right about his importance on the pitch last season, but if his relationship with Fergie had broke down to the extent that we get performances like we did on Saturday, never mind all the media circus and possible dressing room problems we may face, it's better to get rid.

David Blanchflower labels Osborne a coward for his handling of the economy and his approach to cutting the deficit. I agree with the Keynesian approach Blanchflower advocates but if he is aiming to change the coalitions minds that may not be the best way of going about it. 
Larry Elliott describes the three different schools of thought on how cutting the deficit should be tackled, and predicts more economists will start to find the inner Keynes in themselves as the coalitions approach to the deficit comes unstuck.
Jeremy Warner asks how draconian will Osborne's cuts be .
The Telegraph report that corporate Britain is buoyed by the news of £1.7 billion worth of takeover deals in a single day. And that's suppose to be good news, unbelievable. Casino capitalism strikes back.

This is an interesting take on chancellor Osborne's long term outlook for the British economy. Well it's heading in the right direction but as the author says current tory policies are very unlikely to get us there.

The Torygraph reports that there may be more than 90,000 people that have "inherited" subsidised council homes who may not have qualified for state help. May is a little word isn't it, so what do we do throw them out. Does the Barclay brother owning rag ever report on tax evasion, offshore tax exiles or any of the people just like the papers owners who cost this country far more money than our so called benefit cheats.

A fascinating column by the Economists Bagehot on Britain's lack of like minded allies on the world stage.
Marin Wolf explains why he thinks Vince Cable should block Murdoch's attempt to buyout the remiander of BSkyB but goes further to explain why he would media onwership rules much stricter. Can't argue with any of that. Murdoch and Fox are on their way to destroying what influence the US has left in the world, first after cheering on the whole disastrous neocon experiment and now by trying to block the much needed economic reform of the country.

More Facebook privacy breaches, inadvertantly though says the company.

Giant drag