Spare a thought this morning for Richard Scudamore, the current Chief Executive of the F.A. Premier League, in this his season of need for stabilisation and support of authority within the game. No sooner does he put a timely and much-needed plank of respect in place than another much-heralded plank mouths off into a camera and spoils the effect good and proper. Except it’s not good and it’s far from proper [behaviour-wise] to berate a worldwide audience using both disgusting body and English language to emphasise your superiority over an opposing team, let alone continue a personal vendetta against perceived persecution. Understand it or not, that single moment left nobody in any doubt as to Wayne Rooney’s lack of almost anything you care to name, whether it be control, composure, or, as Scudamore was bound to recall in an instant, RESPECT. And yet, despite the horror of it all, I have a measure of sympathy for R Wayne, and here’s why…

Ever since his undoubted talent propelled him from Everton and into the spotlight of Manchester United fame and fortune it has been to the accompaniment of universal praise and pretty much overall indulgence of his fallibilities, of which there are many, off-field as well as on. Not least of these is his brazen disregard of the sort of standards craved at the top level, standards which have admittedly been slipping of their own accord, from a no more than a mid-table position, for many a year. However, that said and accepted as a sad truth, what R Wayne has found at Old Trafford is a family atmosphere of condescension to match his own, epitomised by a managerial father figure all too eager to ‘eff and blind’ at authority whenever the fancy takes him and a supporting crowd that positively revels in the belief that ’We’re Manchester United, we can do what we want!’…no matter the consequences, one has to assume.

Add to this sorry state of affairs the sad fact that past FA punishment has been greeted with a mere cursory shrug of the shoulders and a derisory ’can’t even tell the truth these days’ in this most influential part of football’s fiefdom and you can begin to see why sympathy exists for someone adopted [transferred] into the environment at such an impressionable age. Having a trophy-winning manager who is himself a prisoner of his own prejudices cannot help Rooney overcome his obvious limitations and trapped in a personal nightmare of limited vocabulary certainly doesn’t aide his cause either. Of course, there are those, such as team mate Rio Ferdinand, who provide succour (or suck R, as he would text) and this must be a bit of a bum R too, mainly because the United Scarlet Pimpernel - they seek him here, they seek him there, those Italians and drugs testers seek him everywhere - has acquired a certain ethereal quality of late, which is no bloody use in any up close [to a TV camera] and personal [it’s personal, alright] fight with authority.

So there you have it, my case for R Wayne is one based on mitigating circumstances and I haven’t even had time to rope in a once compliant Media that now, with the notable exception of a subdued Sky Sports News, appears to be thirsting for blood. Those of us with long memories will shudder to remember the blatant Richard Keys tongue-in-cheek apology following Didier’s ’****ing disgrace’ outburst and Sky’s deliberate turning up of the volume. No such tomfoolery was required on Saturday, but in stark contrast, if they could have kept things quiet in Wayne’s World they surely would have. Why? Well, you have to say it’s Sky isn’t it, and it’s ManU, and they are on the brink of winning their [sports] TV flagship Premiership once again….and they do what they want, when they want, to whom they want, don’t they? Classy, eh? No doubt about it, Richard Scudamore has a lot to ponder.

Should Loz and Mod ever require to advertise the Shed End website, they need look no further for a slogan than - "The only website with a Dorset!"

Look like the FA have "flexed" their muscle....2 match ban, pending an appeal

Has the world turned upside down? FA handing out punishments for Ferguson and Rooney, us not getting Barcelona (maybe in the final if we reach it) in the Champions League and UEFA(?) considering using technology to help the refs.

Is this the first sign of the Apocalypse?

I blame Kenyon?

Those of us with long memories will shudder to remember the blatant Richard Keys tongue-in-cheek apology following Didier’s ’****ing disgrace’ outburst and Sky’s deliberate turning up of the volume.

I've often read about this and assumed it was just a rumour, but I came across these clips on YouTube:

1. The bit that caught DD on camera just as they cut to the adverts:

2. The bit after the break when Sky 'accidentally' showed the swearing again:

On a par with SKY turning down our fans drowning out the Kop, only far more malevolent.

...Sky 'accidentally' showed the swearing again...

It's just pathetic that they try to pretend there was something accidental about showing it again.

.....and so the unpleasantness continues to escalate, as Sir Alex now goes into battle against a Wolverhampton copper who has had the sheer effrontery to be critical of R Wayne. The guy in question is Superintendent Mark Payne who has apparently "seen a thousand Rooneys and I am sure most police officers will have [recognised] the same aggressive stance, the bulging eyes, the foul-mouthed rant, fists clenched, surrounded by his mates, all cheering him on". He then added “people in positions of influence have an obligation to behave like human beings. It is not a lot to ask." Harsh, but fair, I’d guess you have to say. However, true to form, Ferguson saw it differently at his latest press conference and responded in typical fashion with the withering retort that Payne was "a wee guy, sitting down in the Midlands, probably never been recognised in his life" who had "managed to elevate himself to whatever it is in the police force". Unrepentant scorn was then poured on with the words "some people feel the need to be noticed; maybe people don't know he's there."

David Conn [The Guardian] has since called this belittlement of Payne ‘shameful’, amidst much vitriolic rebuke from the massed ranks of United fans eager to blog their belligerent support, defiant to the very last man. Yet Conn is so right to buck the trend set by lazy hacks, Ferguson apologists and back-slapping--ex-players-turned-pundits who consistently line up to pander to his ego, laugh at his jokes, beg for interviews and simper ‘thanks Alex‘ at the end of it all. Shameful, indeed, and with it perhaps we are witnessing the lowest point in MUFC’s history, because it just goes to show how out of touch Ferguson and his cronies are with the way any right-thinking society should act in this day and age. It appears that nothing will stop the knight in his relentless crusade against decency and respect for the game in general and behavioural standards in particular - unless, of course, the FA decide a points deduction is the only way left to stem the bitter flow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOENd_S-Ybc

what a tosser