Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United were given a guard of honor by Chelsea in May 2007 after winning the Premier League, but Wayne Rooney was not happy with the move.
Wayne Rooney embarrassed by honor guard (Image: The Wayne Rooney Show)
Manager Wayne Rooney has criticized Sir Alex Ferguson for the “poor” decisions he made in an attempt to destroy Chelsea in 2007. When Manchester United appeared at Stamford Bridge on 9 May 2007, they had just won the Premier League title, giving Ferguson the opportunity to make a statement.
At the time, United and Chelsea had a fierce rivalry, with Ferguson trailing Jose Mourinho by one point in the Premier League. Ferguson’s side won the title for the first time since 2003 and were given a guard of honor by their rivals before the match.
Both managers have rotated their teams in anticipation of the upcoming FA Cup final. Ferguson chose a side that included young players in Chris Eagles, Kieran Lee, Don Fanzhou and Adam Eckersley, creating a farcical scene in which Chelsea players sent United substitutes onto the pitch.
Rooney came on as a substitute as the match finished 0-0, but he hinted that he felt Ferguson was out of form and perhaps wanted to humiliate his opponent. “I remember feeling sick when we played against Chelsea,” he said on The Wayne Rooney Show.
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“It was a really disappointing feeling because we had won the league and Chelsea were giving us a guard of honor. I think he was playing with Kieran Lee, Don and Adam Eckersley.”
“He played with all the young players,[Frank]Lampard, John Terry and all the Chelsea first-team players gave a guard of honor to all these young players. It felt bad, it felt bad for us and we shouldn’t have done that.”
Asked why, Rooney added: “The players who were sent off didn’t deserve a guard of honor. It was their first game of the season! If Chelsea had done that, I wouldn’t have wanted it.”
Chelsea have presented a guard of honor to a much-changed Manchester United squad (Image: John Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images)
Coach Ferguson was delighted that his much-changed side were able to secure a draw. “I’m happy with the result, because we were playing for a little bit of honor and pride,” he said after the game. “Maybe people looked at the team and expected that we wouldn’t care, or that Chelsea would upset us, but that wasn’t the case.”
Chelsea’s guard of honor was born two years after United had to do the same against the Blues at Old Trafford. Mourinho leading Chelsea to the title meant the likes of Rooney, Roy Keane, Gary Neville and Rio Ferdinand had to applaud him on the pitch.
Phil Neville later suggested that Ferguson had relished the opportunity. “It was like, ‘This is going to hurt when you see a title-winning team playing in your own stadium, and you have to applaud them,'” he told Premier League Productions.
“That was kind of a motivation (tactic) for the next season to make sure it never happens again. That’s how we used it. Ultimately you have to pay respect to the best team in the league with the best manager and the best players by giving them a guard of honor. I think that’s something that should be done out of respect for the team that won the league.”
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