It's Stretford vs Ferguson in Rooney battle

The great stand, which has hailed the club's icons down the years, shares a name with the man, who could have influenced the most damaging blow in the whole of Ferguson's 24 years here.

Agent Paul Stretford is the puppet-master behind Wayne Rooney's decision not to sign a new contract at United. He also used to be a good friend of Ferguson's when they lived on the same road in Wilmslow but now the two men, who have both been described as 'father figures' in Rooney's life, have met in a head-on collision from which no-one can walk away unhurt.

On one hand, there is Ferguson, the man who signed Rooney for ufffd25.6m from Everton in August '04 and took him to his peak.

On the other hand, there is Stretford, the former vacuum salesman, who has propelled Rooney to an estimated fortune of ufffd33m and has also planned wife Colleen's career in media and fashion.

It's a battle that has reached its end-game, with Stretford winning the day ufffd a pay day, that is, for he cashes in on commission of up to 20 per cent on some of Rooney's branding deals.

The Rooney-Stretford dream team have done it once before, to David Moyes. The Everton manager blamed the player's 'advisors' for the 18-year-old ufffd who once wore a shirt proclaiming 'Once a blue, always a blue' ufffd joining United. Ferguson will now be doing the same.

At the heart of Rooney's decision though is money.

Rooney earns around ufffd15m a year, but across town, Manchester City are paying Yaya Toure, a defensive midfielder, over ufffd200,000-a-week. Rooney knows he can earn more elsewhere, and as time passes and his contract reaches expiration (2012) he holds power. If he enforces the Webster ruling by buying out his contract for as little as ufffd5m ufffd a legal loophole the European Club Association members have an unwritten agreement not to exploit ufffd all the cash reserved for a transfer fee could go into his pocket. It's certainly something that would have been mentioned by Stretford, who turned Rooney into a commercial machine by negotiating a pay packet of ufffd100,000-per-week plus image rights, he set up endorsements with Nike ( ufffd1m-a-year) and Coca-Cola ( ufffd600,00-a-year) among others, and sealed a ufffd5m book deal with publisher Harper Collins, the biggest in the country for a sportsman.

Ferguson however, still playing the father figure, leaves the door ajar in the vain hope that Rooney will perform a U-turn. But that looks unlikely. Ferguson seems to have lost this biggest of battles to Rooney's other father figure, and the lure of the green as much as the gold.

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