The Rooney Blog

TREBLE DREAM BITES THE DUST By Kevin Rooney. So Manchester United have gone from three competitions to nearly one in the space of seven days. A European exit at the hands of Real Madrid and hanging on in the end against Chelsea in the FA Cup. Fergie will not be looking forward to the cup replay at the Bridge. Remember, Manchester United exited the League Cup on the very same ground a couple of months ago. Football can be cruel. When the Red Devils beat Norwich last weekend to go 15 points clear in the league, many fans were dreaming of another treble a la 1999. Tuesday’s exit in the UCL at the hands of Real Madrid put paid to that. Juan Mata nearly put paid to a domestic double. I expect Chelsea to progress at home in the replay but Fergie should be happy with reclaiming the league. The league is your ‘bread and butter’ and seeing off the petro dollars at Man City will bring a wide smile to Alex’s face. There’s always next season for the treble eh. ——————— HARRY HOUDINI STRIKES AGAIN. When Cockney geezer ‘Arry Redknapp rolled up at QPR last December not many people gave him much hope of saving the beleaguered ‘Rs. Three months on and QPR are level on points with Reading and are within a point of Wigan in the battle to stay in the Prem. This is the season no chairman wants relegation what with the new multi-billion pound TV deal commencing in the summer. Come August, the 20 clubs who make up the 2013/14 PL season will be £50m better off thanks to Sky and BT. I expect the relegation issues to go down to the wire but i wouldn’t be at all surprised if ‘Harry Houdini’ does it again and keeps QPR up. ——————— WORLD CUP WORRIES FOR FIFA The ‘greatest show on earth’ is less than eighteen months away. In June 2014, 32 teams will compete for the Jules Rimet trophy in Brazil. But the head honchos at FIFA are a little bit concerned to say the least with the preparations in Brazil for the 2014 World Cup. New stadiums are being built and the legendary Maracana stadium is being refurbished. But everything is behind schedule and with Brazil playing host to the Confederations Cup this summer, FIFA is rightly getting worried. There’s a real chance FIFA will take both the Confed’ Cup and the World Cup out of Brazil if the hosts don’t get a move on. Let’s hope everything is ready in time meaning fans from across the globe can experience a Brazilian World Cup and of course the raucous Copacabana beach!! ——————— AND FINALLY…….. This went somewhat under the radar recently. ESPN will be exiting the Irish/UK market this summer with its portfolio of rights such as the FA Cup, Aviva rugby, UFC etc passing to BT. For a tenner a month (or free on some Virgin Media cable packages), ESPN was good value. Something tells me the new sports channels from BT will not be as keenly priced!]]>