Wayne Rooney leads Manchester United into the UEFA Champions League tournament. Bodog.com has Manchester United at 7 to 1 (Bet $1.00 to win $7.00) to win the UEFA Champions League. Manchester United Football Club is a world famous English football club, based at the Old Trafford stadium in Trafford, Greater Manchester.
They are one of the most popular sports clubs in the world with over 50 million supporters worldwide. Manchester United is one of the most successful clubs in the world, having won the FA Premier League/Football League 15 times, FA Cup 11 times (an English record), the League Cup twice, the European Cup twice, the UEFA Cup Winners Cup once, the Intercontinental Cup once, and the European Super Cup once. The club has had the highest average attendance in English football for the past 34 seasons, with the exception of 1987-89 during redevelopment at Old Trafford.
Sir Alex Ferguson hasn’t always had it easy at Man United; from 1986 to 1998 there were many changes and rumors, it was said even at one point, that Ferguson would get fired as head coach. The arrival of Eric Cantona in November 1992 provided the crucial spark for United, and blending with the best of trusted talent in Gary Pallister, Denis Irwin and Paul Ince, as well as budding stars like Ryan Giggs, they finished the 1992-93 season as Champions for the first time since 1967.
They won the double (the league and the FA Cup) for the first time the following season, aided by the capture of Roy Keane, a determined midfielder from Nottingham Forest, who would go on to become the team captain.
In 1994-95, Cantona received an eight month suspension for jumping into the crowd and assaulting a Crystal Palace supporter Matthew Simmons. Drawing their last league match and losing to Everton in the FA Cup final left United as runners up in both the league and FA Cup. Ferguson then outraged the supporters by selling key players and replacing them with players from the club's youth team, including David Beckham, Gary Neville, Phil Neville and Paul Scholes.
Bodog.com has Manchester United at 7 to 1 to win the UEFA Champions League.
The new players, several of whom quickly became regular internationals for England, did surprisingly well and United won the double again in 1995-96. This was the first time any English club had won the double twice, and the feat was nicknamed the "Double Double".
They won the league in 1997, and Éric Cantona announced his retirement from football at the age of 30. They started the following season (1997-98) well, but they finished the season in second place, behind the double-winning champions Arsenal.
1998-99 was when Manchester United had the most successful season in English club football history as they became the first and only English team to win The Treble, winning the Premiership, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League in the same season. After a very tense Premier League season, Manchester United won the title on the final day beating Tottenham Hotspur 2-1, whilst Arsenal won 1-0 against Aston Villa. Winning the Premiership was the first part of the Treble in place, the one part that manager Alex Ferguson described as the hardest. In the FA Cup Final United faced Newcastle United and won 2-0 with goals from Teddy Sheringham and Paul Scholes. In the final match of that season, the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final they defeated Bayern Munich in what was then considered one of the greatest comebacks ever witnessed, losing going to into injury time and scoring twice to win 2-1.
Ferguson was subsequently knighted for his services to English football. Rounding out that record breaking year, Manchester United also won the Intercontinental Cup after beating Palmeiras 1-0 in Tokyo.
Before turning 17 and becoming eligible for a professional contract, Wayne Rooney was playing for £80 a week at Everton and living with his family on a council estate. Since then it has been raised several times and Rooney now earns an estimated £51,755 a week.
Rooney handed in a transfer request to Everton and on 31 August 2004, signed for Manchester United after a deal worth around £31 million (£49 million including wages) was agreed. The deal was concluded just hours before the transfer deadline.
The initial fee of £23m was paid to Everton over two years; the rest of the money depends on appearances and/or success at Manchester United and/or England. It is likely the fee will reach the maximum £31m within the next 3 years.
Rooney made his debut for the club on 28 September 2004 in the UEFA Champions League against Fenerbahçe, scoring a hat trick and also an assist (the match finished in a 6-2 win for United). For the 2005-06 season, Rooney initially started playing in wider positions than his more favoured central role. Pundits and fans alike agreed that he seemed less effective in such positions. Eventually, after Manchester United's poor run of form early in the season, Sir Alex Ferguson moved him back to his stronger position, playing behind Dutchman Ruud van Nistelrooy as a second striker. Ruud has since then moved to Real Madrid.
UEFA Club competition honors
Winners European Clubs’ Cup 1967/68
Winners UEFA Champions League 1998/99
Winners UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup 1990/91
Winners EUSA Cup 1999
Winners UEFA Super Cup 1991
