First published in The Pink, Saturday October 23, 2010

"FOOTBALL fans are stupid and believe whatever is fed to them."

That is what Wayne Rooney’s advisers must have been saying earlier this week with all the bull about Manchester United not matching his ambition.

To have the audacity to think that anyone would believe that the biggest club in the world, managed by one of the most successful managers of all time doesn’t have enough ambition is quite simply astonishing.

Money already has a vast number of synonyms in British English. Dosh, readies, wonga, moolah – and now we can seemingly add “ambition” to that list.

The Rooney saga is just another chip away at the love affair this country – no, the world – has with football.

How long before Wazza is kissing the badge, as he runs towards the Stretford End in jubilation? To be honest, it makes me sick.

I’m a grown man, I understand what a job is and how that works. Just because I’m also a football fan does not mean I naively believe every player that pulls on a Saints shirt will be bursting with pride because they have a Southampton crest on their chest.

If a player wants to leave for something better, well then so be it. Extra money or a bigger club are perfectly justifiable reasons, just the same as most people you meet in any normal job would be more than happy to jump ship for a pat rise of 25 to 100 per cent.

The difference is normal people would admit that fact rather than trying to pretend there was a more benign motive behind it.

Can you imagine a cashier from Barclays saying Lloyds TSB “offered more ambition”?

Manchester City, Rooney’s most talked about suitor before the jaw-dropping Uturn this week, certainly have plenty of ambition. However, there the ambition is to be AS big and AS successful as Manchester United.

So why would the move from Old Trafford to Eastlands make any sense?

What remains to be seen is how the Rooney leaving-but-now-staying thing will be taken by the red half of Manchester. We saw their reaction during this week’s Champion’s League game and the ugly scenes outside the player’s house on Thursday night (whoever thought that was a good idea needs their head examined).

Love them or loathe them, United fans are quick witted with their chants and banners.

As you can imagine, I can’t really repeat some of the wording used, but they turned recent allegations against their adopted son around to make it clear how wronged they felt.

Rooney’s own reaction when being booed after the Algeria match in South Africa underlined not only how fans can impact upon matches, but also how badly players take negative reactions from the crowd.

I don’t personally believe booing your own team achieves an awful lot (if anything I think you shoot yourself in the foot, but that’s another debate entirely) but I can understand why people do it.

If you’ve just unloaded a couple of grand to watch some millionaires doing their jobs badly, I’d say you’ve got a fairly good case for venting your frustrations.

The top players now appear so vastly removed from the rest of us, they seem not to have much idea how to relate to the ‘little’ people like you and me. They honestly seem to think that a bit of PR spin and puff will make everything look okay.

Sadly, it does work to a degree, but many see through it. Also, the more you try to pull the wool over people’s eyes the more obvious the trick becomes. That is why this stuff about ‘ambition’ and Rooney has annoyed so many people.

Now, there are many theories about what has actually happened behind closed doors at Old Trafford. Perhaps, I’m doing Rooney a massive disservice by suggesting that money was the prime motivator in the events of the last few days.

Some have suggested it is in fact an elaborate ploy by Ferguson and Rooney to heap pressure on the Glazers.

If so, well, I doff my cap as it was a masterstroke – the sort of outflanking manoeuvre that would have ended the First World War about three years earlier had General Haig had the foresight to use it.

However, I think the most likely explanation is the simplest. Rooney wanted more money, kicked up a stink and got a huge wedge shoved at him.

And that’s fine. Just don’t try to dress it up and play us all for mugs.