Boss Delighted By Rooney Decision

Sir Alex Ferguson spoke to MUTV shortly after the news broke that Wayne Rooney has agreed to stay at United...

It’s amazing, this world we’re in. It’s often upside-down and it’s had another turn today. Wayne has had second thoughts, he’s realised the enormity of Manchester United and wants to stay.

Sometimes when you’re at a club you think things are better elsewhere. But once the news came out that Wayne wanted to leave, the publicity and impact that had, and the response it generated about how big Manchester United is, resonated with him quite a lot.

He apologised to me and the players this morning, and I think he’ll do that with the fans, which is important, because we’ve all been hurt by the events of the last couple of days. I always feel it’s a quality in a person to say he’s sorry. I admire that in people. He realises he’s made a mistake, and that happens, particularly with young people.

I don’t know where that [the accusation that United lacked ambition] was coming from – you have to wonder about that. Just look at Wayne's record since he’s been here. He’s won the European Cup, the Club World Cup, the League Cup, FA Cup and three league titles.

I’m really delighted he's decided to stay because in my time, no-one has ever come to me in that fashion, asking to leave. Cristiano [Ronaldo] was the perhaps the only one, but I could understand that he wanted to move on because he'd been here six years and he’s from a different culture.

The job for us now is to put this behind us, get Wayne Rooney back on the pitch and playing the way we know he can do. It’s a big day for Manchester United and it’s also a message to all our players and fans that we are the biggest club in the world, and we should never forget that.

We have to kick on. The older I get, the more I demand of myself in terms of winning things, because the criticism bites deeper. When we’re not doing well there's always a reaction in the media, so we have to guard against that. Sometimes my job is to keep us off the front and back pages, and you can only do that by winning.

Our most important issue now is Sunday's game against Stoke. We’re lagging behind Chelsea and have to start making up ground quickly. We can only do that with everyone on board, no-one jumping ship, so we can push on and see the real Manchester United.