Wayne Rooney brilliantly played Alex Ferguson and Manchester United with his sure footed manoeuvres to score his best victory yet – reportedly doubling his £90,000 a week salary following lame threats to join Manchester City. This has been calculated to equate to £936 per hour!!!

Rooney’s walk-out threats led to extraordinary scenes outside his home last night by militant United fans who carried a banner that read, “Join City ad you will die“. Come on guys, it’s just a game!!!

I believe the City threat was a tactic to force Ferguson’s hand – and it succeeded. After Rooney indicated he did not want to renew his deal, it led to frenzied media speculation and it seemed there was no way he was going to stay with Man United. But today we learn it was all a ploy and Rooney has become spectacularly rich by signing a new five-year contract worth £50 million. What a great birthday present for Rooney, who turns 25 on Sunday.

Do you think Rooney is worth £50 million? No way. I know we have a free market, but surely there should be a cap on what a footballer is worth. He is a moaner and a whinger with a hugely inflated ego and it makes me cringe to think he is valued that highly, especially during our present economic downturn when virtually every other industry is scrimping to survive. He always looks miserable and this picture is the first time I have seen him smile for a long time – and there are 50 million good reasons for that!

Can you remember his poor performance in this year’s World Cup? What a debacle that was, especially when he sarcastically questioned the loyalty of fans who travelled thousands of miles to support England after a pitiless goalless draw against Algeria and was booed as he left the pitch.

He told a tv crew: “Nice to see your own fans booing you. If that’s what loyal support is, for …. sake.”

He’s one to talk about loyalty after publicly denying that he was not suffering from an ankle problem – completely contradicting the words of his manager – following England’s draw against Montenegro 10 days ago. Rooney is still unable to play, yet I guess he still collects his big salary each week, regardless of whether he is fit to play or not.

If only Sir Alex had been brave enough to have given him the boot…..