England boss Sven Goran Eriksson can expect to feel the wrath of Fergie should Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney breakdown during the World Cup.
It's been revealed that Eriksson has informed his coaching staff that, fitness permitting, he would like to field Rooney for 30 minutes against Sweden - if England have already beaten Paraguay and Trinidad & Tobago.
United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has strong reservations about Rooney taking any part in the tournament, never mind accelerating his recovery to make his comeback in only 12 days' time.
With Eriksson close to the end of his employment with the FA there is a suspicion that he has become demob happy.
"There is a huge difference between running round a few poles and kicking a lightweight football around to having 13 stone of Argentine defender jumping on your recently broken foot," one of the people involved in yesterday's scan told the Guardian. "If Rooney gets injured in the course of the tournament then you can expect the mother of all Glaswegian explosions."
Breaking off from his holiday in the south of France, Ferguson voiced his misgivings in the strongest possible terms during a series of fractious top-level telephone calls to, among others, the FA executive director David Davies, but ultimately he was powerless to do anything more than request that his star player be treated with extreme caution. The FA will try to appease United and their manager by promising to update them on a daily basis.
It's been revealed that Eriksson has informed his coaching staff that, fitness permitting, he would like to field Rooney for 30 minutes against Sweden - if England have already beaten Paraguay and Trinidad & Tobago.
United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has strong reservations about Rooney taking any part in the tournament, never mind accelerating his recovery to make his comeback in only 12 days' time.
With Eriksson close to the end of his employment with the FA there is a suspicion that he has become demob happy.
"There is a huge difference between running round a few poles and kicking a lightweight football around to having 13 stone of Argentine defender jumping on your recently broken foot," one of the people involved in yesterday's scan told the Guardian. "If Rooney gets injured in the course of the tournament then you can expect the mother of all Glaswegian explosions."
Breaking off from his holiday in the south of France, Ferguson voiced his misgivings in the strongest possible terms during a series of fractious top-level telephone calls to, among others, the FA executive director David Davies, but ultimately he was powerless to do anything more than request that his star player be treated with extreme caution. The FA will try to appease United and their manager by promising to update them on a daily basis.
