Date: 10th January 2012 at 8:47pm
Written by:

They say the night is darkest just before the dawn.

Harvey Dent, in the film The Dark Knight, says as much. And for Manchester United this past week, nothing could have been more true. Art imitating sport, or sport imitating art. A turbulent week commenced with the rumours of a new rift between the manager and Wayne Rooney resulting in the Englishman’s removal from the team against Blackburn Rovers, and on, and on.

As most of you well know, United fell to Rovers 3-2 at home. The starting eleven was less than encouraging, featuring a central midfielder in central defense and a winger and a fullback in the centre of the United midfield. And while Blackburn were bottom feeders, they are still a Premier League team and proved as much on the day. Rooney’s absence clearly had an affect on the match as United were uncharacteristically sloppy in attack and failed to make their early possession count. Complacency was the word of the day as it looked like the team assembled believed they could walk out of the tunnel at Old Trafford and in doing so win the three points. Credit to Blackburn for punching above their weight, but it has to be said that United could not have looked more uninterested.

Perhaps when many thought the night was as dark as it could have gotten, it grew blacker. United’s trip to the northeast was as far from pleasant as being an extra on Geordie Shore. Once again United were too complacent and Newcastle looked more like the team that is challenging for the league championship. United’s issues at the back were brought into the broadest of daylights especially following the Phil Jones own goal in which goalkeeper on the day Anders Lindegaard failed to direct Jones to clear or to call for the ball himself. For every person that was calling for Lindegaard to be our permanent keeper after de Gea’s stutters this term, the end of the Newcastle match as well as the derby at the weekend have put paid to such claims.

And so we found ourselves on the eve of another intoxicating Manchester derby. But unlike in derbies gone by, many reds found themselves as hopeless as Emile Heskey in front of goal. Where had the faith gone? The optimism fostered from a few good wins versus Queens Park Rangers, Fulham and Wigan Athletic disappeared faster than Andy Carroll’s strike rate upon joining Liverpool. I was one of the few reds who still believed in his team, who thought there was a path to victory against the noisy neighbours.

Amid more rumours about Rooney’s future with the club (doubtlessly unfounded and dismissed by the player, club and most importantly, agent) many doubted that United could win the day. Up stepped United’s dark knight, Wayne Rooney, to carry his team to victory once again against its most bitter rivals. Whether it was his immaculate header to open the scoring or his composed header to beat the City keeper after having his penalty saved, Rooney proved himself to be the hero for a club whose supporters may be as uncomfortable about having him as such as the citizens of Gotham to have Batman as theirs.

The match itself was a roller coaster full of twists and turns at the end of which United were fortunate to come out ahead. Whether it was Rooney’s header, the Kompany sending off, Scholes’ return to the squad and eventual substitute appearance, Lindegaard fumbling a shot into the path of Aguero or the uncalled potential handball on Jones at the end, the latest edition of the Manchester derby will live long in the collective memory of each fan base.

At the end of The Dark Knight Batman says “I’m whatever Gotham needs me to be” much in the same way Rooney is what United needs him to be. Whether it is a winger, central midfielder, supporting striker or central forward, Rooney has been everything to his manager during his time with United. And while United supporters may be uncomfortable still with the squad’s reliance upon the player who only last season doubted that the club matched his ambitions, we must come to terms with the fact that he is the hero we so desperately need in order to win a record-setting 20th league crown. He is the hero we need and the hero we deserve. Wayne Rooney is our dark knight. While we ought not waste our time on hero-worshipping him, we ought to better appreciate what he does for the thing we hold most dear, our beloved Manchester United.

Written By Charles of The Busby Boys

 

8 responses to “The Dark Knight Rises”

  1. sitesired says:

    Last season Rooney banned for 2 games allowed City the FA cup .We would of won had he been on the pitch .Blackburn this season where was he ?
    Yes he owes us more than one win over City.

    • RedScot says:

      Agreed mate that was an error of judgement going out on the swallie with Jonny Evans and Darron Gibson and partners.A bad call.United have had ‘mavericks’ throughout the clubs history though.Best, Cantona to name two United legends.
      That had that way- ward streak.

  2. we always play better with rooney

  3. RedScot says:

    I thought this article last night when I read it was absoloutely fantastic.It hit the ‘ correct’ points at this time of the season.Where we need all guns firing, to drag the team to the finishing line.Namely our top goal scorer Wayne.
    The anology between Batman and the Dark night fantastic.

    All time Manchester United career goals.

    1.Sir Bobby Charlton 249 goals.
    2 Denis Law 237 ”
    3 Jack Rowley 211 ”
    4.Dennis Violet 179 ”
    5.George Best 179 ”
    6.Joe Spence 168 ”
    7.Wayne Rooney 164 ”

    Who would bet on Wayne not overtaking at least Joe Spence bye this seasons end. To be the 6th top goal scorer ever at Manchester United.
    Set aside old sores.United needs you.Support all our players.It will help to win that 20th Title, we all want.

  4. Yosh says:

    We need to clone this bitch!

    • RedScot says:

      I can think of sweeter ways of expressing your view. But hay ho.
      Glad I did not see old 53 year old Timberland Timbo on this article.
      We would have been made mince meat of! lol.
      Provision, for safety’s sake (just in case) Yes the Silky Bulgarian is great. pmsl

  5. Hello friends, its enormous article regarding cultureand entirely defined, keep it up all the time.

  6. blackbberry says:

    I have a really fantastic feeling that they will remake Final Fantasy VII