The Sweeper: Why Wayne Rooney felt he was singled out by Sir Alex Ferguson for Boxing Day antics of Manchester United stars

Rooney was fined a week’s wages - worth around £220,000 (€265,000) - and dropped for the New Year’s Eve clash against Blackburn after the evening out in Southport, while he was also forced to train on a scheduled day off.

When asked if he had complained about his fine, Rooney told Italian newspaper La Repubblica: "Yes, but for reasons that I can't say. I accepted it.”

The Sweeper can reveal that the reason behind Rooney’s response was the feeling that he had been unfairly singled out by Sir Alex Ferguson for actually going out, rather than for the reason stated by the manager of delivering a below-par performance in training the following day.

Rooney, 26, felt doubly aggrieved because he knew that a number of his team-mates other than Gibson and Evans had been out on Boxing Day night, when there was no curfew in place, and had not been punished.

The Sweeper has seen photographic proof that Ryan Giggs spent the night in bars in the Deansgate area of Manchester city centre, including Irish pub Mulligans, while Phil Jones tweeted that he went to Chinese restaurant Wings.

In the interview, Rooney admitted that the punishment made him “tense”, although he acknowledged: "You can't always agree. Football is made up of all kinds of conflict in a dressing room - between players, between us and the manager, between us and loads of people who don't seem to matter. It's constant and harsh sometimes."

Both Rooney and Ferguson have been at pains to send out a clear message that the situation has now been put behind them, but the revelation by The Sweeper again raises questions about the relationship between the manager and star player at Old Trafford.

The pair had a damaging stand-off in October 2010 after Rooney handed in a transfer request before signing a new contract, and there has been speculation that he may even leave the club in the summer.

But The Sweeper understands that he could have taken on an even more prestigious London post had Harry Redknapp got his way.

The Tottenham manager wanted to bring Hart’s vast experience of developing youthful talent to White Hart Lane and re-jig the academy set-up, which is currently headed by John McDermott.

But Hart was encouraged to go to Charlton partly by the promise that he would step in and take the reins if rookie manager Chris Powell failed to turn around a troubled start to his tenure.

It appears that Hart will have to bide his time, as Charlton sit at the top of League One and will extend their lead to seven points if they defeat second-placed Sheffield United at the Valley today.

Spare

Mark Bowen, Eddie Niedzwiecki and Kevin Hitchcock have worked alongside Hughes at Blackburn Rovers, Manchester City, Fulham and now Rangers, as well as the Wales national team.

But Hodges is in the second year of a two-year contract at Fulham that did not have the same break clause as Hughes, who was followed out of Craven Cottage shortly after his exit last June by Bowen and Niedzwiecki.

Hitchcock stayed on working for the Fulham academy until being invited to join Hughes at Loftus Road last week.

Meanwhile, Hodges, the 48-year-old former Wales international, remains in a comparatively lowly role, working as a matchday scout.

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