Some totally unconnected things:
1) Wayne Rooney was unsettled in Merseyside, and life became harder for him there after he was signed to write a column for The Sun which attracted much anger towards him. Rooney was said to have been advised on this deal by his agents, Pro-active Sports.
2) Man Utd wanted to make a bid for Rooney in January’s transfer window. Who knows what his form would be then, and therefore his value. Selling him now would increase the value of the deal, seeing as the last time he played was in the European Championships, where he set the tournament alight.
3) Man Utd were forced into bidding now because Newcastle United made a bid. That bid seems odd, seeing how they were close to sacking a manager at the time; it’s hard to see how they thought they would ever land him given the turmoil at the club at the time.
4) Kenny Shepherd, the son of Newcastle United’s Chairman Freddy Shepherd, works for Rooney’s agents. Freddy has 88,000 shares in Pro-active. Freddy often plays golf with the head of Pro-active.
5) When the deal was done, Pro-active made 1M out of the deal, rising to 1.5M.
6) Graeme Souness has shares in Pro-active and is now Newcastle manager.
It’s a funny old world!