Soccer: Ferguson pays price for tiff with Rooney

It can be assumed Sir Alex Ferguson's 70th birthday will not be remembered among his best after United's vigorous pursuit of their upwardly mobile neighbours was humiliatingly derailed by the relegation favourites.

Time will tell whether it also marked the point at which another highly charged relationship between the Godfather-manager and a superstar player suffered an irreparable split.

In response to reports that Wayne Rooney's absence from Sunday's party-pooping lunchtime defeat at the hands of basement club Blackburn was due not to injury or illness but the consequence of a breach of club discipline, United's official website was still carrying Ferg-uson's pre-match explanation.

Rooney was supposedly suffering from "little strains here and there" and had "missed a few days' training" but was expected to return for Thursday's match at Newcastle after extra sessions over the weekend.

It was reported Rooney had been fined and dropped after dining out on Boxing Day evening with teammates Jonny Evans and Darron Gibson and their partners. It's alleged Rooney also upset Ferguson during the club's Christmas quiz when, given the film Bend It Like Beckham in a charades round, he mimed Ferguson hitting Beckham with a flying boot.

If true, sidelining Rooney would seem an extraordinary step for Ferguson to take when United are so beset with injuries that their bench on Sunday included four teenagers, defender Ezekiel Fryers the only one with Premier League experience with his two runs as a substitute.

Yet Ferguson still has a reputation for no-compromise discipline and has shown himself repeatedly during his 25 years at Old Trafford to be unimpressed by status or ego. Beckham was gone less than six months after the boot incident, both Ruud van Nistelrooy and Jaap Stam departed after alleged rifts with Ferguson and the circumstances of Roy Keane's departure still rankle with the Irishman six years later.

Sunday's performance in his absence only emphasised Rooney's importance to United's ambitions after Ferguson stressed his desire to win a third European Cup before accepting that he must, at some stage, retire. His belief he has another three years in the job appears to have set a deadline.

- Independent