Inevitably the press are calling for his public evisceration. But who should do the punishing? The FA? The Premier League? Hardly. Bad language is used daily in professional football to, about and in front of referees, by both players and fans alike. As with many other aspects of a game in which cheating is rife, the authorities know perfectly well what is wrong and do absolutely nothing to prevent it. For them to punish Rooney would be the grossest hypocrisy. For all its ritualised violence, rugby does the discipline job much better.
Meanwhile, United march on towards a record 19th title. On Saturday their comeback had the mark of champions; their closest rivals Arsenal on the other hand, away at Blackburn, played like eunuchs. If Ferguson's team is successful again, he will truly have fulfilled the promise, made all those years ago, to "knock Liverpool off their perch".
OK, what he actually said was, "knock Liverpool off their fucking perch". So perhaps Ferguson isn't the man to punish Rooney either.
