Wayne Rooney The expression on Wayne Rooney\'s face was bordering on embarrassment. He shifted on his feet a little. Then he blew out his cheeks, shook his head and, in four

words, tried to sum up the lingering sense of awkwardness.
\"How wrong was I\" he said, and no one listening to him could have been mistaken: this was a statement rather than a question.

These are the moments when Rooney can look back at the troubled times last autumn and shudder when he thinks of the potential glories he might have missed had he not pulled himself back from leaving Manchester United or, to borrow Sir Alex Ferguson\'s line, realised that the cow in the next field might not be any better than the cow he already milked.
\"Big trouble\" are the words Patrice Evra uses to recall that chilly October night against Bursaspor when Rooney went public with his grievances and United\'s supporters demonised the Liverpudlian with spiteful banners.

Evra remembers \"everyone was criticising Manchester United that night, everyone was saying it was the end of the empire\".
That was Rooney\'s fault, the nadir of a season that has endured some excruciating lows to go alongside the exhilarating highs that culminated in Schalke being outpassed, outthought, outfought and eventually outclassed in Gelsenkirchen.
It has been a wild graph of ups and downs but, as Rooney boarded flight TK3671 from Dortmund to Manchester on Wednesday, this was a man contemplating an uncommon form of job satisfaction and just glad relieved, if we are being truthful that he was given the opportunity to change his mind. \"I made a mistake,\" he volunteered and, up close, you could detect he felt uncomfortable with all the self-analysis maybe even a little foolish.
\"You know, when I look back at it now, I\'ll say it again, how wrong was I? I\'m willing to admit that. I\'ve apologised and ever since then I have wanted to try to prove myself again to the fans. I feel I am doing that now.\"
Everything is coming together. Rooney had doubted the club\'s transfer policy after a summer in which they had recruited the unheralded Javier Hernndez and Chris Smalling. Now the team he suspected would fall short have authentic hope of following up the near-certainty of a record 19th league title with the third European Cup of Ferguson\'s reign.

Rooney has seen enough of Hernndez to proclaim him as \"the buy of the century\" and, after looking like someone who was falling out of love with the sport as the leaves started falling from the trees, the man United\'s supporters serenade as \"the white Pele\" has scored 12 times in the 21 games. \"I\'m delighted with my form at the minute and I\'m grateful to the fans for supporting me through it [his transfer demands],\" he said.
\"I hope I\'ve repaid the fans now. I certainly feel vindicated [for changing my mind]. It\'s going to be a great end to the season if we can get to Wembley and win a Champions League final as well as the league.\"

From : Gulf News