Two court actions await Wayne Rooney when he returns to Manchester

Posted Wednesday, November 10, 2010 by theguardian.com

Two court actions await Wayne Rooney when he returns to Manchester
The Manchester United striker, Wayne Rooney, could return to England with two court cases to worry about.

Wayne Rooney faces a potential double headache on his return from the "change of scenery" prescribed by Manchester United last week, when they dispatched him to Nike's US headquarters, missing tonight's derby at Eastlands. That headache relates to two separate court actions that could be heard over the course of this season.

The first is the hangover of his and his wife Coleen's previous, successful defence against a £4m claim from his former agent, Proactive. Although the Rooneys won that case, the United forward still owes Proactive for unpaid invoices for services rendered until the autumn of 2008, the subject of a hearing some time next spring. Proactive will claim a seven-figure sum but the Rooney camp is highly confident the judge's indications are that he will have to pay no more than £100,000.

Perhaps more disruptive will be Proactive's claim against Rooney's long-serving agent, Paul Stretford. Proactive's litigation will attest that Stretford, who was sacked by the company in 2008 for alleged gross misconduct, is personally liable for the company's loss of future commissions after it lost Rooney as a client as a consequence of the sacking. Stretford, £2.6m a year better off after negotiating Rooney's recent contract extension, is said to be supremely relaxed about the latest litigation. Indeed he believes it will not even reach court.

United and England fans must hope there is an early settlement. The last court action is said by many in the game to have contributed to the state of mind that has so undermined his level of performance this year.

North London rivals put publisher out of print

Twenty-four hours after Digger revealed Cre8 Publishing had lost its contracts with Celtic and Rangers, it emerges that Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur have also cancelled their arrangements. "Arsenal Magazine will no longer be published by Cre8 Publishing as, for various contractual reasons the club have decided to terminate the agreement," Arsenal said in a statement last week. "All current Arsenal subscribers should contact their bank and cancel any direct debit payment with immediate effect."

Spurs withdrew their programme-publication agreement with Cre8 some weeks ago, although the company still lists Everton, Manchester City, Newcastle United, Stoke City, West Ham United and Wolverhampton Wanderers as clients.

Meanwhile, London 2012's head of sponsorship, Charlie Wijeratna, has been named Spurs' new commercial director, almost a year after Paul Barber left the post.

Olympic Stadium could go the Wembley Way

Tottenham and West Ham could face competition from International Stadia Group in their ambitions to take over the Olympic Stadium at Stratford as their post-2012 home. ISG makes great play of its experience at Wembley, where the chief executive, Andrew Hampel, and business development and funding director, Richard Cheesman, were key players in the delivery of the £420m of bank debt that underpinned the stadium construction. Hampel designed the corporate-seating revenue model and Cheesman was the West LB banker who put up the money.

Given that the Football Association will continue to struggle under the yoke of that debt for decades to come, Digger is not entirely sure it specifically recommends them as custodians of the Stratford stadium, but ISG has been involved with several other more successful projects. ISG would not comment yesterday but a spokeswoman for the Olympic Park Legacy Company, which is handling the bidding process, said: "The OPLC will review the bids over the coming weeks to create a shortlist for formal negotiations."