Gary Neville thought there was 'no way back' for Wayne Rooney at Man Utd after Sir Alex incident

Gary Neville thought Wayne Rooney's spell at Manchester United was all but over after he shocked world football with a surprise announcement in 2010.

On October 20, 2010, Rooney expressed his desire to leave United after questioning the club's ambition and ability to attract the top players needed to win major trophies.

Sir Alex Ferguson, who was hugely let down by the announcement, accused Rooney of a lack of respect towards the club

"I'm disappointed, very disappointed, I can't believe it," Ferguson said at the time.

"He had told us he was happy at the club, that he was at the best club in the world, so I must say it was terribly disappointing to get the news because I can't quite understand it."

Speaking in a recent episode of Stick to Football podcast, produced by SkyBet, then-teammate Gary Neville recalled the incident, saying he was convinced there was "no way back" for Rooney.

“I remember being in the dressing room just before a Champions League game when the statement [about Wayne Rooney’s transfer request] came out," he said. "I thought that was it – there is no come back from that.

“I’d seen it many times previously over the past 10, 15 years. I thought, ‘How did that turn around from [Rooney] making that statement?’

"Me and ‘Giggsy’ [Ryan Giggs], spoke to [Rooney] the morning after in the gym and said, ‘You have to say sorry to the lads’, which [he] did. We never thought it would turn around with the manager.”

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Rooney, who joined Neville on the latest episode of the podcast, would go on to sign a new contract at Old Trafford and apologised for the way the negotiations were dealt with.

But more than 13 years later, the former England international has admitted that his relationship with manager Sir Alex Ferguson was never the same after that moment.

“When I put the transfer request in [to leave Manchester United], I was still speaking to David Gill on where the club was going, how they were going to move forward," he said.

"Being a manager now myself, and looking back, it was the wrong thing to do probably. At the time, I felt like it was the right thing to do to really get assurances for my own career.

“Once David [Gill] had explained what the club are doing, I said, ‘Fine – that’s all the manager had to say. That’s all the club had to tell me’, and then I signed the new deal."

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Rooney added: “In terms of the relationship with the manager [Sir Alex Ferguson], of course it was never the same.

"After that, the big thing that probably hurt him was they had just sold Carlos Tevez, they had just sold Cristiano Ronaldo, and probably couldn’t afford to let me go.”