London, July 21: Manchester United manager and coach Sir Alex Ferguson is insisting that he will “nurture” star striker Wayne Rooney back to his explosive best after England’s disastrous World Cup campaign in South Africa.
Fergie claimed that the 24 year-old and his England teammates were “handicapped” at the World Cup by the Football Association’s failure to introduce a winter break.
“The FA has to give the country the best possible chance of doing well in the World Cup,” the Telegraph quoted Ferguson, as saying.
“But because of the nature of our game, and because of the demands from television to have a program every week, the idea of a winter break — which I was first talking about 30 years ago in Scotland and have done since I came down to England — nothing has happened about it. They must realise that, going into the World Cup, they [the FA] have handicapped their team,” he added.
“The season we have in England is tough. It’s a real task to ask players to perform at the best level they can achieve after the season in England,” Ferguson said.