Never let the bastards know you're hurting.

It's a creed that has sustained Sir Alex Ferguson through his remarkable career at Manchester United. For the better part of three decades, the warrior Scotsman has been impervious to the slings and arrows of his rivals both in and outside the football club. And so he has endured to achieve remarkable success.

That mask of invincibility slipped last night as Ferguson spoke to the press ahead of United's Champions League fixture against Turkish club Bursaspor.

Looking like a patrician delivering news of a death in the family, he muttered to the assembled media: "I got some bad news for you".

Ferguson confirmed that his best player, Wayne Rooney, "wanted away" from Manchester United. The scouse wunderkind and current EPL player of the year who was signed from Everton in 2004 for £20 million, who had become the heart and soul of the Salford super club, had fallen out with the man who moulded him into a superstar. In turn, Rooney wanted a divorce from the club that had fallen in love with him.

"It was a shock," Ferguson told the press throng.

And he wasn't hiding it either. Despite his many battles with big name stars in the past - in which he's prevailed every time - Ferguson looked rattled by Rooney's decision.

It maybe be that the Sir Alex is not used to players calling his bluff, and then calling the shots. He's moved superstars on in the past, but rarely have they left the "Dear John" letter on his desk.

Ferguson has never been frightened to guillotine the headline act at the Theatre if Dreams if he felt that ego, attitude, madness or celebrity was likely to undermine the formula on which United has built its domination on the pitch and its mega-brand status off it.

It goes back as far as 1989 when the dawn of the United age was still a few years off. Ferguson said goodbye to Irish international Paul McGrath after his battle with the bottle and knee problems made him surplus to requirements.

Paul Ince fell foul of Fergie in 1995 after the boss accused him of getting ahead of himself and was off-loaded to Inter Milan.

Dutchman Jaap Stam might have been the rock upon which Sir Alex built an empire, but after a few injudicious comments about the Neville brothers and revelations about Sir Alex "tapping him up" whilst he was at Ajax, he was soon told not to let the door hit his backside on the way out of Old Trafford.

Then there was Beckham, the boot and the Band Aid. See you later, Becks, and hello Ronaldo. And, of course, Roy Keane and the prawn sandwich brigade. Even the fabled "Keano" was told: there's the gold watch skipper, thanks for the fish and enjoy your time in Glasgow.

The one theme that runs through all these decisions is clear.

Ferguson built United's empire on a militant commitment to team over self, a reverence for the shirt, the history of the club and its sense of duty to the fans. In the age of the football millionaire-megastar, this has been an astounding achievement.

Rooney has exhibited all these qualities in his time at Manchester United. Even with the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo, whose brilliance eclipsed his own, Rooney adapted when he was asked to play a supporting role. He did so with aplomb. When the Portuguese superstar headed for Spain on the money train, Rooney shouldered the burden of responsibility again and rose to the challenge magnificently.

After picking up an injury in Munich in March, it has all soured for Rooney. He had a listless World Cup campaign in South Africa. Then came a tabloid scandal that left his puritanical boss exasperated and saw him banished to the bench. And now we have an irretrievable break down in the relationship that has delivered such joy to Manchester United fans the world over.

And the spectre of United's perilous fiscal situation might see the unthinkable happen.

After banking £80 million from the sale of Ronaldo to Real Madrid, Ferguson was unable to launch into the transfer market with the same savvy fire power that has delivered results in the past.

With the Glazer purchase having saddled United with a bulging debt, the windfall was required in part to help service interest payments on the accumulated deficit. Thankfully for United, its revenue streams are strong enough to keep the money flowing and avoid the humiliation that has beset their bitter rivals at Liverpool.

Nevertheless, it has severely curtailed the clubs options.

With just 20 months on Rooney's contract to run, Ferguson may be forced to put his disgruntled superstar in the shop window, pronto, before his market value diminishes.

And waiting in the wings are cross town rivals, Manchester City.

Drowning in a lake of Middle East petro-dollars, City could accommodate Rooney's wage demands (rumoured to be as much as £250,000 a week!) as well as any transfer fee.

City would have to re-jig its stable of warehoused stars to meet incoming UEFA guidelines on its payroll for players, but it's nothing the sale of a few top-line internationals, currently collecting splinters from doing time on the pine, wouldn't fix.