The question of Wayne Rooney's future provided the
only searching test for Sir Alex Ferguson's successor, but it was batted
away with impressive calm and assurance
If you wanted glitz and glamour, you should have gone to see Jose Mourinho at Chelsea.
If you were keen on a bit of madness and chaos the unveiling of Paolo Di Canio was your best destination.
If elegant Latin charm and a touch of sartorial elegance is your thing, then best wait to next Wednesday when Manuel Pellegrini is unveiled at Manchester City.
Real Madrid may now introduce new signings like Hollywood opens movies, but Manchester United do things the old-fashioned way.
No spotlights searching the sky, no embarrassing clubs anthems and certainly no cheerleaders. New manager David Moyes simply walked into the room and asked where to sit.
And that is just how he would have wanted it. The Scot is no flash harry. There was no chance he would declare himself as the 'Special One' as Mourinho famously did on his first coming at Chelsea.
Moyes was turning up to perform one of his many new tasks since taking over from Sir Alex Ferguson and was doing it in that perfunctory way of his.
You can't imagine him spending the previous evening in front of his mirror trying out a few lines.
In fact, while the rest of the world has spent the past couple of months waiting to hear him speak as United boss for the first time, to the Scot this event was probably one of many events he viewed with equal importance during his day.
And, in the main, it was plain sailing. The first mention of Wayne Rooney was the only moment when the heat was turned up in Moyes first outing as Reds boss.
Had those talks gone well? Was Rooney staying? As Moyes geared up for his big moment, the room went silent.
How was he going to handle this? Would he deliver one of those fearful glares designed to intimidate the hack to retract the question?
Would he wait for his press officer to throw a protective shield around him by claiming the club was making "no comment"?
No. Moyes took his chance to show he had picked up a trick or two from his predecessor when it comes to the old mind games. "Rooney is not sale," he insisted.
But what the new Reds chief refused to tell us was whether his star man wanted to go. In doing so, he has cleverly put the ball into Rooney's court. Now Rooney has to go public if he wants to leave.
That is going to play far better to the Old Trafford galleries than seeing Rooney head off and then claim he was pushed out of the door.
Once that tricky passage was navigated, the rest was easy for Moyes.
A chance to thank Sir Alex here, a bit of tour team news there and a standard issue non-committal answer to an enquiry of Cristiano Ronaldo's return to Old Trafford.
And that was it. Moyes must have feared much worse. The press had been kind to him, repaying the goodwill he earned as a decent interviewee during his days at Everton.
He can now jet off overseas with his new team, feeling pleased with his performance. No dramas here. A steady hand on the tiller, just what the club's owners would have wanted.
His unveiling will not go down in the annals of time as a key moment in his management reign.
But it's first mission accomplished for Moyes. He must hope all of the challenges that await him are as easily handled as this.
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