Last Updated: Sat, 29 Oct 2011 10:00
Sir Alex Ferguson claims Everton fans see Wayne Rooney as 'a traitor' ahead of Manchester United's trip to Goodison Park on Saturday.
The Red Devils' chief is preparing to take his team to Merseyside aiming to bounce back from last Sunday's shocking 6-1 defeat against Manchester City at Old Trafford.
And, while Ferguson claims in his eyes the drubbing is "completely forgotten - it never happened", he is aware that the Toffees' fans have not forgotten how Rooney left them to join United eight years ago.
Therefore, the veteran Scot is looking for Rooney to turn on the style in front of his former fans and not get affected by the abuse which will come his way as he did during one game in the past when he was substituted before the referee could red card him.
Ferguson said: "I don't think the players will goad him, there has not been any history of that when we have played Everton, he seems to get on well with their players.
"But you know what fans are like, he's a traitor as far as they are concerned and that's never going to change.
"He's had mixed success going to Everton. He's scored a couple of goals in previous games and gets booed as normal.
"He got booked in one game and I took him off because he'd been booked and there was no way I was going to give the referee an opportunity to send him off.
"That's where the hype around the ground in terms of him getting booed every time he makes a challenge comes into it.
"He's had mixed fortunes there but he's scored a couple of goals and done well in some of the games and hopefully that will be the case."
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