Paper Monitor
11:10 UK time, Tuesday, 19 October 2010
A service highlighting the riches of the daily press.
Ah, how the papers love a good soap opera - the big personalities, their fall-outs and flirtations with rivals from up the road and the treachery that lurks around every corner.
Last week it was Brookside that dominated page after page.
Or at least it was a case of the Scouse soap meets Dallas, in the form of the ownership saga at Liverpool Football Club.
The storyline drew to a tragi-comic close at the weekend with the Corkhills putting one over the Dixons, despite their feeling flush after selling the house to JR Ewing.
And with the Merseyside plot simmering down for a while (although Paper Monitor wonders whether a few of the stars will be farmed out on loan to Hollyoaks), Fleet Street's focus turns to Coronation Street.
Former Brookie star Wayne Rooney - a kind of footballing Sinbad turned Jerry Morton - has fallen out with the Ken Barlow of Old Trafford, Sir Alex Ferguson himself.
And the sports hacks have a field day at the prospect of him going off to work in Mike Baldwin's factory, now based at the City of Manchester Stadium.
According to the Sun, relations between Ferguson and Rooney have soured since the striker started hitting the headlines over his private life more often than the back of the net:
Disgusted boss Sir Alex has totally blanked the England star, leaving him no option but to seek a transfer from Manchester United. A source close to 24-year-old Roo, who has refused to sign a new contract, said last night: "To say relations are strained is a massive understatement - they haven't spoken for a month."
The paper even prints a of how Rooney might look in the sky blue strip of United's rivals.
The Daily Mirror joins in the chants. it bellows, in a pun-tastic tweak on the favourite chant of the faithful at Manchester City, who are said to be preparing a £100m bid.
But, rather like player and boss, sports writers are not united over where Rooney may head next.
The Sun's back page suggests he could be leaving the back-to-back terraces of Weatherfield for good - destination Eastenders.
Well, actually, sorry West Ham fans. Paper Monitor could not think of a suitably well-known soap to continue the analogy to west London, where Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti is said to be "monitoring Roo's crumbling relationship" with Fergie.
And the Independent weighs up the chances of a move to Eldorado, although it suggests the resort's big spenders may not have the right supporting cast to integrate another star name.
Should they make a bid, however, Paper Monitor suggests Rooney look closely at the fate of Eldorado's ex-pats before agreeing to become the next Marcus Tandy.
The 
