THE love affair between Ruud van Nistelrooy and United started to fray around the edges last summer.

Ruud van Nistelrooy hadn't scored on the Reds' Far East tour last July when in the final match in Tokyo, Rio Ferdinand delayed a routine pass to the striker.

By the time the frustrated striker was given the ball, a Japanese player was on him and the chance was lost.

At the final whistle, the trying Dutchman could not contain his venom and ran off hurling abuse at Ferdinand.

Many observers were impressed by that commitment and the fact that Sir Alex Ferguson publicly ignored the confrontation suggests he admired van Nistelrooy's will-to-win. But the seeds of discontent had been sown.

Jaap Stam, David Beckham, Paul Ince and Roy Keane are all familiar with how quickly a seemingly impregnable working relationship with the Reds' boss can decline and breakdown.

Hero to zero quicker than you can say Jim Leighton.

Van Nistelrooy's mood has allegedly darkened to the point where in-house arguments with Cristiano Ronaldo and Ryan Giggs saw Ferguson spot the first potential cracks that might shatter team spirit.

Then last week's mystery incidents involving the 29-year-old on the training pitch were deemed so destructive that he was jettisoned from the squad before the Charlton match.

Anger

Clearly, just like Keane stepped over the line with his never aired MUTV rant against his colleagues, van Nistelrooy has taken his heart-on-the-sleeve anger just too far.

Ferguson's reaction to van Nistelrooy's penalty miss against Middlesbrough on May Bank Holiday that cost United two points compared to his spot-kick blunder against Arsenal in the 0-0 Old Trafford stalemate in September 2003 is an insight into how the relationship has cracked.

In 2003, despite two points again being lost when Ruud's penalty struck the Gunners' bar, the United manager shrugged the miss off.

"I never have any doubt about the man. He is a marvellous striker and it is just one of these things," said Sir Alex.

Against Boro he declared curtly with a twist of the knife, "It was a bad miss. It was an important one and I thought he would score."

Since then have come the issues that have effectively ended van Nistelrooy's goal-laden Old Trafford career.

Ruud was handed the United captaincy on a temporary basis and then saw it given officially to Gary Neville.

Van Nistelrooy's body language since then has rarely looked upbeat. He was fired up again when against Blackburn in February he was dropped to the bench but came on to score twice.

Annoyance

However when United went to Anfield for the FA Cup crunch Ferguson's annoyance with his striker became public for the first time.

United were heading for a 1-0 defeat and playing poorly when van Nistelrooy failed to urgently chase down a pass back to Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina.

Ruud ambled away after Reina's eventual clearance but Fergie was on the touchline raging at the Dutch striker.

Seven days later he was axed for the Carling Cup Final against Wigan in Cardiff.

The pair allegedly had a verbal exchange on the bench in the Millennium Stadium when Ferguson used up his quota of subs and brought on new boys Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra as United strolled to victory.

Van Nistelrooy queried the decision and got an icy glare in return.

His winner's medal was barely around his neck before he left the field shunning a lap of honour.

The relationship was now strained and van Nistelrooy's training ground attitude was the final straw.

Once again ruthless Fergie has shown emphatically that he is in charge and no player, no matter their record is bigger than the club.