Ten Years ago, a fresh faced 16 year old scouser burst on to the scene by scoring an obscenely brilliant goal (for someone of his age) against England’s number one at the time, David Seaman. Every since that day, Wayne Rooney has been thrust into the limelight as England’s answer to Pele, their saviour, the one who will undoubtedly bring silverware to the country for the first time since 1966 blah blah blah. Whilst most teenagers are at school, college or starting work, Rooney was being heralded as the saviour of English football. Now, ten years on and with the English media never far off his back, he’s unfairly treated as a flop, but where did it all go wrong?
Well, firstly it went wrong when he was unfortunately saddled with the burden of being born in England. Before I get the EDL breathing down my neck, I strictly mean in the sense that in footballing terms, being English automatically brings with it the totally ridiculous belief that England should be one of the footballing superpowers and that a major trophy is always just around the corner. If Rooney would have been Scottish, Welsh or Irish, you could bet 100% that the fans and media alike would just embrace him for the immense talent that he is, rather than look to turn ever positive into a negative. For instance, after Rooney scored two against Stoke at the weekend, as United came from behind to win 4-2, the Mail on Sunday ran with the headline “Why didn’t you play like this for England?”. Sigh…
Secondly, had he made the decision to move to Newcastle back in 2004, instead of choosing Manchester United, some might argue that his public perception might be somewhat different. Manchester United are hated by pretty much everyone in the English game who isn’t a Manchester United fan. It comes with the territory of being the English games most successful club. With Rooney winning four league titles, a champions league and a couple of league cups in his time with the Old Trafford men, its easy to see why the English media, and some fans, believe he’s failed for the England national team. Failed, despite the fact he is 27 years old, has 78 caps and 32 goals, leaving him 5th in England’s all time top goalscorer list. The fact is that England are just not good enough, Wayne Rooney or no Wayne Rooney.
Finally, let’s be honest, Wayne Rooney has had a top career so far and any talk of him being a ‘flop’ or a ‘failure’ is ridiculous. If you take away the crazy expectations that were dropped on the young lads shoulders ten years ago, he won a lot of trophies, his fair share of awards and he has 200 goals which averages at 20 a season. He plays for the most successful club in England, one of the biggest in the world and is coveted by all the major clubs in Europe. It doesn’t sound like the career of a failure, does it? Maybe if he’d won England the World Cup, turned water into wine, starred in a film with Sylvester Stallone and eradicated world poverty, the English media would have given him a break from being the countries whipping boy and allowed him to celebrate his ten years in the game so far.