Bellingham, Rooney and why it's good to talk.
Wayne Rooney once walked into a small conference room at a grand hotel in Manchester, sat down at a table and dealt calmly with a range of questions launched at him by six or seven of the reporters on the England beat. He was even introduced to an author who’d just written the player’s life story. Rooney was 18.
Nothing seemed to faze him, and even if there was some annoyance at the scrutiny his family was beginning to receive from the media, Rooney quickly made the differentiation between front and back pages, and talked happily away to us. The story sprang to mind again on hearing Jude Bellingham’s interesting point yesterday about media interest/intrusion.
It was the eve of Euro 2004, Rooney was excelling for Everton and not distracted by speculation about Manchester United’s interest. He went to the Euros as understudy to Michael Owen, soon took top spot upfront and starred as England reached the quarter-finals. He was down to earth and friendly in Portugal, stopping for the occasional chat with the media. The focus on Rooney was intense. The country was going “Wazza” crazy. A pub in Paignton, Devon, the Half Moon was renamed the Half Roon. A dating site announced Rooney’s success was an inspiration to “round-faced singletons”.
The media feasted on Sven-Goran Eriksson’s rather premature verdict of Rooney “as the best young player since Pele”. Even his metatarsal injury and England bowing out of the Euros did not abate the media obsession. The revelation that he proposed to Coleen on a petrol station forecourt prompted front-page splashes in August. The revelation about visits to massage parlours prompted less savoury headlines.
But he didn’t close down lines of communication. His desire to leave Everton was communicated to the media. He talked. Even with all this focus on his professional and personal life, Rooney never complained. It became clear over time to England observers that when Rooney was troubled by something off the field, such as a family issue, it spilled over on it. He was sent off against Macedonia in 2011 after stories back home involving his father.