The England team that Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard once played for was full of egos, but the former Manchester United striker and former England captain had one of the biggest egos of them all.
Jeremy joined the Daily Star in 2010 as Manchester football correspondent and has been chief sports writer for over 10 years. He provides expert coverage of Manchester United and Manchester City, the entire Premier League and English football teams. Jeremy has covered Wimbledon, golf majors and the Olympics, as well as the soccer, rugby and cricket World Cups.
The irony may be lost on Wayne Rooney. But in the process of disagreeing with Steven Gerrard, all he has done is prove his former England teammate right.
Gerrard put the cat among the pigeons by labeling England’s former golden generation “selfish losers”. The Liverpool legend has blamed a divided culture for England’s inability to compete for major trophies in the 1990s and early 2010s. Some players were born to clubs that happened to be home to some of the biggest names at the time.
That’s a view Rooney disagrees with. He described it as “disrespectful”. It’s like his ego has been stabbed.
read more: Wayne Rooney takes issue with Steven Gerrard’s ‘selfish loser’ commentread more: Wayne Rooney slams Mohamed Salah’s ‘work ethic’, slams Liverpool legend
“Obviously we didn’t win anything,” Rooney said. “It’s not the best way to say it, but I understand what he meant. There were a lot of great people in the dressing room. I can’t say that (the current England squad’s) attitude has improved. That’s a disrespect to us as players, because we tried so hard.”
Rooney went on to say that it is difficult to create such relationships between Manchester United and Liverpool players, admitting that David Beckham, Gary Neville and Paul Scholes would never get close to their Merseyside team-mates.
That’s Gerrard’s point. The truth can sometimes hurt, no matter how old it is. And Gerrard’s comments stung Rooney.
But let’s not forget that Rooney was the footballer who, during the 2006 World Cup, flew to England for an injury check and then returned to his home base in Baden-Baden with the immortal words: “The big man is back in town.”
If this is not selfish, then what is?
And imagine what the likes of Gerrard, John Terry, Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard would have said about such comments.
A few weeks later, Rooney received his own red card as England were eliminated against Portugal. Despite having the talent of Beckham, Rooney, Lampard, Gerrard, Terry, Ferdinand and Cole, one of the best left-backs of all time, the team never reached the quarter-finals of a major competition.
There must be a real reason for this other than bad luck. Gerrard has explained what it was and Rooney needs to accept it.
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