This is something I wrote for the Times Online Fanzine Fanzone a while back, I think much of it still holds true.
I am still haunted by Wayne Rooney. Even now, sitting in my exile in the rust-belt of the Midwest, his short Everton career boomerangs back into my mind again and again. I was there in the Park End the day Wayne scored that goal. Sat there, in what - looking back - felt like a Royal box seat for Rooney's coming-of-age - I wasn't sure exactly what I was witnessing. Was Wayne going to be another false dawn like Danny Cadamarteri, the dreadlocked 17-year-old who came into the world of football feet first and hit the ground running, like a precocious young chess champ seemingly intent on playing a pickup game of speed chess with the Grand Masters.
We all remember what happened the day Rooney came on against a bulletproof Arsenal side. Little snapshots flicker back into my memory. Wayne's goal; looping over Seaman like a vandal's brick, a Krakatoan eruption at Goodison, my dad letting off a minute long ecstatic scream at the final whistle, and listening to the feverish hoarse voices at the train station talking about "our Wayne". The rest of this fairy-tale remains unwritten; Wayne didn't go on to drag us into a golden age, instead he left for Old Trafford. But as long as I live in the U.S. - 3,300 miles away and sheltered from his successes with Man Utd - Wayne will occupy a strange limbo in my heart. Everton were of course compensated with millions of pounds for letting him leave, but the Wayne I knew, the bullish mercurial street-fighter, I wouldn't swap him for a wilderness of millions.
No matter how much dirt emerges about Wayne Rooney, no matter how much the Scouse genius runs roughshod over his "Once a Blue, always a Blue" oath of fealty with obnoxious and hypocritical badge kissing, I will always regard him as a footballing God.
To get over Rooney's departure to Old Trafford, I treated the new version of him as a different player - and it wasn't to hard to do. Sir Alex Ferguson has straitjacketed some of his wilder tendencies, turning his feral flair and atavistic aggression into the more controlled player he wanted him to be. Whilst at Goodison, Rooney notched up 15 goals in 67 appearances, a record that - on the face of it - is inferior to his goalscoring rate at United, where he has scored 52 goals in 124 league appearances, but that isn't taking into account Moyes' softly softly approach. Of those 67 games for Everton, 27 of them were as a substitute, and the Everton side of that time doesn't hold a torch to the current United squad.
When watching Wayne now you see an awe-inspiring and excellent player; but I think that he could have become even better. The early Rooney - bursting past defenders, ruthlessly direct and blinkered, known to taunt defenders by putting his hands on his hips in mock boredom, who like a belligerent matchmaker, never ceased to revel in introducing the ball to the back of the net - won't be seen at Old Trafford.
Say what you want about your Wayne, but OUR Wayne had it all and in many ways was uncoachable. The glorious trajectory predicted by many for Rooney hasn't quite panned out and although he is the jewel in England's crown, he is overshadowed by others such as Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Kaka, players who should have been his peers in the high altitude world of top class football.
Even Wayne's performances for England have suffered since he moved to Manchester. As an Everton player, Rooney scored nine goals in 17 games for England - but now he is playing under Sir Alex, his tally for England is a far more modest five goals in 25 games. Reading through the match reports during his time with Everton, you are struck by the fact that he was lauded by the press for his finishing and "killer instinct" - two things that have been removed in the lobotomised talents of the United version of Rooney.
Sir Alex Ferguson got it very right when trying to coach out Cristiano Ronaldo's showboating flair, but he got it wrong with Wayne, as the young Scouser's direct early self was more akin to the Brazilian Ronaldo at Barcelona - a footballing egomaniac, and a lighting rod for every attack - attributes that no longer are present in Rooney.
Manchester United's millions bought a star, but by separating Rooney from his boyhood club, they never got the legend.
6 comments:
God that is a poor article.
I know you are a fellow Evertonian - but I can't even begin to say how poor your analysis is. Really. Don't know what deal you did with The Guardian and getting you on 'newsnow'.
Really? How/Why - Give me some constructive criticism!!
I'm a United fan and I agree with all of that. Ferguson doesn't always get it right. I too wonder what happened to the best English player I have ever seen (remember Euro 2004). Really, he has more natural talent than Ronaldo but his spirit seems to have been crushed.
No I thought it was very good and it resonates with my thinking of how his game has changed from the 'Everton Rooney' to the 'Man U Rooney'. He had the X-factor at Everton and for some reason he's lost that now, it could be because of the coaching but personally I think it's more mental, he's not top dog there (Ronaldo is) and he thrives off being the center of attention. Or the fame, money, glitz and glamour has just gone to his head that he's gotten so 'civilised' he's lost touch of his raw self, much like what happened to Rocky Balboa in Rocky III.
I have to say I agree completly with the article. I have been saying the same thing for the past year or so, maybe its simply because he stood out at Everton, I mean our team then was complete dross. But I think Wayne will look back and think maybe a few more years at Everton would have allowed that natural ability to develop to the stage where no one could have tamed it, unfortunatly he has become another fergie pup - some kind of tap dancing bear you see in Russia rather than the ones that roam free. See you back at Everton in the next 10 years wayne.
Totally agree with this article ,obviously the money helped EFC, however Rooney has been sterilised at old trafford and as for his England performances as a Man U player ,they are a shadow of the player that was THE player in the Euro's.He could have been the modern day Dixie Dean instead of another backstabbing blue like Jeffers,Barmby etc.
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