Celebrity Online NewsOnline Celebrity Gossip and News

Wayne Rooney
Personal information
Full name	Wayne Mark Rooney
Date of birth	24 October 1985 (1985-10-24) (age 22)
Place of birth	Croxteth, Liverpool, England
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Playing position	Striker, Second Striker
Club information
Current club	Manchester United
Number	10
Youth clubs
1996–2002	Everton
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2002–2004 2004–	Everton Manchester United	067 (15) 133 (55)
National team2
2003–	England	047 (17)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16:32, 27 September 2008 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 20:08, 11 October 2008 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Wayne Mark Rooney (born 24 October 1985 in Croxteth, Liverpool, Merseyside) is an English footballer who currently plays for English Premier League club Manchester United and the England national team.

Biography

Rooney is the first child of Thomas Wayne and Jeanette Marie Rooney (née Morrey).^{[1]dead link} He was raised in Croxteth with younger brothers Graeme and John,^[2][3] and all three attended De La Salle School. Wayne grew up supporting local club Everton F.C., and his childhood hero was Duncan Ferguson.^[4]

Club career

Everton F.C.

After excelling for Liverpool Schoolboys and Dynamo Brownwings, Everton signed Rooney on schoolboy terms at the age of ten.^[5] He was part of the youth squad, and after scoring in an FA Youth Cup match, he revealed a T-shirt under his jersey that read, "Once a Blue, always a Blue."^[6] Since he was underage at the time and therefore ineligible for a professional contract, he was playing for £80 a week and living with his family on one of the country's council estates.

On 19 October 2002, five days before his seventeenth birthday, Rooney scored a match-winning goal against reigning league champions Arsenal F.C.; in addition to ending Arsenal's thirty-match unbeaten run,^[7] it made Rooney the youngest goalscorer in Premier League history, a record that has since been surpassed twice by James Milner and currently James Vaughan. He was named BBC Sports' 2002-03 Young Personality of the Year.

At the end of the 2003-04 season, Rooney, citing Everton's inability to challenge for European competition, requested a transfer that Everton refused to oblige if the transfer fee was less than £50 million. A three-year, £12,000-a-week contract offer from the club was snubbed by Rooney's agent in August 2004, leaving Manchester United and Newcastle United F.C. to compete for his signature. The Times reported that Newcastle were close to signing Rooney for £18.5 million, as confirmed by Rooney's agent, but Manchester United ultimately won the bidding war and Rooney signed at the end of the month after a £31 million deal with Everton was reached.^[8] It marked the most expensive transfer for a teenaged player, as Rooney was several weeks shy of his nineteenth birthday at the time of the signing.^[9]

On 1 September 2006, Everton manager David Moyes sued Rooney for libel after the tabloid newspaper The Daily Mail published excerpts from Rooney's 2006 autobiography that accused the coach of leaking Rooney's reasons for leaving the club to the press.^[10] The case was settled out of court for £500,000 on 3 June 2008, and Rooney apologized to Moyes for "false claims" he had made in the book regarding the matter.^[11]

Manchester United

Rooney made his United debut on 28 September 2004 in a 6-2 Champions League group stage win over Fenerbahçe S.K., scoring a hat-trick along with an assist.^[12] One year later, he was sent off for dissent in a goalless Champions League group draw with Villarreal CF in Spain on 14 September 2005, after he sarcastically applauded referee Kim Milton Nielsen when he was booked for a foul.^[13] His first trophy with United came in the 2006 League Cup, and he was also named man of the match after scoring twice in United's 4-0 win over Wigan Athletic in the final.

Rooney was sent off in an Amsterdam Tournament match against F.C. Porto on 4 August 2006 after hitting Porto defender Pepe with an elbow.^[14] He was punished with a three-match ban by the FA, following their receipt of a 23-page report from referee Ruud Bossen that explained his decision.^[15] Rooney wrote a letter of protest to the FA, citing the lack of punishment handed down to other players who were sent off in friendlies. He also threatened to withdraw the FA's permission to use his image rights if they did not revoke the ban, but the FA had no power to make such a decision.^[16]

During the first half of the 2006-07 season, Rooney ended a ten-game scoreless streak with a hat-trick against Bolton Wanderers F.C.,^[17]and he signed a two-year contract extension the next month that tied him to United until 2012. By the end of April, a combination of two goals in an 8-3 aggregate quarterfinal win over A.S. Roma and two more in a 3-2 semifinal first leg victory over A.C. Milan^[18] brought Rooney's total goal amount to twenty-three in all competitions and tied him with teammate Cristiano Ronaldo for the team goalscoring lead.

United announced during the postseason that Rooney had taken over the #10 jersey that was vacated by Ruud van Nistelrooy, who had left for Real Madrid a year earlier. He was presented with the shirt at a press conference on 28 June 2007 by former United striker Denis Law, who had also worn the number during his tenure with the club.^[19]

Rooney being treated for his broken foot

On 12 August 2007, Rooney fractured his left metatarsal in United's opening-day goalless draw against Reading F.C.^[20] He had suffered the same injury to his right foot in 2004.^[21] After being sidelined for six weeks, he returned for United's 1-0 CL group stage win over Roma on 2 October, scoring the match's only goal. However, barely a month into his return, Rooney injured his ankle during a training session on 9 November, and missed an additional two weeks. His first match back was against Fulham F.C. on 3 December, in which he played seventy minutes.^{[22]dead link} Rooney missed a total of ten games and finished the 2007-08 season with eighteen goals, as United clinched both the Premiership and the Champions League, in which they defeated league rivals Chelsea F.C. in the competition's first-ever all-English final.

Paul Stretford controversy

In July 2002, while Rooney was with Everton, agent Paul Stretford encouraged Rooney and his parents to enter the player into an eight-year contract with Proactive Sports Management. However, Rooney was already with another representation firm at the time, while Stretford's transaction went unreported to the FA, and he was thus charged with improper conduct.^[23] Stretford alleged in his October 2004 trial that he had secretly recorded boxing promoter John Hyland (an associate of Rooney's first agent) and two other men threatening and attempting to blackmail him for an undisclosed percentage of Rooney's earnings.^[24]

Stretford's case collapsed due to evidence that conflicted with his insistence that he had not signed Rooney, and on 9 July 2008, he was found guilty of "making of false and/or misleading witness statements to police, and giving false and/or misleading testimony."^[24] In addition, the contract to which Stretford had signed Rooney was two years longer than the limit allowed by the FA. Stretford was fined £300,000 and banned from working as a football agent for eighteen months, a verdict he promptly appealed.^[24]

International career

Rooney playing for England

Rooney became the youngest player to play for England when he earned his first cap in a friendly against Australia on 12 February 2003 at seventeen, the same age in which he also became the youngest player to score an England goal. Arsenal youngster Theo Walcott broke Rooney's appearance record by 36 days in June 2006.

His first tournament action was at Euro 2004, in which he became the youngest scorer in competition history on 17 June 2004, when he scored twice against Switzerland; however, this record was topped by Swiss midfielder Johan Vonlanthen four days later. Rooney suffered an injury in the quarterfinal match against Portugal as England were eliminated on penalties.

Following a foot injury in an April 2006 Premier League match, Rooney faced a race to fitness for the 2006 World Cup. England attempted to hasten his recovery with the use of an oxygen tent, which allowed Rooney to enter a group match against Trinidad and Tobago and start the next match against Sweden. However, he never got back into game shape and went scoreless as England bowed out in the quarterfinals, again on penalty kicks.

Rooney was red-carded in the 62nd minute of the quarterfinal for stomping on Portugal defender Ricardo Carvalho as both attempted to gain possession of the ball, an incident that occurred right in front of referee Horacio Elizondo. Rooney's United teammate Cristiano Ronaldo openly protested his actions, and was in turn shoved by Rooney. Elizondo sent Rooney off, after which Ronaldo was seen winking at the Portugal bench. Rooney denied intentionally targeting Carvalho in a statement on 3 July, adding, "I bear no ill feeling to Cristiano but am disappointed that he chose to get involved. I suppose I do, though, have to remember that on that particular occasion we were not teammates."^[25] Elizondo confirmed the next day that Rooney was dismissed solely for the infraction on Carvalho.^[26] Rooney was fined CHF5,000 for the incident.^{[27]dead link}

Personal life

Rooney met Coleen McLoughlin while both were in their final year of secondary school. They married on 12 June 2008 after six years of dating, during which Rooney admitted to soliciting prostitution in Liverpool in 2004. "I was young and stupid. It was at a time when I was very young and immature and before I had settled down with Coleen."^[28] He has a tattoo of the words "Just Enough Education To Perform," from a song by his favorite band, the Stereophonics; McLoughlin arranged for the group to play at their wedding reception.^[29] In April 2006, he was awarded £100,000 in libel damages from tabloids The Sun and News of the World, who had claimed that he had assaulted her in a nightclub. Rooney donated the money to charity.^[30]

Rooney and McLoughlin reside in a £4.25 million mansion in the village of Prestbury, Cheshire,^[31] which was built by a company owned by Dawn Ward, the wife of former Sheffield United striker Ashley Ward.^[32] He also owns property in Port Charlotte, Florida.^[33] While Rooney was house hunting in Cheshire after signing with Manchester United, he spotted a pub sign that read "Admiral Rodney," which he misread as "Admiral Rooney." He nonetheless considered it a positive omen for his future home.^[34]

Rooney has endorsement deals with Nike,^[35] Nokia,^[36] Ford, Asda,^[37] and Coca-Cola.^[38] He appeared on the cover of the FIFA 06, FIFA 07 and FIFA 08 video games in the UK,^[39] and his image was featured on Coke cans during the 2006 World Cup.

On 9 March 2006, Rooney signed the largest sports book deal in publishing history with HarperCollins,^[40] who granted him a £5 million advance plus royalties for a minimum of five books to be published over a twelve-year period. The first, My Story So Far, an autobiography ghostwritten by Hunter Davies, was published after the World Cup. The second publication, The Official Wayne Rooney Annual, was aimed at the teenage market and edited by football journalist Chris Hunt.

In July 2006, Rooney's lawyers went to the United Nations' World Intellectual Property Organisation to gain ownership of the Internet domain names waynerooney.com and waynerooney.co.uk, both of which Welsh actor Huw Marshall registered in 2002.^[41] Three months later, the WIPO awarded Rooney the rights to waynerooney.com.^[42]

Statistics

Statistics accurate as of match played 4 October 2008^[44]

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	6 September 2003	Skopje, Republic of Macedonia	FYR Macedonia	2-1	Win	UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying
2	10 September 2003	Manchester, England	Liechtenstein	2-0	Win	UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying
3	16 November 2003	Manchester, England	Denmark	3-2	Loss	Friendly
4	5 June 2004	Manchester, England	Iceland	6-1	Win	Friendly
5	5 June 2004	Manchester, England	Iceland	6-1	Win	Friendly
6	17 June 2004	Coimbra, Portugal	Switzerland	3-0	Win	Euro 2004 Group B
7	17 June 2004	Coimbra, Portugal	Switzerland	3-0	Win	Euro 2004 Group B
8	21 June 2004	Lisbon, Portugal	Croatia	4-2	Win	Euro 2004 Group B
9	21 June 2004	Lisbon, Portugal	Croatia	4-2	Win	Euro 2004 Group B
10	17 August 2005	Copenhagen, Denmark	Denmark	4-1	Loss	Friendly
11	12 November 2005	Geneva, Switzerland	Argentina	3-2	Win	Friendly
12	15 November 2006	Amsterdam, Netherlands	Netherlands	1-1	Draw	Friendly
13	13 October 2007	London, England	Estonia	3-0	Win	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
14	17 October 2007	Moscow, Russia	Russia	2-1	Loss	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
15	10 September 2008	Zagreb, Croatia	Croatia	4-1	Win	2010 World Cup qualifying
16	12 October 2008	London, England	Kazakhstan	5-1	Win	2010 World Cup qualifying
17	12 October 2008	London, England	Kazakhstan	5-1	Win	2010 World Cup qualifying

Honours

Manchester United

• Premier League
  • Winner (2): 2006-07, 2007-08
  • Runner-up (1): 2005-06
• FA Community Shield
  • Winner (1): 2007
• FA Cup
  • Runner-up (2): 2004-05, 2006-07
• Football League Cup
  • Winner (1): 2005-06
• UEFA Champions League
  • Winner (1): 2007-08

Individual

• FA Premier League Player of the Month: February 2005, December 2005, March 2006, November 2007
• BBC Sports Young Personality of the Year: 2002
• Bravo Award: 2003
• UEFA Euro 2004 Team of the Tournament
• PFA Team of the Year: 2005/2006
• Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year: 2005/2006
• FIFPro World Young Player of the Year: 2004/2005
• PFA Young Player of the Year: 2004/2005, 2005/2006
• PFA Fans' Player of the Year: 2005/2006

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Wayne Rooney

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Wayne Rooney

• waynerooney.com - The Official Wayne Rooney Site
• Wayne Rooney profile at ManUtd.com
• thefa.com - The Football Association
• Wayne Rooney career stats at Soccerbase
• Wayne Rooney FIFA competition record

Wayne Rooney - Navigation boxes and awards v • d • e England squad – UEFA Euro 2004 1 James • 2 G. Neville • 3 A. Cole • 4 Gerrard • 5 Terry • 6 Campbell • 7 Beckham • 8 Scholes • 9 Rooney • 10 Owen • 11 Lampard • 12 Bridge • 13 Robinson • 14 P. Neville • 15 King • 16 Carragher • 17 Butt • 18 Hargreaves • 19 J. Cole • 20 Dyer • 21 Heskey • 22 Walker • 23 Vassell • Coach: Eriksson v • d • e England squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Robinson • 2 Neville • 3 A. Cole • 4 Gerrard • 5 Ferdinand • 6 Terry • 7 Beckham • 8 Lampard • 9 Rooney • 10 Owen • 11 J. Cole • 12 Campbell • 13 James • 14 Bridge • 15 Carragher • 16 Hargreaves • 17 Jenas • 18 Carrick • 19 Lennon • 20 Downing • 21 Crouch • 22 Carson • 23 Walcott • Coach: Eriksson Awards and achievements Preceded by Scott Parker PFA Young Player of the Year 2005, 2006 Succeeded by Cristiano Ronaldo Preceded by None FIFPro Young Player of the Year 2005 Succeeded by Lionel Messi Preceded by Frank Lampard PFA Fans' Player of the Year (Premiership) 2006 Succeeded by Cristiano Ronaldo