Wayne Rooney

[tomamar04]

I know many of you may think my vision is clouded as I'm a Man United fan, but Rooney must be the biggest prospect in English football for several years.

He's 5th in the English top scorers list, but when you think that Rooney isn't an out and out goal poacher, and he missed half of the season through injury, 5th seems very impressive.

And I can't help but wonder: If Rooney never got injured in Euro 2004, England could of won the tournament, and Man United would certainly be less than 9 points away from Chelsea.

Anyone agree?

[Shoden]

Rooney is still young and Inexperienced as he gets older then he'll match the greatness of players like Beckham, Shearer, Gascgoine, Henry, Zidane and Van Nistelroy

or he could end up like players like Keane and Bellamy hot headed great players who always seem to lose they're temper alot and get booked alot it can get out of control till the manager cannot handle them but if they're like Sir Alex Ferguson and Sir Bobby Robson they will be able to handle them/

ok i think Rooney is likely to be a great player but is going to end up with such a bad attitude he's gonna miss alot of games and get benched, if he doesnt clean up his act then hell go to a team who can handle him like Arsenal. Chelsea, Barcelona or Real Madrid. just hope he stays in English football though

[NM]

There's no doubt Rooney is a very talented player. I wouldn't say he's the biggest prospect for several years though. England have a very good group of young players who've emerged over the past few years. John Terry, Steven Gerrard, Ashley Cole, Jermaine Defoe, Wayne Bridge and Shaun Wright-Phillips to name a few. Rooney gets more attention because of the big money transfer to Man U, his performances in Euro 2004 and the amount of headline's on the back pages for his temprement on the field.

He's one of a group of excellent young players. He get's more praise because he's the one putting the ball in the back of the net at the end of the day. Where would Chelsea be if not for John Terry? Or Liverpool if they didn't have Steven Gerrard? All teams have there key players, Rooney is more in the public eye because of the way he acts.

[Doc Sark]

I know many of you may think my vision is clouded as I'm a Man United fan, but Rooney must be the biggest prospect in English football for several years.

It's ok mate. All Man Utd fans have clouded vision. The footballing community accepts this! :D

Anyway, I would go along with NM. Rooney is undoubtedly a remarkable talent, a revelation, but our eyes are pointed towards him purely because he is a striker. The same was being said about Michael Owen when he burst onto the scene scoring goals for fun. In fact I couldn't agree more with NM if I tried. He's absolutely spot on, Rooney is one of a batch of exciting talent and if we had a decent international manager, we would be, I reckon based on individual talent, amongst the top three teams in the world.

Rooney is overrated. That's not to say the boy isn't good, because he's brilliant, the goals against 'Boro, sublime, the chip over Seaman, picturesque, but...and there are buts, his finishing inside the box is a problem, his temperament is a problem, and if he was so damn good, why are Everton so much better off without him. I'll tell you why, because he's an individual talent, he needs to build up his sense of teamwork and if he does he will undoubtedly become one of the greatest footballers England has ever seen. At the moment however, I don't like hyping him too much because Media Hype invariably ends in underachieving and disappointment.

[Shoden]

same here hes just young talent he needs to mature and not get booked time and time again

[The Groom]

Wayne Rooney?!? Pfft... your having a Bubble Bath aren't you.

yea, yea he's good and everything - but boy does he need to sort out his life off the pitch.

[Doc Sark]

Wayne Rooney?!? Pfft... your having a Bubble Bath aren't you.

yea, yea he's good and everything - but boy does he need to sort out his life off the pitch.

And the award for the most pointless and irrelevant football statement ever goes to......well you!

Who cares what a footballer does off the pitch? I don't care what you do off the boards. For a serious football fan it is all about what you do on the pitch, and while I believe that Rooney has issues of self control and discipline on the pitch, what he does off is of little consequence to how he plays his game.

[Psychotic]

What about Paul Gasgoine then? You can't say that what he did off the pitch didn't affect what he did on it.

[Doc Sark]

I can and I will. The beginning of the end for Paul Gascgoine was the injury he sustained during the 1991 F.A Cup Final just before he went to Lazio. Anything he did after that is a moot point. He came back in Euro 1996 for his swansong. Seriously, has Wayne Rooney done anything off the pitch that has affected his career thus far. Erm...no.

[Psychotic]

But Gazza would probably have made the World Cup 98 squad if he hadn't gone off the rails. Everyone was expecting him to, but he just wasn't fit enough. But yeah, nothing Rooney has done off the pitch has affected his game, I think Gazza is just a lone exception.

[Doc Sark]

In all honesty, how many 31 year old midfielders have made it in to the England squad since 1990.

Gazza wouldn't have made the 1998 world cup squad because he was past it. He was probably past it 1996, but Venables gave him his last chance. His fitness was irrelevant. Anyway, define off the rails. Gazza went "off the rails" as you put it, because of events that occurred on the pitch rather than off it. I don't think Gazza is an exception at all. His portrayal through the hyper-reality presented to us by the media makes us believe he is an exception, when in reality his ability was hyped over in much the same way as Rooney's is now.

[Psychotic]

Ah, you're probably right, it is just media hype surrounding him. I guess I wasn't thinking objectively. I remember reading a part of I think it was his autobiography about the 1990 World Cup, and he was always going out and getting hammered then and he still played superbly. Yeah, you're right. Gazza is not an exception.

[Doc Sark]

I'm not sure if that was meant as irony or some sarcastic remark against my footballing opinion but I'll give you the benfit of the doubt and say it wasn't. Sorry, I'm very cynical.

What you have to remember is that football at that time was very different to what it is now. What is worth bearing in mind is that the culture surrounding football back in 1990 is vastly different to what it is now. Back then, it was perfectly acceptable for a player to go out and get ratted before a match and it was down to managers like Alex Ferguson that football owes this elimination of the drinking culture. Those players that didn't show enough maturity to evolve with the game eventually fell by the wayside. I feel Gazza was one of those.

Also, having read his autobiography, don't you think there is something a tad, well, non autobiographical about it?

[Psychotic]

I really did mean that you were right so sorry for any confusion there, and I wouldn't be sarcastic about your footballing opinion as it's one of the best ones, if not THE best one, on this board and I always like to read your posts. Oh, and your sigs are always great too, but I think I PMed you about that once so you already know what I think of them :p (Plus you're a Liverpool fan. Can't go wrong there! :D)

But as for the autobiography I'm not too sure, as I only read extracts of it in the Daily Mail (yeah :p) a while ago, but the extracts they used were about Italia 90 and Euro 96, and it was pretty interesting to read.

(Oh, and I just realised the first paragraph looks like it could be sarcasm, but it's really not.)

[Doc Sark]

Not to worry, I feel pretty stupid suggesting that it was as I should really show more respect for you than to assume that. I apologise.

I think the problem with footballers' autobiographies, particularly when you are dealing with the mentality of players such as Gazza, is that you have to wonder how much they are being coaxed in to saying things and whether much of the accounts we read are in fact exaggeration. Let's face it, Gazza, like Rooney is no brain!!!!!

[Heath]

This is strictly from an Everton supporters point of view, so feel free to call me biased.

As soon as England started the game against Portugal, I knew that he'd not be playing for Everton by the end of the Summer, and looking at our disastor of a season, I thought that was a good thing. Everton are hardly the richest club in the world, and as much as it was unusual as an Everton supporter to think it, I wanted him to leave, so we could get some money in.

I've always considered him over-rated, to be honest. There was all this hype about him, even before England, and he has hardly turning Everton's season around, was he? He got us a few needed points, got all the media attention. Though, because I wanted him to be sold, all the media attention was good. All the more excuse for us to get more money out of him. I'm glad he's gone, there's no doubt about that. All you ever heard about as far as Everton news went, was Rooney this and Rooney that.

And I think our season so far has pretty much proved we are fine without him, we're doing *better* without him. All the predictions made at the beginning of the season: "oh, Everton will go down without Rooney" just make me laugh now.

There has been some media attention about Rooney's off the field actions. Mainly about that oh-so-important news that he apparently frequented a brothel and about the amount of money he and his girlfriend were spending. I honestly don't see how he even needs £50,000 a week. Then again, a lot of footballers are overpaid...

[JunotDe]

Nope

[NM]

Nope

What a great contribution. Thanks!

If you don't have anything relevent to add to the thread, why bother posting?

[tomamar04]

I just fear for his safety tonight, Everton supporters hate his guts.

On the other hand, if the supporters wind him up too much, he could get more fired up and have a part to play in Everton's exit from the FA Cup!!!

And tonight's the return of the flying Dutchman...Ruud van Nistelrooy!!!1

[Heath]

I just fear for his safety tonight, Everton supporters hate his guts.

On the other hand, if the supporters wind him up too much, he could get more fired up and have a part to play in Everton's exit from the FA Cup!!!

And tonight's the return of the flying Dutchman...Ruud van Nistelrooy!!!1

Everton's exit? I do believe, good sir, you are rather mistaken.

Yes, I know in a couple of hours I'll probably be moaning about Everton being knocked out, but nothing wrong with a bit of optimism. In recent seasons, you've needed it as an Everton supporter.