249 AND COUNTING...
Rooney ‘honoured’ to equal Charlton’s United scoring record — can he get in the team to break it this week?
WAYNE ROONEY last night paid tribute to Bobby Charlton as he equalled his 43-year club record of scoring 249 goals for Manchester United — but vowed to go one better later this week and break it.
Charlton, aged 79, was sitting in the stands at Old Trafford to witness Rooney’s seventh-minute strike and led the applause for the United captain as he helped his team to a 4-0 win over Reading in the FA Cup third round.
Having already surpassed his England goalscoring record, with 53 goals, and David Beckham’s record for England caps for an outfield player, Rooney is now poised to take Charlton’s club goalscoring record, even though he is likely to start on the bench against Hull City in the EFL Cup semi-final on Tuesday and against Liverpool next Sunday.
‘I’m really honoured to be up there alongside Sir Bobby,’ said Rooney. ‘It’s a proud moment, especially to do so at such a massive club like Manchester United. I’m hugely honoured to be able to play for this football club. Hopefully I’ll be there out on my own soon but I’ll enjoy today because it’s a real honour.
‘I’m enjoying my football and I’m thankful to score again. It’s a huge part of my life, this football club, and of course you want to break records
IT was a flicker of delight which lit up a dreary and drizzly Manchester day. Sat in the directors’ box, Bobby Charlton’s face broke into a smile of spontaneous pleasure and he led the applause, one United great acknowledging another.
Wayne Rooney may never be quite so lovingly embraced in England’s collective consciousness as the man whose record he equalled yesterday. In fact, it would be hard for Rooney to match Sir Bobby in any other respect than his goalscoring record. This, after all, is a survivor of the Munich disaster and a World Cup winner.
Yet, in recent months, when Rooney has drifted towards the periphery of teams, it has been easy to forget just how significant his career has actually been. As such, yesterday afternoon, albeit against an incredibly open Reading side in as straightforward an FA Cup thirdround tie as you will see, was an abrupt reminder.
Indeed, at times we were rolling back the years. There were little touches and passes from Rooney, playing at No10 behind Marcus Rashford, which were a throwback to the teenage tyro who scored his first three goals here for this club on that thrilling debut against Fenerbahce more than 12 years ago.
Then, we all surmised, it might not last, that his career might be short and spectacular. Instead, it was steadier than perhaps many had hoped, but it has also been much longer than we suspected.
The records tell their own story: 249 goals at United, equalling Charlton; 119 caps for England, more than David Beckham; 53 goals for his country, also breaking the record of 49 set by above club legend.
The disappointments are mainly confined to the international game. At Old Trafford, 10 trophies tell of sustained success, even if it has waned in recent years, his relative decline mirroring his club’s.
Indeed, had Sir Alex Ferguson, who also sat in the stands yesterday applauding, not retired, we might never have had this moment, the former manager having concluded Rooney was past his prime. But he stayed and history has been made, though when the moment came, he might have wished it a little more elegant. Anthony Martial slipped through the Reading defence, set up Juan Mata, who dinked the ball across the penalty area. Rooney stuck out a leg, the ball struck his right knee and deflected past Ali Al-Habsi. A striker’s goal, the professionals would say — an instinctive knack for getting a limb in the right place at the right time.
There have been better goals at more significant moments. And it has taken time coming, since a Europa League goal in November. So he greeted it with an understated acknowledgement as team-mates clamoured around. But the affection with which it was met was genuine.
Rooney has tested the love of United fans over the years with transfer requests. And as a Liverpudlian, he would always have to work that bit harder for acceptance. But yesterday his name echoed around the Old Trafford rooftops.
Whether he can enjoy a glorious finale to his career in the coming years remains a moot point.
‘The best day will arrive for him,’ said Jose Mourinho. ‘This is not the best day. It’s just a question of when.’
He meant, of course, that he will go on and break the record. In the more immediate future, he won’t start against Hull City in the EFL Cup semi-final this week, with Mourinho saying that players rested yesterday would return. Still, it was a day for tributes.
‘Everyone knows who Sir Bobby is and what he means for the history of the club and the history of English football,’ added Mourinho. ‘For Wayne to score that number of goals for Manchester United is fantastic.’
Stay at United, and there may yet be more trophies to be accumulated for Rooney. This was an eighth consecutive win for Mourinho’s team and the United of old seem to be finally stirring once again after three dormant years.
Another United great, Jaap Stam remembers those days. A promising manager of a bright Championship team, he nevertheless couldn’t provide a serious test to rejuvenated United, even one with nine changes from Monday’s game at West Ham.
‘I’m really happy with our attitude,’ said Mourinho. ‘I could feel it from the first minute. The team was intense, dynamic and playing well.’
Indeed, within 88 seconds both the sprightly Rashford and Rooney had shots which might have opened the scoring. That was a marker.
Rooney’s goal followed on seven minutes; Martial, exchanging a onetwo with the man of the moment, drifted through the Reading defence on 16 minutes to add a second. The only setback was a Marcos Rojo injury. Reading, idealistic yet hopelessly open, were beaten before they could get a foothold in the game.
Stam was greeted warmly, the ‘Jip, Jaap Stam’ song having frequent airings. But this wasn’t the return he planned, though he chose to take positives. ‘It was a great experience,’ he said. ‘It’s not just an experience if you win a game but also if you lose a game. If you get the chance to play against a side like this, it’s good for the players. I hate losing — even when you play against a side like United. But it’s what the players do with it.’
As his team’s energy sapped, so was their resolve. Rooney might have broken the record but was denied by Al-Habsi.
Then when Carrick’s pass on 75 minutes was nicely measured, Joey van den Berg should have intercepted it but allowed Rashford to finish clinically, curling it home.
Worse was to come on 79 minutes. AlHabsi exchanged passes with Liam Moore but miskicked the return haplessly, allowing Rashford to sprint past and fairly smash the ball over the line in delight.
That’s 14 goals for the 19-year-old since making his debut just over 10 months ago. Just 235 to go.