He topped charts for goals but will Roo what might have been
A NATION starved of World Cup success for 51 years and counting cannot set the bar too high when it comes to deciding what makes one of its greatest-ever football players.
Does it count that Wayne Rooney is England’s leading goalscorer? Only for now.
However, if a place in the record books were enough, Rooney was there as soon as he made his debut in an ignominious 2003 defeat by Australia at the age of 17 years and 110 days.
Then Theo Walcott came along.
Likewise, somebody – even Harry Kane, perhaps – will one day wipe away that other Rooney entry from the annals of England football history. What then?
Forever, Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and the nine other legends of that Alf Ramsey side have a wonderful afternoon in 1966 to define their achievements.
Others who have followed have had to make do with fleeting images to burn their glory into the public memory bank. But their status endures.
David Beckham is forever striking that late equaliser against Greece to take England to the 2002 World Cup.
Paul Gascoigne has Colin Hendry in a perpetual dither, scoring his sublime goal against Scotland in 1996.
Gary Lineker’s cast arm is upraised in salute of the hattrick at the 1986 World Cup finals that catapulted him towards the Golden Boot.
Stuart Pearce is also immortalised in roared rictus after his penalty shoot-out success. By contrast, what else has Rooney given us?
Doesn’t the abiding image have him slumped with his head on a piano keyboard at 4.30am, embarrassing himself at a wedding he was not invited to?
A petulant stamp on Ricardo Carvalho in the 2006 World Cup? Snarling at a camera four years later: “Nice to see your own fans booing you.” Helpless attempts to galvanise the rabble losing to Iceland? It is a shame, and a surprise, that the precocious talent that bustled its way through the ranks in the early years of this century did not go on to grant a more positive legacy for the nation. In fairness, it was not for want of trying. Never think that Rooney has been anything other than a proud Englishman. From singing the national anthem to the interviews he gave in more intimate surroundings, wearing the captain’s armband meant a great deal to him and it was an honour he deserved. How different life might have been if he had not been the one to introduce the “metatarsal” to the man in the street’s vocabulary. “The teenage terror strikes again,” squealed John Motson as he scored his second goal against Switzerland in 2004, an effort which these days would be classed as an own-goal. And when Rooney scored his fourth goal of the European Championships against Croatia: “They are expectant here – and he delivers!” Except he didn’t. That tiny bone in his foot, broken in the quarterfinal, put paid to his tournament. England limped out shortly afterwards and, for the rest of his career, Rooney was left chasing what might have been. “I will always remain a passionate England fan,” he said in his statement. “One of
my very few regrets is not to have been part of a successful England tournament side. Hopefully the exciting players Gareth Southgate is bringing through can take that ambition further and I hope everyone will get behind the team.
“One day the dream will come true and I look forward to being there as a fan – or in any capacity.”
It is an intriguing final thought. Even following the hotel debacle of November, Southgate clearly felt Rooney had a role within the England squad by giving him a call this week.
I had thought at the time when Rooney chose to down tools while on international duty and get so intoxicated, he was sending us a desperate message that at the time he could not voice. He was done with England. Finally, he has spelled it out and we should respect him for it.
Increasingly, despite his dream of finishing on a high in Russia, he has become a distraction for the evolution Southgate is engineering. Rooney did not want that. So while he remains a valued servant to his nation’s football team, sadly he leaves without becoming one of its past masters.
One day the dream will come true and I will be watching