Roo: I quit for Coleen’s sake
Football legend’s goal is family time
EXCLUSIVE
WAYNE Rooney’s shock football walkout came so he could spend more time with his shattered wife Coleen and their four kids.
Sources close to the England legend say he quit his £90,000-a-week post as Derby manager to support his family.
It came after the couple faced intense scrutiny during Coleen’s Wagatha Christie court battle with Rebekah Vardy.
Now Wayne, 36, will take his first full summer break in 20 years.
And insiders say the time will be used by him and Coleen to dote on sons Kai, 12, Klay, nine, Kit, six, and Cass, four.
A well-placed insider told the Sunday Mirror: “Wayne’s always had pre-season tours, World Cups, Euros… he’s not had a summer off since he was a kid himself.
“He wants to spend the holidays with his boys. He wants to spend a lot more time with them and Coleen.
“If he’d stayed at Derby, he’d have to be back at work in a week or so. That would have given him hardly any time with the children. He wants to enjoy a full summer with his kids. It’ll be boss.”
MEMORIES
Wayne stunned fans of the League One side by quitting on Friday.
He had been widely praised for his efforts at the cash-strapped club, which was relegated from the Championship last season and faces a fight to survive.
Our insider stressed Wayne had not left football for good, and said: “He will be back… he loves football.”
Wayne and Coleen have been together since they were 16. Their relationship has repeatedly hit the headlines because of Wayne’s boozy antics.
But things looked rosier this week as they enjoyed a break in Ibiza with pals.
Sharing their holiday snaps online, Coleen wrote: “Magical memories, great friends, lots of belly laughs!! Very much needed.”
Wayne and Coleen’s break in Ibiza follows a family jaunt to Dubai. They headed to the Middle East with their kids as the dust settled on the Wagatha Christie case.
It stemmed from Coleen’s 2019 claim that soccer wife Rebekah had been leaking information about her.
Rebekah denied the accusation and sued Coleen for libel, leading to an intense seven-day trial in May. The pair are awaiting a verdict.
In February, Coleen spoke about her relationship’s ups-and-downs in an Amazon Prime documentary and said: “I do think alcohol – and from things that happened recently – it’s not a good thing for Wayne to be unsupervised.”
Coleen and Wayne have endured a string of scandals over the years. He was alleged to have slept with sex workers and in 2018, he was arrested for being drunk at an airport.
The following year, he was pictured entering a hotel with a woman after a boozy night out. He denied anything inappropriate happened.
When asked about her decision to stay married, Coleen told the Amazon show: “I listen to the people who matter to me – my mum and dad. There’s nothing we can’t deal with.”
He wants to enjoy a full summer with his kids… it’ll be boss
INSIDER ON ROONEY’S DECISION TO LEAVE DERBY