STAN COLLYMORE Was Roo’s booze trip secretly a cry for help?

Fwolwloww. Tew. eurk: @peoplesport DOES Wayne Rooney have the right to have a drink? Yes, he does.

Does Wayne Rooney have the right to a night off if he isn’t going to play against Spain? Yes, he does.

Does Wayne Rooney need to be drinkinging in public until 5am in the middle e of an international break in 2016, an era of super athletes? Well, no, he e doesn’t.

And d particularly not in his England gland training kit. over the past couple of decades, I don’t think anyone expects our footballers to be angels. I was more worried than appalled by the pictures that emerged from Wazza’s bender because the thing that struck me most was just how old he looked. That and the fact he wasn wasn’t just a bit tipsy, dancing with a coupl couple of girls or doing the lambada. He looked blottoed, bladd bladdered… nissed as a pewt pewt. That’s why theth deeper question for me is about whether he was using, or is using, alco alcohol as a crutch. Is this part of a deep deeper- lying issue o over why he has hasn’t been playi playing well for so some time now? W Was this a play player saying ““I’m I’m Wayne Roo Rooney, I can d do what I like”? Or was it more a player reachin reaching out for help? I’ve a sneaking feeling it was the latter. His Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho ( with Rooney, below) r ecently spoke of the striker wilting under t he pressure of coping with another dip in form and the attention focused on it.

And there has been talk of him struggling to cope with the fact he’s no longer certain of a start for club or country.

I really hope it was just a case of Rooney letting his hair down rather than something deeper, but I’ve seen that photo a number of times with a number of different players and, when you’re that far out of it, it’s worrying.

I’ve been around these scenarios a hell of a lot — I’ve had my own welldocumented issues and I’ve seen players like Paul Merson, Tony Adams and Paul Gascoigne suffer with theirs.

I hope his agent, Paul Stretford – who was my agent for a time and certainly helped me when I was going through some tough times – can help.

He was very alert to my issues and, if there are any with his star client, I hope he can help get him back on track in double-quick time.

Rooney has been too good for too long over a decade with England and Manchester United to let it end on a sour note.

So we all need to draw a little line under last week’s bender now and remember what he has done in the game and remember that being in that goldfish bowl 24/7 for 13 years is not easy.

Whether you’re on £30 a week or £300,000, being Wayne Rooney, the flag-bearer for United and England for such a long time, carries a burden.

I’ve been critical of his play in recent months but if I was complicit in kickingg him while he was down and then – in, say, five or 10 years’ time we see hee is struggling off the pitch – I don’t think I’d be able to forgive myself.

Let’s hope that won’t be the case. . But if there is even the merest of hints, nts, it could be we need to give Rooney all the support we can.