Here’s two right flip-flops — you never had a left foot!
ROONEY KNEW HE WAS HOME WHEN THE KIT MAN JOKED...
IN a quiet room at the back of Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral, Bill Kenwright was gathering his composure on a deeply difficult day.
It was October 29, 2015, and Everton’s chairman was preparing a eulogy for the funeral of Howard Kendall, his club’s greatest manager. Kenwright was collecting his thoughts when his concentration was broken by a door opening.
Standing there was Wayne Rooney. The previous evening, he had been involved in an ignominious occasion for Manchester United. Rooney had come off the bench and missed a penalty in a shootout against Middlesbrough, as his side tumbled out of the League Cup at Old Trafford. That episode was in Kenwright’s mind as he looked at England’s captain. He was delighted to see Rooney at such a momentous occasion but, given the acrimony that accompanied him leaving Everton in 2004, Kenwright (below, with Rooney) was also surprised to see him.
‘Wayne,’ said Kenwright. ‘ It’s wonderful that you came.’
‘I had to come,’ Rooney replied. ‘This is my club.’
Kenwright had noted there had been a thaw towards Rooney from Evertonians that August, when he accepted an invitation to play in Duncan Ferguson’s testimonial against Villarreal. Yet those four words — ‘This is
my club’ — planted a seed in Kenwright’s mind. He left the Anglican Cathedral convinced Rooney would, at some point, return home. So when the opportunity arose this summer the chance was not going to be allowed to pass.
Rooney knew as far back as last November that he would have to leave Manchester. Around that time, Ronald Koeman, Everton’s manager, had expressed his admiration for the now 31-year-old but still there was much to be done before the fantasy of a return to Everton became a reality.
The easy thing for Rooney would have been to head to China or the US, but the competitor in him was not prepared to allow his stellar career to fizzle away in a different time zone.
So the first mission Rooney embarked on this summer was to get fit. His brother-in-law, Anthony, recently opened a spinning studio in south Liverpool and Rooney was a regular attendee for the high-intensity classes, putting miles into his legs on stationary bikes. He worked hard to look after himself physically and watched what he ate when dining out. The results were noticeable. Rooney looked lean the day he was unveiled at Goodison Park and fitter than at the Europa League final in May.
His biggest challenge, however, was winning over Koeman. If Kenwright is a romantic, his manager is the polar opposite. Koeman had much admiration for what Rooney achieved at Old Trafford but none of that mattered when the pair sat down at the beginning of July.
Koeman needed to see his body language and hear the hunger in his words. Had there been any reservation, the Dutchman would have shook Rooney’s hand and ended the matter there and then. But when Rooney
spoke, he started striking chords. The more Koeman listened, the more he was happy. Nothing Rooney said was rehearsed. Sitting in front of him was a hungry player speaking passionately about his club.
‘I wanted to talk to him to see his ambition,’ Koeman explained.
‘I wanted to talk about the future and what he said to me was what I like. I did not doubt the quality of the player. He has ambition and his spirit is with his club, Everton.’
After Rooney put his views across, Koeman did likewise. Again, the conversation was positive. More than anything, though, Rooney was bowled over by the faith that Koeman was prepared to show in him.
Once the meeting was over, the process then began of concluding the deal, which cost Everton around £10million, and he and his family were overjoyed — particularly his Everton-mad son, Kai — when the negotiations were wrapped up on July 9.
The following morning, however, there was no special greeting for him at USM Finch Farm, the club’s training base. The facilities Everton now have are a world away from their old Bellefield home, the one where Rooney first sprang to prominence, but the faces haven’t changed.
Waiting in the kit-room for him was Jimmy Martin, a legend behind the scenes at Everton, who has worked at the club for four decades. His one-liners are acerbic and he had a glorious one waiting for ‘the new boy’ when he asked for a pair of flip-flops.
Two right ones were hurled at Rooney and Martin shouted at him: ‘I’ve seen you play, lad! You’ve never had a left foot, so you’ll only need them!’
And with that, he was back in the old routine. Everything, Rooney has said, felt right about being in that dressing room and to see him back in this environment is to see a man who has been rejuvenated. Take last week’s training tour to Holland.
Shut away in a small village, Rooney could just concentrate on getting fitter in the relentless double sessions and taking his manager’s methods on board, rather than being swamped by commercial engagements.
The rest of the squad have embraced his arrival and he has been a regular contributor to the WhatsApp group. The messages are, in the main, light-hearted but Rooney has also been reminding the players about the potential they have to win.
‘This is where he has always wanted to end his career,’ said defender Michael Keane, who first worked with Rooney at Old Trafford. ‘He is so happy to be back. You can see in training, the desire. When he gets his sharpness, there will be no stopping him.’
Tonight a Europa League qualifier against Slovakian side Ruzomberok will be transformed by the storyline Rooney provides.
If his homecoming has the same effect on the team, Everton’s future might be, too.