Rooney deserves this kind of send-off
Wayne Rooney is no stranger to controversy.
But this England send- off barney is a big fuss about nothing, as far as I ’m concerned.
Why would anybody have a p ro b l e m w i t h Wa y n e pulling an England shirt on again for five minutes in a friendly?
He’s England’s all-time top scorer, for God’s sake!
Why can’t people accept it?
He wasn’t picked for the World Cup – and it looked like that would be that in terms of his international career.
But giving him one last appearance is a really classy move by Gareth Southgate and the FA, as far as I’m concerned.
A lot of England fans don’t like Wayne.
One, because he played for Manchester United.
Tw o, because Scouser.
They also don’t think he should be playing for England now because he’s moved across the pond to the MLS.
Critics of the move suggest adding pantomime to this fixture threatens the order and discipline that Southgate has instilled into the England camp.
They also point out that the likes of Bobby Moore, Gazza and Alan Shearer never got the same treatment, and are even calling for Stevie G to get the boots back on so he, too, can have one last hurrah. What a load of nonsense. I’ve met Wayne and I can promise you he’s a lovely man.
He’s also still playing at a decent level – and strolling it.
Let him take the applause fromwembley and cap off an England career that will go down in history.
If I were there, I’d be applauding him, even as a proud Scot.
For once, the England fans could do with taking a leaf out of my book! h e’s a