Wayne Rooney amazes for the wrong reasons

Wayne Rooney may have landed himself in hot water with the FASince Wayne Rooney’s world cup flop, one cannot argue that there hasn’t been any pressure on him to perform. Whilst on Saturday we saw him rally a Manchester United side that looked to be capitulating yet again to a bogey West Ham team, it has been marred by his own inappropriate behaviour. Rooney charged to the nearest camera lens and unmistakably screamed “What? F***ing what? What?” and I’m sure any Sky representative worth his salt would proudly boast, all in glorious High Definition.

In recent years we’ve seen a slight escalation in football celebrations. Originally players would keep to fist pumping or running to their team mates, but as the modern media age was ushered in a huge spotlight was then placed upon the sport. This is most notable at the World Cup, where players who knew the whole world was watching started to vary their celebrations. For example Roger Milla dancing at the corner flag for all 4 of his goals in 1990, or Marco Tardelli’s “scream” in 1982 which saw him run half the pitch howling as tears poured down his face.

For those who witnessed these expressions of ecstatic elation they are unforgettable, one man over come at his achievement for king and country. Sadly what will remain in our generation’s memories and in premier league history forever will be the last few years, which saw Emmanuel Adebayor run a pitch length to taunt what used to be his own Arsenal fans, and now Wayne Rooney quite evidently swearing at his critics.

Part of me wants to respond to this by saying that Rooney’s a grown man, emotionally involved in his own career and should be allowed to express himself as he likes. However there is the standard remark that footballers are role models and have a responsibility to act appropriately, and I do not want to start to join this argument as the unlimited amount of digital space that Microsoft word provides would still not exhaust every opinion available on the matter.

Rooney’s Hat-trick could be seen as the point which Manchester United exorcised their league title demons and returned to being the dominating force that they once were. It is a shame that such an iconic team, in the infamous premier league, demonstrates that this is how you can celebrate a goal. Either way, Rooney will learn whether his apology made any difference on Monday. As Sir Trevor Brooking announced that “Tomorrow [Monday] there will be a decision. It is something that we will have to look at.”

England fans will not forget that this has happened before, during last summer’s World Cup, Rooney took out his frustration at his own dire performance on the England Fans verbally via a television camera. For a man that seems to so eagerly provoke others publicly, perhaps it is time he reflected on himself. Whether the man who was once hailed as English football’s greatest really should really pass the mantle to the likes of Jack Wilshere. Whether he should try and return to scoring 23 goals a season or just aimlessly swear down television cameras as he accepts that he’s lost it.

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