WAYNE ROONEY IS A ROLE MODEL FOR ALL THAT IS ROTTEN IN BRITAIN

MANCHESTER UNITED: Wayne Rooney with Sir Alex Ferguson

Thursday October 21,2010

By Leo McKinstry

Comment Speech Bubble Have your say(0)

WITH the vast capacity for deceit and hypocrisy so typical of modern footballers, Wayne Rooney likes to see himself as something of a role model for the young. The Manchester United star has posed as the devoted husband, the doting father and the dedicated player. “I try to do things well for the kids to see,” he declared earlier this year, adding that he enjoyed being “settled at home”.

But events of recent months have shattered that illusion of decency. Through his contemptible behaviour, both in football and in his private life, Rooney has been exposed as a dishonourable, cash-fixated slimeball. He is as disloyal to his club as he is to his wife. He has personally let down Sir Alex Ferguson, the man who has always stood by him in public and sought to shelter, advise and mentor him when things got rough. Rooney seems to care nothing for morality, only money.

Last month, his marriage was rocked by allegations of his liaisons with a £1,200-a-night prostitute, the trysts conducted while his wife Coleen was pregnant with their child. Even some of his professional colleagues, a breed not renowned for ethical scruples, expressed their disgust at his conduct.

WIN A LUXURY LONG WEEKEND FOR TWO IN CAIRO!!! INCLUDES BA CLUB CLASS FLIGHTS, FIVE STAR ACCOMMODATION AND £1,000 SPENDING MONEY!

‘Sir Alex Ferguson has been left bewildered’

Now comes the degrading saga of Rooney’s fall-out with Manchester United, an episode that has been driven entirely by greed. It appears that, by leaving United for an even wealthier club – such as Manchester City across the road – he hopes to double his salary from £90,000-a-week to around £180,000-a-week.

I n a country grappling with an unprecedented financial crisis, Rooney’s eagerness for a big rise in his earnings is a profound insult to the millions who have been threatened with falling living standards, pay freezes and job cuts. His mercenary attitude, which makes a mockery of all his past professions of loyalty to United, shows how far he has become detached from reality.

This is a player who already earns £5.2million in club wages. In addition, he makes at least £7.3million from the sale of image rights, plus more money from sponsorship, advertisements and a lucrative book deal, though it has to be said that the first volume of his autobiography was perhaps the dullest football book ever published. Its sole revelation was that he likes to be lulled into sleep by the sound of a vacuum cleaner.

Rooney’s personal wealth has been estimated at £33million. Yet still he wants more, so he plays up a grievance about his treatment by Manchester United so he can justify his departure from the club.

Petulant and aggressive, he is just like a giant toddler, devoid of any empathy, cocooned in the narrow world of his own desires. Indeed, Rooney is a potent symbol of a modern football culture that is filled with a childish sense of entitlement, just like Ashley Cole, another unfaithful greed merchant who destroyed his marriage to pop singer Cheryl with his unedifying activities. Cole left Arsenal when the club rejected his demand for a £60,000-a-week salary. Absurdly, he claimed Arsenal was treating him “like a slave”.

It is no wonder that Sir Alex Ferguson, the manager of Manchester United, has been left bewildered and outraged by Rooney. For the past six years, he has been a father figure to the young player, helping to steer him through the fickle winds of the celebrity culture. Even in the recent personal crisis caused by Rooney’s reported enthusiasm for hookers, Ferguson tried to protect rather than judge him.

But now the granite-like Scot, by far the most successful club manager in British history, finds his paternal concern treated with contempt. The sense of betrayal has been almost palpable. That is why he spoke out so strongly this week about Rooney, explaining that he felt “shocked and disappointed”. Such words show the depths of his anger, for Sir Alex is usually reticent about his private feelings.

As he revealed at his press conference, Sir Alex told Rooney that he should “remember one thing: to respect the club”. But there is not much chance of Rooney doing that. The traditional concept of respect for others is far beyond the realm Rooney’s generation of over-paid professionals.

In their twisted, amoral universe, the only two values they seem to grasp are money and sexual gratification. The players, so full of their own importance, have not a shred of real sacrifice for the greater cause.

S adly the spectacular greed and disdain for morality that personifies the is now all too common in modern Britain. We live in a society where too many people are driven by crude exploitation for personal enrichment, disregarding any wider sense of duty.

That certainly applies to feckless welfare spongers. It is also true of city bankers, manipulating the system to drive up bonuses, or the grasping public sector quangocrats with their six-figure salaries, or the politicians with their fiddled expenses.

Britain was not always like this. Restraint and loyalty used to be part of our national fabric. In his arrogance, Rooney demonstrates how badly the rot has set in among parts of our celebrity elite.

He may get his wish and double his salary. But he has forever destroyed his credibility in the eyes of the public.

Amazon.co.uk Widgets