- Wayne Rooney enjoyed a glittering playing career, winning five league titles
- He married his partner Coleen in 2008 after having spent six years together
- Plymouth job will be the one that makes or breaks Wayne Rooney’s managerial career – Listen to the It’s All Kicking Off! podcast
Wayne Rooney has been ‘myth busting’ several stories from his glittering playing career and has revealed how he once fooled his wife’s parents by pretending to cook dinner for them.
Ever the mischievous chap, the 38-year-old opened up several humerous anecdotes about how he also once played a prank on his former Everton manager David Moyes, while the Scotsman was in the toilet as well as how a Toffees legend once called him a ‘flash b*****d’.
The former England striker enjoyed a 20-year career in football, playing for Everton, Manchester United, D.C. United and Derby County before hanging up his boots in 2021. During that time, the striker would meet his wife Coleen, with the pair getting married in 2008 – the same year Man United won the Champions League.
Rooney and Coleen had been together for nearly six years before they were married, and now have four children together. But while speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet, Rooney was asked by Gary Neville whether it was true that he once pretended to cook a steak and chips dinner for his wife and her parents.
‘The first meal you ever cooked in your life was in 2003 – steak and chips for yourself and Coleen on a George Forman grill,’ Neville said on the Stick to Football podcast. He added: ‘And you had to ring her for help?’
Rooney subsequently responded: ‘No, that’s false. It was actually a meal for Coleen and her parents!’
Delving deeper into the story, Rooney subsequently admitted that he actually hadn’t even cooked.
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When asked what else was false about the story, he added: ‘The fact that I cooked. I’d just bought my first house in Formby and me and Coleen were moving in. Her mum and dad were coming over for dinner, so I said I’d cook for them.
‘I went to the Italian around the corner, got steak and chips – something I thought that they may believe I cooked, put the rubbish in the bin and took the credit for the meal.
The 38-year-old, who was last week announced as the new Plymouth Argyle manager, began his footballing career in Everton’s academy.
He would quickly rise through the ranks to become one of the most exciting young talents English football has ever produced, notably announcing himself to the world by becoming the league’s top scorer with a sensational long-range goal against Arsenal back in 2002, at the mere age of 16 years, 360 days old.
Many former managers and coaches attest that Rooney was a gifted player from a young age, and one who might vouch to that is legendary Everton goalkeeper Neville Southall, who saw first-hand the skills the young star possessed – even when he was just 10 years old.
Speaking on another story from his life, Rooney, a life-long Evertonian was asked by Neville whether it was true that Southall, a European Cup winner with the Toffees, had been infuriated by Rooney’s raw talent.
‘On one occasion, you were a mascot at Goodison Park, aged 10, and you chipped Neville Southall from outside the area,’ Neville said. ‘You’d been practising it all week and Southall called you a ‘flash b*****d.’
Rooney subsequently admitted: ‘Yep [it happened]. I was waiting for the game, it felt like forever. It was at Anfield, and I think it was the only game in recent years that got called off because of the rain, so I was waiting for months.
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‘When it got rescheduled, I went as a mascot and there was Dave Watson and John Barnes, and when you go out it was when the goalkeepers used to take the mascots out and have a little kick about.
The 38-year-old, who scored some sensational goals for both Everton and United during his career, revealed that he had dinked Southall twice at Anfield ahead of the match.
‘Twice it happened, Southall’s rolled it out and I dinked him, and I could see him looking at me to say, what you doing?
‘So, he’s rolled it out and I’ve had another couple shots into his hand, then I dinked him again. He’s called me a “little b*****d.” I was ten years old.’
During his time at Everton, Rooney also revealed that he threw a bucket of cold water over David Moyes while he was in the toilet – with the now West Ham manager never finding out that Rooney had performed the prank.
‘Moysey has ran in off the training pitch – he must’ve desperately needed the toilet. He ran in, straight into the first team’s restroom, went in the toilet and closed the door,’ Rooney recounted the incident.
‘I knew what was happening, I could see them [my teammates] looking at me, filling a bucket up, and said ‘there you go’. I’ve gone in the next cubicle, stood on the toilet, [threw the bucket] and sprinted out of there. I was off – I wasn’t waiting around!’
Rooney enjoyed a stellar international career with England, becoming the Three Lions all-time leading goal scorer with 53 goals, before he was succeeded by Harry Kane in March 2023.
While the Liverpool-born striker never won a major trophy with England, he’d go on to play in three World Cup campaigns and three European Championships – captaining the side at Euro 2016.
But his first taste of playing at a major international tournament would come at Euro 2004, where he score dfour goals in the group stages to help England reach the quarter-finals, where they were ultimately knocked out by Portugal 8-7 on penalties.
Rooney, allegedly, had taken an interest in musicals, particularly Oliver, and would allegedly sing the songs while he received a massage.
Neville asked him: ‘Is it true that at Euro 2004, you watched Oliver and would sing all the songs whenever you got a massage?
‘Yes, that’s true. I used to love the “Boy For Sale” bit,’ Rooney replied.
Roy Keane was speaking on the Stick to Football podcast brought to you by Sky Bet.