Just after Wayne Rooney joined Manchester United I wrote an article about the role of the media (as conducted by Rooney's agent Paul Stretford) in the whole affair:
For a proud son of Liverpool, a city where love of football transcends club rivalry, to offer himself to The Sun is of course controversial. Clearly, his agents are guilty once more of mismanaging his geniune interests, but the response on Merseyside has been far more muted than the popular press has reported. Stoked by the Liverpool Echo, and the Liverpool Daily Post, however, the situation has turned into a national controversy.
The two Liverpool papers are owned by Trinity Mirror, the holding company of The Sun's biggest rival The Daily Mirror. Unsurprisingly, the correspondance pages of the Echo and Post do not reflect the opinions I've heard on Merseyside, creating a dispicable bias to villify the 18-year-old.
The local debate, skewed by the local press and then mis-reported by the national media, has unleashed an argument that exists solely within the ego's of the Editors. Predictably, The Sun has seized upon the comments in The Mirror to claim that the fans have turned against Rooney, and they've positioned themselves as protector. A front page article with Rooney,(literally behind a copy of the Sun), tells the people of Liverpool to forgive and forget, and not to blame Wayne. The people of Liverpool are not blaming Wayne - they can see through this sick episode. And they're disgusted by the Sun's attempts to claim that it's Wayne vs the people of Liverpool. The Sun and The Mirror are well known as being the gutter press, never afraid to abscond from morality to shift a few papers
In a new article called "History Rewritten" Colm Kavanagh does an even better job of uncovering the murky truth behind this episode, in light of the current serialisation of Rooney's autobiography (Brian Reade's review is here). Wayne makes a couple of revelations about Everton manager David Moyes: that he "had to leave" because Moyes was overbearing (a ridiculous claim considering Rooney's new choice of manager); and had leaked stories about Rooney's brothel visit to the local press. As Colm says:
The ‘revelations’ surrounding Wayne’s visit to some of Liverpool’s less savoury night spots (in the company of ‘surprise, surprise’ unnamed players) would come in the rival Trinity Mirror camp, now that Wayne Rooney had aligned himself to The Sun, open season could commence across the tabloids.
Rooney's attempt top stick the knife into Moyes really aren't worth a response - they're factually incorrect and a clear attemp to drum up some controversy to shift the book. It's a shame for us Everton fans that Rooney Stretford chose this path instead of revealing more detail about his transfer. Unlike many others I don't think there's anything wrong with a teenager releasing a biography (since when was the quality of a book dictated by the time that elapses from beginning to end?), Rooney has a fascinating story - the problem is that he hasn't told it.
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