Anti-Rooney rants based on sheer jealousy

Has Rooney’s wealth turned peoploe against him?

There’s no doubt Wayne Rooney is one of England’s all-time greats. That is an indisputable fact.

And that’s why it’s so sad that he will NEVER be taken to heart by football fans.

Barring a last-minute injury, Rooney will win his 99th England cap today in Estonia. Chances are, he’ll also move closer to becoming his country’s all-time leading scorer.

He only needs seven more goals for the national side to equal Sir Bobby Charlton’s long-standing record of 49. By the time the Euro 2016 qualifiers are over and done with, I reckon he’ll have surpassed it.

But the unfortunate truth is that for many England fans it simply won’t be enough. As far as they are concerned, Wayne Rooney is never going to be a legend in the Three Lions shirt.

Even after he bagged his 42nd England goal against San Marino on Thursday, I was getting emails and text messages on my radio show SLAUGHTERING him.

Honestly, some of the messages I get about him and I get plenty are absolutely horrible. It seems like no matter what he does, he will never be thought of in the same way as a Sir Bobby, a Gary Lineker or a Jimmy Greaves. And in a footballing sense, I can’t make head nor tail of that because Wayne is a top, top player.

His performances for club and country over the last 12 years have been, with very few exceptions, terrific and the stats back him up. At 28 years old, he’s barely a kick in the backside off 250 club goals from just a smidgen over 500 appearances.

For England, he has already scored more goals in competitive matches than anyone in history. Add to that 140 assists and an astonishing 1849 shots at goal over his career, and it’s pretty clear we’re talking about a very special player. Yet still he is scorned by a large section of England’s support and I think that’s shameful.

OK, Wayne has made some poor choices off the field and become involved in a few things he shouldn’t have.

But more important than that, I think he has become a figurehead to whom football fans can aim their resentment about the kind of money top players are earning these days.

Certainly, the wealth Wayne has accrued over his career is staggering and I think that has played a major part in turning people against him.

In the days of Sir Bobby Charlton and Jimmy Greaves, they would have earned a good living, certainly more than the average working man. But it was nothing like the £250,000-a-week that Wayne reportedly earns.

I think it sticks in people’s throats that a working-class boy from Liverpool, who hasn’t exactly been squeaky clean off the field, is raking in that kind of dough. It seems to me that it has got to the point where it is completely overshadowing his on-field achievements particularly for England.

And I’m sorry to say that even when Wayne eventually beats Sir Bobby’s record and he will do I don’t think he’ll get the recognition from the fans that he so clearly deserves.