Wayne Rooney Appreciation Thread

Ventura

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Not the GOAT but at least the SHEEP (Suspiciously Hairy Elderly Elite Player)

Which is pretty damn good.
 
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tenpoless

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Ronalod: Expected Rio to go full camel gob defending him when he's in the wrong
Rooney : Picked up Rio in the morning like a good pal

Rooney is 10 times a bigger legend than Ronaldo for that reason alone.
 

Lentwood

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Ronaldo the better player in his prime but Rooney was certainly in the 'best in the World' conversation for a period.

Rooney also the bigger United legend, did far more for United than Ronaldo
 

FCAES_7

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While Ronaldo had a better career, and reached to the top of football world. I will choose Rooney as a United Legend every single time. After all this week chaos with Ronaldo, I asked myself what if SAF treated Rooney the same way he did Ronaldo? play him in his position always protected him from the media at all time, even when he did something wrong publicly defended him (Ronaldo to Madrid vs Rooney to City), would Rooney have reached a higher ceiling like Ronaldo. I don't remember but 15 years ago or so it felt like Ronaldo was cared for more by the manager and fans Rooney was like a 2nd fiddle, even though Rooney was a much better player at 18 years old, or is it his fault he couldn't reach his full potential? its just an interesting argument that I don't think we can get 100% right answer
 

Chesterlestreet

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I thought the CAF hated Rooney with a passion?
Similar to Ronaldo, he's been a divisive figure with regard to whether he should be considered a "United legend" or not.

He certainly has not been "hated with a passion" as some kind of consensus stance.

For me, neither of them make my top 10 of "United legends", as odd as that might sound to some (Ronaldo won a Ballon playing for us, Rooney is our all-time top scorer).

But there you go - different people operate with (very) different criteria or standards when it comes to this.

Rooney is more of a "United legend" than Ronaldo ever was, though. And he was that before Ronaldo made a complete tit of himself this season too.
 

Shiva87

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While Ronaldo had a better career, and reached to the top of football world. I will choose Rooney as a United Legend every single time. After all this week chaos with Ronaldo, I asked myself what if SAF treated Rooney the same way he did Ronaldo? play him in his position always protected him from the media at all time, even when he did something wrong publicly defended him (Ronaldo to Madrid vs Rooney to City), would Rooney have reached a higher ceiling like Ronaldo. I don't remember but 15 years ago or so it felt like Ronaldo was cared for more by the manager and fans Rooney was like a 2nd fiddle, even though Rooney was a much better player at 18 years old, or is it his fault he couldn't reach his full potential? its just an interesting argument that I don't think we can get 100% right answer
Super intresting that. But it’s also known that Ronaldo worked harder than Rooney in training to get better, and you can understand why that would make him a bit more preferred.

Also, Ronaldo was always a Narcissist so he would not have compromised for Rooney and may have been gone earlier!
 

DJ_21

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Rooneys best trait was he always gave 100% in every match.
 

RVN1991

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Similar to Ronaldo, he's been a divisive figure with regard to whether he should be considered a "United legend" or not.

He certainly has not been "hated with a passion" as some kind of consensus stance.

For me, neither of them make my top 10 of "United legends", as odd as that might sound to some (Ronaldo won a Ballon playing for us, Rooney is our all-time top scorer).

But there you go - different people operate with (very) different criteria or standards when it comes to this.

Rooney is more of a "United legend" than Ronaldo ever was, though. And he was that before Ronaldo made a complete tit of himself this season too.
It was definitely a consensus stance on the Caf during his last few seasons at the club, very surprised to see how it has changed now but in his latter years he was definitely public enemy number one in here and some of the vitriol thrown his way was completely out of line.
 

Gazza

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It was definitely a consensus stance on the Caf during his last few seasons at the club, very surprised to see how it has changed now but in his latter years he was definitely public enemy number one in here and some of the vitriol thrown his way was completely out of line.
Certainly United fans wanted him replaced in his final years because it would have been better for the team to not have him stinking out the place in midfield. I remember there was a lot of criticism of the fact that he was awful as a footballer for us in his final years here, a total passenger, while still being undroppable and paid the highest salary in the league.
 

FCAES_7

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Super intresting that. But it’s also known that Ronaldo worked harder than Rooney in training to get better, and you can understand why that would make him a bit more preferred.

Also, Ronaldo was always a Narcissist so he would not have compromised for Rooney and may have been gone earlier!
100% on Ronaldo worked harder, every person who played with him says what a freak he is! but will it be different route for Rooney if he had the same treatment within Manchester United, bare in mind I'm not saying that he was treated badly, just a preferable treatment as Ronaldo.

Great point on Ronaldo being a narcissist he would never compromise as Rooney did.
 

Chesterlestreet

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It was definitely a consensus stance on the Caf during his last few seasons at the club, very surprised to see how it has changed now but in his latter years he was definitely public enemy number one in here and some of the vitriol thrown his way was completely out of line.
Most on here realized that Rooney was past it, and should be replaced. That was a consensus.

But the idea that most on here disliked him towards the end of his United career is unfounded: there was a segment who positively disliked (not to say detested) him, and they were much more vocal than the segment who considered him past it (but who didn't dislike him as such).
 

mshnsh

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Rooney was a very selfless footballer. If he had focused on individual success he'd be more appreciated. The game today is about stats and the order is:
1.Goals



50.Assists




100.Etcetera

No one became famous for being a team player. But the goalscorer, everyone knows his name and he can win the ballon d'ors if his team is successful even if he isn't the best player in that same team let alone in the world. Some players recognised that very early and spent their career focusing on scoring goals. Rooney did not.
 

Strootman's Finger

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Certainly United fans wanted him replaced in his final years because it would have been better for the team to not have him stinking out the place in midfield. I remember there was a lot of criticism of the fact that he was awful as a footballer for us in his final years here, a total passenger, while still being undroppable and paid the highest salary in the league.
With zero self awareness, he complained about others, while being one of the worst on the team.
 

Kostov

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Rooney was collecting almost 3 times what they were collecting while playing at the the level of Lingard and Young. So yes, I have an issue with that, if you get paid highly, I expect the output to match the pay. I didn't even want us to sign Ronaldo in the first place, I expected him to hamper our progress and him signing derailed OGS's progress and yes, I think the exact same thing about him.
Except Rooney was like the majority of his career shifted all over and played CM while still being miles more consistent and better than someone like Lingard and Young. On top of that one was always a club legend who sacrificed peak years for hypocrites like Ronaldo to collect the plaudits and deserved every bill of paper from the club.

This club was overpaying long before Rooney and still is overpaying long after he is gone. Rooney had every right to demand such contract.
 

krazyrobus

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Except Rooney was like the majority of his career shifted all over and played CM while still being miles more consistent and better than someone like Lingard and Young. On top of that one was always a club legend who sacrificed peak years for hypocrites like Ronaldo to collect the plaudits and deserved every bill of paper from the club.

This club was overpaying long before Rooney and still is overpaying long after he is gone. Rooney had every right to demand such contract.
So what, because the club does it, I can't blame the club and the player? This thread is about Wayne Rooney, not about the club, on the club one, I'd happily blame them for it.
 

norm87cro

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In all honesty this thread should be 100 pages longer at least. He is a legend despite the City drama. The way some people talked about him in his twilight years here was nothing short of shameful.
 

Posh Red

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In all honesty this thread should be 100 pages longer at least. He is a legend despite the City drama. The way some people talked about him in his twilight years here was nothing short of shameful.
Many fans seem to hone in on his ‘flirting’ with other clubs. I bet those same fans worship many other players that have done similar without realising, if not worse.
 

Huddsred

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He's a million times better looking than the Piers Morgan fanboy. He wasn't a bad little player, either.
 

2mufc0

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He certainly has not been "hated with a passion" as some kind of consensus stance.
Not sure about that I think the hate levels during his last few years was up there with the hate Ronaldo has been getting. Rooney was often seen as the biggest problem with United during those difficult years and was often compounded due to his wages and successive managers continuing to play him not matter what. I'm sure the Rooney performance threads during that period will verify this.
 

Popovic

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Didn't he say in the Man United podcast that City was never an option? I feel like he always wanted to go to Barca, what a team that would have been. Absolute legend of the club, top goal scorer, provided some of the best moments for me as a United supporter.
 

KeanoMagicHat

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It’s always been a shame Rooney got injured against Bayern in 2010. He was playing ridiculously well that season. Reminded me of Benzema this season. Could have won the CL if he stayed fully fit. A big what if and would have been ultimate proof of the sort of player he was without serving Ronaldo’s desires.
 

Isotope

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100% on Ronaldo worked harder, every person who played with him says what a freak he is! but will it be different route for Rooney if he had the same treatment within Manchester United, bare in mind I'm not saying that he was treated badly, just a preferable treatment as Ronaldo.

Great point on Ronaldo being a narcissist he would never compromise as Rooney did.
CR left when Rooney was still 24 y.o. Plenty of time for Rooney to have "different route".

Benzema was "serving" ROnaldo until he's 31 y.o. and still able to shine afterward.
 
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Bebestation

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I found the hate he got for flirting with city way ott.
 

Jeppers7

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While Ronaldo had a better career, and reached to the top of football world. I will choose Rooney as a United Legend every single time. After all this week chaos with Ronaldo, I asked myself what if SAF treated Rooney the same way he did Ronaldo? play him in his position always protected him from the media at all time, even when he did something wrong publicly defended him (Ronaldo to Madrid vs Rooney to City), would Rooney have reached a higher ceiling like Ronaldo. I don't remember but 15 years ago or so it felt like Ronaldo was cared for more by the manager and fans Rooney was like a 2nd fiddle, even though Rooney was a much better player at 18 years old, or is it his fault he couldn't reach his full potential? its just an interesting argument that I don't think we can get 100% right answer
He was never a better player. On his best days Ronaldo was always levels above Rooney. It’s not even close between the two players. One is one of the greatest players that ever lived. The other was a great player for united. Sorry but even at 18 on their best days Ronaldo was in a different league. That’s why Rooney had to try to chop Ronaldo in half.
 

svn

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He was never a better player. On his best days Ronaldo was always levels above Rooney. It’s not even close between the two players. One is one of the greatest players that ever lived. The other was a great player for united. Sorry but even at 18 on their best days Ronaldo was in a different league. That’s why Rooney had to try to chop Ronaldo in half.
So wrong. Rooney at 18 was a level above Ronaldo, who did become the better player by 2007. But to say otherwise is rewriting history.
 

Zen86

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So wrong. Rooney at 18 was a level above Ronaldo, who did become the better player by 2007. But to say otherwise is rewriting history.
People often like to rewrite history about how obvious Ronaldo’s greatness was in his earlier days. It wasn’t.

He looked promising and tricky when he first came to us but he was derided as a show pony and play actor. He started to establish himself at the Euros and then like you say, only really stepped up to that other level in 06/07.
 

svn

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People often like to rewrite history about how obvious Ronaldo’s greatness was in his earlier days. It wasn’t.

He looked promising and tricky when he first came to us but he was derided as a show pony and play actor. He started to establish himself at the Euros and then like you say, only really stepped up to that other level in 06/07.
Yep, he was missing the end product in his early years. You'd regularly see this GIF whenever Ronaldo was brought up.

 

Jeppers7

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So wrong. Rooney at 18 was a level above Ronaldo, who did become the better player by 2007. But to say otherwise is rewriting history.
It’s not rewriting history at all. It’s your opinion that Rooney was better. SAF didn’t share that opinion. It’s widely known that he would privately tell people that Ronaldo would go onto be the best player in the world. Which along with Messi he did. Rooney wasn’t as great as made out back then either despite being a child in a mans body. He’d average around 15 goals a season and his end product was streaky. That remained the same throughout his career. Ronaldo on his best days at any age was a level above Rooney in ability. Rooney literally had to take to whacking Ronaldo in the air to get near him when he played for Everton. He totally took the piss out of their whole team that game. I always felt Ronaldo had the talent l, touch and technique to be the best in the world. Whereas with Rooney I never saw that at any age. He was a great player but he never had that Messi, Zidane, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo level of ability