Wayne Rooney's record should make him a legend - so why doesn't it?

The National Student

Wayne Rooney, the lad from Croxteth who recently broke the goalscoring record for one of the world’s biggest clubs. Despite the records and the career though, he’s often disregarded as a legend of the game. 

The former Evertonian and current Manchester United captain has held a prominent position in the footballing world for quite some time now. He burst onto the scene with that goal against Arsenal in 2002, making him the third-youngest scorer in Premier League History. After transferring to United for £25.6 million, he scored a hat-trick on his debut against Fenerbahçe. 

He made his England debut on February 12, 2003. In the process he became England’s youngest ever player (a record later claimed by Theo Walcott). He played at another relatively disappointing tournament for England in Euro 2004 (it must be noted he still made many pundit's Team of the Tournament).

Since these performances, he’s gone on to achieve incredible things. He holds the goalscoring record for England at 53 goals, and he’s the most capped outfield player, and only six behind Peter Shilton’s all-time record of 125. He holds the record for most away goals in the Premier League, at 88. He’s second on the all-time Premier League goalscorer list with 195, behind Alan Shearer. He’s third on the Premier League all-time assist list with 101, only one behind Frank Lampard. He’s 20th on the all time appearances list in the Premier League, and rising fast. He has the title of Best Goal in the Premier League, in a poll done in its 20th year - no points for guessing which goal. Then as well all know, he recently broke Bobby Charlton’s record at Manchester United, with a stunning freekick in an otherwise frustrating game against Stoke, to reach 250 goals for United. In 544 games. 

His trophy cabinet also leaves little to be desired. Five Premier League titles, one FA Cup, two League Cups, four Community Shields, one Champions League and one Club World Cup. 

Despite all this, the records for club and country, Rooney is often overlooked when discussing the greats of English football. Is it because he never won anything with England? Is it down to the prostitution scandal? The fact he gets drunk at weddings? 

When people cite the fact he hasn’t done anything ‘special’ with England, it’s a pretty poor attempt at putting him down. Since England won in ’66, the best we’ve done as a nation at a World Cup is fourth in Italy ’90. We’ve never made the finals for the European Championships.

We also can’t forget that players like Beckham, Gerrard, Adams, Lineker and so on, never won anything with England. They also, with respect to the current team, had far better players around them. I know there was an overlap with Rooney in 2004 or so, but for the most part, England haven’t had a team comparable to those of the aforementioned players whilst Rooney himself has been in his prime. He may have underperformed at a few tournaments (and had a Zidane moment against Portugal), but it can’t be put down to just him. To do so would be pure footballing ignorance. 

In the public eye, many questions have been raised about him. Various allegations of visiting prostitutes have been put forward. Only one proven true, Rooney admitting to solicitation in 2004. There have been claims that he abused wife Coleen by The Sun (later proven to be false). However apart from this, there’s minimal scandal to be held against Rooney. A minor boxing issue with Phil Bardsley had a meal made out of it, with Rooney saying it was just fun with friends. He got drunk at a wedding on a night off recently, and there was speak of suspension. For drinking? Pathetic. Who can blame him for having a few? 

He’s actively involved in charity work, and donated the £100,000 damages paid to him by The Sun to charity. His foundation does an exceptional amount, yet all this is also conveniently overlooked. Apart from the habit of giving his kids pretty weird names, he doesn't do much wrong.

Besides all of this though, his footballing prowess speaks for itself and his off-field antics aren’t bad enough to warrant diminishing everything he’s achieved. As a footballer he sets a great example of determination and hard work, as well as not needing tricks and flair to be brilliant. He’s managed to adapt his game as he’s aged. Holding the records he does is no mean feat, and it’s an absolute travesty that he isn’t acknowledged as the player, and great, that he is. Hopefully when he retires, he will be.