Wayne Rooney the fall guy but England flatlining not his fault | Barney Ronay


The most remarkable thing about the England captain beyond his goalscoring records is that no English footballer has ever been so widely discussed

Don’t kill Wayne Rooney. You need Wayne Rooney. These were the last and also the most interesting words spoken by Sven-Goran Eriksson during his time as England manager, a period of almost-success that came flooding back this week with the news the Fake Sheikh Mazher Mahmood has been convicted of perverting the course of justice.

Mahmood was the sting artist who plied Sven with £900 champagne on a hired yacht in 2006 to get him to say he wouldn’t mind managing Aston Villa and maybe David Beckham could be persuaded to come too. Yeah. I could do that. Beckham. Cheers. Later, after some more £900 champagne, Eriksson also confirmed he once threw a kettle over a pub, that his thumbs look really weird – don’t they look weird? – that he really loves this song and this is undoubtedly the best night of his life ever.

Related: Wayne Rooney says Allardyce left him ‘battered’ with carte blanche remark

Related: Wayne Rooney says Allardyce left him ‘battered’ with carte blanche remark

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