Rooney - The Under-appreciated One

I think there is a case for arguing that Wayne Rooney is the most under-appreciated football player of all time. Of course, there might well be people who played in the 1890s who were highly under-appreciated but who I am completely unaware of.  But Rooney must definitely be up there.

At the time of writing Rooney has 41 goals for England, he has a good opportunity to add to that against San Marino on Friday. Barring serious injury Rooney will almost certainly break Bobby Charlton's all time record of 49 goals for England, probably around about the time of the 2016 Euros.

Rooney will probably also break Charlton's record for the most goals for Manchester United, he has 219 currently versus Charlton's 249 (however, Charlton scored his goals in 310!!! more matches than Rooney has played, to date).

The Premier League all-time scorers record may be more difficult for Rooney, but not impossible. He is currently joint third on the list with 175 goals versus Alan Shearer's incredible 260. If he scores 15 goals a season he will break the record in six years when he is 34. So it's touch and go if his legs will hold out or not.

Then there's the way he plays the game. Shearer was like one of those kids playing in the school playground who always stood next to the goal and waited for the ball to come to him so he could score a tap-in (at my school we called them the pejorative 'goal-hanger'). However, Rooney plays with passion, he plays aesthetic, skillful, energetic football. He's entertaining to watch.

Yet Rooney gets an enormous amount of stick from both fans and the press. He and his team mates have been booed on many occasions by England 'supporters' over the years. There are even some people who think Rooney should be dropped for England. 

I think the idea of dropping Rooney is absolutely retarded (in the modern sense the word is used). I'm sure Portuguese people don't go around saying Ronaldo should be dropped,  I'm sure Argentine people don't say Messi should be dropped and I'm sure Brazilians don't say that Neymar should be dropped, so why Rooney? Of course, he isn't quite as good as those players, but he's the best we've got.

Dropping Rooney would be truly ridiculous, England would be a laughing stock. But it doesn't surprise me that Rooney gets all this criticism, England have the most negative media and fans in the world, no wonder the England team usually plays so badly with all that negativity about. In fact, the problem with English football probably isn't the players on the pitch at all, but the parasitic tabloid press and deluded and demanding fans.