Wayne Rooney sat for a one-hour interview with his former Manchester United teammate Rio Ferdinand. This article is the third part of the interview.
Why did you, Ronaldo, and Tevez work so well together?
We were all flexible. It wasn’t like, “You’re the No.9, you’re the left winger, you’re the right winger, or you’re the No.10”—we had rotations. We never practiced this on the training pitch, saying, “If he goes there, you come here.” It was telepathy, natural rotations.
The only thing the manager told us was: if the opposition wins the ball back, and you end up on the left, you defend as a left winger; if you’re on the right, you defend as a right winger. So we had the freedom to express ourselves, enjoy it, try things, and not be afraid of making mistakes or missing chances. There was also a work ethic, which mostly came from Carlos (Tevez) and me.
I can only imagine what it was like to face you and Carlos…
Yeah, technically we could score goals, but it would’ve been a long day for whoever was up against us. We were like two terrifying little rats—constantly harassing, tackling, winning the ball back.
Ferdinand: When Carlos signed, there was a lot of talk in the media that you two couldn’t play together because you were too similar…
He was the most enjoyable striker I ever played with in my career.
Did you communicate much? Because apart from Patrice (Evra) and Park Ji-sung, he barely talked to anyone…
I used to pick him up from his house to go to the airport for Champions League games, and he’d just grunt. But he understood a lot more than people thought—your communication was through eye contact.
When did you start thinking, “I have to make sacrifices for Cristiano,” because he was reaching Ballon d’Or level?
Never, actually. I never thought I needed to make sacrifices.
But it seemed that way, didn’t it?
Yeah, it felt that way at times, but I wanted to win. I wanted to win the Premier League, I wanted to win the Champions League—and that’s a big difference. Cristiano had something in his head that I don’t think anyone else had. He had that mindset and mentality that was far beyond anyone I’d ever seen in football.
I had mindset and mentality too, but not to that level. My level was: I want to win. I never cared about the Ballon d’Or or winning other individual awards—they meant nothing to me. I wanted to win the Premier League, the Champions League, with you guys, with my teammates. If that meant playing on the left in a Champions League final, I’d do it. Cristiano obviously wanted to win those things with the team too, but he had that selfish mindset—he wanted everything. I lacked that.
I wanted to live my life, go out and enjoy time with friends, have a night out. And obviously, there was a period where I took it too far. That was a time in my life when I was struggling with alcohol, really struggling. I didn’t feel like I could turn to anyone for help—I didn’t want to put that burden on you. I remember going to training, using eye drops and chewing gum to cover it up. Then I’d score two goals on the weekend, and then disappear for two days.
Who helped you get through that time?
Coleen was massive. We were kids who grew up together, from Croxteth, started dating, got married, had kids. Since I was 17, she could see through me—she knew when I was stepping out of line. I loved football, I was obsessed with it, but I also loved going out at night. She saw that early on and helped me keep that in check.
How important is a partner to a player’s career?
I genuinely believe if she wasn’t around, I wouldn’t be here today. Everything she did was to keep me here, to be the best player and the best person I could be. I’ve made mistakes in the past—they’re well-documented—but I’ve always been a bit all over the place, and she kept me on the right path. She’s been doing that for over 20 years.
Sometimes people’s perception of you is different from reality—isn’t that unfair? Because I’ve often been surprised by how diverse your thinking is…
There was a big campaign saying, “This guy can’t read, can’t write, he’s stupid.” Sometimes you even start to doubt yourself, wondering if that’s true. But what people don’t know is that over the last 20 years, I’ve educated myself in so many different areas. I consider myself well-educated—I can talk to anyone about any topic, whether it’s history, religion, whatever.
Last night at dinner, you were talking about pharaohs…
Yeah, because I try to build a bank of knowledge in my head. For example, if I’m with a player from Africa, I want to understand their background, what drives them.
Has the way people see you ever hurt you?
I’m actually very insecure—about a lot of things. I’ve been insecure about my weight my entire career, and now I’m insecure about my appearance.
That’s strange because I always thought you were confident…
I walk around thinking I’m an 8.5 out of 10—because you have so many different attributes. But I’m still very insecure because I want to be a 9. I really am insecure, and Coleen knows that. Even when I was in the best physical shape of my football career, I would never take my top off.
I never noticed that…
I was strong, powerful, but I always worried about what people would think. Something happened years ago: John Ross (the presenter) showed a photo of me and my parents coming out of the sea. I still think about that today because I thought, “Say what you want about me, but why attack my parents?” My mom was a dinner lady at my old school—she still is. Why should she be judged for something like that?
I wish I’d known more about this when we were teammates, so I could’ve talked to you about it. We players often think, “Why didn’t we do more to let you open up to us?”
You’re stuck in a bubble, aren’t you? You’re expected to be this tough guy, go out there and perform, but a lot of the time you’re actually vulnerable.
Is this something you’ve brought into your managerial career? Do you want to create an environment where people can talk?
That’s what I think was Sir Alex Ferguson’s greatest strength—he could bring everyone together. At every football club I’ve been to, I’ve created an incredible environment; I just haven’t been able to build a good team.
Why is that?
I’ve taken on really difficult jobs. I was at Derby County, then the club went into administration. I went to the US to manage D.C. United—people called that a massive failure, but before I got there, they’d finished bottom three seasons in a row. We missed the playoffs by one point, and after I left, they went back to the bottom. Then I went to Birmingham—it was a complete disaster from day one, and the fans never accepted me.
In my first home game, I was standing there, and Birmingham fans were shouting behind me, “Go back to America, you fat bastard.” I turned around and laughed, thinking, “This is home support.” Then I went to Plymouth—we played some incredible football, but we lacked the consistency you need to push on and get into the playoffs.
