• Everton’s manager praises Wayne Rooney’s new maturity
• ‘Now he’s the one sorting out the young players’
David Moyes publicly ended one of the most emotive feuds of the Premier League era yesterday when he revealed how Wayne Rooney apologised for libellous claims in his autobiography and he accepted the striker’s reasons for wanting to leave his boyhood club in 2004.
Rooney returns to Goodison Park today with another hostile reception anticipated from supporters still aggrieved at the manner of his £27m exit to Manchester United but not from the manager he claimed had given him no option but to quit Everton by betraying a confidence. Moyes sued Rooney and HarperCollins, the publisher of My Story So Far, over allegations that he leaked to the local press details of a conversation they held following revelations that the then teenager had visited a brothel. They eventually reached an out-of-court settlement in 2008.
The Everton manager has since spoken of his former protégé as a matter of professional courtesy only. A hatchet was emphatically buried yesterday, however, when Moyes lauded Rooney as a potential great of the game and admitted the striker, who has himself made conciliatory noises towards his former club in recent interviews, belonged on a bigger stage than Everton could offer six years ago.
“Wayne phoned me up a year ago to apologise for his book and to say that the things he’d put in his book were wrong, and he’d made a mistake,” said Moyes, who revealed he still has a photograph on the wall of his home of Rooney scoring for Everton against Leeds United. “I got the impression it was something Wayne wanted to do, rather than someone suggesting it to him. It came across that he wanted to make the call and set things straight between us, and I appreciated that. I had to give him a lot of credit for that. For me it showed his maturity and he thanked us for the help that had been given to him at Everton.
“The court case had been won, anyway so it was over as far as I was concerned, but I said to him: ‘No problem, that’s fine. It just shows the maturity and where you’re coming to.’ Now he’s the one who’s sorting out the young players at Man United. Anyone who’s stepping out of line, not doing it right, he’s the one who’s looking after them. Everybody gets a bit older and wiser.”
Rooney’s book also alleged that Moyes was overbearing and controlling during his emergence at Everton, although he now accepts his guidance was correct. Indeed the approach of Everton’s manager, who once substituted a disgusted Rooney at Bolton a few days after he had flown to Madrid to take part in a Coca-Cola commercial, followed the example set by the striker’s current coach, Sir Alex Ferguson. Moyes said: “All I ever wanted to do was handle Wayne like Sir Alex handled Ryan Giggs. I looked at it and thought ‘Who could guide me?’ The only person who came close to Wayne Rooney for me was Charlie Nicholas. We drove to work together at Celtic, I watched him in action and I remember all the ‘fun-time Charlie’ stuff, but he was a great player. But the only person in management who I could see where it would come from was how Sir Alex managed Ryan Giggs. Look at Giggs now; he could be a representative of Manchester United for the rest of his life and my idea was to try and keep Wayne on a similar path.”
The Everton manager said he is not seeking credit for the development of Rooney, whose 25 goals and remarkable form this season encourage his view that “I can see the word ‘Great’ coming, just not at this present time”. Moyes added: “The maturity has come from the people around him but also from Wayne. The boy had all the ability. Nobody can take credit for Wayne’s development. He is probably the last of those street players that used to be the rage when you go back to all the greats.”
Despite the rapprochement Moyes accepts that anger will be reserved for Rooney among Evertonians. “It is not for me to tell the supporters what to think, and I am a supporter now myself,” he said. “I understand why they are angry with him but Wayne has now acknowledged that Everton were good for him.” And Moyes admits the Everton of 2004 was not the place for a talent who has gone on to claim Champions League and three successive Premier League titles at Old Trafford.
“I don’t think we were ready for Wayne when he came on the scene,” he added. “I can understand his feelings at the time. Everybody here wanted to keep Wayne but we probably weren’t ready to keep him. Are we better now? Yes, definitely. As far as I’m concerned, I would welcome him back and I think maybe at the end of Wayne’s career he might want to come back to play for Everton again. Who knows?”
David MoyesWayne RooneyEvertonManchester UnitedPremier LeagueAndy Hunterguardian.co.uk
