England boss Roy Hodgson has offered an apology to skipper Wayne Rooney – after targeting the Manchester United striker’s Liverpool accent.
Hodgson had suggested that the 28-year-old was never going to ‘stand up in front of a lecture room of people’ because of his scouse speech ahead of tonight’s clash with minnows San Marino.
But the Three Lions manager hit back at the headlines his comment caused – after his own ‘speech defect’ was targeted when he was appointed with ‘Woy’ headlines greeting him.
At his pre-match press conference, Hodgson said: “I have to be very careful talking about accents and the way people speak.
“It took me years to realise that I had a speech defect but it was made very clear when I took the job that I had one and I’ve been made aware of it ever since so I’m the last person to discuss accents.
“I’m disappointed, of course, in a headline like that because what I was trying to say didn’t come out in the article, but it’s headlines that create potential damage.”
With his captain accompanying him at the conference, Hodgson revealed that Rooney had declined his peace offering.
“Fortunately, I’ve got a guy alongside me who has been in football a long time and he knows it was in no way aimed at him or anyone in Liverpool – my wife is from Liverpool so that’s the last thing I would be doing.
“I have actually apologised to him for the headline but he was so gracious that he didn’t even want the apology and as far as we’re concerned it is a storm in a teacup.”
With the matter buried, the national side have the sights set firmly on perennial whipping boys San Marino.
And with Ukraine already trouncing them 8-0 in this group, England expects a ‘goal feast’.
But Hodgson has warned that Wayne and co might not be filling their boots against a side who saw one of their greatest international moments came against England.
Davide Gualtieri gave them the lead in 1993 with the fastest goal in World Cup qualification history, shocking England with his 8.3 second strike, though the favourites eventually won 7-1.
Hodgson said: “At no time in my talks with the players, and Wayne will back me up on this, have I actually mentioned goals and number of goals scored.
“I’m telling the truth when I say it’s all about performance and building on what I think was good in the last two games, making certain that we don’t slip at all from those standards.
“Then the opponent is the opponent – we’re not trying to play anything down but I must also say that we are not trying to say it will be a goalfeast. It might. But it might not be also because these games are difficult.”
Rooney will be more keen than most to do his talking on the pitch after he was sent off for lashing out against West Ham and received a three-match ban last month.
He missed last weekend’s narrow home triumph over Everton and is not set to return to club action until the Manchester derby on Nov 2.
After sitting out crunch clashes with West Brom and runaway leaders Chelsea, Rooney will not appear in the Red Devils’ kit for a total of five weeks.
But on the international front, his tenure as captain is progressing smoothly after a narrow 1-0 win over Norway in a friendly and a 2-0 triumph in Switzerland.
And with Estonia on Sunday following the San Marino clash, that run looks set to continue.
Rooney said: “Of course, it’s always great to start it with two wins. As the manager said, we’ve trained really well both on this trip and the trip before as well as leading into the game tomorrow. So I’m enjoying the role, the responsibility – in terms of results it’s gone really well.”
Main image courtesy of BBC via YouTube, with thanks.
