Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[TightEnd]

Can't think of anything worse than an hour long special on Rooney.

it is well worth a watch. well made and changes a few pre-conceptions about him.

[hhyftrftdr]

Can't think of anything worse than an hour long special on Rooney.

it is well worth a watch. well made and changes a few pre-conceptions about him.

In your mind, which pre-conceptions changed after watching it? Genuine Q.

[horseplayer]

Was very nicey nice

Hardly surprising otherwise he wouldn't have done it and hardly going to question him in front of his wife

A good dad (I guessed he was) quite shy (yep) underneath it all a normalish bloke (yep).


Was perfectly OK watching but hardly groundbreaking can't see what opinion it would change

[TightEnd]

Can't think of anything worse than an hour long special on Rooney.

it is well worth a watch. well made and changes a few pre-conceptions about him.

In your mind, which pre-conceptions changed after watching it? Genuine Q.

you knew he wrote poetry? or had a collection of guitars?

"Whatever preconceptions you have about England’s most prolific goalscorer will be undone by the scene in this documentary where he sits at the steering wheel of his Range Rover and tells us thoughtfully, "I used to love writing poems…When I first got with Colleen I used to write her a lot of poems but that’s died down a bit of late." Yes: Wayne Rooney, romantic poet.

It’s one of several pleasant surprises here. Like his collection of guitars (one signed by Paul McCartney, another from Noel Gallagher.) "

i knew he was shy but he was a bit more rounded a person than i expected. of course we only ever see the one-dimensional dumb footballer

[hhyftrftdr]

Can't think of anything worse than an hour long special on Rooney.

it is well worth a watch. well made and changes a few pre-conceptions about him.

In your mind, which pre-conceptions changed after watching it? Genuine Q.

you knew he wrote poetry? or had a collection of guitars?

"Whatever preconceptions you have about England’s most prolific goalscorer will be undone by the scene in this documentary where he sits at the steering wheel of his Range Rover and tells us thoughtfully, "I used to love writing poems…When I first got with Colleen I used to write her a lot of poems but that’s died down a bit of late." Yes: Wayne Rooney, romantic poet.

It’s one of several pleasant surprises here. Like his collection of guitars (one signed by Paul McCartney, another from Noel Gallagher.) "

i knew he was shy but he was a bit more rounded a person than i expected. of course we only ever see the one-dimensional dumb footballer

He got with her when they were what, 14? So he was a love struck teenager writing poems to his new piece, hardly ground breaking stuff, millions of boys have been in that spot (not me, I hasten to add). He'll soon have ample time to revive the poems, when he retires in a couple of years.

Wonder how many poems it took to get her back onside (geddit?) following his late night indiscretions.....

Yeah knew about his guitar stuff.

There are plenty of footballers I dislike immensely but would sit down and watch an hour long special on them. Rooney is not one of them.

[DaveShoelace]

Sorry should have said English footballers. I mean it's not their fault, they are basically removed from education at around 13. But it's such a *sigh* whenever you hear them interviewed. They are like actual children.

For some reason, the Sheffield Wednesday squad do their after-match warm down day and physio at my gym. It's really funny watching them, because it really does look like a bunch of kids on a school trip every time. The Wednesday staff have all their kit neatly laid out for them, they talk to them like they are children and tell them off when they are larking around.

However, some of the foreign players seem really intelligent. Atdhe Nuhiu (raised in Austria) seems really intelligent and has a better command of English than the British players.

[tikay]

Can't think of anything worse than an hour long special on Rooney.

it is well worth a watch. well made and changes a few pre-conceptions about him.

In your mind, which pre-conceptions changed after watching it? Genuine Q.

you knew he wrote poetry? or had a collection of guitars?

"Whatever preconceptions you have about England’s most prolific goalscorer will be undone by the scene in this documentary where he sits at the steering wheel of his Range Rover and tells us thoughtfully, "I used to love writing poems…When I first got with Colleen I used to write her a lot of poems but that’s died down a bit of late." Yes: Wayne Rooney, romantic poet.

It’s one of several pleasant surprises here. Like his collection of guitars (one signed by Paul McCartney, another from Noel Gallagher.) "

i knew he was shy but he was a bit more rounded a person than i expected. of course we only ever see the one-dimensional dumb footballer

He got with her when they were what, 14? So he was a love struck teenager writing poems to his new piece, hardly ground breaking stuff, millions of boys have been in that spot (not me, I hasten to add). He'll soon have ample time to revive the poems, when he retires in a couple of years.

Wonder how many poems it took to get her back onside (geddit?) following his late night indiscretions.....

Yeah knew about his guitar stuff.

There are plenty of footballers I dislike immensely but would sit down and watch an hour long special on them. Rooney is not one of them.

If he played for Man City I doubt you'd be so scathing........

[tikay]

Sorry should have said English footballers. I mean it's not their fault, they are basically removed from education at around 13. But it's such a *sigh* whenever you hear them interviewed. They are like actual children.

The French on the other hand have a habit of being super impressive. I remember many many years back there was one of those segments on a World Cup show where they asked a load of people for their most inspiring quote or something. It was a parade of "work hard, put your effort in, try your best" type inanity then they had on Lizarazu who said something like "always turn to face the sun and the shadows will be behind you" I was stunned.

Do you recall a lad named Graham le Saux? Technically English - think he was born in the Channel Islands of French descent.

Very bright lad indeed.

In fact, talking of Graham reminds me of the spat he had with Robbie Fowler.

It was widely rumoured that Graham was gay, & so Robbie Fowler thought it's be funny to take the piss out of Graham on the pitch, during a match.

Graham said this in an interview.....


I stayed on the turf to get treatment and by then Robbie was standing ten yards away. The ball was in front of me, ready for the free kick. I looked at Robbie. He started bending over and pointing his backside in my direction. He looked over his shoulder and started yelling at me. He was smirking. “Come and give me one up the a***,” he said, repeating it three or four times.

I was consumed with thoughts of vengeance. I could not calm down. I ran to the halfway line and tried to confront Robbie. I told him my family was in the stand. “Bollocks to your family,” he said. In his autobiography, Robbie wrote that I ran up to him and shouted “but I’m married” and he replied “so was Elton John, mate”. It is a nice line and makes him look funny, which is the most important thing to him, but he used dramatic licence. He did not say that.

Kevin Keegan was the manager (of England) and he wanted us to stage a public reconciliation for the press. I said immediately that unless Robbie said sorry, that was not going to happen. I did not want a public apology, just a private word would do. But he refused. He said that he had done nothing wrong, that it was just a bit of a laugh.

Imagine that happening today......

[hhyftrftdr]

Can't think of anything worse than an hour long special on Rooney.

it is well worth a watch. well made and changes a few pre-conceptions about him.

In your mind, which pre-conceptions changed after watching it? Genuine Q.

you knew he wrote poetry? or had a collection of guitars?

"Whatever preconceptions you have about England’s most prolific goalscorer will be undone by the scene in this documentary where he sits at the steering wheel of his Range Rover and tells us thoughtfully, "I used to love writing poems…When I first got with Colleen I used to write her a lot of poems but that’s died down a bit of late." Yes: Wayne Rooney, romantic poet.

It’s one of several pleasant surprises here. Like his collection of guitars (one signed by Paul McCartney, another from Noel Gallagher.) "

i knew he was shy but he was a bit more rounded a person than i expected. of course we only ever see the one-dimensional dumb footballer

He got with her when they were what, 14? So he was a love struck teenager writing poems to his new piece, hardly ground breaking stuff, millions of boys have been in that spot (not me, I hasten to add). He'll soon have ample time to revive the poems, when he retires in a couple of years.

Wonder how many poems it took to get her back onside (geddit?) following his late night indiscretions.....

Yeah knew about his guitar stuff.

There are plenty of footballers I dislike immensely but would sit down and watch an hour long special on them. Rooney is not one of them.

If he played for Man City I doubt you'd be so scathing........

Thankfully he'll never play for us. It was awful when we were heavily linked with him a few years back, very pleased it didn't materialise.

We've had our fair share of morons pull on the Blue over the years; Mills, Barton, Thatcher, Bellamy, Adebayor. Thems the breaks, sometimes your club signs players you'd rather not have.

That's hardly me being scathing Tikay, there is plenty more I could've added

[DaveShoelace]

Everyone always said Le Saux was the 'intelligent footballer' but I always felt he was just as thick as the rest of them, albeit a little bit better spoken.

David James was always also referenced as being very intelligent, but didn't he go bankrupt about 20 minutes after retiring?

The brightest (British) footballer would still be your thickest mate in real life, IMO.

That said the Secret Footballer is a great read and whoever that is (Basically either Dave Kitson or Danny Murphy from what I can tell) seems very bright.

[tikay]

Everyone always said Le Saux was the 'intelligent footballer' but I always felt he was just as thick as the rest of them, albeit a little bit better spoken.

David James was always also referenced as being very intelligent, but didn't he go bankrupt about 20 minutes after retiring?

The brightest (British) footballer would still be your thickest mate in real life, IMO.

That said the Secret Footballer is a great read and whoever that is (Basically either Dave Kitson or Danny Murphy from what I can tell) seems very bright.

You must have forgotten who my mates are.

Red-Dog is still listed in my phone contacts as "TAPS", aka "Thick As Pigs Shit", a title bestowed upon him by Ian "The Belly" Oldershaw. Now there's a whole story in itself.

[Longy]

Graeme le saux was recently in dictionary corner on countdown, he came across very well and definitely is above average intelligence. Rather more bizarrely Matt Le TIssier was a contestant and won 3 games.

David Wetherall (ex Leeds and Bradford defender) has a first in Chemisty from Sheffield University, Tom Adeyemi currently at Leeds turned down going to Cambridge to pursue a football career, if these guys a dumber than all of your mates you must be hanging round with some geniuses. There are always going to be some exception to the rule.

[Rod Paradise]

Everyone always said Le Saux was the 'intelligent footballer' but I always felt he was just as thick as the rest of them, albeit a little bit better spoken.

David James was always also referenced as being very intelligent, but didn't he go bankrupt about 20 minutes after retiring?

The brightest (British) footballer would still be your thickest mate in real life, IMO.

That said the Secret Footballer is a great read and whoever that is (Basically either Dave Kitson or Danny Murphy from what I can tell) seems very bright.

I reckon Pat Nevin or Brian McClair would probably be able to teach you a thing or 2.

[AlunB]

Graeme le saux was recently in dictionary corner on countdown, he came across very well and definitely is above average intelligence. Rather more bizarrely Matt Le TIssier was a contestant and won 3 games.

David Wetherall (ex Leeds and Bradford defender) has a first in Chemisty from Sheffield University, Tom Adeyemi currently at Leeds turned down going to Cambridge to pursue a football career, if these guys a dumber than all of your mates you must be hanging round with some geniuses. There are always going to be some exception to the rule.

Quick google suggests he's privately educated at a £15k a year school and his father is chief exec of some hospital group.

As you say, exceptions to every rule.

edit: that wasn't meant to prove or disprove anything, just thought it was interesting btw

[david3103]

Everyone always said Le Saux was the 'intelligent footballer' but I always felt he was just as thick as the rest of them, albeit a little bit better spoken.

David James was always also referenced as being very intelligent, but didn't he go bankrupt about 20 minutes after retiring?

The brightest (British) footballer would still be your thickest mate in real life, IMO.

That said the Secret Footballer is a great read and whoever that is (Basically either Dave Kitson or Danny Murphy from what I can tell) seems very bright.

I reckon Pat Nevin or Brian McClair would probably be able to teach you a thing or 2.

There's quite a few current and ex footballers who could do that. Iain Dowie has a degree in Aeronautical Engineering, Le Saux also has a degree, Steve Coppel, Edwin van der Sar, Clarke Carlisle (another Countdown performer), Juan Mata is studying, as is Glenn Johnson, Lampard got 12 A/A* at GCSE, countless foreign players arrive here and learn English in a year or so. Not to mention the fact that even those who are widely derided for being less than intelligent often turn out to be seriously shrewd (Beckham as a prime example).