It’s an image that surely sums up the last few days in the Rooney household.
Deciding not to take her children to see her husband Wayne’s Plymouth Argyle on Sunday, self-confessed “football mum” Coleen and three of her four children sat on her beloved Everton’s Goodison Park pitch to cheer on the team. team against Nottingham Forest. Unfortunately, Everton lost, leaving Coleen and the children – Kai, 15, Kit, eight, and Cass, six – stony-faced and grim.
Sealing the somber atmosphere at Rooney’s £20 million Cheshire mansion was also Plymouth Argyle (2-0 to Oxford United) in what we now know was Wayne Rooney’s final game as manager of the Devon team.
In fact, Wayne was sacked from his £500,000-a-year job in Plymouth in a phone call just after 9.30am yesterday. Not yet 40, he has failed in four managerial positions, including spells at DC United in the United States, Derby County and Birmingham City.
Friends of Wayne say he is “devastated” to lose his job, although they recently felt it was inevitable.
And what’s up with Coleen’s mood, so soon after her triumphant second place finish on this year’s I’m A Celebrity? Sources close to the family say she too will be devastated by the turn of events in Plymouth.
Friends of Wayne Rooney (pictured in the stands yesterday) say he is “devastated” to lose his job at Plymouth, although he recently felt it was inevitable.
‘Coleen was very keen to make Wayne’s managerial career work. She knows how much she wanted it and she knows how much she loves football. On the outside, the Rooneys’ life consists of fancy restaurants, vodka cocktails and expensive clothes, but in reality football is very important to Wayne. It keeps him busy. She cares about him and football keeps him out of trouble.
Speaking of which, Wayne, 39, found himself in hot water once again on Monday, when video emerged of a woman apparently entering his ‘bachelor pad’ in the seaside town of Salcombe, which – at least before of the firing – shared with Plymouth assistant coach Pete Shuttleworth.
Footage posted and viewed more than two million times on X allegedly shows Wayne opening the apartment’s front door to the unidentified woman. It then cuts to the former Manchester United star, wearing a baseball cap and tracksuit, standing in front of a large television.
The video was also accompanied by photographs of him with two unknown women drinking in a pub, although there is no suggestion that either of them is the woman photographed with Wayne in his flat.
Understandably, both Wayne and Coleen were said to be “furious” about the video being circulated, to the point that Wayne quickly took to social media to profusely deny the allegations leveled against him.
Footage posted and viewed more than two million times on X allegedly shows Wayne opening the front door of his apartment to an unidentified woman.
With the help of his PR team and management company Triple S, Wayne wrote on Instagram: “The video shows a man and woman looking around my apartment. The couple kindly gave me a ride home and were there at the same time as my son who was visiting.
‘The images are from last summer. It’s upsetting that at least one online newspaper has decided to edit the footage to make it look like a woman entered the apartment alone. That’s simply not true.”
It was a convincing rebuttal, although of course Wayne’s past is far from squeaky clean. Unfortunately for him, most of us remember visits to a prostitute ‘granny’ when he was 18, when Coleen was his girlfriend, followed by a threesome with escorts Helen Wood and Jenny Thompson in 2010 at Manchester’s Lowry Hotel, when Coleen, now 38 years old. She was pregnant with her first child.
Then, in 2017, he was arrested for drink-driving while behind the wheel of Cheshire estate agent Laura Simpson’s car, resulting in him being banned from driving for two years.
Each time he admitted his mistake and each time Coleen forgave him, and I can reveal this time will be no different.
“Coleen knows Wayne is a target for women,” a source close to the star said. ‘Especially in a city like Plymouth. He’s very famous and loves to chat when he’s had a drink and maybe he’s done stupid things in the past.
Rooney family looks happy and festive in matching pajamas in Christmas photo
“But more recently there seem to have been times where people have been wrong or even taken advantage of (by others).”
Another source tells me that Wayne and Coleen are actually in “a very good place”, having matured significantly since they met as teenagers in the Croxteth area of Liverpool.
But will that be enough to save the documentary planned in the immediate aftermath of Coleen’s impressive performance on I’m A Celebrity? You can only imagine her fury if all her hard work in the jungle was compromised by what seems like possible naiveté on her husband’s part.
Before this week, the couple have been at the center of a bidding war between Amazon and Disney+ over their ‘At Home With The Rooneys’ style documentary, which promises to give an inside look at the UK’s most talked-about football family after the Beckham.
With Wayne’s veteran manager Paul Stretford leading negotiations, industry insiders have suggested the pair could fetch up to £5million for the show.
Now, however, instead of starring Wayne as one of the country’s most prominent football bosses, the show will likely feature the former star licking his wounds at home as he once again comes to terms with his unemployment. Even more damaging, will Rooneys (and football) fans feel that Wayne’s reputation has been tarnished after the video emerged?
“Football is central to the Rooneys’ daily lives,” says a source. ‘The boys love it and Coleen always takes them to her games. It’s okay, he has no choice, but he loves it.
‘Part of the charm of the program (would be) Wayne’s success as a coach, but now it looks like he will get under his feet instead of coaching football.
“Coleen did so well in the jungle that she spoke openly about the trials and tribulations of being a WAG and, despite her wealth, how normal everyone is.
“You can’t help but feel that this unfortunate video could be a distraction. Both Wayne and Coleen are well aware of the attention their misdemeanors attract from the public and remain in the public consciousness for a long time.
The good thing is that when the cameras roll, at least Coleen will know that her husband can be found somewhere inside their sprawling mansion. During his brief stay in Plymouth, he seemed to enjoy his nights out.
A regular on Monday quiz nights at the city’s Seco Lounge café-bar, he has also been seen singing hits at the Cider Press pub’s karaoke night, where a video of him posted on social media went viral. . ‘Make a fucking noise, baby!’ he shouted to the gathered drinkers.
Coleen recently appeared on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!
Jarrod Styles, assistant manager of the Cider Press bar, said: “He was definitely a better footballer than a singer.”
“He was an ideal customer, he was just chatting to people and then he got up and sang Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You. He was working the crowd telling everyone to join in.
Nearby Rakuda Bar also shared photos of two of Wayne’s visits on Facebook, describing him as “Rakuda’s new regular.”
Meanwhile, Coleen and her children remained in Cheshire, with Wayne making the ten-hour, 600-mile round trip once a week by car. Sources say that despite her sadness at Wayne losing his job, Coleen will be “happy” to have him under her feet again.
“She misses him,” a friend of the star tells me. “They’ve been through a lot, but she adores him.”
And the next time the Rooney boys feel like traveling to see Everton play, their father can accompany them.