The Football Association has contacted Wayne Rooney after he claimed he once wore longer studs in a game against Chelsea in order to injure an opposition player.
The current Derby County head coach recounted the incident, which he says took place in 2006, when his Manchester United team were challenging Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea for the Premier League title.
Chelsea led the standings before the game by nine points with three games to play, and Rooney explained that he deliberately opted for longer, more damaging studs in order to harm an opponent in an attempt to keep the club’s title hopes alive.
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‘We knew if Chelsea won then they had won the league that day,’ he told the Mail on Sunday. ‘Until my last game for Derby, I always wore the old plastic studs with the metal tip.
‘For that game I changed them to big, long metal ones — the maximum length you could have because I wanted to try and hurt someone, try and injure someone.’
During the game, Rooney made a studs-first challenge on Chelsea captain John Terry, who left the stadium on crutches. Ultimately, though, the ploy didn’t work as the Blues secured the title by winning 3-0, and Rooney limped off with an injury just before full-time, which hampered his preparations for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
‘I left a hole in his foot and then I signed my shirt to him after the game,’ Rooney added. ‘A few weeks later I sent it to him and asked for my stud back.’
Now, Rooney could be facing a retrospective disciplinary intervention from the FA, after they contacted Rooney in order to ask clarification about his comments.
There is precedent for players being punished after admitting to deliberately hurting an opponent — Roy Keane was fined £150,000 in 2002 after he said in his autobiography that he intentionally made a terrible tackle on Man City’s Alf Inge Haaland.
Rooney became Derby boss in May 2020 after finishing his playing career with the Red devils, and has been praised for his leadership of the team after they were docked 21 points this campaign.
