What If... Wayne Rooney joined Manchester City in 2010?
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What is the background story of Wayne Rooney’s rise to stardom?
The Athletic FC
Hello and welcome to the Athletic FC Podcast with me, Emma Payton. This is What If, where we discuss the biggest sliding doors moments in football and look at how different life might be on an alternative timeline. This week we're asking what if Wayne Rooney crossed the Manchester Divide and joined Manchester City. Well, with me in the studio today is the athletics Dan Kilpatrick. Hello, welcome along.
Hello.
Hello. We've also got Jack Pitt Brook back. After last week's show. Also with us is Andy Mitten from the Talk of the Devils podcast. Andy, I feel like this one's gonna be perfect for you.
Yeah, let's see. Looking forward to doing it, Emma.
Um, how much are you looking forward to this, Dan? 'Cause this is this is a little this is where we have fun basically.
Yeah, I'm psyched. Yeah. I love a counterfactual. Something a little bit different. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it's fun to kind of kinda speculate and and step out of the realms of reality. So that's it.
Let's do it. Well, so far in this series, we have examined what a world without Pep Guardiola and Roman Abramovich might look like. So go and check those episodes out if you haven't already. But here are the three major alternative timeline moments we're going to be focusing on this week around Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney. First, what would have happened to United if they lost him to their bitter rival? Manchester City in 2010. What impact would it have on City's own timeline? And what would it mean for the legacies of Rooney and Sir Alex Ferguson? Um so, guys, let's start with um a history lesson. Let's go back to to the beginning, because we know, of course, that Rooney is United's all-time top goal scorer with an incredible 253 goals in 559 appearances.
But Jack, take us back to the to the very start and talk to us about that impact that he had when he was just a a teenager and and burst onto the scene.
Yeah, I'm not sure if l younger listeners and viewers will really quite understand just how exciting Rooney was when he first broke into the Everton first team at the age of sixteen. Um, for people of my generation, that goal it fa he scored a really famous goal at Goodison Park against Arsenal when us so i th this was October two thousand and two. So Arsenal would have been the reigning Premier League champions at this point. And you can easily find it on YouTube. Rooney puts the ball in the top corner over Inc David Seaman, who was then England number one. Um it's a brilliant, brilliant goal. And I think when he scored that goal, and there's a famous bit of commentary, you know, remember the name Wayne Rooney, which has really kind of g gone down in uh to take a big place in the national
Consciousness. And he was just thrilling, wasn't he, Andy? Because he was so he was so strong, he was so clever. He had, even though he was just a kid, he played with such a kind of adult physicality and bravery and spirit. And he was just electric and really thrilling to watch. And I don't I still don't even think now, you know, that was a long time ago, that was 24 years ago now. I don't really think English football has produced anyone quite like him. So
Yeah, I agree, Jack. When he came through at Everton, he David Moyes, who who was manager, felt that he had to wait a little bit of time to introduce Wayne Rooney, but then he saw with his own eyes what he was seeing in training every day. And and this was someone who aged sixteen was the best player at Everton. So he had to bring him through. And I've spoken to to Moyes about it several times since. And then Everton had a problem because Wayne Rooney was so good that m suitors started to circle and Manchester United were a preeminent force at that time. And you speak to people at United and they'll say, I saw Rooney when he was when he was fifteen, fourteen, ten, eleven, nine, eight, six years old.
I told him to sign him when he was two years old and we saw him walking across the field in Crockstuff. But he did finally sign in in August two thousand and four for a for a
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the background story of Wayne Rooney’s rise to stardom?
0:01–6:12
2
How did Wayne Rooney’s relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson become strained?
6:12–12:47
3
What triggered Rooney’s 2010 transfer request to leave Manchester United?
12:47–18:59
4
How would United have coped if Rooney had moved to Manchester City in 2010?
18:59–24:58
5
What would have been the fan reaction to Rooney joining Manchester City?
24:58–33:12
6
How might Rooney’s move to City have changed the club’s trajectory?
33:12–39:22
7
What if Rooney had transferred to Chelsea in 2013 under Mourinho?
39:22–44:12
8
What is the panel’s final verdict on the alternate timelines?
44:12–50:18
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from The Athletic FC Podcast
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