Wayne Rooney has lifted the lid on his battles with drinking alcohol and the depths he would go to do so growing up as a teenager in Liverpool.
Rooney became a household name at boyhood club Everton during a stunning debut season in 2002-03, when he was just 16.
However, the future Manchester United and England icon was by then already drinking alcohol – having been caught by an academy coach two years prior while crossing the road.
Having been reprimanded before, the striker would then look for lowkey spots to drink, even breaking into empty houses to do so – as he revealed while speaking as a guest on the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet.
Speaking to fellow Liverpudlian Jamie Carragher, the now-38-year-old said: ‘You [Jamie Carragher] know where I grew up, it wasn’t an easy place to live but, I used absolutely loved growing up there, it taught me so many different things.
Wayne Rooney (pictured in 2008) has opened up about his drinking exploits as a teenager
Speaking on the Stick to Football Podcast, Rooney says he used to ‘go to an abandoned, empty house, knock the windows through and drink’ while coming through the Everton academy
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‘I remember when I was 14, I was crossing the road, I think it was a Thursday or something like that, and I was playing for the U19’s on the Saturday for Everton, Colin Harvey was the manager.
‘So, I’m crossing the road, I’ve got a bag of cider, a packet of cigarettes, and a car stopped to let me cross, and it was Colin Harvey.
‘We used to go to an abandoned, empty house and we’d knock the windows through, and we’d sit in there and drink.’
Despite his teenage drinking, Rooney went on to have a stellar career – winning 12 major honours at United and becoming their all-time record goalscorer, repeating the latter for England before it was broken by Harry Kane 11 months ago.
But despite his stunning array of accolades, Rooney admits the alcohol did eventually catch up with his playing days.
He won 12 major honours during his Man United career, including the 2008 Champions League
Rooney admits that the drinking did eventually catch up with him during his playing career
‘When you look back, I think – and I spoke about it when I did the documentary – I had different issues, ended up drinking way too much and obviously that took its toll,’ he said.
‘You can always look back and think – “If you didn’t do that, would you have played at an even higher level, achieved more, played for longer” – all these questions, again, it’s hindsight.’
Rooney was speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet.
