Mad Brit Diary

Rooney broke Mersey hearts by leaving.

(Friday, September 3, 2004) -- Liverpool is a sad place this week, well at least for Everton fans. The banks of the River Mersey have never looked bleaker since the days before the Fab Four put Liverpool on the map. You can almost hear Gerry and The Pacemakers singing their 1964 hit "Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying."

OK, I'm overacting, but imagine if you were a 12-year-old Everton fan and your soccer hero was just traded to the enemy. We were all 12-years-old once, with heroes and dreams.

So the damage has been done. Everton sold local hero Wayne Rooney this week to mighty Manchester United for a deal that could soar to $56 million. The transfer puts plenty of coin in the bank for cash-strapped Toffees, but what do you say to those young fans who saw Rooney as the hope to make the Everton Football Club great again.

Everton fans are bitter, very bitter. Not since the great Dixie Dean scored 60 league goals in the 1927-28 season has Everton produced such a star player. Fans of the "People's Club" feel betrayed. Rooney, their prized asset, has now gone to the hated Manchester United. It's hard to swallow, but it's the sad reality of the game. Loyalty means nothing anymore. It's all about the money.

When Rooney helped win the youth title for Everton, he lifted his jersey to reveal a T-shirt blazed with "Once A Blue, Always a Blue." So much for his idealistic faith. Everton fans are so angry, they threw eggs and bricks at Rooney's mansion in the Liverpool area. Someone even spray painted "Munich 58," on the house walls, a twisted reference to the 1958 air disaster that killed many Manchester United players.

United coach Alex Ferguson says Rooney is "the best young player" he's seen in the last 30 years. Sir Alec knows the game and Rooney becomes the most expensive teenaged soccer player in history. And the Red Devils are buying the youngster with a broken foot.

Raised on a poor council estate in Liverpool, Rooney was a dedicated Everton fan with only one aim in his life -- to play for the team he loved. But as we all learned from watching the American "Dream Team" play Olympic basketball, the power of money is greater than loyalty, and the 18-year-old has followed the cash.

Everton fans believed Rooney was forced out of the club, but Rooney denied that. He said: "I made up my mind to leave Everton six weeks ago. I made it clear I wanted to leave Everton. Once I knew Manchester United were in for me, there was only one place for me. After Euro 2004, I made my mind up that I wanted to play for a bigger club. When you are sitting there and all the players are chatting about their clubs, you want to be part of it and playing at that level. It was frustrating I couldn't achieve that at Everton."

It won't be all clear sailing for Rooney. Ferguson will have to keep a sharp eye on the youngster who has a reputation for having a wild side. Rooney recently spent over $50,000 on a sports car for his fiancée Coleen while begging forgiveness for his wild nights in the bad parts of Liverpool. At a birthday party for Coleen recently, the two families got into a brawl with both fathers wrestling on the floor. But Ferguson has his big minders watching Rooney, who will now have to move into upscale Cheshire where the coach can keep close tabs on the man he hopes will lead the club to conquer Europe once again.

As for those Everton fans - who cares? Nobody it seems.

You saw it coming on Saturday. It was the first time a fully-fit Alan Shearer was benched by Newcastle United manager Bobby Robson. Shearer came on as a substitute, but he couldn't save the Magpies in the 4-2 loss at Aston Villa.. But the Newcastle favorite, who holds the record for goals scored in the English Premier League, may have gotten the last word. Robson was fired two days later, just four games into the new season.

In an unusual move, Clive Woodward, who led England to win the Rugby World Cup, is moving into the world of soccer. Woodward is looking at coaching a soccer club and could join English Premier League club Southampton in 2005.

In my last column, I made a big mistake. Only four Frenchmen played in Arsenal's game against Blackburn. To all those who emailed me, thank you.