Wayne Rooney: My 10 Greatest Moments in the Premier League. Wayne Rooney

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      CONTENTS

       TITLE PAGE

      1 DEBUT

      2 MY FIRST EVERTON GOAL

      3 STARTING AT OLD TRAFFORD

      4 A HAT-TRICK TO REMEMBER

      5 MY FIRST UNITED LEAGUE GOAL

       6 THE FIRST TITLE

       7 A WINNER AT WEMBLEY

       8 NUMBER 19

       9 CITY

       10 BEATING LIVERPOOL

       COMPETITION

       COPYRIGHT

       ABOUT THE PUBLISHER

      Wayne Rooney’s My 10 Greatest Moments in the Premier League is taken from My Decade in the Premier League — Wayne Rooney’s bestselling first-hand account of the mad highs and lows of his football life at the biggest club on the planet.

      This ebook is available at all major ebook retailers.

      

      Twenty-four hours before the 2002/03 season started, the manager, David Moyes, told me I was starting the game against Spurs at Goodison. I couldn’t believe it. My debut was actually going to happen. He called me into his office and sat me down.

      ‘Wayne, you’re starting tomorrow,’ he said. ‘But I don’t want you telling anyone apart from your parents. I don’t want Spurs knowing before kick-off.’

      When I got into the dressing room the next day and met up with the lads, I was excited, too. I felt ready. I’d believed in myself for so long and I knew I was good enough. I knew I should have been starting that game and when I saw my shirt hanging on the wall, it really hit home.

      Rooney.

      18.

      Gazza’s old shirt number.

      As I started to prepare myself, the boss came over for a chat. ‘Go out there and enjoy it, Wayne,’ he said. ‘Just relax and express yourself in the game.’

      When I ran out onto the pitch for my Premier League debut, the home fans gave me a massive cheer. I was a local lad and they wanted me to do well. I didn’t want to let them down.

      Everything felt so exciting.

      As the game kicked off, I could hear the fans singing my name. I got my first touch and everyone cheered.

      After 75 minutes, I knew I’d played alright, but the manager brought me off — I think he thought I was going to wear myself out. I was upset, I wanted to stay on, but the fans gave me a standing ovation. They wanted me to know that I’d done my bit to get us a 0–0 draw. I knew that I’d had the buzz of playing Premier League football for the first time and I wanted more.

      

      Everton v Arsenal, 19 October, the last game before my 17th birthday.

      The match was at Goodison. I was a sub that day. Freddie Ljungberg scored for them just seven minutes into the game; our striker, Tomasz Radzinski, equalised for us 15 minutes later. I was desperate to get on. I was watching the Arsenal back four from the bench and I noticed that whenever any of our players got the ball in behind their midfield, their centre-halves would drop off a lot.

      If I can get into that space I’ll have a go at goal.

      Then, in the second half, the boss gave me a nod. ‘Get warmed up, Wayne,’ he said. ‘You’re going on.’

      I looked up at the clock. There was only 10 minutes to go, but I was delighted to be getting a run-out because Arsenal were a quality side. They were top of the table and unbeaten for 30 league games. I wanted to try myself out against the best.

      Then, in the 90th minute, I scored the winning goal.

      The ball was played up and Thomas Gravesen got a touch. The pass bounced over to me and I brought it down. Suddenly I was in that space I’d noticed between Arsenal’s defence and midfield, and I stuck to my promise.

      Sol Campbell has backed off, I’m having this.

      I took a touch and whipped the ball as hard as I could, curling it towards the near post. It left my toes and whizzed past Seaman, who was standing on his line. The ball smashed the underside of the bar and bounced down behind him, over the line. There was nothing he could have done to stop that one.

      I’ve scored!

      I went mad and ran to the fans; it felt amazing, incredible. When the game ended and I sat in the dressing room, 20 minutes after the final whistle had blown, I could still hear the crowd singing my name in the streets outside Goodison Park.

      

      The first time I’m introduced to The Manager properly is when I sign for United at Old Trafford in the summer of 2004. The day I join the club, I meet him at Carrington and I’m dead excited.

      He drives me to Old Trafford and tells me how I’m going to fit in to the team and how he sees me playing. I talk about the times I’d played at Old Trafford for Everton, how I was blown away by the atmosphere there.

      The Manager seems like a really nice bloke. He has an amazing knowledge of the game. When we play teams, he knows everything about them — and I mean everything. If a player has a weakness on his right foot, he knows about it. If one full-back is soft in the air, he’ll have identified him as a potential area of attack. He also knows the strengths of every single player in the other team’s squad. Before games we’re briefed on who does what and where. He also warns us of the players we should be extra wary of.