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Wayne Rooney’s glittering spell at Manchester United produced five Premier League titles, a Champions League crown and a string of unforgettable goals.
But according to the club’s top scorer, the secret ingredient behind Sir Alex Ferguson’s dominant side was not tactics or training, but playing on PlayStation.
Speaking on his BBC Podcast The Wayne Rooney Showthe 38-year-old revealed that much of the team’s bond was not forged on the pitch, but on the road. Players played regularly SOCOM: US Navy SEAL on PlayStation Portable, turning long journeys into fierce five-on-five battles.
“I really believe that a lot of our success comes from playing on the PSP,” Rooney said. “It allowed us to communicate more.
“We played it on the plane, on the team bus,” he said. “That would be me, Rio [Ferdinand]Michael Carrick, John O’Shea, Wes Brown. You have to talk, you have to be tactically right, you have to go and resuscitate people when they are killed, and that has been a big part of our success. Ask any of those players, it was awesome.”
Rooney added that his teammates’ playing style often reflected their personalities on the pitch.
“Michael Carrick was a bit of a sneaky, quiet man. You were lying down and hiding and suddenly you heard a grenade bouncing nearby – he was the one who threw it,” he said. “I was flat out, on the front line of the trenches, right in there.”
So while Ferguson’s legendary leadership and team quality remain undisputed, Rooney insists SOCOM and PlayStation may have played an underappreciated role in creating one of football’s most dominant dynasties.
Who would have thought it?
