Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney has opened up about his struggles with alcohol use and the lengths he would go to in order to do so while growing up in Merseyside as a teenager.
Rooney, at sixteen, was already a household name at boyhood club Everton, earning such a reputation during an impressive debut season in 2002–03.
However, the future Manchester United and England icon had already taken to alcoho by that time – caught and reprimanded two years earlier, by an academy coach while crossing the road, Rooney then deviced other ways to drink without being caught.
Rooney speaks on childhood alcohol addiction
While speaking to Jamie Carragher, as a guest on the Stick to Football podcast, the now-38-year-old revealed, “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.
“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.
“We used to go to an abandoned, empty house and we’d knock the windows through, and we’d sit in there and drink”, as reported by Dailymail
Despite his teenage drinking habit, Rooney would go on to have an incredible career, winning 12 major honours while at United and setting the record for most goals scored, which he repeated for England until Harry Kane beat it 11 months ago.
Even with all of his achievements, the Ex-England striker acknowledges that alcohol did catch up with his playing days.
“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 added.
