Rooney ties Sir Bobby [UPDATED]

Debate still rages as to whether Wayne Rooney is an all-time England soccer great. But when you’re tying and breaking records held by a bloke with “Sir” in front of his name, there really isn’t room for discussion.

In 2015, Rooney broke Sir Bobby Charlton’s record for most goals scored for England. Today, he tied Charlton for most goals scored for Manchester United. Rooney also had an assist in his team’s 4-0 victory over Reading. His passing and his touch were sublime throughout the match.

Sir Bobby and his wife were in the stands. They applauded Rooney’s goal with enthusiasm. So did Alex Ferguson, who also goes by “Sir.” He’s the man who brought Rooney, then age-18, to Manchester from Everton all those years ago.

Rooney, who no longer features regularly in United’s starting line-up, reached 249 Man U goals in 543 appearances for the club. It took Charlton 758.

Charlton, though, was a midfielder. Rooney has almost always played forward.

Rooney is no Sir Bobby Charlton. He is, however, an all-time England and Manchester United great.

Here is his record-tying goal.

UPDATE: Bobby Charlton and his brother Jack were key members of the 1966 England team that won the World Cup. Bobby appears in this video of the end of that great victory over West Germany:

Rooney was never able to lead England to anything approaching such glory.

Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.

Responses