By Chris Wright
You gotta be careful of these south paw corner flags
Wayne Rooney has formally retired his ‘knock-out’ goal celebration after catching his young son doing it at school.
Rooney celebrated his recent goal against Tottenham by recreating being poleaxed by ex-Manchester United teammate Phil Bardsley in his own kitchen after camera footage of the pair play-sparring made headline news the previous day.
Asked whether he’d repeat the celebration if he scored for England against Lithuania, Rooney told the Independent:
“It’s funny, actually. My wife went to pick up my lad (five-year-old Kai) from school and saw him doing that in the classroom.
“I’m sure you won’t be seeing that [from me] again.”
To be honest, it seemed like it’d make the most impact as a one-spot affair anyway.
The moment has kind of passed now, no?
Any road up, Rooney also cleared up any uncertainty concerning the aftermath of the punch, claiming that he wasn’t actually unconscious at all, just dazed, and that the short video merely ended before he could get back to his feet.
“I saw a few of you guys (the press) speaking on the matter. For me, it wasn’t a big issue. I was in my house with some friends.
“Obviously, I was caught on the wrong end of a punch, but I wasn’t knocked out like it was reported. Unfortunately, the video stopped there…
“There has been stick around the place, at United and England training, but you’d expect that. They’re a group of lads.
“I’ve always loved boxing. Unfortunately, sometimes, it doesn’t go too well for you.
“If I’d felt it was that wrong, I’d have apologised to the right people.
“But for me, that’s been and gone and I’m now concentrating on my football.”
There’s a good lad.