Wayne Rooney has admitted he'd have been ditched from the Manchester United dressing room, had he played under Ruben Amorim. The former England skipper is still adored by the Old Trafford faithful for his exploits in a United shirt.
But Rooney isn't convinced he'd have lasted long if Amorim was skipper, claiming he'd have been "sacked", but not because of his footballing ability. He said on the Rio Ferdinand Podcast: "Some of the stuff which got said in the dressing room. That's where now, and it is society as well, you can't say this because you might upset this person. You're a bully, and you get accused of bullying and stuff."
When asked if he and his ex-United team-mates would've been able to handle the current dressing room enviroments, he replied: "No. We'd get sacked."
Rooney then offered his perspective on the evolving atmosphere within football changing rooms. "What happened to speaking the truth and saying, like, 'What are you doing?' Having a go, because when you used to have a go at me, [I'm thinking] 'I'm not letting him do that again'.
"Or I'd have a go at you," he explained. It wakes you up. It brings you alive. And it's a responsibility. I have a responsibility to keep you, to keep him, to keep him on their toes. And you have a responsibility.
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"I couldn't do what I want to do on the pitch if it didn't come from you, or then Carras [Michael Carrick] or Scholsey [Paul Scholes] behind. It's a collective."
Rooney took a stab at management with Derby County before less-than-stellar spells at Birmingham City and Plymouth Argyle led him to focus on punditry work. He also shared his experiences from the other side of the game.
"I've walked out of dressing rooms as a manager because I'll explode," he confessed. "I've seen a player call another player out, not in a bad way, and it is what it is, it's nothing. And then I've seen another player saying, 'You can't do that. If you want to speak to him, do it one-on-one. This is bullying'.
"And I'm stood there, waiting. I always let the players talk and I encourage them to talk to each other at half-time, at full-time. And then I'll come in and say something. And I heard that and I just looked. I was like, what am I going to say?'Just get a shower.' I Walked out, didn't say a word to them. And it's mad, isn't it? It's society.
"You don't know what you can and can't say as well. Got to be really careful in what you try and say, how you want to say it, how you project it, what tone of your voice you're saying it in. And so, it's so many different things, but ultimately, you want to try and get the best from that person."
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