Sport
The fan - Hunter Davies talks injuries with Wayne
Published 08 May 2006
Talking to Wayne, early on Friday night, I asked how he felt about injuries
The world holds its breath, but is the world getting carried away, English Division? I don't suppose the Scots and Irish are fussed, but already in streets all over England there are cars flying English flags, some of them at half-mast, as we pray for Wayne's metatarsal to have a miracle recovery.
I did talk to Wayne on Friday night, before the Chelsea game, and asked him how he felt about injuries. Did he ever worry that one could ruin his World Cup, even his whole career? "I never think about injuries," he replied. "They don't enter my mind."
For the past three months I've been having a long weekly session with him at his lovely home in Cheshire, working on his autobiography - but for some reason, that was one corny question I had not asked him before.
Last week, we also talked about the World Cup. In Portugal in 2004, he was fairly unknown to the rest of Europe. Now he is aware that if he gets to Germany, he will be heavily marked, kicked and punched. "And behind the ref's back, they'll be stepping on my toes, trying to hurt . . ."
From my point of view, nothing has changed, as yet. I will be handing in the first 60,000 words next week, taking his life story up to this week. Then I have to hand in a further 10,000 words within 24 hours of England either getting stuffed or having triumphed, for publication at the end of July. Naturally, these words were going to be about the World Cup, with Wayne ringing me every day from the England camp. I was looking
forward to that. But it looks as if he'll still be there, at some stage.
You could say that HarperCollins has got carried away, paying a reported £5m for five books about a kid who's only 20. On the other hand, George Best was responsible for about ten biographies, most of them repeating the same old stuff, and mostly done with hindsight. What HarperCollins has done, which is unique in publishing, is sign up someone ahead, before his career has hardly begun, like an investor trading in futures.
The plan is that a new book will come out every four years,
coinciding with a World Cup. I don't know, just assume, that the
publishers have built in escape clauses in case his career should come to a premature end. This particular accident is not in the slightest way career-threatening. It's the timing that is dramatic.
These past few months, I've been studying carefully the utterances of other England stars, such as John Terry, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, and when asked the obvious question, "Have we got a chance?", they all name Rooney at once as the man who will give us that chance. This is unusual, for someone only 20 to have become a vital part of the team, and in such a short time. Sven did play him wide, early doors, but since moving to the middle, as second striker, he has become the focal point, as he has done for Man United. He can create, pass the ball and open up defences, as well as burst forward and score. He can be trusted to go back and defend without giving away silly free-kicks. This is most unusual, and why there is no exact replacement. And why oppositions fear him.
In football, one person can make a team - where teams are equal, with no glaring weaknesses. It then depends on a moment of surprise, from someone like Ronaldinho or Rooney, to turn the game around as Diego Maradona did for Argentina. They can have poor games, and other players, at World Cup level, can also do magic. But what has happened with Rooney is that in the team, he is the one they most look for, their talisman, their hope.
One could argue that Paul Robinson, the England goalie, is also irreplaceable, in that we all close our eyes when David James is in goal, but a goalie is there to save us from ourselves. Wayne is there to win it for us.
In the dressing room, he has also emerged as a character, a joker, which is not apparent in his public face. Gazza performed the same function and was equally loved in the England squad, but he was hyperactive. Wayne is calm, laid-back.
Sven will be taking a huge chance, should Wayne go to Germany not fully fit, but it will be worth it, to give him hope, speed his recovery, and cheer up the squad. And the nation. So, fingers and metatarsals crossed . . .
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