‘It was a nonsense’ – Man Utd icon Gary Neville slams England Wags as ‘distraction’ in Wayne Rooney Amazon documentary
GARY NEVILLE slammed the Wag circus that turned Baden Baden into a paparazzi paradise during the 2006 World Cup.
Wayne Rooney’s wife Coleen was one of the leaders of the England players’ partners' group.
She said: “There were nights when we went out and had a good time but we didn't do anything wrong.
“The players went out with us and we never dragged them out at the hotel to come out with us.
“Out of all the tournaments I'd say that was the most memorable one that we felt like a big England family.”
But in the new Amazon documentary 'Rooney', Neville raged: “Elite sports teams should have no distraction.
“It's a World Cup. We had distractions like you would not believe.
“When I look back on that 2006 tournament and think about how it was handled, the build up to it, that was obviously the Wags and the families travelling, Wayne's injury, coming late, 'the big man's here' and all that sort of crap, it was just a nonsense."
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Rooney also admitted that he shouldn't have even been playing in the tournament because he hid an injury from medical staff.
The ex-Man Utd striker said: "The first training session with the team... we went out onto the pitch jogging and there was a ball by the halfway line.
“I kicked it trying to hit the crossbar and pulled my groin. I had a 6cm tear in my groin which I didn't report to the physios.”
Sven-Goran Eriksson, shown footage of Rooney’s confession, admitted “I didn’t know that.”
And Rooney, who was sent off against Portugal in the quarter finals thanks to a little encouragement from United team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo, went on: “I don't know what the fans will think about it.
“It was naive of course but you want to play, you want to play for your country. I was thinking I will be OK.
“I was never right at that tournament physically. I was getting pain that was non-stop.”
