Why Everton fans should forgive Rooney - and he should pledge to rejoin them in five years' time

By Brian Reade

Published 23:30 19/02/10

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Wayne Rooney wakes up this morning with the world united in praise of his God-given talent.

A few hours later though, as the Manchester United coach pulls into Goodison Road, he'll enter a world split on whether he's a genius who should be forgiven or a Judas worth only contempt.

There have been moves on both sides to re-ignite the love affair between Rooney and Evertonians. He was at Wembley cheering his boyhood heroes on in last year's FA Cup Final, and recently went on the club's TV channel to declare his love for all things Blue and announce he'd bought his baby son an Everton kit. And at a recent post-dinner Q&A session he declared: "Everton are still a big part of my life."

All of which has started a debate on Merseyside. The Liverpool Echo carried an impassioned plea from its top Bluenose writer Paddy Shennan to stop hating their famous son, which received a mostly favourable response.

But there are many who refuse to forgive and forget. They still smart at the way he walked out at 18, with two years of his contract to run, and rubbed salt into their open wounds by kissing United's badge in front of them.

There is still a long way to go before the black sheep is welcomed back into the family, and rightly so. However those who still despise him for deserting them at such a young age should read Gordon Taylor's words this week to a tribunal dealing with a claim against Rooney by the Proactive agency.

According to the PFA chief Rooney was badly exploited by agents who tied him to a deal that would normally span the average life of a professional player.

In other words the impressionable teenager from the Croxteth council house had his head turned by men on the make. Men who saw a cash cow land in their lap and knew the only way of milking it was by moving it on to a club the size of United.

It doesn't mean he was drugged and thrown into Alex Ferguson's boot, and it doesn't excuse the badge-kissing (although a horrendously-barracked Rooney would say he was merely fighting cruelty with cruelty).

But it confirms what many sane observers believed at the time. That Rooney was not being allowed to think straight about what he was doing to the club he loved because the smooth-talking leeches that surrounded him had too much to lose through petty notions like loyalty.

Increasingly, Evertonians admit they are proud that one of their own has matured from the rough-edged kid who snobs hoped would self-combust before he was 21, into one of the very best players in the world. And they are pleased that he considers himself an Evertonian.

But many still need to be convinced his bridge-building is not just a Beckham-style PR job. A clever attempt to make life easier for him and his family among fellow Scousers.

Knowing the depth of love for Everton in his family I think his contrition is genuine. As to whether he aches to see the club successful again, why doesn't he prove it?

Why not tell his fellow-Evertonians that he has unfinished business with them. That when he signs a five-year contract this summer it will be his last at Old Trafford.

And announce that in 2015, when he's bagged enough bank-notes to wallpaper every front-room in L4, lifted even more trophies including World Player Of The Year, he'd love to go home, at 29, and help Everton win things. If they'll have him.

For a man who prefers to do his talking on the pitch Rooney knows that actions speak louder than words. So what's stopping him following his heart.

Once a Blue, always a Blue, Wayne? There's still time to prove it.

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There is only one response to the Premier League floating the idea of a money-grabbing set of Champions League play-offs, in the same week that Portsmouth were pleading with courts to overlook their horrendous debts and let them remain in existence: Richard Scudamore, resign.

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