Wayne Rooney

Well at last someone has broken the great Bobby Charlton's goal scoring record for England, Wayne Rooney, hat's off to him, its a great achievement, but would you rate him as England's greatest ever goal scorer, or would you rate Jimmy Greaves record of 44 goals in 57 games better, I do, just a little debate, what does other posters think.

 

It is an amazing achievement and he is an all time great, however comparing who is the best ever is impossible over multiple time periods

 

In my mind, it's just the media's way to bring the current England squad down a few pegs again. Wayne Rooney has scored more goals, but he won't be considered the greatest because he didn't win a World Cup, Sir Bobby Charlton did.

Say what you want about Wayne Rooney, but he's been the closest we've had to a true world-class talent. Gerrard, Lampard, Terry, Beckham, and co were all up there, but at his peak Wayne Rooney was compared to some of the best in the world.

There was a famous story where Moyes was arguing with their academy coach, saying that funds were low and that he wanted to call up the best player in the academy to train with the first-team, and potentially get some minutes in the league. The academy coach said that there was one player who was miles better than the others, but he couldn't be called up. Moyes, bemused, asked why. The coach said the reason was that the best player in the U18's at that time was a kid named Wayne Rooney and he was only 14 and as such was ineligible to play in the Premier League.

The FA need to promote Rooney as "the standard". He might not be the greatest of all time, but if a player wants to play for and captain one of the biggest clubs in the world AND their country, this is what they need to achieve with their career.

 

Although it's a record that eventually was meant to be broken I'm not that thrilled by the current holder. Wayne probably has a national pride which say he deserves the accolades but give me Bobby Charlton all the time.

Having been at the World Cup Final in 1966 and seeing Bobby in full flight was a memory never to be forgotten, and in the semi-final he and the Portugese legend Eusebio went off the pitch crying in each other's company because those were the days when compassion and respect ruled the day. Oh happy days.

P.S. Well done Wayne and now go and add an international tournament gong to round off your achievements.

 

Many brilliant players have played for England and never won a world cup medal...our 66 boys were a great team & the 1970 team even better in my book...for some reason or another we haven't managed to achieve anything since. I have to say, I have been a huge fan of Wayne Rooney ever since he came on the scene, he gives his whole for his country of that there is no doubt & is a brilliant player IMO, however, Bobby Charlton was the greatest England player I ever saw, with Bobby Moore a close second. Being your country's top scorer of all time does not make you the best there's ever been, but come on, Rooney's record is fantastic & has more goals to come too. Will the record ever be beaten, I see no reason why not.

 

started to like him a lot more over the last few years as he"s matured and lost a few of the rougher scouse edges,

 

Charlton for me too - any day.

I respect Rooney more than I used to and to see him displace that fraud Beckham, who won way too many caps coming on for the last 10 minutes of meaningless games, will be good enough for me.

 

Hats off to Rooney, as at the end of the day he is now our leading scorer whether anyone likes it or not. As for the best striker, no chance, not even close, Greaves, Lineaker and Owen were all better more predatory strikers, not to mention Charlton who scored his goals in the same amount of performances from midfield, and Rooney and all the others were strikers.

His return of 1 goal in World Cup final tournaments is telling.

I think this record will stand for a very long time as well, nobody really beating in the squad with a good tally behind them that looks likely to break it. Probably sums up the state of English football really!!

 

,It is an impressive achievement - and the lad has started to mature, so congratulations are appropriate and I am happy to provide mine.

However, as Supcon says; he only scored 1 in a World Cup - out of how many? - Lineker managed 6 in Mexico 86 and 4 in Italia 90 - respective World Cup tournaments.

Rooney has gained his tally playing against 'lesser' opposition in the main. He would NOT feature in my England dream VI of all time. He is, unfortunately, the best we have at the moment - which is a sad reflection of our home-grown talent.

 

Also worth mentioning the quality of opposition that Lineker faced and scored against at Italia 90 - i.e West Germany and Argentina in '86.

 

all comparisons are done on a face value interpretation... as some have said different time periods = different teams / quality etc

you could argue that now with substitutions it means a player might get just 5 mins on pitch and that equals 1 game! or team winning by a couple goals so get taken off, so the obvious minutes on pitch / goals scored would not work. in fact nothing works save Rooney has now scored more for England during his career than Bobby was able to.

Realistically JG pro rata scored more!

 

'Greaves, Lineaker and Owen were all better more predatory strikers'

And that's what they were - great strikers, you never saw them defending corners.
Rooney is almost a 2nd striker, a slightly different kind of player.
Don't think you can compare, it's apples and pears for me.

Charlton from midfield was very very special, his goal scoring record is unbelievable.

 

I don't agree with you on Beckham being a 'fraud' mate - he may have outstayed his England welcome but there was nobody prouder than him to wear the three lions - when the likes of Scholes and Shearer 'retired' from England duty yet continued playing for their clubs.
I accept he is not everybody's cup of tea, but to me he encompasses everything I want in an England player. He wouldn't have skipped an England game claiming tiredness (Sterling) - Beckham would have been the first changed and out on the training field.

Apart from Charlton and the pundits the only ex England player I saw cheering them on and applauding Rooney for his goal was Beckham.

I respect your opinion but completely disagree with it

 

With you on that...beckham, top man.

 

So here we go again with the selective rose tinted memories of Saint Dave

The same Dave who got deliberately booked in an England match so that his wife could attend a modelling shoot. Personally I don't call that sort of thing professional, nor is it the sort of thing that I want to see from any England player.
The same Dave who convinced SGE to play him as a quarterback against little Northern Ireland that we then lost to 1-0
The same Dave sent off for petulance against Argentina which cost us the game.
The same Dave who never performed against any half decent international opposition ever.
The same Dave who took every corner and every free kick and produced relatively little.
The same Dave who said it would be a great idea to have the WAGS come along to a WC. That worked out well didn't it ?
The same Dave who holds the dubious record of being sent off twice for his country.
The same Dave who was made Captain of the England team just for PR purposes as there can have been no other reason.

He may have been the first changed and out on the training field, but only because it would earn him another unnecessary and undeserved cap against someone like San Marino in the last 10 minutes of a game as a 'cameo' appearance rather than give a youngster a chance.

And we wonder why we don't thrive at international level.

The FA are as much to blame as anyone for the amount of caps he got.

And any player from any era who was not proud to wear the 3 Lions frankly doesn't deserve a place in the squad. That is a totally ridiculous statement.

 

I'm getting a feeling that you don't quite rate him mate

 

I seem to remember Rooney also being sent off for England - the famous 'winker' incident.