TheFA.com

Rooney wants more of everything

  • Tuesday, 31 March, 2009
  • England's Wayne Rooney
  • Wayne Rooney
  • Wayne Rooney wins Player of the Year

Wayne Rooney is driven by the desire to win trophies for England.

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A popular player among fans young and old, Wayne Rooney now has absolute proof, if it were needed, of just how highly the England supporters value him.

During a promising year for the Three Lions that culminated in a flying start in World Cup qualification of four wins, three away from home, there were several star performers.

David James was England's first choice goalkeeper in all ten matches, Gareth Barry also appeared in every game, Theo Walcott scored a hat-trick on a sensational evening in Zagreb and Rio Ferdinand captained the side for the first time in Paris as David Beckham earned his 100th cap.

But the fans put one player above the rest and voted Rooney their Nationwide Player of the Year for 2008 through an online poll on The Football Association's official website.

"It's an amazing feeling playing for your country," Rooney revealed exclusively to TheFA.com. "So to be voted player of the year is a great feeling and I'd like to thank all the fans who voted for me."

The obvious credit goes immediately to Fabio Capello for England's resurgence in the past 12 months, and with eight wins from ten games in 2008 Rooney feels it was a year of great promise.

He said: "Since the manager came in the routine has changed and the team started playing a lot better football. The main aim was to get the wins in those qualifying games and we did that, and thankfully I was able to score some goals as well. So overall I think 2008 was a good year for England."

The year also ended on a global high for Rooney as he scored the winning goal in Tokyo as Manchester United clinched the World Club Championship - the kind of achievement he hopes to emulate with England in the near future.

"Of course, it's something that hasn't happened in many decades now and it's every player's aim to win a trophy with England. If we could do that in the next few years I'm sure everyone from the fans, the players and the staff involved would be absolutely delighted."

Rooney is now approaching a half century of caps for his country, together with a growing goals tally approaching one in every two games for England, two Premier League medals and a Champions League triumph already in his pocket.

But despite such success at the tender age of 23, Rooney retains a ravenous hunger to add as many titles as he can for club and country - so much so that the suggestion of looking back on his accolades is immediately dismissed.

"It's not really something I look at to be honest. Obviously I want to win more trophies, earn more caps and score more goals. When I finish my career I can look back then on those kind of things, but while I'm still playing I don't want to be looking back I want to only look forward to the achievements I can get in the future.

"After we won the Champions League last season we were thinking about the start of the next season straight away. The manager said straight after the game 'make sure we're ready for next season', and it's something that you have to do. You can enjoy the night when you win trophies but after that you're looking forward to winning them again."

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