Wayne Rooney: Gareth Southgate 'to strip England star of captaincy' following drunken antics
The Football Association are investigating Rooney’s behaviour, along with numerous other England stars who are reported to have spent Saturday night drinking
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Your support makes all the difference.Wayne Rooney could lose his England captaincy following the Manchester United player’s drunken antics at a London wedding last weekend, according to reports.
It’s believed the 31-year-old defied manager Gareth Southgate by returning to the wedding party after being instructed to head to bed.
The Sun has claimed that Southgate will cast Rooney aside once he is confirmed as England's permanent manager at the end of the month.
Rooney has issued an apology to his manager but the player’s future within the England set-up now appears in jeopardy.
The Football Association are investigating Rooney’s behaviour, along with numerous other England stars who are reported to have spent Saturday night drinking into the early hours of the morning after their win against Scotland on Friday.
FA chief executive Martin Glenn said: “We’re getting a proper investigation of what actually went on – ‘were there other FA staff involved – yes or no?’ – and we’re doing a review of it obviously.
“It’s disappointing. I think it’s appropriate he apologised because it doesn’t set a great tone for the England captain but, that said, I don’t want to over-dramatise it either.”
“We’re talking to anyone who was there on Saturday night to find out if anyone from the backroom staff was involved and then we’ll take a view, but we don’t know what the facts are yet.”
“I think it’d be ‘why on earth are you doing that given there is an understanding, a team agreement around alcohol consumption during camps?’, so there would be questions asked for sure.”
It's understood that alcohol consumption will no longer be allowed while on international duty, but Glenn stated that there would not be a return to the strict disciplinarian tactics employed by former manager Fabio Capello.
“Roy Hodgson had a more liberal approach and treated the players like adults and I think he was absolutely right,” he added. “It’s better if the players come up with their own rules. We just need to have a degree of trust to make sure that when we agree something as a group we stick to it.”
Rooney has made a total of 119 appearances for the national side, scoring 53 goals throughout his international career.
The player was absent from England’s recent 2-2 draw with Spain having withdrawn from the fixture with a swollen knee. He is expected to be passed fit for Manchester United’s clash with Arsenal on Saturday.
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