Former England striker and now radio show host Stan Collymore branded Manchester United and England captain Wayne Rooney a cheat last night after he appeared to dive for a penalty during Manchester United 3-1 FA Cup victory over Preston at Deepdale.
The League One side battled valiantly but it was Rooney scoring from the spot that took the wind out of their sails to secure the win for United.
The penalty was the talking point of the match though after Preston goalkeeper Thorsten Stuckmann made minimal contact with the striker only to see Rooney go to ground.
“He toe pokes the ball past the goalkeeper, who he knows is coming out quickly, and he dives,” Stan told Kick Off. “That’s cheating, we’ve had this debate a million times.
“People defend it by saying because there was a trip ‘threat’, that Wayne Rooney has the right to get out of the way and go down.
“But why not jump over him, collect the ball and stick it in the back of the net like what used to happen? You can gloss it all you like, but for me Wayne Rooney has cheated the opposition to get a penalty.
“When you wear that respect campaign armband, you owe it to the fans and the game not to do that.
“I’m bitterly disappointed, he is the England captain and Manchester United captain and he’s better than that.”
England manager Roy Hodgson was in attendance for the match as a television pundit, and when he was asked if he though Rooney had dived, he gave the politically correct answer saying Rooney had taken “evasive action” to avoid contact from the goalkeeper.
Collymore however was less than impressed with the England boss saying his comments were “embarrassing” and a “disgrace”.
He added: “It’s absolutely embarrassing that the manager of the England nation team doesn’t show enough balls to come out and say, ‘we have the respect campaign at the FA and we don’t want to see our players diving’.
“Instead he has yielded to his most important player. It’s a disgrace for Hodgson to say that Rooney was taking evasive action because he wasn’t, he’s dived, he’s cheated, and as England manager he should be looking to stamp these things out!
“That’s the duplicity of modern managers. Mourinho, Wenger, they all do it. When it works for them, they turn a blind eye, but when there is a decision against them, suddenly the opposition players are divers and cheaters, and it’s not good enough.”
You can see what happened in the video below and make up your own mind as to whether or not Rooney dived.
http://youtu.be/CPDzTh31Xec
