England and Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney believes English football is becoming too gimmicky - and is turning off working class people when it comes to going to matches
Wayne Rooney
Wayne Rooney believes the American influence on English football is driving supporters out of the game.(Image: (Photo by Ryan Browne/Shutterstock))
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Wayne Rooney believes the American influence on English football is driving supporters out of the game. England and Manchester United legend Rooney reckons the 'Americanisation' of the national sport is ruining it for working class people.
Eleven Premier League clubs currently have American owners, including Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal. Rooney admits rising ticket prices in England are a reflection of how much supporters pay for them in the United States for sporting events.
And he is also concerned that the influence of American gimmicks on English games is turning fans off.
Rooney said on The Overlap Fan Debate, brought to you by Sky Bet: "The price they pay in the United States, I had a box at Old Trafford when I was a player and a box at Audi Field which was DC United’s stadium, and it cost me more for the one at DC United than for the box there.
"I was thinking ‘What is going on here?’ The prices of tickets over there, whether that is for NFL or basketball, is a lot higher so culturally that’s what it is like there.
"Whereas in England, I was playing during Covid, and if anything showed why football clubs need the fans, it was then. There was panic as they didn’t know what to do, and then they started to put the fake fan noise (in the stadiums), which was stupid.
"Being a fan growing up and football being my life as a child and remembering me being a passionate fan going to the games, compared to where it is now, it's crazy.
"I do think football is getting Americanised. I've heard they will stretch out the half times at the World Cup to have shows on, which is crazy.
Wayne Rooney (C) poses with club owners, staff, management, and players during a press conference where it was announced that Rooney will be the new head coach of Major League Soccer's DC United
Wayne Rooney spent time in America at DC United(Image: ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)
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"With football, you have to remember, this was a game normal working class people could do anywhere. You could go and watch it, you could go and play it. Now it's getting further and further away (from that) and fans are getting fed up - they will stop going."
Rooney recalls a bizarre incident at Old Trafford during his playing days which made him fear for the direction football was heading in. He added: "When I went into management, you have all these commercial teams and sponsors coming in, trying to come into the dressing room ten minutes before you’re kicking off and doing your team talk.
"I remember walking out onto the pitch at Old Trafford and there was this little kid dressed as Avatar. There were different superheroes and they were asking us to put the jackets on of the different superheroes. You're thinking, 'what is going on?'"
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