FA contacts Wayne Rooney over his claims he wore longer studs to hurt Chelsea player

The Football Association has contacted Wayne Rooney after the former England captain claimed he once wore longer studs in a match against Chelsea in order to purposefully injure an opposition player.

The current Derby County manager recounted the incident, which he says took place in 2006, when his Manchester United side were challenging Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea for the Premier League title.

The Blues led the standings prior to the game by nine points with three to games to play, and Rooney explained that he deliberately opted for longer, potentially more damaging studs in order to harm an opponent in a desperate attempt to keep United’s title hopes alive.

‘We knew if Chelsea won then they had won the league that day,’ he told the Mail on Sunday. ‘Until my last game for Derby, I always wore the old plastic studs with the metal tip.

‘For that game I changed them to big, long metal ones — the maximum length you could have because I wanted to try and hurt someone, try and injure someone.’

During the match, Rooney made a studs-first challenge on Chelsea skipper John Terry, who left the stadium on crutches in the aftermath. Ultimately, though, the ploy didn’t work as Chelsea secured the title by winning 3-0, and Rooney himself limped off with an injury just before full-time, which severely hampered his preparations for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

‘I left a hole in his foot and then I signed my shirt to him after the game,’ Rooney added. ‘A few weeks later I sent it to him and asked for my stud back.’

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