Wayne Rooney Reveals the Unlikely Factor Behind Manchester United’s Success

Manchester United’s storied past is filled with tales of triumph, but few know about the secret ingredient that contributed to the team’s dominance under Sir Alex Ferguson. According to Wayne Rooney, the club’s record scorer, it wasn’t tactics or training that set them apart, but rather a shared love for video games.

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In an episode of his BBC podcast, The Wayne Rooney Show, the 38-year-old revealed that the team’s bond was forged not on the pitch, but on the road. During long journeys, the players would often play SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs on the PlayStation Portable, turning bus rides and flights into intense five-versus-five battles.
Rooney credits this shared experience with improving communication among the team, which he believes was a key factor in their success. “We used to play it on the plane, on the team bus,” he explained. “It would be me, Rio [Ferdinand], Michael Carrick, John O’Shea, Wes Brown. You have to talk, you have to tactically be right, go and revive people when they get killed, and it was a massive part of our success.”
The former striker also noted that his teammates’ styles in the game often mirrored their personalities on the pitch. “Michael Carrick was a little sneaky, calm one. You’d be lying down hiding and suddenly hear a grenade bounce nearby – he’d thrown it,” he said. “I was just all in, frontline of the trenches, straight in there.”
While Ferguson’s leadership and the squad’s quality remain undisputed, Rooney insists that SOCOM and the PlayStation may have played an underrated role in creating one of football’s most dominant dynasties.

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