Wayne Rooney and Gareth Southgate had a Christmas they won’t forget in a hurry… but will either return to management?
Wayne Rooney and Gareth Southgate had a Christmas they won’t forget in a hurry… but will either return to management?
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ONE of England’s best-known football men gets a posh title while another loses his job. So a happy new year then for Sir Gareth Southgate, but less so for Wayne Rooney. Former centre-back Southgate, 54, became the fourth former England manager to be knighted, although such an appointment does not necessarily qualify for a gong - just ask Sam Allardyce!.
![[Gareth Southgate has been made a Knight of the Realm]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/2020-championship-semi-final-match-664440108.jpg?strip=all&w=695)
For anyone with short-term memory loss, Rooney is one of our all-time greats as a player, with his 53 goals for England putting him on top of the pile until Harry Kane went past him in 2023. But as a manager, Wayne was sacked by Plymouth a few days ago after taking them to the foot of the Championship.
![[But it's not been such a happy Christmas period for Wayne Rooney]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/26-12-2024-wayne-rooney-960761423_ec8c77.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
It was his fourth management failure and he might well conclude he needs a fresh line of work. His career and Sir Gareth’s crossed a couple of times at least, once or twice in 2003 on the playing field when Rooney was a teenage wizard, scissor-kicks a speciality and our best forward since Alan Shearer.
![[The former England striker was axed by Plymouth earlier this week]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/plymouth-argyle-manager-wayne-rooney-957430249.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
In 2016, he was still around at the start of Southgate’s eight-year tenure as England boss. Rooney, 39, might not be a great manager but how his shining talent brightened the lives of Everton fans for a short time and Manchester United’s for a generation.
![[Rooney leaves the Pilgrims with the side bottom of the Championship]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/editorial-use-no-use-unauthorised-958991416.jpg?strip=all&w=740)
Wide in the shoulders, strong and quick he could go either side of a defenders, motor at fair speed and even occasionally score with his left foot. FOOTBALL FREE BETS AND SIGN UP DEALS. He learned early on that he had to handle himself, remaining unflinching - and sometimes more.
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