Wayne Rooney: My Story – A Candid Soccer Autobiography of Adversity, Triumph, and Life at Manchester United

by Wayne Rooney

One of the most talked about stars in the world of soccer, Wayne Rooney now talks about . . . Wayne Rooney—no-holds-barred. Wayne Rooney is barely twenty-two years old, and he's already one of the finest soccer players in the world. Colorful and controversial, he plays—and lives—with an intensity that's unmatched on and off the field. With remarkable candor, he now tells the true story of his life. From his working-class upbringing on the back streets of Liverpool and his Premiership debut as a sixteen-year-old phenom to his ebullient entrance on the international scene in the 2004 European tournament and the raw drama of the 2006 World Cup, Wayne My Story is an honest and inspiring account of a prodigiously gifted youngster and his meteoric rise to fame and fortune. It is a riveting tale of adversity and triumph, of champions and championships, of a private life that never could escape the headlines . . . and of a remarkable athlete whose destiny was forever altered when Manchester United came calling in the summer of 2004.

Genres: Sports, Football, Nonfiction, Autobiography, Biography

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Annabelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

Niet helemaal uit maar ik kon niet meer. Letterlijk een van de saaiste boeken die ik ooit gelezen heb. Wayne Rooney kan fantastisch voetballen maar qua schrijven is het echt niet veel soeps. Prima op zich, was te verwachten. Het feit dat zijn boek 'My Story' heet, suggereert ook dat er wellicht veel interessants gebeurd in zijn 'story' maar t gaat letterlijk van
I grew up in Liverpool, I met my fiancee, it was lovely, we got married, I injured my ankle, I had managers, I didn't like them all, I needed an agent and someone wanted me to have another. I had money

Naja. Hè. Prima prima, vind m nog steeds een waanzinnige voetballer maar dit was verspilling van mn tijd.

[Udeni · Rating 2 out of 5]

I work 2 miles away from Old Trafford. On match days, you can hear the crowds chanting "Roo----Neyyy, Roo- Neyyy!" He is a local legend. Despite growing up in Manchester, I know little about football and even less about Wayne Rooney. This book was my husband's attempt to educate me. Wayne Rooney was, for a long time, the youngest England player and the youngest player to become a multi-millionaire. As a footballer, he is a genius. The book is an autobiography of his first 20 years.

The strengths of the book are in the straightforward narrative of his rise from a poor, working-class family to becoming a multi-millionaire by the age of 16. He makes a valiant attempt to counter the toxic stories that have long swirled around him: the fights and police arrests at family gatherings; his girlfriend's extravagant shopping habits; the visits to brothels. But this lifestyle of gold-plated excess is precisely his appeal to many fans. The ghostwriter does a good job of using simple language that could be understood by children or by Manchester United's millions of supporters abroad, for whom English is not their first language. The book has useful appendices of Rooney's phenomenal goal-scoring success and his enormous transfer values.

The weakness of the book is in its mind-numbing boringness for anyone not interested in Wayne Rooney's daily life. There is also no attempt to explain his magical footballing skills, which make him so compelling to watch and so valuable to Manchester United.

One for hard-core fans of Wayne Rooney only.

[Shubham · Rating 5 out of 5]

wayne rooney hairsyle

[Roman Khan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gave this 5 stars because it was very clear to read and it was focusing on many subjects so it was not just one boring subject for a long time it was showing his life of how he got into professional football and how he got into these academies and pro teams and it was his story so far so he tells us that he has a future ahead of him as well.

The best thing I learnt from this book was when you have injuries you can get very annoyed or bored and angry that you can't play but you just have to stick through it and make sure you don't get injured again because then you have to wait even longer. Like when Rooney injured his material on his foot just before he was about to go into the World Cup and he definitely didn't want to miss it as it was every four years, they have the World Cup.

This book inspired me because it showed how he played on the street streets when he was younger and how he was able to run around on the streets and play football all day long because that inspires me to do it as well. It also inspired me to improve and be too get better at football.
I like football because It shows how you meant to improve an get better something with determination and also shows social interactions with other players showing sportsmanship towards other opponents.

[Cameron Rhoads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read with my oldest son Ulysses, 21, who loves soccer as his favorite sport.

[Charlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a highly readable & engaging autobiography, told with refreshing frankness. To my surprise, within the first few pages, I found myself completely swept up in the poor English neighborhood where Rooney grew up. The book provides a fascinating, behind the scenes glimpse of what life is like for the Manchester United star. My only real criticism is that Rooney doesn't often take the time to analyze the meaning of a certain event or comment, and he confesses to have completely forgotten large chunks of his past, especially his childhood. Perhaps this is simply a reflection of Rooney's character -- he seems to act primarily on instinct. This approach serves him so well on the pitch that it's hard to condemn it much in other aspects of his life.

[Samar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book because it tells me how he felt during the games and telling how good the other footballer players were. The thing I learnt most about football in this book was not to step near to the groins because Rooney got red carded because it looked like he was stepping on a Portuguese players groins. The best bits in the book were:
• how much matches he won
• bikini bottom was mentioned and that is where sponge bob lives
• and it says my dads brother’s name (Gerrard)
• Rooney doesn’t have his breakfast jut lunch and dinner
• Rooney wasn’t listening properly so I wrote “no listening will get you to football quicker”

[MasonG · Rating 3 out of 5]

From a soccer fan this book is awesome because it goes straight into the mind of What he was thinking in his head before and during the biggest moments of his career. This book was also very difficult to read because in certain parts the grammar was really bad making it really hard to keep reading at some points. What I really liked about this book was it really went in depth to show you what happens being a young kid going through this journey to be one of the best soccer players in the world at such a young age. Then again while discussing controversial moments in waynes long career this book was really biased and one sided at times to the extent of just not putting the other side of the story and as a reader this just left a sore test in my mouth of not being able to hear the whole story. After all if you're an adult I do recommend this book but not very much if you're a kid because the language gets bad at some points in the book.

[Zach Lanshe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yes, I am a massive Wayne Rooney fan and yes, I am an avid Manchester United supporter. Biases aside, this was a very interesting read. I also have read the auto-biography of Anna Kendrick and with a similar feeling of seeing famous people in real-life scenarios, I enjoyed it. Wayne Rooney is very real and has a lot of issues and troubles we do as less-wealthy people. He started his fame at the young age of 17, and as a teenager, was very star struck at first.

If you don't enjoy football, or biographies very much then, this book isn't for you. However, if you enjoy one or both of those subjects, this is a good easy read. There are pictures to coincide with stories and the writing is clearly not the greatest but, heart and emotion is written in the pages. It is not a difficult book to understand/read and is only 279 pages long.

[Shahin Khoeini · Rating 5 out of 5]

My mom bought me this book. She went to so many bookstores when she was in Europe just to get this book for me. I loved it, it was a great insight into the life of one of the best footballers of our lifetime. I love how he talked about his challenges, his mistakes, his struggles, and eventually his great moments.

I still have the book. The events are outdated now but it was very interesting to read at the time.

[Simon Till · Rating 4 out of 5]

I personally loved this book as I am a massive Wayne Rooney fan, but I did feel that there was more that could be said on his footballing achievements. The book is more for Wayne Rooney fan as opposed to a 'football' fan, as the book is very much about Wayne's personal life, troubles and upbringing, which is fine for me - but not necessarily for every reader. Still a fascinating read and really enjoyed reading about his childhood experiences and what led him to being the premier league icon that he is.

[N L · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is okay. It is very plain language which is alright and gives some good advice to people trying to work through difficult times and staying yourself. The book is boring at times and dated at times too since it was published back in 2006. I still enjoyed reading it and its worth it if you are looking to gain even more knowledge about footballers and their lives.

[Anirudh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent autobiography by one of the legends of the English football! Best of luck for your career and new innings with DC United Wayne! My forever favourite's list will always have you dear!

[Keegan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked it because it tells so many things I didn’t know about him and how he made it to the top of world football

[Dalton Phillips]

Dalton Phillips
A1 English


Wayne Rooney
My Story

Written by Wayne Rooney

The book is an autobiography of the author’s life.
The author is writing the book to tell of his life experiences and journey of becoming a professional soccer player. He also writes about how people are always looking to bring out the worst of people’s past or previous mistakes by taking something small and innocent and trying to make something big out of it and use it for their own personal gain.
The author uses two different styles in writing this book; narration and description. Narration was used by telling the stages of his life and career in chronological order. This is done by the way he discusses his childhood, his debut as a soccer star at sixteen-years old through his placement with Manchester United and the England national team. Description was also used by giving particular details of events that happened in his life and career. One way he does this is by detailing his first hat trick; which is scoring three goals in one match, with Manchester United. He gave descriptive details to make the reader feel like they were achieving the hat trick themselves.
The author was born in Liverpool, England, in 1985. The author documents his life journey in becoming one of the world’s best soccer players. He debuted for Everton when he was sixteen-years old. He made a few bad choices when he was younger which came back to haunt him later in his life when trying to achieve status as a professional player. One of those choices was to go to a strip club with a group of buddies. This incident was brought up during his rise as professional player to make him look bad, but he rose above and moved on. The author’s book talks about the many achievements of his career; which included, him being the youngest goal scorer in Premier League history. The author also discusses his achievements as a player with Manchester United and his achievement as a player for the England national team.
I did not particularly care for this book. I wanted to know more about the individual games and not so much about his life. So, if I were to change the book at all, it would be to add more details about individual games. I have not read an autobiography before, but have read a few books where someone else told the life story of a person.

[Alex Edwards · Rating 3 out of 5]

For my second quarter book review in English 231 I read My Story by Wayne Rooney. I think the purpose of writing this book was to inform the readers about his life and how he came to me a professional soccer player in the Premier League for Manchester United. He wrote in the first person point of view, and he wrote it very relaxed. You can tell the book was written by him because some of the words and grammar is very laid back, like a teen was writing it. I would call it informal. The audience he wrote to is anyone that is a fan of sports of any kind, because although the main topic is soccer and how he became a professional at it, it has inspirational quotes and things that could very well drive any athlete to become better at what they do.

I would say the theme in this book is you can do anything you put your mind to. He has played soccer since he could walk and he never gave up on it because he had a bad game, didn't like a coach, or anything. He stayed confident that he was a star and kept that mentality every athlete must have to succeed. He trained all the time, and when he was just fooling around with his friends he was still training because they would run around and play soccer.

This book was written well, for the most part. It can relate to athletes of any age, since a lot of athletes are relaxed and aren't too focused on anything but their sport. It was effective to me. My Story was written to be a descriptive narration of his own life, so an autobiography. It was really easy to read because he explained every moment he brought up very well and he didn't leave a thing out.

I would give this book 3 stars out of 5. It was a good book, but it repeated the same thing a lot. If you were a serious book reader and were really picky about what books you read, this book isn't for you. This book is for athletes, in my opinion, because he tells you the life of a professional athlete. He shows how it's not so easy to get there and when you are a professional, it doesn't get any easier. It's similar to the Tim Tebox book I read, although I don't remember the name of the book. I would recommend this to anyone who like soccer or any sport.

[Cole Hamilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wayne Rooney wrote this book to inform people about his life. This book is like a biography considering the book is "My Story" by Wayne Rooney. His life story is amazing and people noticed that, so that's why he wrote a book about his life.

I believe the theme of the book is to stay humble and remember where you came from. Wayne did all these incredible things at a young age and has managed to stay humble when he could easily become cocky and arrogant. In the book it talks about him helping out at a children's hospital because he like to give back to the children less fortunate than him. He's dealt with charities and also bought his parents a house.

This book is told in a narration because it is told in a chronological order of his life. It starts with him at a young age playing soccer and him training as a kid. Then it moves on to later in his life and his soccer accomplishments. Then after that it talks about him being recruited to play pro soccer. After that it talks about him on the teams he plays for and everything he goes through being a young professional soccer player.

This book was really cool, I think it is really sweet how young he was to become a professional soccer player. He became the youngest professional to do a lot of things, and that is a huge accomplishment. He was playing with grown men at the age of 17. That is amazing and he is already one of the best players in the soccer league.

[Anton · Rating 4 out of 5]

title:Wayne Rooney, My Story So Far
author:Wayne Rooney
Rating:4 stars

This book is in the A dairy,autobiography or biography category.

plot:
Wayne Rooney was at the everton football academy at 13 years old, Wayne then went through the ranking at evertons football club and finds himself to be playing in the mens first team in the biggest football league in the world the English premier league at just 16, after being at everton for his football life Wyne makes a big choice to move to the biggest club in the world Manchester united and after playing great football, Wayne got a call up to the English national team for the the 2004 euros.

I really liked this book because l love football and Wayne is a great player and a role model for a lot of people around the world. l loved that Wayne shared a lot of personal information and story's like he moved to Manchester united partly because he hated the Everton mahger at the time David Moyes l thought it was just because he wanted to win trophys.

[Zack Hadley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about everything I hope to be when I get older. Wayne Rooney is one of my favorite athletes of all time and I look up to him as a role model. This book portrayed him greatly as a hardworking and straight forward kind of person, which is what he is. He isn't really all that mouthy, he just speaks his mind about things. It was really interesting to me how he got to be selected as an Everton FC player and then got transferred the Man United side and called up to the national team. I really like this part because it gives you a rare glimpse into what it's like for professional athletes outside of the stadiums. In reality most athletes have it just as hard as we do but for different reasons. If they get caught doing something bad it's all over the news and if we do something bad only the people you associate with know about it. All in all this was a great book and I would highly reccommend it to aspiring athletes.

[Pedro Balaban · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought that this was an excellent book. I cherished reading it for many reasons. First, it shows how Rooney got over all of his initial fears and is now one of the most respected athletes on Earth. Also, I enjoyed how the author (Rooney himself) wrote about the past by giving his opinions about it. Last, I really liked how this book showed that although Rooney ears millions of dollars a year and is known all around the globe, he still is just a human being who lives a normal life. I recommend this book to anyone who likes to read about soccer, Wayne Rooney, or famous people. This was truly an inspiring and exciting book. I incredibly enjoyed reading this story.

[Kevin713 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I rated this book so low because absolutely nothing interesting happened in his life other than the fact that he became a professional soccer player. He didn't experience any troubles that effected his life other than the fact that he hated his coach and changed teams but that isn't even affecting his life. Even though he struggled with things he made the stupid choice, to just forget about it. i found this book saying the exact same thing, but he was just 1 year older. Where an autobiography is supposed to show the main characters struggles in life and how they dealt with them, instead he just focused on his career, which could work, but it didn't and it was very monotonous.

[Raheem A 8a · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wayne Rooney is one of the most renown footballers on the planet and his story really comes alive in his autobiography My Story.Wayne Rooney: My Story To all fans of Manchester United, or even just a great story of football, this is an excellent choice for you. An inspiring "Off the Street" type of book, this will capture readers' minds until the very last page.

[Katelyn Viducic · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel is about a boy who had a dream to play soccer. He was born with his cleats on. His dream when he was little was to be on the Everton team. He got to that point playing for his dream team but then later realized he didn't like it so he got traded to Manchester United. He has broken many records that include most goals scored and youngest man to ever play on the English Premier league. His family was also very supportive in him playing. He has a great life with his family and does what he loves to do. The many point I got from this book was to never give up and keep on practicing. Just think some day you could reach that point.

[Jt Henderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wayne Ronney is a biography about his journey from a young kid to a professional soccer play for manchester united. His family was very poor, and he did not to well in school. He had to work very hard to get money go to school, and have time to play soccer. He loved the game of soccer and dedicated his life to it. As a kid he would get to play on the Everton Academy 2 year age groups above. He shows that if you put your heart in to something you can do it. It is a great inspiring book if you play soccer. If you don't play soccer i don not recommend the book.

[Starlight Palsu · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have my doubt when this book was first published. I mean Wayne was just about 20, what stories can you tell to fit a book? But because it's tagged as "authorized autobiography", I thought "what the heck", let's see what he can do. And it turns out that it's not that bad, at least we know that Wazza really loves Coleen and we get to know what went behind the scene before he moved to Old Trafford.

Just don't compare this with Keano's own autobiography.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love watching Wayne Rooney play so I figured I'd read up a bit on him. He seems to be much more honest with his thoughts than most athletes even discussing his indiscretions at a brothel. Enjoyable to read to gain an understanding of the rigors of youth academy football along with the story of an incredible player.

[Freddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book... Easy read... Story was excellent... Kept me interested throughout... Learned a bit about English football... Learned a bit about Rooney's take on some of the controversies... Awesome all around...

[$$will.b$$ · Rating 5 out of 5]

AMAZING BOOK!!!! IT IS SSSSOOOO GOOD THAT I THINK THAT A LIVERPOOL, CHELSEA OR ARSENAL SUPPORTER WOULD PICK THIS BOOK UP AND WOULD NOT PUT IT DOWN UNTIL HE WAS SATISFIED THAT IT WAS A BAD BOOK. WHICH WOULD TAKE HIM FOREVER CONSIDERING THAT IT IS BRILLIANT!!!!!!!

[Kaya]

this book is is boring i couldn't even finish it

[Jack · Rating 2 out of 5]

was ok