DexertoFootball legend Wayne Rooney has revealed that a major handheld console was a secret weapon behind Manchester United’s dominance during his time at the club.
Speaking on a BBC podcast tied to the release of EA Sports FC 26, Rooney reflected on his gaming habits across his career. “I used to play a lot of FIFA and Call of Duty, [but] of late I’ve not played much,” he said. “I’ve played with some of them YouTubers in Pro Clubs, which was fun.”
The Manchester United legend, who spent 13 years at Old Trafford from 2004 to 2017, also joked about his skill level: “Yeah, I’m brilliant, I reckon I could be in the top 100 in the world,” before quickly conceding, “nah, I’m alright, I’m okay.”
But it wasn’t just football sims or shooters keeping him and his teammates sharp. Rooney revealed that the squad’s handheld battles on Sony’s PSP played a genuine role in their success.
PSP played a major part in Man United’s success
“Do you know what we used to play? Not FIFA. True story, this, but at Man United I really believe a big part of our success was playing the PSP,” Rooney explained.
Zipper InteractiveHe went on to detail how the squad used to connect on flights and bus rides, where they’d compete in SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs, a tactical shooter released in 2005.
“It got us communicating more. We used to play it on the plane, on the team bus. You’d play 5v5, so it would be me, Rio [Ferdinand], Michael Carrick, John O’Shea, Wes Brown in 5v5″ explained Rooney.
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He went on ot explain: “It was called SOCOM, on the PSP. Army game. You have to talk, you have to tactically go and revive people when they get killed, and it was a massive part of our success, I believe… It was brilliant. And actually, how you played that game reflected that player, how they played the game (Football), it was crazy.”
Now all they need to do is win five games in a row so one fan can finally cut his hair.