Wayne Rooney: PSP battles on team bus were secret to Man Utd’s golden era

Wayne Rooney has offered an unlikely explanation for Manchester United’s dominance during his time at Old Trafford, insisting that hours spent playing the PlayStation Portable helped forge the bond behind Sir Alex Ferguson’s trophy-laden sides.

Speaking on his BBC podcast, The Wayne Rooney Show, United’s all-time record scorer said the squad’s habit of playing the military shooter SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs on long journeys did far more for team spirit than anyone at the club appreciated at the time.

“I really believe a big part of our success was playing on the PSP,” Rooney said. “It got us communicating more. We used to play it on the plane, on the team bus.”

Five-a-side battles on the team bus

Rooney explained that the five-versus-five online battles regularly featured the same core group of teammates, with the game becoming a fixture of United’s travel routine during their run of Premier League titles and a Champions League triumph.

“It would be me, Rio [Ferdinand], Michael Carrick, John O’Shea, Wes Brown,” he said. “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. Ask any of those players – it was brilliant.”

According to Rooney, the sessions demanded constant communication between teammates, which he believes translated into a sharper understanding of one another both in the dressing room and out on the pitch.

Personalities on show in the game

The former striker also suggested that the way his teammates played SOCOM reflected their character on the football pitch. He singled out Michael Carrick as an example, describing the midfielder’s cautious, calculated approach in the game as very similar to his composed style in a United shirt.

“Michael Carrick was a little sneaky, calm one,” Rooney said. “You’d be lying down hiding and suddenly hear a grenade bounce nearby – he’d thrown it. I was just all in, frontline of the trenches, straight in there.”

Rooney was clear that he is not dismissing the influence of Ferguson’s coaching or the sheer quality of the squad he played alongside during his time at Old Trafford. But he clearly believes those PSP sessions on planes and team buses deserve far more credit than they have ever received for building the camaraderie that underpinned one of English football’s most successful dynasties.

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