Coleen Rooney has slammed the “negativity” surrounding the FA’s decision to hand her husband a farewell England appearance against the United States.
The 32-year-old took to Twitter after she and Wayne Rooney flew into the UK on Monday afternoon ahead of this week’s friendly.
“Can’t believe how much negativity there is going around,” she said.
“Let’s celebrate each other’s achievements... A record was broken for the country after 50 years surely that deserves some sort of recognition.”
Rooney is England’s highest ever goal scorer with 53 goals in 119 appearances. He beat the record set by Bobby Charlton, who scored 49 times for his country.
However his return to international football has dominated the agenda since it emerged he would earn his 120th and final cap as a substitute on Thursday.
Responding to a tweet saying Rooney “deserves a decent send-off”, Coleen later added: “Sorry there is people being positive and that’s so nice… however returned back to England today and been hit with all the negativity to why he shouldn’t get rewarded... welcome home.”
It comes after Gareth Southgate last week labelled England a “strange country” in response to the criticism.
Rooney last played for England two years ago before announcing his international retirement but Southgate claimed talks have been ongoing for more than a year over honouring the country's all-time leading goalscorer and most capped outfield player.
The England boss referenced Germany’s lavish send-off for Lukas Podolski in addition to the Netherlands recognising Wesley Sneijder’s career in September and Spain’s plans to allow David Silva to take a ceremonial kick-off in a suit on his last appearance against Bosnia later this month.
He said: “If anybody deserves one more cap, it is somebody who had 119, more than somebody that has had one or a handful.
“He has earned the right to that cap over a period of over 10 years and six major tournaments with England and to be the record goalscorer.
“I think there would be numerous examples of people that have earned caps in different circumstances.
“The fact is it is an opportunity to pay tribute to what he has achieved. We are a strange country in that we bemoan the fact we haven’t achieved as much as we’d like and then we have a player who should be held in the highest regard and we are spending a lot of time justifying giving him that tribute.”
