‘I was f***ing fuming with the wives,’ Gary Neville tells Coleen Rooney as he opens up on anger at 2006 World Cup fiasco
GARY NEVILLE has opened up on England’s infamous Wag chaos at the 2006 World Cup.
The ex-Man Utd full-back claims he was “fuming” as a “circus” erupted at the Three Lions base in Baden-Baden.
England’s Golden Generation crashed out at the quarter-final stage in Germany after a penalty shootout loss to Portugal.
But much of the focus during the tournament was on the partying Wags as they racked up a £1million hotel bill.
Coleen Rooney – wife of England star Wayne – was among those criticized at the time for her role in the saga.
In a recent edition of The Overlap, Wayne’s teammate Neville revealed his frustration at the arrangements in Germany.
Joining Coleen on the pod, brought to you by Sky Bet, Neville said: “I was f***ing fuming with the wives.”
Neville’s co-star Jamie Carragher interrupted to laughs: “Backtrack! Backtrack, reverse.”
The ex-United star continued: “Not necessarily individually, or even with the wives actually. I was fuming with the organisers.
“We were in Baden-Baden, in this camp in Germany for the 2006 World Cup – it was the biggest competition of our lives, and we had a good team.
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“I can only describe it as an absolute circus. It wasn’t with the wives [that I was annoyed] but the whole organization of the trip.
“The families and wives were all at this other hotel.
“My wife was there so it wasn’t a case of me looking at any individual thinking they’ve done wrong, it was just a whole circus of the sports writers, journalists, and families and wives all being in the same hotel.
“There were stories breaking every day. ‘They’ve eaten here today,’ or ‘They’ve shopped here,’ – it was just a constant distraction.
“When the players went to their press conferences, they were being asked about it all the time.
“I just thought it was nonsense in the midst of a World Cup.”
Rooney claims reports of the WAGs excessive partying was “exaggerated” by the press.
Coleen said: “There was lots of press in the hotel – all the sports writers were there, and the place was tiny, there were only a handful of places to go out, eat and drink.
“We couldn’t stay in a hotel all day, we had to go out and get food and enjoy ourselves.
“But because the press were on top of us they exaggerated things and made out that we were having these parties every night.
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“We weren’t. The sports writers were ten times worse than us – they were out all the time.
“I do think it was unfair the way we got called out for it, that we got the blame for having a good time.”
Gary Neville and Coleen Rooney were speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet.