Wayne Rooney says FA wanted Rebekah Vardy to calm down

Image source, Reuters

The High Court has heard that Wayne Rooney was asked by Roy Hodgson to ask Jamie Vardy to calm down his wife.

Coleen Rooney is being sued for libel by Rebekah Vardy, who denies that she leaked private information about her.

On Tuesday, Mr Rooney said Mr Hodgson told him that the FA wanted to avoid problems and distraction at the Euros.

On day six, Jamie Vardy was in court.

They asked me, as captain, would I be able to speak to Mr Vardy on issues regarding his wife and I think we all knew that it was an awkward subject.

I would need to speak to Mr Vardy and ask him to speak to his wife to calm her down.

Ask his wife to calm down? asked Hugh Tomlinson.

Mr Rooney said that she was not as far as he was aware. He said that there was negative media coverage of Mrs Vardy's column in the Sun.

England's all-time record goalscorer said he carried out that instruction to have a word with his teammate and said it was Mr Vardy's business if the message was not relayed to Mrs Vardy.

He said it was not his place to speak to Mrs Vardy directly, but that he passed the message on to his teammate.

It was an awkward situation for me, but I felt it was in the best interests of the team.

As England captain, I tried to protect the players in public as much as I could.

He said that he had never been friends with the person who was absent from the court proceedings until Tuesday.

Image source, Yui Mok/PA

During the tournament in France, Mr Rooney said Mrs Vardy was almost there with the team.

He claimed that she had been calling her husband while the players were hanging out.

Mrs Rooney said she had carried out a sting operation to find out who had been passing private information about her life to the Sun after a viral social media post from October 2019.

She said the fake stories she had posted on her IG stories were only seen by Rebekah Vardy.

The stories in question were not leaked to the press.

Many people online christened Mrs Rooney. The wives and girlfriends of football players are referred to as wag.

Image source, HANNAH MCKAY/Reuters

In court on Tuesday, Mr Rooney said that he had never discussed the sting operation with his wife and that this trial was the first time he had heard everything.

He said it had been a long week.

My wife and I don't want to be in this court. Over the past two years, my wife has become a different mother and wife.

Whatever the judgement is, my wife and children can continue with their lives because they don't want to be part of it.

The court heard that Mr Rooney had never had a personal relationship with a journalist from the Sun newspaper.

Everyone knows the history between The Sun newspaper and the people of Liverpudlians, but I never spoke to a Sun journalist on a personal level.

Mrs Rooney's cousin gave evidence on Tuesday.

In her witnesses statement, Rooney noted that she was referred to as "Wayne's chavvy sister" by Mrs Vardy and her agent.

Paul Stretford told the court that Mr Rooney had raised the issue of his wife facing leaks of her information.

Mr Stretford said that Wayne mentioned that Coleen was upset about the leaks and that she didn't know who to trust.

Image source, PA Media

Mr Stretford denied that he arranged for photos to be taken of Mrs Rooney.

He said in his witness statement that he didn't think Mrs Rooney was particularly bothered about fame or putting herself out there.

He said she was a very private person who wouldn't share her feelings with many people.

Read more about what happened in the trial so far.