Most people would rather handle a grenade than Wayne Rooney’s temper. Jeannie Horsfield is the anger management expert Manchester United have entrusted with the task and last week Rooney’s temperament was tested more than ever as he re-acquainted himself with Everton. He passed with flying colours.
Horsfield’s task is to protect Rooney from arguably his biggest rival — himself. She has already been credited with aiding David Beckham in the wake of his petulance in Saint-Etienne at the 1998 World Cup and turning him into a worthy national team captain.
Beckham’s private life affected his mood and the tabloid revelations about Rooney are similarly challenging for him. ”A lot of people who have outbursts of rage have issues in their lives that are based around being shamed and actually feeling ashamed, sad, hurt and wounded,” said Horsfield. ”The outbursts of rage are their defences to protect themselves.”
Being embarrassed by his nocturnal activities can partly explain Rooney’s behaviour. However, even before the foul-mouthed abuse of Graham Poll that prompted United’s decision to send Rooney for anger management, his mental state had been questionable.
At Everton he was sent off on Boxing Day 2002, 15 minutes after coming off the bench against Birmingham. The following season, against Portsmouth, he shoved Steve Stone to the ground.
Since moving to Manchester United this season there have been more incidents. The memories are fresh of him tearing off his black armband, swearing at the bench and not shaking Alan Smith’s hand when he was substituted after a hot-headed 42 minutes for England in Spain.
”Outbursts are often learned behaviour,” added Horsfield of the 19-year-old from Liverpool’s tough Croxteth area. ”Young people learn it from peers and role models.”
She works hard on putting such learned behaviour into perspective.
”People have to step back and be able to see it at a distance,” said Horsfield. ”It’s reminding people about their innate ability to make choices and take care of themselves while looking after other people. That’s a natural human response.”
Provocation from the crowd does not help Rooney but Horsfield believes this is no excuse.
”Ultimately, one of the rules of anger management is not to take things personally because the way other people behave is ultimately about them,” she said.
The fact that Everton is his former club made it even harder for Rooney.
”When people tip over the edge and become regressed and emotionally aroused about an issue, it’s often historical,” she said. ”It’s about things that are from the past and it’s triggered a whole load of things that aren’t directly to do with that specific event. What’s characteristic is that a person will behave out of proportion.”
Ferguson does not want to reduce Rooney’s aggression, though, and Horsfield sees sense in this.
”Anger itself is not the problem,” she said. ”Anger is a natural, powerful feeling that we experience. It’s the response to a perceived threat. It’s a fantastic resource we have. The difficulty is that, when we become scared and we trigger the fight-flight freeze mechanism, we go into very much more black-and-white thinking.”
The Manchester United manager also has to watch his own behaviour. ”For people who are influential either on the sports field, in the office or in the family, there’s a big responsibility there,” she said. ”But everybody is ultimately responsible for managing themselves. Working with young people, that’s one of the things we work on putting across; empowering themselves to take control.
”Among the things missed in our society are the needs of individuals — the need to be valued, respected, taken care of,” Horsfield added. ”Sometimes we forget that those things are so important. They’re actually the stabilising factor, an absolutely solid foundation. Particularly if you are high profile, those things are really important.” — Â