Wayne Rooney has called on England’s stars to stick together as they get back to work following Sam Allardyce’s shock departure. Allardyce was forced to resign as England manager after just 67 days and one game in charge following his controversial comments to undercover newspaper reporters investigating football corruption.
Gareth Southgate will server as England’s interim boss for the next four matches and one of his first decisions was to retain Manchester United striker Rooney as his captain.
Rooney is set to lead England in Saturday’s World Cup qualifier against Malta at Wembley and the 30-year-old is eager to focus on football after a difficult period for the national side.
“We need to build on the three points we won in the last game (against Slovakia), and the other side of it isn’t our issue, it’s nothing for us to be concerned about,” Rooney said on Tuesday. “It’s a shame, everyone could see how excited Sam was for the job and he came in and showed that enthusiasm to the players.
“It’s a shame it’s happened and I’m sure he deeply regrets it. It was a decision for the FA to take. As a group of players we need to stick together and concentrate on the football. For the FA I’m sure it has been a tough couple of weeks but for the players we’ve been with our clubs and we have to focus on the games.”
The start of Rooney’s England career intersected briefly with the end of Southgate’s international days just over a decade ago. And Rooney backed the temporary appointment of the England Under-21 boss as the ideal solution to a difficult situation.
“When I first got into the squad he was in the squad then. He’s done a very job with the Under-21s, and he’s got an opportunity to show what he can do at senior level,” Rooney added. “He’ll bring his own way of working, it’s going to be good to see what that is in the next week. We have to buy into his ways and take his ideas on board.”
Rooney’s role with England has been under heavy scrutiny since his lacklustre displays during a disappointment Euro 2016 campaign. Relieved that Southgate remains firmly on his side, Rooney hopes to repay his faith against Malta and then Slovenia in another qualifier next Tuesday. “There was a lot of talk over whether I’d be captain or not, so it was good Gareth put that to bed quite early and there wasn’t the speculation,” Rooney said. “We’ve got two games this week that we have to win.
Whether that was with Gareth or Sam we have to try and get six points. If we do that Gareth will be happy and we’ll be happy.”

Burnley’s Keane replaces
injured Johnson
Meanwhile, Burnley defender Michael Keane earned his first England call-up yesterday after Stoke’s Glen Johnson was ruled out through injury. Johnson’s absence due to an unspecified injury means Keane is rewarded for a fine start to the season and he will meet up with the rest of the England squad ahead of their World Cup qualifiers against Malta and Slovenia.
Southgate knows Keane well from his time as coach of the national under-21 team and took the centre-back to last year’s European Championships in the Czech Republic.
The 23-year-old’s inclusion comes as a result of a setback for former Liverpool right-back Johnson, who was a surprise inclusion in Southgate’s 23-man squad having not featured for his country since the 2014 World Cup.
Johnson is the second England star to be sidelined by injury before the qualifiers after Manchester City winger Raheem Sterling’s calf complaint saw him replaced by Andros Townsend on Monday.