Man U’s helped hype Saturday’s Wayne Rooney EPL crunch game with Liverpool (TV: Setanta USA, 8:40 am ET): “I’m very excited about the game because I grew up as an Everton fan hating Liverpool and that hasn’t changed,” he told MUTV about the rival of his boyhood and first pro team, Everton. But two hours after the same comment was posted to the official Manchester United website, the bit about always hating Liverpool was conspicuously absent.
A ManU spokesperson defended the censoring, wanting to downplay Saturday’s crucial EPL match against the Reds, saying Rooney’s comments were “open to willful mis-reporting and neither the club, nor Wayne wanted that to happen.”
Alex Ferguson stepped up to defend Rooney, saying, “Hate is an easy word to say, easier than dislike. Maybe it is not the right word. But Wayne has had plenty of stick from Liverpool fans over the years, so it is understandable.
Liverpool is in third place, seven points behind leader Manchester United, which has a game in hand.