Wayne Rooney has faced a highly unusual public rebuke from the England leadership over his late-night revelry at the team hotel between matches.
The English Football Association believes Rooney wasn't living up to his responsibilities as captain of the national team after being pictured on Saturday night bleary-eyed at a wedding reception being staged at the hotel.
Although the 31-year-old striker was off-duty at the time, the FA is unhappy with the conduct of the team's figurehead. "Obviously it's disappointing," FA chief executive Martin Glenn said Thursday outside a meeting of Premier league team executives in london. "I think it's appropriate that he apologized because it doesn't set a great tone for the England captain."
Glenn said he doesn't want to "over-dramatize" the incident but it will lead to new rules for players about how they can spend nights off while away with England. The FA is also investigating whether members of the England backroom staff were with Rooney when he dropped in on a wedding reception being held at the team hotel north of london.
"Why on earth you would be doing that given there is an understanding, a team agreement around alcohol consumption during camp," Glenn said. "So there would be questions asked for sure."
The incident on the day after Friday's win over Scotland is a blot on Rooney's character after the Manchester United captain had been thought to have curbed his previously erratic behavior on and off the field.
Rooney, who missed Tuesday's friendly with Spain due to injury, was quick to apologize in public and privately to England interim manager Gareth Southgate after the images were published.
"Naturally Wayne is sorry that pictures taken with fans have been published today," Rooney's management team said Tuesday. "Although it was a day off for the whole squad and staff, he fully recognizes that the images are inappropriate for someone in his position."
Rooney has also struggled to shake off his bad-boy image.
Rooney's stock fell so low that an English town burned a 30-foot effigy of him in 2010 after he was accused of cheating on his wife with a prostitute and publicly threatened to quit United. In the same year, then-England manager Fabio Capello warned Rooney about his off-field conduct after he was pictured urinating and smoking in the street at the end of a night out.