FA contact Wayne Rooney over claim that he wore longer studs against Chelsea in 2006

The FA has made contact with Wayne Rooney after the Derby County boss admitted to wearing longer studs in a 2006 match against Chelsea ‘so that he could hurt someone’.

The Rams boss claimed that Chelsea’s superiority over Manchester United frustrated the Merseyside striker to the point that he changed the stud length of his boots for their Premier League clash. 

According to the Athletic, the Football Association have now said they will investigate the claim made by Rooney, 36, and have recently made contact him.

The FA have made contact with Wayne Rooney over his claims he used longer studs in 2006

Rooney admitted to wearing longer studs in top of the table clash with Chelsea 16 years ago

Rooney and Manchester United travelled to Stamford Bridge in 2006 to play Jose Mourinho’s Blues, who needed just point to win the Premier League title.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s side fell to a 3-0 defeat that day as Chelsea went on to win the league, but not before Rooney could leave his mark.  

The former United forward, speaking to the Mail on Sunday, said: ‘I changed my studs before the game.

‘I put longer studs in because I wanted to hurt someone.

‘If Chelsea won a point, they won the league. At that time, I couldn’t take it.

‘The studs were legal. They were a legal size. But they were bigger than what I would normally wear.’   

Just seven minutes into the game the striker hurtled into the tackle, which left Terry down on the pitch and needing treatment – and also saw the stretcher brought out. 

Terry laughed off Rooney‘s admission earlier this week. Responding to a quote taken from the interview, Terry wrote on Twitter: ‘@WayneRooney is this when you left your stud in my foot?’

The Athletic also reports that the FA have asked Rooney to provide his observations around his claims.

Rooney claims that he changed his studs ‘to hurt someone’ as United trailed in title race

In a new documentary, Rooney spoke about the game, and his willingness to do whatever it took to derail the hosts’ procession for at least another week.

‘We knew if Chelsea won then they had won the league that day,’ he said. ‘Until my last game for Derby, I always wore the old plastic studs with the metal tip.

‘For that game I changed them to big, long metal ones – the maximum length you could have because I wanted to try and hurt someone, try and injure someone. 

‘I knew they were going to win that game. You could feel they were a better team at the time so I changed my studs. 

‘The studs were legal but thinking if there’s a challenge there I knew I’d want to go in for it properly, basically. I did actually.

Despite the pain at the time, Terry laughed off the incident in a message to Rooney on Twitter

‘John Terry left the stadium on crutches. I left a hole in his foot and then I signed my shirt to him after the game. 

‘A few weeks later I sent it to him and asked for my stud back.

‘If you look back when they were celebrating, JT’s got his crutches from that tackle.’ 

Rooney, meanwhile, was later stretchered off himself in west London, adding insult to injury for the legendary forward after his efforts to deliberately hurt an opponent. 

In a collision with Paulo Ferreira, Rooney’s front studs were caught in the turf, meaning he broke three metatarsal bones weeks before the World Cup that year.