Harty on Wayne Rooney and Worthing FC

Last week, members of his family were detained over allegations of erratic betting patterns concerning a sending-off in the Scottish League.

Then, on Friday night, Rooney hits the self-destruct button and lashes out, gets a straight red, and will miss at least the first game in next summer’s European Championships.

If UEFA decide it’s going to be a further game ban, it puts Fabio Capello in a bit of a quandary, he’s already made it clear that Rooney will not feature in the friendlies between now and next summer.

But what if England start well and win the first the two games in their group next summer?

What about the old adage of never changing a winning team?

History tells us that when we did actually win something, 45 years of hurt and all that, the England team that lifted the World Cup did not contain arguably one of the best strikers in the world at that time, Jimmy Greaves.

Whilst Capello is not overloaded with quality up front, if someone does step up to the plate and do the business, will Rooney have finally cooked his goose?

More FA Cup action locally this weekend as Worthing take on Staines Town in the third qualifying round at Woodside Road.

After last year’s early exit, Chris White’s men have made up for it and have a very good chance to progress in what is a winnable tie.

Hopefully, the local footballing public will turn out in their numbers to support the Rebels.

And finally, a special get well soon message to none other than Worthing Football Club’s president Morty Hollis, who fractured his hip in a fall on Monday evening whilst switching on the floodlights for the youth game.

A testament to his dedication to the club was that Morty insisted an ambulance wasn’t called until after the game, which Rebels won 3-0, and he watched from the boardroom. (In fact when we wanted to call one at 7pm, he said he’d sack me as youth manager if I did!)

He had a pin inserted on Tuesday and is making a good recovery. I’m sure everyone reading this will want to wish him well.