Für all' die Idioten, die immer noch glauben, Rooney wäre zu Recht vom Platz geflogen:
"I will go to my grave and still maintain it was a complete accident. If you study the photographs you will see that I had my back to the player. I couldn't see him or where I was putting my foot. If it had been a definite stamp meant to harm him, the fellow would still be in hospital. But he was up on his feet in minutes, no worse for wear. It was the sort of thing that happens when you are fighting hard for the ball. However, the ref saw it differently. He saw it as violent play and I was off."