Profile: Wayne Rooney's high profile move to Old Trafford has placed even greater pressure on his young shoulders, particularly in the aftermath of recent scandals, writes Mary Hannigan.
It was 1992, and Alex Ferguson was at a dinner in Morecambe, Lancashire, when word came through from his network of spies that two of his young stars, Lee Sharpe and Ryan Giggs, had been nightclubbing 48 hours before a crucial game earlier that week - and they were partying again that night, along with three apprentices, in Sharpe's house back in Manchester.
Ferguson promptly left the dinner, drove north, still dressed in his bow tie and dinner jacket, and stormed in to the house.
He ordered the group of girls present out of the house, gave the apprentices "a cuff on the back of the head" and then ordered "ELEVEN!" and "FIVE!" (Giggs's and Sharpe's shirt numbers) in to the living room for a "chat".
Sharpe was "instructed" to sell the house he had only just bought, get rid of his new drum kit and dog, and return to living in digs with a club-approved landlady. Both players were fined a month's wages - worse for Giggs, Ferguson threatened to ring his mother.
So, welcome to Manchester United, Wayne Rooney.
Some reckon the move will be Rooney's salvation, with Ferguson intent on protecting the club's latest investment by shielding him from every possible off-the-field distraction; others have a sinking feeling that not even Ferguson can save him, that Rooney is just another Paul Gascoigne - wonderfully gifted but too daft to make the most of his talent.
"We have a good reputation for looking after young players here," said Ferguson this week at the press conference announcing the 18-year-old's signing from Everton, a deal that could eventually cost United £27 million (€40 million), a British record for a striker.
Beside him, Rooney smiled, somewhat sheepishly, before reassuring his audience that "the manager hasn't had to say anything to me about how I should behave off the pitch. As a professional footballer I should know, and I do know how to handle myself.
"Over the last year I think I have matured a lot on and off the pitch, which I think you have to, really, because there are a lot of people trying to bring you down - but you just have to ignore it and get on with things." And Rooney has had plenty to "ignore" since making such a dazzling impact for England at Euro 2004 earlier in the summer. Still adored by the back pages, he has, inevitably, become front-page fodder, with a stream of "revelations" about his non-footballing activities.
"Rooney has had 60 hookers in an 18-month whore-binge," one tabloid put it so delightfully, after CCTV footage of the teenager's visits to a Liverpool brothel had been sold to the press. The Sunday Mirror alleged that "eight Liverpool players, two Everton stars, one soap actor, one rock star and one showbiz legend" had visited the same establishment, but none of them were named. Except for Rooney.
He owned up to his "transgressions", claiming they happened when he was "very young and immature", and before he'd settled down with his fiancée Colleen McLoughlin.
His sponsors put on a brave face, but were privately apoplectic about their boy-next-door's nocturnal habits. Following "crisis" talks, Coca-Cola said: "The recent revelations about his private life are inconsistent with Coca-Cola values" (whatever they might be), but added it would stick with him.
Nike, which has Rooney contracted to a 10-year deal said to be worth €7.4 million, also stood by him, but Ford told the Guardian that it would be looking at whether "there has been any negative effect on the car brand from Rooney's behaviour".
"At the end of Euro 2004, Rooney was the hottest soccer star in the world," said sports marketing expert Harry Daniels. "He was a sponsor's dream because of his enormous ability, high profile and youth. But now few firms will knowingly want to associate themselves or their products with prostitution. Over the long term, the revelations could cost millions in lost potential earnings."
A naivety that has, at times, bordered on the comical hasn't impressed his many sponsors either (they also include Pringles, EA Sports and Mastercard). Nike, for example, buried its face in its hands when Rooney turned up for training recently in a pair of €65 Reebok trainers, because he'd forgotten his Nike-supplied pair.
When Rooney organised an 18th birthday party for Colleen at Liverpool's Devonshire House Hotel last year, the police had to be called to break up a drunken scrap between the guests. The unrest occurred, it was alleged, after the £10,000 (€15,000) Rooney had put behind the bar ran out.
The story tied in nicely with the previously established Rooney image: the dim lad from the council estate in Croxteth, Liverpool, with a school dinner lady mother and an unemployed labourer father.
"He has the body of a boxer, a tinder-box temper and can barely string a sentence together," wrote Blake Morrison in the Guardian. But, if the condescension has been overwhelming, so too has Rooney's talent, from the day he joined Everton as a nine-year-old.
Asked if he would ever find another Wayne Rooney, Bob Pendleton, the man who spotted him playing for Copplehouse under-10s in the Walton and Kirkdale Junior League said: "Jesus, no". Ray Hall, the director of Everton's academy, recalls that Pendleton's "tea was spilling all over the place because he was so excited" when Rooney was signing up.
He'd hardly arrived at the club when youth team coach Colin Harvey declared he would be the greatest player in the club's history. Everton fans of Rooney's age might not regard that compliment as amounting to much, but Harvey was tipping him to eclipse Tommy Lawton, Dixie Dean and Alex Young, among others, in the Goodison Park Hall of Fame.
When he was 16, legend has it, Manchester United bid £5 million (about €7 million) for him. Everton turned it down. He was playing for the under-13s when he was 12, the under-17s and under-19s at 15, and at 16 he was scoring a last minute wonder goal to end Arsenal's 30-game unbeaten run in October, 2002, becoming the youngest goal scorer in Premiership history in the process. Arsene Wenger described him as "the greatest young English talent I have ever seen".
His wages shot from £80 to £13,000 a week (€118 to €19,000) when he reached 17 (with more coming from image and merchandise rights), and rose again to £25,000 (€37,000) when he turned 18. He made his senior English debut in February 2003, becoming the youngest ever player to score for England against Macedonia in September last year.
He scored four goals in four games for England in Euro 2004 before a broken bone in his foot ended his tournament. "We must be careful not to hype Wayne," said England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, before adding, "I don't remember anyone making such an impact on a tournament since Pele in the 1958 World Cup".
But not everything has gone swimmingly. When he turned up for pre-season duty at Everton last year a stone and a half overweight, the headlines declared: "Wayne Ballooney". Meanwhile the tyres on his family's car, provided by Ford, were slashed and the family home spray-painted with abusive graffiti. Not everyone in Croxteth, it seemed, welcomed his success.
When he handed in a transfer request at Everton last week, "Die Rooney Die" was scrawled on a wall outside the club's ground, while his agent claimed to have received death threats.
In the midst of all the hype about his ability and condemnation of his behaviour it's usually forgotten that he's just 18. He has signed a six-year contract worth £50,000 (€74,000) a week at United, but it's highly unlikely that Ferguson will still be in charge come 2010.
Before then, though, he can either steer Rooney towards becoming one of the football greats, or discover that a "cuff on the back of the head" just isn't enough to keep today's football stars out of trouble.
The odds? He'll make it -there's magic in them there feet.
The Rooney File
Who is he?
An 18-year-old Liverpudlian footballer of Irish extraction who was the subject of hysteria following his Euro 2004 performances
Why is he in the news?
He transferred from Everton to Manchester United on Tuesday, for a fee that could rise to £27 million
Most appealing characteristic?
In footballing parlance, "the boy's a bit special"
Least appealing characteristic?
If you're a United supporter: none. If you're an Everton die-hard: infidelity
Most likely to say?
"I'd prefer not to say anything thanks, I just want to play football"
Least likely to say?
"I'm sure Everton fans will be happy for me that I've signed for United"