The Rooney Effect

The week that Euro 2016 starts is probably a good week to think about a little known team performance issue that I’ve come to call ‘the Rooney Effect’, in honour of England football captain Wayne Rooney.

Fourteen years ago Wayne Rooney burst onto the footballing scene, a 16 year old kid who thought he could take on the world, and who was so good that Everton fans and commentators alike started referring to him as Superman. He scored his first Premier League goal against Arsenal in a game Ever...