Football: Wayne Rooney's wife takes on critical England fans

Wayne Rooney's wife took to social media in defence of the England captain after he was booed by fans. Photo / AP.

Coleen Rooney launched a passionate defence of her husband, England and Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney, on Twitter after hearing criticism of him on the radio.

The form of England's record goalscorer has fallen under intense scrutiny in recent months, with his performances floundering while both his club and country have struggled for results on the pitch.

Coleen took to Twitter to vent her dismay after hearing fans explain on the radio why they had booed him at Wembley on Sunday (NZT) during England's 2-0 victory over Malta. She said she listened to the criticism while she was in the car with the couple's son, Kai.

Love the way Anyone & Everyone has to have an Opinion. Lighten up, life is short, give people a break. Some forget others have feelings too.

— Coleen Rooney (@ColeenRoo) October 10, 2016

"Love the way Anyone (sic) & Everyone has to have an Opinion. Lighten up, life is short, give people a break. Some forget others have feelings too," she tweeted at first, before going on to explain exactly what she meant as followers replied to her message.

One user replied to her saying, "when you can check your bank account every four weeks and have comfortably over a £1million in there, people have a right to judge".

Coleen wrote: "(sic) not a***d about money so you can stop the sarcasm ... you know when it's constantly on the news which I don't know why it still is today cause the press and FANs should be positive about there TEAM (not just one player) going into and preparing for the game tomorrow and you have a 6 year old son listening to them saying they booed their dad, it's not nice and money does not enter my mind or his or anyone close to us!!

"It's feelings that matter ... were not plastic, he's not plastic we are people it was on the radio in the car before anyone goes onto say why is a 6 year old reading things."

Another user said that she should be ashamed of herself "for using your 6 yr old (sic) son to try and gain sympathy".

She replied: "i don't need sympathy, never have done and never asked for it!! I just want people to realise that you the people everyone is so quick to judge and slate are real people and have families with feeling aswell you and that's what triggered me off to say something."

She also asked another user, who subsequently deleted the tweet aimed to her; "What do you know? You believe everything you read? People are too quick to comment."

Coleen eventually halted her Twitter interactions, saying, "Rant over. Just get wound up like everyone else sometimes. Have a nice day. Entertaining afternoon chat!! School run now".

Wayne Rooney will not start in England's 2018 World Cup qualifier against Slovenia on Wednesday morning (NZT). Caretaker manager Gareth Southgate informed Rooney that he will be named as substitute.

The 30-year-old has also lost his place in the United starting line-up under manager Jose Mourinho, having been named on the bench for their last two Premier League matches.