Meeting Rooney down my local was surreal, fan says

A group of football fans have said it was "surreal" to bump into Wayne Rooney at their local pub.

Paul Styles, 47, said he was "amazed" to find himself face-to-face with one of his footballing heroes at The Griffin Inn in St Helens on Saturday.

The St Helens Town AFC club secretary, who was in the pub with his fellow members and their children, found the former England striker and his wife Colleen enjoying a day in the sun.

"We were amazed," Paul told BBC Radio Merseyside. "My daughter was ecstatic. We're Everton fans so we were made up to see Wayne. He's just an England legend as well. It was brilliant to be honest - surreal."

Styles said they spotted Rooney straight away but waited until he walked over to the bar before asking for a photograph.

"We've never seen him there before or heard of him going," Styles said. "He was so polite having pictures with everyone - I even saw him having his picture taken with a little baby.

"He was just great with everyone all afternoon - and we even saw Coleen helping the staff to clear up plates."

Styles, who co-owns St Helens Town, loved it when Rooney began speaking to them about the club.

"He congratulated us as well because we had a quick chat about St Helens Town AFC," Styles said.

"It was really nice, just that personal touch of being interested in what we had to say.

"I mean we're just a few local lads trying to make the team... what it used to be, so that was an achievement."

Although Styles is a long-time fan of Rooney - having watched him since the very start of his career at Goodison Park in 2002 - he said the whole experience had been even more exciting for his daughter Beau.

"My daughter is really into her football," Styles explained. "She plays in a local girls' team and she is a massive football fan.

"But she had thought he was over in America, because we've been watching the World Cup."

Beau was wearing a St Helens Town replica shirt, which Styles said Rooney had been happy to sign.

"She's got the shirt now in her bedroom and she's not going to wash that because she's got Wayne's signature on it," he said. "She was made up with that."

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