It might be true, but until I see him or a spokesperson for him or for one of his teams say that it's true, it's just gossip to me, no more reliable than if a particularly nasty, annoying, untrustworthy and unintelligent teenage girl told me it. Not because I have any particular affection towards Rooney or find this story to be unbelievable - he's an emotionally neutral stranger to me - just as a matter of principle. It could be a story about a cat stuck up a tree and I'd say the same.
No they wouldn't. The libellous Barcelona stories this year alone should tell us that. People very rarely bother to sue about stuff like this, and when they do, the papers can easily afford to pay the lawyers' fees, and the compensation if they lose, so it's worthwhile for them anyway. Even rich people are always denying stories but not bothering to take it to court. It would be easy in cases like this one, if it's false and Rooney were to deny it and try to sue, for every publication who got the story from the Mirror to say they were just trusting the Mirror, and for the Mirror to say they checked the prostitute out, decided she was reliable and only reported what she told them (it would also be easy for them to say there is unfortunately no audio evidence of what she actually said to them). Proving that a publication deliberately printed a false story is often very difficult, and often it's more of a case of them eagerly printing what they're told than of deliberate fabrication, which is harder to sue for.
I reckon false tapping-up stories will stop people paying for merchandise and tickets more than stories like this will, just going by how people talk about the stories. People (at least men, who make a disproportionate number of global football fans) seem in general more indignant, and for longer, about tapping-up claims than cheating claims. We'll have to agree to disagree about the proportion of people who sue over false stories. Regardless of the percentages, the notion that this would definitely have been hurriedly retracted ALREADY by now if not true is fanciful. Do you think every time a media outlet is asked to retract they do so within hours of publishing it? You don't think they ever stick to their guns and defend the story? Hey wait, I actually don't care about the answer because you've been quite rude.
Love how everyone has taken the words of The Mirror and NOTW as gospel. Probably some hooker bullshitting for money. And even if it is true, can't understand why anyone should care about his personal life. He's not even one of our players, so it's not affecting anyone here. If he keeps playing like he did against Bulgaria in a white shirt then keep banging her IMO
