Wayne Rooney was again forced to reveal his astonishing bedtime habit during the BBC’s coverage of England’s World Cup clash against Mexico. Rooney was part of the pundits’ lineup for the last-16 clash, and the conversation quickly moved to how Thomas Tuchel’s side will cope with the delayed kick-off.
The match was due to kick off at 6pm local time (1am UK), but lightning threats in the area caused the stadium to activate its thunderstorm protocol less than an hour before, delaying the game, which will now commence at 7pm (2am UK). And as the BBC trio of Kelly Cates, Micah Richards and Joe Hart, along with Rooney, tried to keep the country entertained, it wasn’t long before the fact that the former Everton and Manchester United forward sleeps with a hairdryer on was brought up.
Kicking things off, Match of the Day host Cates said: “This is going back to Frank Lampard and the physio isn’t it, where he used to rub his feet to get him to sleep and that caused a lot of controversy.”
To which Rooney replied: “To be fair, I think I used to keep Harty (Joe Hart) up a few times with the hairdryer.”
Cates then continued: “See, I told you that you both have a previous for keeping people up till the early morning,” with Richards saying: “What’s the hairdryer story?”
Rooney then said: “It’s been out there,” before former Manchester City man Richards responded: “Well, we’ve got an hour to fill.”
Rooney was then forced to reveal his unusual habit, saying: “If I’m in a hotel by myself sleeping by myself, I’d sleep with the hairdryer on and Harty used to room next to me when we were with England and he’d know when I was asleep because he heard the hairdryer going off.”
The story caught former England goalkeeper Hart off guard, who said: “I didn’t even know him that well, I thought he was hoovering.”
Rooney revealed back in 2024 why he opts to sleep that way, saying: “If I’m in bed on my own, I sleep with the hairdryer on.. the whole night.
“I have it on cold. On my kids’ lives, I sleep with the hairdryer on and it’s in the bed right next to me blowing on my head. I’ve got two fans next to my bed as well.”
While last year, his wife Coleen revealed the former England international once risked a fire in their home when he blew up a hairdryer while trying to sleep.
She said: “It’s a fan when I’m in the bed, but if not, it is a hairdryer. If I get up, if he’s still in bed I hear him get a hairdryer. Has he told you that it’s caught on fire before? The hairdryer is on cool, but one time he was cold, so it turned it to hot – and it blew up!”