The Everton manager believes it is another sign that the rift between Rooney and his club's fans is being healed, after the controversy of his move to United in 2004.

?I think the reaction of our fans to Wayne has changed a little over the past couple of years and has eased a bit which is an encouraging development,? he said.

?Wayne has made a few moves to make his peace, and show he still has feelings for Everton. I took a team to Anfield for Jamie Carragher?s testimonial, and he wanted to play for us.

?He asked him to play for us, and he was up for it, but it wasn?t possible in the end, because England didn?t think it was the right thing.

But you can take from that what you will.? ???

Wazza back to Everton on a free very soon...

Just been reading that Wayne Rooney has told friends he will do anything to win Colleen back. Is Colleen an Evertonian? Might the price of her agreement to reconciliation be insisting that Wayne runs his Man Utd contract down and returns to his other first love under the watchful eyes of the trusted Mr Moyes?

Andy #2
Hahaha I love the wishful thinking

How much longer on his current contract?

I can't get to the game from the US but I'd love to see the crowd's response.
I'd like to see Rooney come back but it's a long shot.
I can see a banner right now ...
COME BACK WAYNE AND YOU CAN SLEEP WITH MY GRANNIE!
It's not going to help.

Hi Guys,

Rooney back to Goodison - maybe one day? I am hoping for a decent result tonight, decent being 3 points.

I will be hoping to watch the game here in Sydney ? anyone know of a good quality stream I could view the game from?

How do we all of a sudden have an injury crisis all over again?

Don't read that last one, Wayne. I really would love for you to come back home.

I think we should be nice to any decent player who may deign to play for us one day.

I like the idea of the Gladwys St blowing kisses to the skillful... all to avoid players getting upset and playing well against us.

Can we invent an alteration to a well used chant?

"How are ya?"

Perhaps lay on a bit of counselling at half time for Wayne and Colleen in case it has all has got a bit too stressful?

Must write to the club and ask for that Z-Cars theme to be scrapped in case an opposing player things it implies they have done something wrong.

The Wayne Rooney saga goes on & on. Like marmite, you either love him or hate him.

I'm afraid I fall into the latter and I make no appoligies. This is due to my 100% love for EFC; if any one or anything attempts to hurt or damage our club, I react... you may call it an instinctive tribal reaction. Anyway, enough of my rambling.

I will be at the match today giving Mr Rooney as much stick as possible, again, this due to my 100% love of EFC & my tribal instinct..... rant over!

COYB

He is definitely still an Evertonian. The history books will have him as a pawn sacrificed to help save our Club due to the state of finances at Everton and football in general.

I reckon Wagne will be able to take a bit of stick and see the funny side of it. But if the fans go too far and the red mist comes over, it could go either way in terms of him having a blinder or losing the plot.

The only saving grace is that it's an early kick off so the fans shouldn't be as well-oiled and full of dutch to go over the top.

Come on Wayne, let's have another off day and 3 points for the Blues.

I think Alan's right. I think these are the first steps to his return. We will soon know if he signs that new contract or not,

Anyway, Coleman right wing, and there's a chance young Ross Barkley may be on the bench. I've seen him a few times and he looks a tough and capable midfielder/forward to me. We might have another rising star!

Lets hope theres no incidents today and all the talk's about Coleman's 6th minute goal, and a 4-0 hammering we're going to give them.

COYBs....

Andy, I know from Wayne's mum herself that Coleen's whole family are RS and that when Wayne used to go to her house when they were younger her dad used to chase him down the street. Funny how the thought of her pairing up with a multi millionaire footballer changed his mind.

Tony: "Come on Wayne, let's have another off day and 3 points for the Blues"

This is the scenario which I think is most likely, at least the first part. lets face it, when did Rooney last play at his best? 20-odd games ago?

Ineffectual Rooney, 2-1 to the blues.

Gavin, Colleen's family must love it then that he has played for Everton, and Utd. The two clubs they hate the most.

I think he has 18 months left on his contract. If he came, it would have to be then and for a free, which I highly doubt would happen. Utd would probably sell him with a year left if he had no intention of signing. Also, how will we scrape together £100k+ a week? BK would have to get us into even more debt.

He would, though, be heralded as some kind of prodigal son. A returning hero to make us title contenders.

I won't boo Wayne today, partly because I'm taking an 8-year-old boy to his second Premier League game and that's not what I want him to think going the game's about, but mainly because it's time to move on.

Although I strongly disagree with you, Alan, that getting on Rooney's back will help him play better. Players who react in that way usually have a strong mental state, Rooney doesn't. Don't you remember the game two seasons ago when the crowd got on his back so much he had a stinker, was subbed by Fergie and gave the Park End the Vs!

More importantly, though, we need OUR players to turn in a performance today, particularly in front of goal!

I?m sorry but I just don?t get this enduring fascination/infatuation with Rooney; he used to be an Everton player and was transferred ? end of. If we listed every player that falls into that category TW would read more like trainspotters weekly than a football site. I?ll be in the Main Stand today cheering the boys in blue and to my mind, Rooney is just another opposition player - if anyone?s going to the game today, put all your energy in getting behind the team.

But it?s the ?badly advised? argument that puzzles me, because, since a ball was kicked in earnest, footballers have gone from club to club, sometimes against their will, other times because both the prospects and the money is better-a bit like real life actually. But the one consistent theme is that players move from a small club with very little prospects of challenging for honours to a bigger club that is always in with a shout, and our problem is that as Evertonians we?ve always been in the former category and are finding it hard, even after all these years, to adjust to the new circumstances.

To give a couple of random examples; Alan Ball could have stayed a big fish in a little pond at Blackpool but wanted to win things with a big club and chose Everton over Man U to achieve it, likewise Martin Dobson. Gary Lineker left his boyhood club (echoes of Rooney and of course is still a fan) to join us because he wanted to win things. Ian Snodin chose us over the RS for the same reason. Tony Cottee as late as 1988-89 chose us over Arsenal despite being a Londoner.

Now to state the bleedin? obvious, the transfers above are outsiders with no affiliation with the club, but take the view that a team is the place to be and is a step up from where they are. And if we take the Cottee transfer, in less than five years we had gone from a London player choosing us over Arsenal to floundering about in mid-table mediocrity, and of course a lot worse was to follow.

So to my mind the blame for Rooney going to a ?big club? to win things rest solely at the door of the club?s directors, it is particularly galling that we were not in a fit state to meet the challenges of the Premier League and yet Philip Carter was the main mover & shaker behind the change-didn?t he realise what he was proposing?

To sum up when Rooney asked for a transfer (and don?t forget, he asked for a transfer) we were everyone?s favourite for the drop, on the American pre-season tour there was a game that we didn?t have enough players to put a full bench of subs on. If we?re to be totally honest, yes I?m a boyhood Evertonian, and I love the club, but in Rooney?s position I would have done exactly the same, on the basis that if you want to be a loser then count me out.

ps: I'm off to the game COYB

I hope one day he does come back. Like us, he supports the club but unfortunately back when he left the club, which is still the case today, we were not in a position to be able to offer one of the best players in the world the financial package nor the playing stage to showcase his talents. As Arteta said, he created this club a lot of money, money that it required to simply survive as a Premier League club. The fact we under-valued him is proof enough of that. We were desperate for the money. That's not Wayne's fault.

Did anybody else notice that as the United players did their lap of honour around Old Trafford at the end of last season that Wayne's lad was not in a United kit but an England kit? Everton loving Wayne couldn't but his son, who he is bringing up as an Evertonian was in another team's kit.

A bit of a long punt but;

Could Moyes and Rooney be reconciling due to them working together at Man Utd sooner or later?

Certainly no more plausible than Rooney returning on a free!

Rooney for Rodwell in a couple of years... I can see it coming???

I may be late in the day to this discussion but I believe there are a lot of things that other people have not mentioned.

There are a lot of people that will give Rooney grief on Saturday, enough to spur him on. All I ask is why? Sure he is an ex-Everton player but what is the terrible thing he has done? The way I see it, if he played for any other club, not Everton, then it would be a different story. I know he had the dodgy agent and from what he said or was 'told to say'. All I am saying is if he wasn't an Evertonian then would you all agree with him moving on?

Case in Point, less of what we could have achieved with him, more what was achieved in the time he left:

Everton:- FA Cup Final, League Cup Semi Final, 4th Place, Last 16 Europa League.

Man Utd:- League, European Cup, FA Cup, League Cup, Charity Shield, European Player of the Year.

There is a vast difference you must admit! Rooney has played with the some great players and against them as well. Let's be honest here, he would not have even done that pre-season at Everton.

I am not praising Rooney, nor am I joining the hate mob. I just think that the best thing we ever done was give an Evertonian a chance to win everything there is to win. We could welcome back with open arms when he gets tired of it all and we could still get the best out of him then.

I think the galling thing for most people is that he is undoubtedly the best footballer to come out of our academy; yet, before he even had a chance to help us move up a level or two, he pleaded for a transfer to our joint most-hated team.

If you add to that the T-shirt "Once a Blue, Always a Blue" followed a short time afterwards by the United badge kissing in front of the fans, you can understand the resentment towards him.

He is undoubtedly a great footballer but of suspect mentality and character.

Gavin, I must correct you on Colleen's father, Tony. He is a gentleman and goes to church every Sunday in Long Lane and has no ambitions to share in Rooney's wealth.

Jay, I didn't imply Tony has his eyes set on Rooney's money but he most definitely changed his tune and attitude towards Wayne after he started getting games for the first team and definitely after the goal past Seaman. Coleen, as nice as she is as a person, would most certainly not have achieved the fame and fortune she now finds herself with if she had married a local lad, say an office or shop worker.

I can't believe there are numpties that think he's coming back to the club anytime soon. Even on a free, we couldn't afford his wages.

David Hallwood (#16) "If we listed every player that falls into that category TW would read more like trainspotters weekly than a football site."

Err... you're obviously not familiar with our Past Players Section.

The question is also whether you would want him back? Not because he left and we hate that fact...but more because he needs to be controlled - and i can remember the season we finished 17th under Moyes and all we did was hump the ball up to the chosen one.

There were murmours of changing room factions and splits...and no team spirit unlike that of today.

The best thing Rooney ever did for Everton FC was leave, handing us much needed cash and taking with him is arrogance and ignorance.

The club only added Tim Cahill that year and in my opinion he's brought more to EFC than Wayne would ever have. Team spirit - he's the most liked character - Arteta's best man no less...arteta signed because he did, rodwell is no doubt under his influence too...do you think a returning Rooney would add anything but trouble to a stable ship?