Wayne Rooney named Premiership’s ‘manliest’ footballer

Wayne Rooney has been voted as soccer’s “manliest” player in a poll of men and women, while Chelsea’s Ashley Cole was listed as the biggest wimp.

Rooney, 26, pipped Man U team-mate Ryan Giggs to the title, after a fifth of everyone in the survey organised by leading British grooming brand The Bluebeards Revenge picked him.

“When he’s on the pitch, Wayne is certainly what you would describe as a ‘real man’ and is a deserving winner of the title ‘Premiership’s manliest footballer’,” the Sun quoted a spokesman for the men’s grooming firm, Nick Gibbens as saying.

“He wears his heart on his sleeve, never pulls out of a tackle and always puts his body on the line for his team, qualities that make a man a ‘real man’,” Gibbens said

Meanwhile, love rat Cole, 31, was named least manly in the poll of 1,835 members of the public.

Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard and Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard joint third.

Other players in the “manly” top 10 included John Terry, Joey Barton and Nemanja Vidic.