PICKY ROONEY

TEENAGE soccer star Wayne Rooney hoped to celebrate his call-up to the England squad by moving his family into a pounds 1million mansion.

But his dinner lady mum Jeanette vetoed the move because she thinks the area is too posh.

Everton wonderkid Wayne, 17, soccer's highest-paid teenager on pounds 13,000 a week, lives with his mum, dad and two brothers in a pounds 40,000 terraced council house on a rough Liverpool estate in Croxteth.

He had been planning to move them to upmarket Sandfield Park in nearby West Derby before his mum vetoed the plan. A neighbour said: "She wouldn't have anything in common with the people there. Here she can pop into a friend's for a cuppa and a chat.

"In Sandfield Park most people don't know who their neighbours are. They just drive in and out in their Jags and Mercs."

Wayne has told his pals he is happy to stay with the family because he would miss his brothers Graham, 14, and John, 11, if he moved out alone.

The family are now searching for a more modest home closer to their home area.

Although his call-up to the full England squad will be announced today, the talented striker still hangs around with the friends he grew up with. Most days after training he can be seen walking down the road with a couple of pals and chatting on street corners like most other lads of his age.

"There's no edge to Wayne," said one of his former schoolmates. "He's just the same as ever he was. He doesn't chuck his money around or show off. I think he feels safe here with his mates. No one's ever caused trouble for him around here. He is still very much one of the lads.

"His mum's just the same too. She still works as a dinner lady at the local school and goes down to the local shops."

Mrs Rooney has also confided to friends that she doesn't want to move now because Wayne's brothers, Graham, 14, and John, 11, are happy at their Roman Catholic high school and she doesn't want to disrupt their education.

Croxteth is a vast expanse of council housing and high-rise flats.

Like many other inner-city estates of the 60s and 70s it suffers from lack of any amenities. Scores of houses are boarded up and high- rise blocks are soon to be demolished.

But around its edges new private homes are springing up and towards neighbouring West Derby a detached home can cost more than pounds 250,000. This is probably where the Rooneys will choose to settle.

WEST DERBY

THE Sandfield Park area of West Derby was once home to wealthy traders in Edwardian times. It is surrounded by high, imposing sandstone walls and entered only by private roads. Most of its mansions are protected by electronic security gates.

CROXTETH

CROXTETH is a run-down area of Liverpool with a big drugs problem. Just a few streets away from the Rooneys' home houses have been burnt out and both the local pubs are closed, as are many shops nearby. Only the bookmakers do good business.

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