Rooney Wayne - Wayne Rooney: boots of gold

BY IAIN DALE

T he last time I was quoted in a front-page article in the Daily StarSunday it was under the headline HORSE FART SIGNALS END OF DOCK STRIKE . Actually, come to think of it, it may have been the Sunday Sport. No matter, on 7 June 2010, this was the Daily Star Sundays front-page headline: ROONEY ATTACK FURY BOOK SLURS ROCK WORLD CUP HOPES .

The article concerned the hardback edition of Rooneys Gold, which Biteback published at the end of May 2010. The book was intended for publication by Random House in 2007, but they took fright over libel issues relating to Rooneys agent, Paul Stretford. Since then, however, Stretford, has been discredited in court and banned from being an agent for nine months. Late in 2009, I met Sweeneys agent, Caroline Michel, who gave me the manuscript to read. Certainly no conventional football biography, I found it hugely entertaining and informative, and decided to take it on.

Clearly, as it had been written in 2006, there was a lot that needed to be changed. Indeed, it effectively became a very different book, with new chapters and a whole series of vastly rewritten ones.

And then Schillings, Rooneys lawyers, got involved. We had several letters demanding to see a copy of the manuscript. We refused. We assured them that the book was not the same book as the one they thought it was and that we, as a responsible publisher, had taken every possible step to ensure that their clients rights would not be infringed. We told them that the book was very positive about Mr Rooney and praised him in many ways. We, naturally, had the whole book extensively read for libel and consulted our insurers at all stages.

Days before the book went to print Schillings were continuing to demand sight of the manuscript. As a reputable publisher, I felt that if we acceded to their demands wed be a joke, and might as well pack up and go home. We had a choice: publish and be damned or shelve the whole book and put it down to experience. Believe me, its not nice getting letters from Schillings, laced with threats. Random House, a big company, bowed down and caved in. We decided to proceed, and the book came out on 27 May 2010. I dont mind admitting I was nervous.

But between the book going to print and it being published, Schillings tried another tack. Writing to Waterstones and WH Smith, they threatened that if both stores sold the book they would be liable for damages if Schillings carried through with their threat to injunct us and sue for damages.

Lets put it this way. If you publish a book like this and it isnt sold in either Waterstones or WH Smith it is difficult to get good sales. Even today, you cant just rely on Amazon. Schillings knew that this threat would hit us where it hurts: in our pockets.

Waterstones contacted us and asked for an indemnity, so if it came to legal action wed cover them. For a small company like us, we had to really think hard as to whether we could do this, but we had no choice. If we wanted the book out there we had to.

WH Smith asked for the same and we gave them an indemnity too. Unfortunately, in the end, they chose not to stock the book.

The point here is that Schillings tried to interfere with our commercial trading relations by intimidating our customers. In one case it worked, in another it did not.

But think about what this means for the wider publishing community. If publishers accede to threats like this it effectively means that no one can write a celebrity biography any longer unless it is a complete hagiography. Our libel laws are allowing the likes of Schillings to threaten, bully and intimidate authors and publishers into abandoning perfectly legitimate books for fear of their whole companys existence coming under threat. This cannot be right and any reform of the libel laws must surely encompass this aspect of the law.

We stood up to Schillings but its impossible to know how many others have opted for a quiet life and caved in.

In the end we didnt hear a peep from Schillings after publication. I had to assume that having read the book they realised that their fears were unjustified and that the book is actually far more positive about their client than they had anticipated. It even dismisses as fiction the story that he had sex with a plastic-clad grandmother.

But lets finally go back to the Daily Star story. Its something Lord Justice Leveson would find amusing. At the time, I deconstructed it on my blog. My comments are in italics.

A book about Wayne Rooney is threatening to derail Englands World Cup dreams.

Nice bit of hyperbole for a journalist that has clearly not read a word of the book.

The controversial biography, called Rooneys Gold, has been released ahead of Englands campaign in South Africa. Rooney, 24, is said to be furious about the publication. And fans say the release could not have been more badly timed.

I doubt whether Rooney even knows about the book.

The book, which Rooneys representatives tried but failed to ban, details embarrassing material on the England hero.

Such as? If it did, surely the Daily Star would be detailing it?

Summing up the book in sneering style, the books publishers say: Rough, working class, surrounded by an unlikely crew including a dodgy agent, a crooked lawyer, tarts and gangsters Rooneys Gold looks at the characters who have been attracted to the fabulous money Rooney gets for kicking a pigs bladder around a field.

LOL. Pity they didnt carry on with the publicity blurb Of all the contenders to be captain of England at this summers World Cup, it isRooney who has become the model husband and father, Rooney who changes the electricity of a game the moment he walks on the pitch, Rooney who scores the most goals, Rooney who fights the hardest. And thats how we like our lions.

Lifelong England supporter Darren Law, 39, of Blackburn, Lancs, said: This is appalling timing to release a book which is bound to be so controversial. It is the last thing that Wayne Rooney and the England team needs.

Oh get a life. Read the book. If you can read, that is.

We cant afford for our best player to be distracted by negative headlines and his private life being exposed to public ridicule. The publishers should have at least waited until after the World Cup for its release.