Rooney happy to be hero or villain

Adam Rooney: committed to the win

ADAM Rooney won’t be on tenterhooks when he runs out at Boundary Park tomorrow — as he finds out what sort of reception he gets from the Swindon fans who used to cheer him on.

Plenty of water has passed under the bridge since Swindon decided they didn’t want to keep him - despite terms having been agreed. The player still won’t speak about it and an investigation rumbles on.

But he admits he doesn’t know whether it will be cheers or jeers from Robins fans tomorrow. Not that the latter will worry him much.

“I would like to get a good reception, but it won’t bother me if I don’t,” he says.

It has been a period of rapid change at the County Ground. After the excesses of Paolo Di Canio and five months with Kevin MacDonald, Mark Cooper has stepped up from the assistant role to be full-time boss.

Swindon have (mostly) reined in their spending and expectations have been dampened.

Amid all the changes, some friends remain. Darren Ward (35) is an elder statesman and mainstay of the defensive line-up and has kept contact.

Rooney says he will hold off on savouring any extra satisfaction from taking three points against his former club.

“It is more after you get the three points. It gives you something extra that you have beaten a former club of yours and have got one over on former team-mates,” he added.

“But I just want to get three points. It doesn’t matter who we are playing, as long as we win.”

It seems likely that Rooney will be in the starting XI tomorrow, as will Cristian Montano, who spent a four-match spell under Di Canio in 2011-12.