Footage has emerged of manager Wayne Rooney passionately addressing his DC United dressing room ahead of the club’s 2023 MLS campaign, with the ex-England star vowing not to finish ‘bottom of that f***ing league again’ in an impassioned speech.

The Washington-based outfit, who finished at the foot of the Eastern Conference with 27 points last year, have just over a month to prepare for their first match of the new season against Toronto on February 26.

Having taken the DC United hot seat midway through last season in July, Rooney has yet to oversee a pre-season in the US capital and needed no second invitation to stamp his authority down ahead of the upcoming campaign. 

Footage showed Wayne Rooney addressing his DC United players ahead of the new campaign

During his first address of the season, which was filmed and revealed by DC United on Thursday, the 37-year-old boss struggled to hold back the expletives as he insisted his side’s mentality had to improve after a fruitless year last term.

He asked his players: ‘How are we going to improve day to day? There’s different things: of training sessions, of games, game management.

‘The lads who were here last year, you already know, you heard me talking about it all the time. The f***ing mentality every single day has to be right. That belief every single day has to be right. Cos if it’s not, you might as well go home now.

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The 37-year-old took over midway through last year as DC United finished bottom in the MLS

‘That mentality has to be at a f***ing high level for us to perform every week. It’s a tough, tough league. There are some very good teams in the league. And we have to compete this year. We have to have that f***ing desire to be successful.’

Rooney, who chalked up over 500 appearances in England during his playing days, went on to insist that there is little difference between Premier League football and the MLS, urging that the sport is the same everywhere around the world.

The ex-Manchester United star made over 500 appearances during his time in England

He continued: ‘Walking around in England, even went to Dubai fort a couple of weeks on holiday, and people come up to me and say: “Oh how’s America? Is it nice? Football is different over there”. 

‘No it f***ing isn’t. Football is football.

‘We have to stay together as a group. So just a reminder, if we stay together, we’re a f***ing good team. 

‘We’ve got time now to work on how I want to play, how we want to evolve as a team, improve and how we want to get better. How we want to be successful. Because there’s no chance I’m finishing bottom of that f***ing league again.’