Rooney praises Bodin for his support (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Rooney praises Bodin for his support

6:00am Friday 1st March 2013 in Sport By Sam Morshead

LUKE Rooney has praised Paul Bodin for sticking by him during his exile from the Swindon Town first-team squad.

Rooney trained with Bodin’s youth team on many occasions during his seven weeks in the wilderness following his return from a loan spell at Rotherham, after former Town boss Paolo Di Canio kept him out of training and consigned him to individual gym work.

The former Gillingham winger has since returned to the first-team frame, and made his first appearance in almost five months as a late substitute in the 1-0 defeat to Bury on Tuesday.

He has paid tribute to Bodin for his help and support during perhaps the most testing time in his embryonic career.

“Paul has been great,” he said. “I asked several times to train with Paul and I think Paul was always keen to take me because I think it was good for the younger lads.

“Paul has been brilliant, I think everyone knows he’s a good person.

“Everyone at the club knows he’s a good person but he’s a good coach also and I have a lot of thanks for him because he’s been there to help me during a difficult period.

“I’m probably only three, maybe four years above some of the youth team lads but I think they enjoyed it and I certainly enjoyed it.

“I went down with them on Wednesday against Bournemouth and they had quite an experienced team - I think they only had two scholars in their starting XI and I was the only non-scholar in ours.

“Some of the performances from the youth team lads were exceptional on the day and really showed a lot of potential.

“I went down and played a game before and I think they’ve improved since then.

“Paul is improving those boys and who knows, a couple of them might be involved if not this season then next season.”