In fairness to Frank Lampard, he called it ages ago. A little over seven years, in fact, and during an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live in November 2010. Asked about Wayne Rooney, then still a Manchester United forward, Lampard, then still a Chelsea midfielder, said: “People who call him thick – it’s a lazy thing to say. They look at him, the fact he is a footballer and looks tough, and make a judgment without trying to find out what he is really like. How can you call someone thick who you have never met?”

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It was a valid question and one Rooney well and truly answered with his appearance on Monday Night Football this week. Eyebrows were raised when it was announced he would be alongside Jamie Carragher and David Jones for Sky Sports’ coverage of Watford against Chelsea, partly because Rooney is still an active footballer and partly because, as Lampard outlined, he is viewed as someone who can barely string a sentence together, let alone speak fluently and analytically on live television for the best part of four hours. Well, like with that volley against Newcastle United in April 2005, Rooney smashed it.

The 32-year-old was articulate, intelligent, insightful and honest, and after an understandably nervous start got into such a stride that you half expected him to pull up a bar stool, sip from a glass of whiskey and tell a joke about retirement and clocks.

Wayne Rooney: captain, leader, legend … raconteur. Who would have thought it? Most probably those who know the Everton forward, but for most people who tuned in on Monday night – myself included – it came as a surprise. Because there is no denying that a broad, widely-accepted perception of Rooney’s character has developed during his career. Partly this has been because of the decisions he has made in his private life and partly because, as Lampard expressed, he fits a stereotype of your average footballer.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Gary Neville (right) and Jamie Carragher (left) had made impressive transitions from the pitch to the TV studio. Photograph: Andy Hall/The Observer

Often it is those who know the least about footballers that push this view of footballers – commentators espousing their views from the comfort of their kitchen nook, people as likely to fart on the moon as they are to chant at their local ground. But mud sticks and, if we’re being honest, it’s not just the detached who are guilty of flinging it. Football fans can be just as bad and for a generation, certainly on these shores, Rooney has become a prime target.

The great shame here is that rather than being held up as a figure of ridicule and example of how not to live your life, Rooney should be seen as a perfect example of the inspirational story football is so great at telling – a working-class boy from Croxteth who through a combination of talent, hard work and ambition realised his dream of playing for his boyhood club (twice) as well as becoming not only the all-time record goalscorer for the biggest club in the country but the country itself.

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It’s a remarkable set of achievements somewhat overlooked through a combination of snobbery and resentment that often attaches itself to working-class-boys-done-good. Yes Rooney is an excellent, successful athlete but, as we keep insisting – partly to make ourselves feel better about our own lives – he’s not the brightest bulb in the box.

Rooney is almost certainly aware of that perception, making his performance on Sky Sports all the more noteworthy. There was light and shade as he looked back on his breakthrough at Everton – “I knew when I got into the first team at 16 years old, I was the best player” – recollected the prank he played on Roy Keane shortly after joining Manchester United and confessed that he should not have travelled to the 2006 World Cup given the injury he had suffered beforehand. ‘Wazza’ was gripping, funny and – shock horror – well-spoken.

Rooney is not the only one who has confounded perceptions having stepped away from the pitch and into a TV studio. Carragher and, before him, Gary Neville have established themselves as highly respected, intelligent voices on football having joined Sky Sports post-retirement, while on BT Sport, Rio Ferdinand and Steven Gerrard have surprised with their articulate, forthright opinions. Lampard is another to admire, as is Jermaine Jenas, and what is becoming clear at a time when more and more footballers are turning up on TV after hanging up their boots is that the stereotype around them is often just that – a stereotype.

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Those among us from similar backgrounds should have known better all along and the current crop of professionals looking on will hopefully realise they can and should be more candid. Far too many have been media trained to within an inch of their life, leading to bland soundbites on their parts and unfair judgements on ours.

It’s hardly the players’ fault given we live in an age when saying the wrong thing at the wrong time can come back to haunt you on social media, and hence clubs not only restricting access to their prized assets but setting them on a path that leads to banality until they are older and free enough to speak for themselves. It’s a shame and perhaps irreversible, but as Rooney showed so emphatically there is more than meets the eye when it comes to those in football’s spotlight.