""We've had fireworks outside the hotel at different places," he said. "There was one year, we played New Year's Day and we stayed in a hotel in Birmingham. "Because there were parties downstairs in the function rooms, they put us on the top floor. But they forgot to tell us that there was a firework display on the roof of the hotel. "At midnight all the players were woken up by all these fireworks going off right above us.""
""As for the flooded dressing room in Sunderland, Rooney said: "I was actually suspended [for the match]. "But above the dressing rooms were the toilets and it [the roof] came through when all of the players were in their clothes. "I think there was a load of whatever goes into the toilet, all over the players and the clothes. "You get some tight dressing rooms.""
Chelsea's away dressing room was excessively hot, while Liverpool's dressing room was very cold. A Sunderland dressing room was flooded when toilets on the floor above leaked, soaking players' clothing with sewage. Pre-match hotel stays were sometimes disrupted by noisy events, including a Birmingham hotel where a rooftop firework display woke players at midnight. Tottenham's and Chelsea's dressing rooms felt cramped and hot, prompting players to dress quickly and wait outside. Anfield's dressing room was notably freezing. Returning to a former club like Goodison Park could produce emotionally difficult experiences for players. These incidents affected player comfort and pre-match routines across multiple venues.
Read at www.bbc.com
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