Coleen and Wayne Rooney’s heart-to-hearts over their future

Just weeks after his latest scandal, Wayne Rooney revealed that he’d been sleeping at his manager’s office, 70 miles from his family home in Cheshire.

The Derby County coach, 35 – who is under increasing pressure to rebuild the ailing team by signing new players – said during a press conference, “I slept on the couch in the office last night and I’ll be sleeping on my couch again in my office tonight, trying to get these players over the line as quickly as possible so that we don’t lose out on them.”

Last month, Wayne was forced to publicly apologise to his family after a string of embarrassing snaps went viral on social media of him looking the worse for wear in a nightclub and then in a hotel room alongside three scantily clad 21-year-old women.

The day after the photos were made public, Coleen – who shares sons Kai, 11, Klay, eight, Kit, five, and three-year-old Class with her husband of 12 years – took the boys on a holiday to North Wales without Wayne.

And friends told Closer that, before she left for her holiday, she imposed stricter rules on her husband, including a 9pm curfew when he isn’t at work.

But, with the new football season starting, Wayne is regularly away from home, staying at a hotel in Derby for weekend match days and at his office during the week.

The source says, “Coleen imposed the curfew in an effort to get them to spend more time together – yet with his being so busy at work, he is spending less time at home than ever.

“When he retired as a footballer last year, she hoped it would be a fresh start for them as he could take a step back from the game and have more time for her and the boys. However, the opposite has happened. Coleen feels like they’re sometimes leading separate lives, with her at home spending her days looking after the boys or going to the gym, while Wayne spends most of his time away in Derby.

“They used to have regular date nights – going to concerts or having nice dinners out – but when he’s with them, his mind is on his job. It’s led to a few heart-to-hearts, with Coleen insisting they need to spend more quality time together.

“She understands he has to devote himself to Derby at the moment and sympathises with his hectic workload, but she’s begged him to realise things need to change long term. She’s put her foot down and told him that once the tough slog at the start of the season is over, she and the kids need to be his priority. Wayne has fully agreed and is desperate to show Coleen that he can be a doting dad and husband. He has promised her he has a lot of making up to do, and he will treat her to a few romantic days away in the next few months.”

Check out: Wayne and Coleen Rooney's relationship timeline

Last week, with Wayne in Derby, Coleen spent yet more time on her own, enjoying a pampering session in Cheshire.

She also threw herself into a busy fitness routine, with spin classes and yoga sessions. In one post, she wrote about a “double class workout” of “hot yoga and Pilates”, which pals say is a bid to help her be “physically and mentally her best” as she has “a lot going on”, including the highly publicised WAGatha court case and raising her and Wayne’s four boys.

While Coleen is said to have “forgiven” Wayne for his hotel shenanigans – with sources insisting she believes Wayne did nothing wrong – the humiliation stirred up previous heartache for her.

In 2004, Wayne admitted to sleeping with a string of prostitutes, and in 2010, former escort Helen Wood claimed he paid for a threesome with her and pal Jenny Thompson.

Following his arrest for drink driving with party girl Laura Simpson in 2017, which almost ended their marriage, Coleen boldly branded her husband “silly and selfish” in an emotional statement on her Facebook page.

And despite moving to Washington “for a fresh start” the following year, when Wayne was signed to play for DC United, the family’s US stint was cut short – a move said to have been instigated by Coleen, following the football star’s continued unruly behaviour, including stripping to his boxers in a hot tub with three women during a drunken night out with his team mates in Vancouver.

Since then, Coleen has been embroiled in her libel battle with Rebekah Vardy, initiated by Coleen’s explosive allegation on social media, when she accused her former pal of leaking stories about her to the tabloids, which Rebekah denies.

The latest in their 18-month war saw the judge rule in favour of having Rebekah’s email and phone records searched.

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And while sources insist Coleen – who was once called a “doormat” by ex-Loose Women panellist Carol McGiffin for standing by Wayne during his previous indiscretions – is feeling “empowered” and is happy to fight the case single-handedly, she would still like her husband at home more to give his support.

The source says, “These last few years have given Coleen a new sense of empowerment and confidence and, while it’s also been incredibly emotional and taxing for her mentally, she’s admitted it’s sparked something inside her intrinsically, as it’s proved to her that she is strong-willed and a fighter.

“But Coleen’s got a lot going on, so Wayne has promised that from now on he will put more time and effort into her needs, and when he’s away, he calls her to make sure she is OK. Even though they’ve had a rough couple of months, she stays on the positive side. It only goes to prove to them how much they mean to each other and how strong they are as a couple.”