Wayne Rooney in ugly Twitter row with Liverpool supporter

Wayne Rooney became involved in an ugly Twitter row with a Liverpool supporter who called him ‘a fat whore’ and an ugly lil nonce' yesterday.

The Manchester United striker, who has acquired over 563,000 followers since joining the social networking site late last month, rose to the bait dangled by a supporter of Liverpool, arch rivals of United and Rooney’s former club Everton.

Rooney’s enemy, sam-oldham-lfc, whose account has since been shut down, posted the following comment on his page: “Rooney ya fat whore ill smash ya head in with a pitchin wedge an bury ya with a ballast fork ya ugly lil nonce.”

The Shrek-like striker responded by challenging the supporter to confront him at Manchester United’s training ground, saying: “haha u know where I train every day kid come and do it good luck.”

Oldham then replied: “I’ll be down tomorrow in me twin turbo Nissan Micra,” prompting Rooney to respond: “Cool bring your sandwedge girl” and “I will put u asleep within 10 seconds hope u turn up if u don't gonna tell everyone ur scared u little nit. I'll be waiting.”

The stormy exchange between the pair prompted Manchester United fans to bombard Rooney’s aggressor with a barrage of abusive tweets, after which both Rooney and Oldham backed down and suggested that it was all a bit of fun.

“I wasn’t being a hard man it’s called a joke mate,” tweeted Oldham, while Rooney followed with “Haha bit of banter and people go nuts, chill all people.”

Rooney didn’t reveal whether or not he knew Oldham, although the manner in which both backed down once others became embroiled in the row suggests that it could have all been an elaborate prank.

It certainly wouldn’t have impressed Sir Alex Ferguson or the powers that be at Manchester United, who have been actively trying to monitor the social networking habits of their players.

A club spokesman said of the matter: “The last thing we need is rival fans turning up looking for a fight.”