Footage has emerged of Wayne Rooney passionately addressing his DC United squad ahead of the club's 2023 MLS campaign, with the ex-England star vowing not to finish 'bottom of that f***ing league again' in a rousing speech.
The Washington-based outfit, who finished at the foot of the Eastern Conference with 27 points last year, have just over a month to prepare for their first match of the new season against Toronto on February 26.
Having taken the DC United hot-seat midway through last season, Rooney has yet to oversee a pre-season in the US capital and needed no second invitation to stamp his authority down ahead of the upcoming campaign.
During his first address of the season, which was filmed and revealed by DC United on Thursday, the 37-year-old boss struggled to hold back the expletives as he insisted his side's mentality had to improve after a fruitless year last term.
He asked his players: 'How are we going to improve day to day? There's different things: of training sessions, of games, game management.
'The lads who were here last year, you already know, you heard me talking about it all the time. The f***ing mentality every single day has to be right. That belief every single day has to be right. Cos if it's not, you might as well go home now.
'That mentality has to be at a f***ing high level for us to perform every week. It's a tough, tough league. There are some very good teams in the league. And we have to compete this year. We have to have that f***ing desire to be successful.'
Rooney, who chalked up over 500 appearances in England during his playing days, went on to insist that there is little difference between Premier League football and the MLS, urging that the sport is the same everywhere around the world.
He continued: 'Walking around in England, even went to Dubai fort a couple of weeks on holiday, and people come up to me and say: "Oh how's America? Is it nice? Football is different over there".
'No it f***ing isn't. Football is football.
'We have to stay together as a group. So just a reminder, if we stay together, we're a f***ing good team.
'We've got time now to work on how I want to play, how we want to evolve as a team, improve and how we want to get better. How we want to be successful. Because there's no chance I'm finishing bottom of that f***ing league again.'
Rooney's DC United squad, which is fronted by ex-Premier League stars Christian Benteke and Ravel Morrison, went on a four-match losing run to close out the MLS season last term.
Benteke, who arrived as the club's record signing in August, netted once in seven appearances for the Black and Red.
Confident his squad has the talent to improve in the MLS this year, Rooney finished his speech by urging the players to have belief.
'There's a lot of history at this club. It's the most successful in the MLS. We need to get back to that. And we can. I think we will.
'But it's on you to do that. You need to believe in yourselves. It's the most important thing. Believe in yourself as an individual, believe in your team-mates and believe in yourselves as a group. And you can do that.'