[gazzae]

ROONEY 'PUNCHED' GRAY AFTER SPAT
Wayne Rooney was involved in an altercation with fellow Premiership star Michael Gray in a plush Manchester restaurant on Saturday night.

The 20-year-old Manchester United striker was with fiancee Coleen McLoughlin and three other couples, all long-standing close friends of the pair, at the Panacea restaurant, when Gray, himself capped three times by England in 1999, wandered over, apparently under the influence of alcohol.

The footballers exchanged words before it is alleged Rooney, while still seated, punched Gray, giving the player, who is now at Blackburn, a black eye.

"Wayne and Coleen were enjoying a night out with three other couples and were having a quiet dinner when Michael came up to their table uninvited," said a spokesman for the striker.

"Michael then began making a number of remarks which were offensive to Coleen and Wayne's other female guests.

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