Rooney is set to miss semi-final battle with City

English football’s governing body hit the 25-year-old with the charge of using “offensive, insulting and/or abusive language” following his foul-mouthed outburst into a Sky Television camera after scoring a hat-trick in Saturday’s 4-2 win over West Ham United.

Rooney issued a formal apology later the same day for the outburst which he claimed came “in the heat of the moment” and was not aimed at “anyone in particular”. Sky also issued an apology during their coverage from Upton Park.

United had hoped that would be the end of the matter and that their one-time talismanic striker would escape with a slap on the wrist or possibly a fine.

However, the FA’s top brass have taken a dim view of the incident, not least because the sight of one of England’s top players swearing could have tainted the image of football in this country. Rooney has until 6pm today to respond to the charge.

An FA spokesman said: “The FA has charged Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney for the use of offensive, insulting and/or abusive language. This charge relates to an incident during his side’s fixture with West Ham United at the Boleyn Ground on Saturday, April 2, 2011.”

Rooney now has three options – he can deny the charge, in which case a hearing would be convened tomorrow where there would be the risk of an increased sanction. His second option is to accept the charge, in which case he would be banned for the games against Fulham and Manchester City.

His third, and most likely option, is to accept the charge but appeal against the severity of the ban. This approach would run the risk of inviting a more severe ban if the appeal was deemed frivolous.

If Rooney is hit with a two-game ban he will miss this weekend’s home Premier League game with Fulham, a fixture that Sir Alex Ferguson’s side would be expected to win even without a full-strength starting XI.

Far more damagingly, he would also be sidelined for the following Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City at Wembley.

That would, even allowing for Rooney’s generally uninsipiring form over the past 12 months, be a major blow with the thought of losing to their bitter rivals in such an important fixture being an unpalatable prospect for the red half of Manchester.

Predicting what punishment will be meted out to Rooney is difficult as it is thought sanctioning a player for swearing into a camera is unprecedented in English football.

Chelsea striker Didier Drogba did receive a four-match ban with a further two games suspended in 2009 for a similar offence at the end of his side’s Champions League semi-final exit to Barcelona when he swore into a camera and labelled referee Tom Henning “a disgrace”.

He then had to be led away by Blues team-mates.

However, his tirade was deemed to have been directed at the official after a controversial night at Stamford Bridge, hence the lengthy ban handed out to the Ivory Coast striker.

Rooney’s case may have no precedent but there is provision for punishment within the FA’s own rules on behaviour, which state: “A participant shall at all times act in the best interests of the game and shall not act in any manner which is improper or brings the game into disrepute or use any one, or a combination of, violent conduct, serious foul play, threatening, abusive, indecent or insulting words or behaviour.”

It is not the first time the United striker has found himself in trouble for speaking into a TV camera.

At last year’s World Cup, he criticised the England fans after the dismal goalless draw against Algeria by saying: “Nice to see your home fans booing you – that’s loyal supporters.” As with the weekend incident, he later apologised for the remarks.

Rooney’s treble at Upton Park was enough to nudge United seven points clear at the top of the Premier League and should have been heralded as a long overdue return to form.

Instead, his outburst means it has become just the latest in a long line of unsavoury and unfortunate incidents involving the former Everton man during the past year.

These include lurid allegations in September about his private life, which were followed a month later by Rooney declining a new deal and being accused of disrespecting the club by Ferguson.

Two days after revealing his intention to leave because chief executive David Gill would “not give me any of the assurances I was seeking about the future squad”, he then performed a huge U-turn and signed a new five-year contract.

It was hoped by the Old Trafford faithful that the deal would herald a change of fortune for a striker who the previous season had been in the form of his life and netted 34 goals.

Instead, the general malaise continued as Rooney continued to attract the wrong sort of headlines - most notably after catching Wigan Athletic’s James McCarthy with an elbow in United’s 4-0 win at the DW Stadium on February 26. He later escaped sanction due to referee Mark Clattenberg telling the FA he had seen the incident and dealt with it accordingly.