Fergie: They'll always think of Wayne as a traitor... but he can handle it

Sir Alex Ferguson has backed Wayne Rooney to keep a cool head on his return to Goodison Park today even though he will be 'treated like a traitor' by Everton fans.

The Manchester United boss kept Rooney out of last season's trip to his old club due to the abuse he receives, and admitted replacing the Croxteth-born striker in a 1-1 draw at Goodison three years ago because he was in danger of being sent off.

Take that: Rooney gestures to Everton fans at Goodison Park 

Rooney, who could even start in midfield today, is expected to face another torrent of abuse.

But Ferguson is confident the 25-year-old will take it in his stride, despite the flash of anger that brought him a red card for England in Macedonia.

'You know what fans are like,' said Ferguson. 'He's a traitor as far as they're concerned, and he's never going to change that. I don't think people thrive on abuse but you can cope with it.

'He's well used to that, it's not a problem. He's had mixed success going to Everton, and scored a couple of goals there in previous games.

'But he got booked in one game and I took him off because there was no way I was going to give the referee an opportunity to send him off. With the hype around the ground, he's going to be booed every time he makes a challenge.'

Back to haunt Toffees: Rooney celebrates scoring against Everton in 2007

Ferguson has promised a response to Sunday's stunning 6-1 Manchester derby defeat at Old Trafford, but admitted that he is determined to wipe the bitter memory from his mind.

He said: 'We can analyse last week's game as much as we want but it's not going to do us any good. My attitude is to completely forget it. It never happened. It's not going to do us any good going back on that game.

'It's been a tough week for everyone. Now we can show Manchester United in our proper light, and we didn't do that last week.

'We have the experiences of being able to recover many times. We lost 5-0 to Newcastle in 1996 and won the League by seven points.'