Roy Hodgson is convinced that Wayne Rooney is not returning to his dark days of ill-discipline despite his reckless dismissal against West Ham last weekend.
Rooney was handed a three-match ban after kicking out at Stewart Downing in Manchester United's 2-1 win at Old Trafford.
The England captain earned a reputation as something of a hot head, particularly in the early stages of his career, due to his poor disciplinary record.
He was sent off for stamping on Ricardo Carvalho in the 2006 World Cup and the last time he saw red for England three years ago, it was for kicking out at Montenegro defender Miodrag Dzudovic.
Hodgson, who was at Old Trafford last Saturday, said there was nothing nasty about the challenge and dismissed the idea that Rooney is showing signs of poor discipline again.
"For me it was a clumsy attempt, it is not back to the bad old days," the England manager said. "The referee was right to send him off. It was unfortunate for him, I didn't see anything malicious.
"I don't see a reason to question his temperament. He was working hard for his team at the time, if anything it is a product of ambition rather than anything else."
Hodgson, meanwhile, has expressed his surprise that Rooney's former international colleagues Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard are being lined up for ambassadorial roles with the Football Association.
"We've never discussed it, so it's news to me that we're looking into this type of ambassadorial role," Hodgson said. "It's always been clear to me that when you've got players of that quality -- David Beckham was a classic example -- there's always going to be the question: 'Can we get more out of these people and use them to our benefit in the future?'
"That's something we're looking into: [head of elite development] Dan Ashworth, [head of performance services] Dave Reddin and the board of directors. But there's never been any discussion with me about taking Steven and Frank.
"I can honestly tell you that's never come up. Never been a discussion."
Hodgson still would like to see the two midfielders, who earned 220 caps between them, assume an ambassadorial role though.
"I would certainly back that 100 percent," Hodgson added.