Wayne Rooney is already dreaming of kick-starting his coaching career at Derby County where he and three others have been given the responsibility to serve as caretaker coaches of the Championship club.
Derby had to sack their coach, Philip Cocu about a week ago after he led the team to win just one Championship match out of 11. The team suffered 7 defeats and 3 draws to remain at the bottom of the Championship with 6 points.
In an attempt to salvage what is left of the season, the management of Derby County thought it wise to allow the head coach to leave the club and replaced him with a team of four people to coordinate the affairs of the team until a substantive coach is appointed.
Wayne Rooney who is the captain of the club was named as one of the four coaches alongside three other professional coaches: Liam Rosenior, Shay Given, and Justin Walker. The former Manchester United forward still has less than a season left on his contract with the club as a player.
Hence, the 35-year-old former England international wants to use the opportunity to prove that he had garnered enough experiences from some top-class football managers he has worked with.
Derby County produced Frank Lampard as a football manager which Chelsea signed during the 2019 summer transfer window. And Rooney who has been acting in the capacity of a player-coach at the club since December 2019 would want to be the next big thing in terms of football management.
He said: “I’m ambitious, of course, I want to go into management. I wouldn’t be an ambitious person if I sat here and said I didn’t want the job.
“Right now, there’s an opportunity for the four of us here to try and lead this team, for however long that is. It’s an opportunity for us to show the different ideas we’ve got and got this team back on track.
“It’s been a strange week. We have to say a big thank you to Phillip, I’ve learned a lot in my first coaching role here.
“But, I think the change was needed. We’ve not had a great run of form and it’s an opportunity for myself, Liam, Justin, and Shay to bring some new ideas and almost a new identity to the team.”
𝗪𝗥: 🗣 "For now, I’ve got my toes in both dressing rooms – one as a player, and the other trying to lead the team forward and we’ll see where that takes us from there."#DCFC pic.twitter.com/XocEFm9USL
— Derby County (@dcfcofficial) November 19, 2020
Rooney and his other coaching partners might remain the interim coach of the club until the proposed takeover by Abu Dhabi royal family member Sheikh Khaled bin Zayed Al Nehayan is successful. Once that is done, Rooney will have to contest for the full-time coaching job alongside other coaches who might be interested in it.
However, it will take huge luck for the incoming investor to bank on Rooney when it comes to the management of the team based on his little experience in the business of professional coaching.
“I’ve worked with some very good managers and possibly with the greatest manager of all time,” Rooney said.
“I can’t say I’m going to do it the way Alex Ferguson, Louis van Gaal or Jose Mourinho did it because you have to work to the players you’ve got.
“There are things you can take from different managers and things I’ve learned throughout the years, I’ll be doing that.”
— Derby County (@dcfcofficial) October 3, 2020
