According to The Mirror’s Darren Wells, former Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney has told Derby County that he wants the vacant manager’s job at Pride Park, citing Sir Alex Ferguson as his inspiration.
Phillip Cocu’s parting of the ways with the Rams gave rise to the situtation where Derby head to Bristol City on Saturday in the hands of a four-piece interim management set-up headed by Rooney. It will be the quartet’s first game in charge and comes with the Rams at the bottom of the table.
As soon as Cocu packed up and left, taking his management team with him, Rooney was installed as the front-runner for the job and some are saying that it is a foregone that the former Manchester United great is a shoo-in.
Wells writes that Rooney has “left Derby chiefs in no doubt” that he wants to be considered for the job – something that was driven home in his first presser ahead of the Bristol City game. He mentioned that he would be looking to Sir Alex Ferguson for inspiration.
Read: How Wayne Rooney insists on Derby assurances before agreeing to take charge.
Despite 491 Premier League appearances and 208 goals; despite 48 MLS games and 23 goals, Rooney has zero management expereince. Indeed, his only formal coaching experience has come during his time at Derby County.
This has not held Rooney back and his ambition is to still to put himself forward for consideration by the Rams. Commenting on this and his inspiration, he added:
“I am not going to say I am going to do it like Sir Alex Ferguson. You have to work with the players you have got and you have to manage players correctly.“
All that is in the near future, though. What is more pressing is Saturday and that game against Bristol City as the Rams look to climb away from the bottom of the table.
