WAZZA MERITS SENIOR STATUS
EVERY time I hear Wayne Rooney speak or read one of his newspaper columns, I become more certain that my fellow Scouser is destined to become a boss.
Wayne has spent most of his time playing at the top of the game.
He captained Manchester United and England. He’s been there, done it – and got the medals to prove it.
But, since moving first to the USA with DC United and then the Championship with Derby County, he seems to have become even more dominant in the way he leads his team-mates.
Perhaps it is an age thing – Roo is 34 now – and just a natural sign of his growing maturity.
But he has become a student of the wider game, with opinions seemingly a million miles from the Croxteth firebrand he was.
It has been reported that he is now taking the lead for his Pride Park team-mates in negotiations with the club about accepting a pay cut.
That must be a minefield because, while Wayne is still a player, he has also assumed a coaching role under Derby boss Phillip Cocu.
Wayne’s motivation during negotiations won’t be money.
But there will be players at Derby who are nowhere near as financially secure as him.
Football is currently taking a massive financial hit and some clubs will need help from their players to come through the crisis.
He has a foot in both camps, but acquits himself with the kind of confidence we once only saw when he was dribbling a football.
Wayne Rooney doesn’t strike me as someone who will lose his balance.