Rooney makes it official
England great ends an 18-year playing career for first fulltime gig as a club manager
Wayne Rooney has vowed to “write some history” after taking his first permanent manager’s role at Derby County and ending his record-breaking playing career.
He was the ultimate football prodigy, but now Rooney is focusing on the next chapter and following in the footsteps of former England teammates Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard.
After 18 highly successful years at the top level, Rooney has ended his playing career to concentrate on coaching, after landing the job at the Championship strugglers.
Management has been in Rooney’s sights for some time, and emulating the likes of Rio Ferdinand and Gary Neville by going into commentary never appealed to England and Manchester United’s record goal-scorer.
The 35-year-old knows his reputation could be on the line, but has revealed his determination to succeed as the latest member of England’s “golden generation” in the technical area.
“I think it’s great to see the likes of Steven, Frank Lampard, myself, Scott Parker and John Terry and that generation going into management,” he said. “They could earn a lot of money doing TV work and speaking about players or managers from a studio.
“It’s great that there’s a core of young English players who appeared for their country rolling their sleeves up and trying to dig in and take the opportunity they were given.
“Hopefully now I can start to write some history and have a successful managerial career.”
Rooney has admitted the moment to announce his retirement had been coming, and he will be remembered as arguably the greatest English player of the past decade.
After making his debut as a raw, yet robust 16-year-old at Everton, he went on to United, where he won the Premier League five times, the Champions League, the FA Cup and three League Cups. With England, he scored 53 goals in 120 games, though trophies eluded such a talented crop of players with Rooney at the forefront.
“I’ve been very fortunate to play for some massive teams. Playing for Everton was a boyhood dream of mine and then to go and play for 13 years at United was the highlight,” he said.
“To stay at the biggest club in the world for so long and win so many trophies is something I’ll always appreciate. Winning my first Premier League medal was a huge moment, it was the start of a real run of dominance. A big moment was also winning the FA Cup. I’d lost two finals, but to win it at Wembley as captain was very special [against Crystal Palace in 2016].
“I’ve had a great career and enjoyed every minute, I wouldn’t change anything.”
The record books will show that Rooney’s last game as a professional was a 3-0 defeat at Middlesbrough on a cold Wednesday night in November.
“I felt the time was right to stop playing and this moment has been coming. I’ve thought about it over the last two months, and I feel my future is in management. I’ll miss playing, but this is a new chapter.”
Rooney unquestionably deserves his first crack at management, after guiding Derby to three wins and four draws from his nine games in charge.
Working closely with former England manager Steve Mcclaren, and his coaching staff which includes Liam Rosenior and Shay Given, Rooney’s impact has been transformative.
Derby remain in the relegation zone and have endured a turbulent week with the protracted takeover by Derventio Holdings still to be completed.
Rooney is targeting new signings, but the club is under a transfer embargo after failing to pay their players on time. Sources insist that the issue will be resolved over the weekend, but Rooney is adamant the future is bright.
“I wouldn’t be sitting here if I didn’t get the answers I wanted from the club,” he said.
“We want the takeover sorted as soon as possible and then we can move forward in the near future.
“It’s something I’ve been working on for a few years, and it is what I want to do.” — Telegraph Group UK