RELIEVED ROONEY DEMANDS CLARITY
After last-ditch survival Derby boss wants club takeover sorted so he can plan for next season
For Wayne rooney, it has been a season of closure on his glittering playing career, his first brush with relegation and his first steps into the managerial world.
It has been a different angle on the game for someone who always played it with the free spirit of the boy in the playground.
At Derby, in a quiet corner of Pride Park after securing Championship survival in a frantic 3-3 draw with Sheffield Wednesday, his instinct was to demand nd clarity from owner Mel Morris and the EFL about ut the club’s proposed d takeover.
‘ No more messing g around, it has to happen,’ - said rooney, in n stern managerial tones. ‘We can’t afford to allow w this club to be in the e position it’s been in this his season. It needs sorting ng out as soon as possible.
‘It’s been frustrating. g. I’m sure you know I put t on a front to keep that t away from the players. . We can take a step back k now and I can say it needs to be sorted.’
Managing upwards, as they like to call it on the courses. rooney (right) is learning on the job. Not only when it comes to relationships at board level but also within the dressing room.
Take his friendship with Martyn Waghorn, Derby’s hero on Saturday. Waghorn scored twice and set up the other goal. His penalty in the 78th minute made it 3-3, and sent Wednesday back to League one, relegated with rotherham and Wycombe.
‘When I was a player here, I was close with Waggy,’ said rooney. ‘We’d play on the PlayStations together, headphones talking. When I became manager, I had to distance myself from that.
‘I had the moment with him where I’m dropping him out of the squad. You have to make those decisions as a manager.
‘We sat him down, we showed him video clips of himself in previous years. We showed him video clips of other players. We worked on his movement in the box.
‘His first goal, I can’t tell you how happy I was. For the coaches as well. Him, putting himself in the middle of the goal, good movement, in a position to score goals. That all comes from his hard work in the last few weeks. Since I left him out of the squad and sat him down and spoke to him, there’s been a massive change in him. He deserves a lot of praise.’ Waghorn, 31, is one of three senior Derby players out of contract and rooney says he is keen to sort out such loose ends and work on recruitment for next season. The manager may be stronger and wiser for his first season in the dugout but his squad requires investment if it is to be transformed into one capable of competing for promotion.
Aside from rooney’s own considerable salary, neither he nor his predecessor Phillip Cocu were blessed with the sort of transfer budget that allowed Frank Lampard to build a team featuring Mason Mount, Harry Wilson, Fikayo Tomori and Ashley Cole in 2018-19, a season that ended in d defeat in a Wembley play-off p final. As A with Lampard, the rooney ro factor will attract players, pla but they won’t come c for free and the level of investment will hinge on the takeover. Morris is determined to sell after pumping in millions with little return, bu but concerns remain ar around a proposed sale to a consortium led by Sp Spanish agent and boxing pro promoter Erik Alonso. As revealed by Sportsmail last week, Alonso is yet to prove he has the funds to cover large loans guaranteed against the stadium. ‘We all need clarity, especially the fans,’ said rooney. ‘It needs sorting out as soon as possible. I’m sure it will. We’re in a place where it looks like it’s happening that way, but it has to happen quickly. We can’t have any more mess- ups, no more messing around, it has to happen. ‘That allows me to have our plans in place for the Championship next year. I’ve had a lot of work done: pre- season is done, the fixtures are done, everything is done. But we need everything sorted out from a point of view of the people above me to make sure it allows me to do that job to the best of my ability.’ Welcome to management, Wayne.