Rooney says DC job was a good move for his new career

WAYNE Rooney felt that leaving his job as manager of Derby County was the best move for him and the club.

Rooney took over as head coach at DC United, in the United States taking with him the Rams’ analyst Pete Shuttleworth as his assistant

In his Sunday Times column, Rooney said that after his Derby exit it would have been easy to take another job at a Championship club, but he chose United for his development as a young manager.

United drew 0-0 on Sunday against fourth-placed New York Red Bulls and sit bottom of the 14 teams in the Major League Soccer Eastern Conference.

Rooney could not prevent Derby from being relegated to League One last season amid a turbulent 18 months at the helm.

At the end of his playing career Rooney spent two seasons at DC United, making 48 appearances and scoring 23 goals before then signing for Derby, initially as a player and then manager.

Writing about his departure, Rooney said: “I’ve had a job change since last contributing to the paper.

“I left Derby County in June because after everything I’d had to deal with there, I felt it was probably best for both me and the club to look for fresh energy and ideas.

“Shortly after that, DC United got in touch and the chance to return to the MLS – this time as a manager – excited me.

“It would have been easy for me to hang around and just take a job in England, a Championship club or whatever, but I just feel in terms of my development, as a young manager, this is the right move.

“It is a great chance to experience a different league, a different way of budgets and transfers working, and to manage a squad of different nationalities in a dressing room of several languages and cultures.”

Rooney went on to talk in his column about how former club Manchester United should allow Cristiano Ronaldo to leave Old Trafford and pursue a striker who will spend three or four years with the club.

At the time of his exit from Pride Park, a statement from Rooney said that the administrators had tried “tremendously hard” to change his decision to leave.

He said: “Personally, I feel the club now needs to be led by someone with fresh energy and not affected by the events that have happened over the last eighteen months.

“I will remember my time at Derby with great pride and affection and would like to thank all my staff, players and of course the fans for their incredible support.

“I will never forget you and hope to see you all again in the near future and in happier times.”