ROONEY'S RAMS REVIVAL

LUKE PHELPS LOOKS AT HOW WAYNE ROONEY IS SETTLING INTO MANAGERIAL LIFE AT DERBY COUNTY

- LUKE PHELPS

IT ONLY seems like yesterday that a young Wayne Rooney was lighting up the Premier League. Today, the 35-year-old is in the dugout at Derby County, taking up the dubious title of ‘interim’ boss.

Within a year of making his Rams debut as a player, he was thrust into the hotseat, backed up by a team of coaches including Liam Rosenior and Shay Given.

Now having stepped back from playing matters to take full responsibility of this Derby side, fans are getting much more than they expected.

At the time of writing, Rooney had overseen nine games in the Championship. He’d tasted defeat in just two of those, picking up wins against Millwall, Swansea and Birmingham.

Their 4-0 win in the latter at St Andrew’s was the product of careful planning and preparation, and on the back of consistent performances that pulled Derby out of the bottom three.

They’ve since dropped back in, but the atmosphere surrounding the club is polar to that of three months ago.