Wayne Rooney- the new Derby County manager.

 Wayne Rooney- the new Derby County manager.

Now what on earth would Brian Clough have made of it all? Clough was the now legendary manager of Derby, Leeds United, albeit very briefly, Brighton and, quite brilliantly, Nottingham Forest. Clough though acquitted himself to the onerous task of digging all of the above out of the doldrums, cleaning them up, remodelling them, reviving all of them all apart from Leeds and then pumping new life into them with the air of a Messiah. Clough was a natural, a man with an obvious aptitude for coaching players, motivating players and instilling a lasting belief that they were the greatest players he'd ever seen. 

But Clough was blunt, outspoken, controversial, iconoclastic, a combustible time bomb just waiting to go off and frequently getting exactly what he wanted after yet another verbal explosion. Clough though was, surprisingly, an educationalist, a trade unionist, a purist, a master psychologist, a miracle maker, innovator supreme, a classicist, a scholar of the game but he could be a nuisance when he wanted to. Clough of course was a managerial genius and you wonder what he would have made of Wayne Rooney being appointed as manager of one of his old clubs. 

Yesterday Rooney followed in the esteemed footsteps of the inimitable one affectionately referred to as 'Ol' Big Head'. How would he have analysed the mindset of one of England's greatest modern strikers? What considered advice would Clough have passed onto the man whose private life occasionally threatened to overshadow his playing career. There were the lurid off the field antics that would have been ill fitting any rookie manager finding his feet.

On the other hand, Clough would have blushed with embarrassment at some of Rooney's extra curricular activities. Of course Clough was never an angel during his abruptly terminated playing career at Middlesbrough. But he would never have dreamt of engaging in some of Rooney's dubious behaviour. Clough was very much the family man and when son Nigel made the transition to management you'd have been hard pressed to find any skeletons in Brian Clough's cupboard. 

Still, the fact remains that the Derby of 2021 has now been entrusted with the one player who has now broken all goal scoring records for England and loves the game with a wholesome passion. But ex England strikers have never really made the grade and the examples are too many to mention. Trevor Francis was certainly one of the deadliest forwards to pull on an England shirt but when it came to pulling on a coaching and managerial track suit top, Francis, by his own admission, didn't take the game by storm. At both Sheffield Wednesday and QPR, Francis was well meaning and competent but achieved very little. 

The great Sir Bobby Charlton, one of England's most adored of all World Cup winning forwards and blockbuster rocket shot strikers, went to Preston as manager for a while but then decided that this wasn't really what he was looking for in football once the boots were hung up. Kevin Keegan, of course fared moderately as manager with well acclaimed spells as manager of Newcastle, Fulham and England manager but Keegan had itchy feet, a restless soul and if results went against him, acted on impulse by walking out on the said clubs. His playing career at Liverpool was rather more memorable. 

And so we find ourselves back at Wayne Rooney, the Everton teenage sensation who went on to deservedly win Premier League titles with Sir Alex Ferguson. These would appear to be exemplary credentials for a player who just became besotted with scoring goals at both club and international level. The remarkable bicycle kick goal against noisy neighbours Manchester City was one among many. 

But Rooney was never satisfied with his fertile goal-scoring ratio. He was always on the move, arguing petulantly with referees, back chatting almost constantly, angry with the rest of the world. On one occasion Rooney became so het up and incensed with the way things were going during one game for United that when he thought United were denied attacking advantage at Old Trafford, he was about to complain to the official again. Then, in quite the most magnificent moment of inspiration, Rooney, sensing a shot, volleyed the ball spectacularly past a shell shocked Newcastle goalkeeper. Quite brilliant. 

Then there were goals for England. During Euro 2004 Rooney, in a purple, goal scoring patch for the national side, was picked to play against Croatia. In a thumping 4-2 victory against the Croatians Rooney was quite unstoppable, an electrifying striker with goals of the highest quality. Rooney was inspired, a player who knew exactly where the goal was and was never bothered by the excessive hype around him. 

So to the present day. Wayne Rooney is the new manager of Derby County and that's a sentence none of us would have even contemplated when he first burst onto the Premier League scene. Rooney was brash, moody, temperamental quite regularly but wondrously skilful. Rooney could score devastating goals from nowhere, a lethal, explosive goal scorer and always on the look out for more and more. 

Twice Rooney scored against West Ham at Upton Park with the kind of goals that strikers wake up in the middle of the night and just have fantasy images of. Both Rooney goals were struck from near the half way line and possessed of brilliance. Sizing up the trajectory of the ball, Rooney floated the ball serenely over the back pedalling West Ham goalkeeper and into the back of the net. 

Now though Rooney is in charge of a football club from the technical dug out. It's hard to know what his predecessor Brian Clough would have thought of Rooney as manager. Besides the man is completely unproven and if he does win a Premier League trophy with any team then we may have to revise our opinions. Clough of course won the old First Division championship with Nottingham Forest in back to back titles and then there was the small matter of winning the European Cup twice with Forest.

This time though Rooney has no Peter Taylor beside him and nobody like Don Revie to quarrel with over playing styles. Rooney is though a man with a mind of his own, very much an individual who may well have Clough's Midas touch at his disposal. And he probably wouldn't tell a rival club to bin their trophy winning medals because they were worth nothing. Wayne Rooney was the kid from the back streets of Merseyside, hungry, determined and a prolific scorer of goals. If Derby persevere with Rooney and the future looks promising then who knows? As long as nobody takes the Mickey.