Wayne Rooney eyes role as Derby’s full-time manager

Derby County’s Wayne Rooney says he hopes to follow in the footsteps of former England team mate Frank Lampard and take charge of the Championship club on a permanent basis.

Rooney is part of a four-man coach- ing team that will lead Derby for Satur- day’s league game at Bristol City after the Midlands club parted ways with Phillip Cocu last week

Lampard was appointed Derby coach in the summer of 2018 and guided them to the Championship playoffs before taking the reins at Chelsea.

“I wouldn’t be an ambitious person if I sat here and said I didn’t want the job,” Rooney, 35, told reporters. “We all come into this game to play football and then you have a decision to make: do you want to go into coaching or man- agement?

“I’ve made it quite clear over the last few years that my ambition is to go into management, especially when you see the likes of Steven Gerrard, Lampard and Scott Parker all getting good jobs and doing really well at it. “We have to get the next two or three games out the way first, but if they go well it puts me in a better position to put our names forward for that role.”

Rooney, who has served as player-coach at Derby since arriving in January, said he is not far away from calling time on his playing career.