Phillip Cocu will need all his experience to juggle the Wayne Rooney circus under celebrity- obsessed Derby owner Mel Morris
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THE memories never fade.
Wayne Rooney’s rocket against Newcastle in 2005, his glorious overhead kick against Manchester City in 2011, his rampaging start to Euro 2004 with England.
In January, when Rooney the Ram returns to English football, he will be out to create some more.
This time it will be as player-coach, passing on some of the skills, tips and habits that made him a top-class player at Manchester United.
He has so much to offer.
Pedigree will not be a problem for a man who scored 253 goals in 559 appearances during his distinguished United career.
Derby’s players, who were managed by Frank Lampard last season, are used to seeing some famous faces around the place. Rooney is the most iconic of the lot.
He will coach under manager Phillip Cocu from the start of 2020, just as soon as everything is wrapped up in the Eastern Conference with his MLS club DC United.
Cocu, aware that this signing has been driven by Derby’s celebrity-obsessed owner Mel Morris, will need to keep winning games.
He made a start at Huddersfield but Cocu will need all his years of experience to be able to juggle the Rooney circus. Good luck with that.
CAPITAL PAINS
Rooney’s motivation is to get to grips with coaching, but credit to him for admitting that the force behind his premature return to England was for the sake of his family.
Wife Coleen did little to disguise her displeasure with life in the American capital.
When Rooney puts on a Rams shirt for the first time in January, a whole city will be falling at his feet.
He still has the allure and the pulling power that only a few players can capture during their careers.
On the coaching field, pinging balls into the boots of Jack Marriott, Tom Lawrence and Martyn Waghorn, Rooney will automatically impress.
He has stature, with five Premier League titles and a Champions League win in 2008 to gaze at inside his Cheshire mansion.
His ambitions to coach have been fuelled by the rapid progress of his former England team-mates including Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and John Terry.
Lampard, beaten by Aston Villa in the play-off final, got the Chelsea job off the back of a year managing Derby in the Championship.
Gerrard wanted Rooney at Rangers but DC United’s £85,000-a-week deal is way beyond the means of the Scottish club.
IT'S NOT ROO, IT'S ME
It has taken some persuasion to release him from MLS, with Rooney pleading with the owners of DC United to let him return to his homeland on compassionate grounds.
Football is good for the soul, sometimes.
It means Rooney is back where he belongs, concluding his career in English football with this ambitious Derby side.
Morris is convinced that his arrival in the second half of the season can give County the momentum, the final push, to propel them into the Premier League.
Rooney spent his career in that league with Everton and United, wowing audiences around the world with his unique talents.
Soon enough it will be his job to pass on some of that wisdom to a group of players who keep falling short in the final stages of the season.
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Rooney the winner, the serial medallist with United, knows the sacrifices needed to get to the very top of the game.
Coaching always appealed to him and it would be unimaginable to think of the game going on without Rooney playing some part.
Soon enough he will be right back in the thick of it.