Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney spent two-and-a-half years at Derby County as a player and then as the club’s first-team manager.
Former Derby County head coach Wayne Rooney is set for a return to Manchester United to play in Soccer Aid for UNICEF 2025.
The 39-year-old, who worked as a pundit for BBC on Sunday’s Match of the Day, has been out of full-time work since leaving Plymouth Argyle in December. He also featured on Amazon Prime’s coverage of the Champions League and has tried to keep himself busy following his exit from the Devon club.
And now, Rooney is expected to get his boots back on for Soccer Aid this summer. Rooney made his last professional football appearance for Derby in November 2020 but is going to roll back the years almost five years after his retirement for England against Rest of the World at Old Trafford.The game is set to take place on Sunday, June 15 and a number of other former professional footballers are going to feature alongside Rooney. Joe Hart, Jermain Defoe, Gary Neville, Jill Scott, Toni Duggan, Leonardo Bonucci, Steph Houghton and David James are among the other confirmed players.
Elsewhere, Alex Brooker, Louis Tomlinson, Mo Farah, Paddy McGuinness, Sam Quek, Sam Thompson, Tom Grennan, Tyson Fury and Vicky McClure are the non-footballers involved so far. More players are expected to be confirmed in the not-so-distant future, with Dermot O’Leary and Alex Scott on presenting duty.
Harry Redknapp is expected to be on England’s coaching staff, having been involved with Soccer Aid for several years. The former Tottenham and Portsmouth boss was part of a five-team management set-up last summer, with ex-Derby manager Frank Lampard and Robbie Williams involved.
Rooney spent almost two years in the dugout at Pride Park, winning 24 of his 85 matches before departing following the club’s relegation to League One.
He was appointed as Philip Cocu’s successor midway through the 2020/21 season and managed to keep Derby in the Championship, having taken over with the club inside the relegation zone.
Although Rooney’s second season was not as successful as Derby were relegated to League One for the first time since 1986, the Rams were hammered with a 21-point deduction, a transfer embargo and made his job almost impossible. The fact Rooney and Derby were able to make it to the 43rd game of the season before their relegation was confirmed was impressive, with the Rams not even finishing bottom.
However, Rooney left Derby in summer 2022 as the club prepared for life in League One. He returned to DC United in the MLS for a brief period before making the move back to England in October 2023 when he was confirmed as the new head coach of Championship side Birmingham City.
Rooney’s time at Blues was miserable to say the least, as he was axed after winning just two of his 15 games in charge. Rooney then joined Plymouth last May but lasted less than nine months in the role. Overall, Rooney has accumulated a 25.3 per cent win rate during his time in management.
