My admiration for Rooney has shot up

[Bob The Badger]

He has zero to do with the issues we now find ourselves in, but he has acted with utter class.

He's had no money and is playing a number of players he knows aren't good enough (at least at the moment) without a word of complaint publicly.

He's just got on with his job and tried to get this team playing decent football with one hand tied behind his back, wearing lead boots and being made to wear a balaclava the wrong way around.

And then he hears about going into administration on TV like the rest of us and rather than whining or walking out he gets on with his job.

I really like what I'm seeing, especially when you consider he's in his first year of management and the second youngest boss in the entire football league.

He should have control of this team if/when he has money to spend, or at the very least until the end of this season.

If he does walk or get pushed, I for one will be bitterly disappointed.

[Sparkle]

I have heard that he has been paying for the team Bus and team accommodation on away trips as well 

[loweman2]

Up there with the best of them !

[alram]

i think rooney has gotten a huge raw deal from supporters, people dont understand the difficulty of the job he has. 

bluntly put he has a piss poor first team squad, and managed to keep us up last season and we have had an excellent start. just a shame it has been threw back in his face by that so called owner of the club.

[alram]

it reminds me of the newcastle situation, really steve bruce is doing the exact same job as rafa benitez did yet one is hated and one is loved. I feel like if a more popular name amongst supporters would be in the managers seat we would all be praising him every week working under difficult circumstances.

i never wanted rooney in the first place but he completely won me over when he kept us up

[TheresOnlyWanChope]

4 minutes ago, alram said:

it reminds me of the newcastle situation, really steve bruce is doing the exact same job as rafa benitez did yet one is hated and one is loved. I feel like if a more popular name amongst supporters would be in the managers seat we would all be praising him every week working under difficult circumstances.

i never wanted rooney in the first place but he completely won me over when he kept us up

Interesting Newcastle analogy ... Newcastle situation is strange as Bruce has been doing similar job to Rafa. I assume it’s there a Rooney Cocu comparison ? I think Rooney has been rightly praised recently. Last season the results just weren’t there at all though. Cocu we had a decent season at least

[alram]

The results last season weren't special but he inherited a poor situation and people would have snatched your hands off if we had stayed up on the last game of the season like we did. it has never been easy for rooney and for me he has done everything asked of him and more.

i am not sure the cocu comparison is fair because even in a short term the job has become much more difficult. they were very different jobs

Edited September 20, 2021 by alram

[jimtastic56]

I have not been impressed with Rooney before this season . I don’t think the squad is as bad as people make out. However he is slowly winning me over with the improvement in results. I hope he can keep it going . Curtis has helped him immensely.

[ram59]

5 minutes ago, TheresOnlyWanChope said:

Interesting Newcastle analogy ... Newcastle situation is strange as Bruce has been doing similar job to Rafa. I assume it’s there a Rooney Cocu comparison ? I think Rooney has been rightly praised recently. Last season the results just weren’t there at all though. Cocu we had a decent season at least

Start the season when Rooney took over and we had a decent season also, unlike his predecessors, Rooney hasn't been able to spend 1 penny in transfer fees. I can't think of many people who would have been able to attract the likes of Davies, Stearman, Jagielka and Morrison to Derby on the wage restrictions that we are currently under.

[TheresOnlyWanChope]

Just now, ram59 said:

Start the season when Rooney took over and we had a decent season also, unlike his predecessors, Rooney hasn't been able to spend 1 penny in transfer fees. I can't think of many people who would have been able to attract the likes of Davies, Stearman, Jagielka and Morrison to Derby on the wage restrictions that we are currently under.

I am unsure about that, Rooney took over when Derby were third from bottom, he got us to fourth from bottom. I would say this season is more tricky with a thinner squad and other things going on but he is doing a solid job at present. Great leadership qualities shown. Unsure how much say a Rooney has had with transfers. Lots of question marks about how recruitment has been done at Derby 

[kevinhectoring]

3 minutes ago, ram59 said:

Start the season when Rooney took over and we had a decent season also, unlike his predecessors, Rooney hasn't been able to spend 1 penny in transfer fees. I can't think of many people who would have been able to attract the likes of Davies, Stearman, Jagielka and Morrison to Derby on the wage restrictions that we are currently under.

His hand in recruitment has been very valuable.

I’ll be more convinced by him as a manager when he makes timely and useful changes during play. Have not seen that and always worry that as the game goes on his opposing manager will outfox him

As for his conduct, he has certainly carried himself well these past few weeks. But I think he has done what would be expected imho

[Rammy03]

I always said there's bigger problems at the club than the manager. Rooney has been a breath of fresh air quite honestly. He is committed to the football club, he understands the supporters, he says what he thinks in interviews. I'm not sure I'd rather have anyone else at the moment. 

[minesahartington]

I must admit his player management appears outstanding.. I could imagine an Allardyce or Redknapp wingding about the uneven playing field and the differences in quality etc. But not Wayne. Every game he says he expects to win and bigs up the players attitudes and performances. Regardless of what he thinks privately this is exceptional management ans deserves our support

[minesahartington]

Sorry typed that whilst applauding Wazzer

[Warwick Ram]

1 hour ago, alram said:

i think rooney has gotten a huge raw deal from supporters, people dont understand the difficulty of the job he has. 

bluntly put he has a piss poor first team squad, and managed to keep us up last season and we have had an excellent start. just a shame it has been threw back in his face by that so called owner of the club.

He didn’t manage to keep us up. A Cardiff player did that plus Rotherham’s inability to capitalise on our appalling record. It was sheer luck we stayed up and nothing more.

I never wanted Rooney as manager but I will support him nevertheless.

For him to do well he needed backing with transfer money and a willingness by Mel to allow him to bring in his own players and staff. This is why Lampard succeeded in getting us to the playoff final. He was backed with money and used his contacts to get us three top draw players for the Championship.

Yes, I believe Rooney has suffered a raw deal with the players available, the embargo and all the problems off field.

However, please don’t ignore his record as a manager. It isn’t great and if we were in a better place financially he would not be here. He would of been sacked or never given the job in the first place.

[Ewe Ram]

I’m sure he could walk if he wanted, he doesn’t need the money. Why he doesn’t is quite a mystery to me 

[Bob The Badger]

2 hours ago, Sparkle said:

I have heard that he has been paying for the team Bus and team accommodation on away trips as well 

I heard that too, but I diodn't mention it because I wasn't sure if it was true.

[Bob The Badger]

1 hour ago, kevinhectoring said:

His hand in recruitment has been very valuable.

I’ll be more convinced by him as a manager when he makes timely and useful changes during play. Have not seen that and always worry that as the game goes on his opposing manager will outfox him

As for his conduct, he has certainly carried himself well these past few weeks. But I think he has done what would be expected imho

He's till learning that element.

[SamUltraRam]

22 minutes ago, Ewe Ram said:

I’m sure he could walk if he wanted, he doesn’t need the money. Why he doesn’t is quite a mystery to me 

I know, I bet away from the media he has mates, ex players even family saying "why don't you leave that basket case of a club"

He's used to being put on a pedestal and talked about positively so for him to 'dig in' in these circumstances and just get on with it gets my full respect

[KBB]

Rooney has always struck me as someone, who despite being a millionaire many times over and spends a vast majority of time surrounded by other millionaires, has never forgotten where he came from.

I don't want to go to the cliche of "from the streets", but he didn't have a huge amount of privileges as a young boy and neither his family. I'm not speaking for him and trying to avoid tired clichés, but it is hard to look beyond the boy from Liverpool.

Maybe, just maybe he is sticking around and giving his all as he can see a working class city and its fans club flaking apart at the seems and wants to try his best to help us.

Not exactly a Disney fairytale, but it would be simpler to walk away and gob off to sky sports about how tough he has had it.