Throughout his 13 years at Manchester United, Wayne Rooney admits he would still wear his Everton pyjamas around the house.
It must have occurred to him, at some stage of his budding managerial career, that at some point the prospect of returning to his first club would come up, just as it did at the end of his playing days when he finally had the chance to bury more than a decade of bad blood with the Toffees’ supporters.
Rooney himself is one of them. So the fact that even a boyhood fanatic, the greatest ever product of their academy and a coach presiding over a club at their lowest ebb near the foot of the Championship, doesn’t want the vacant job on Merseyside tells us something.
“Everton approached my agent and asked me to interview for the job, which I turned down,” Rooney said on Friday. “I believe I will be a Premier League manager and I am ready for that 100 per cent. But I have a job at Derby, which is important to me.”
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Rafael Benitez’s red connection made him an obvious hate figure, yet even his most ardent of Evertonian critics would concede he was dealt a rough hand. Farhad Moshiri has pledged another £100m to spend on players. Where will it go? Their recruitment is abysmal. They have spent close to a combined £100m on Moise Kean, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Alex Iwobi.
Riddled with profligacy and ill-discipline, they are unable to make the most basic of sensible decisions. Allowing James Rodriguez to fly away before the season had ended. Selling Lucas Digne because he had fallen out with Benitez, only to sack Benitez days later. Is it any wonder Rooney wasn’t keen?
As i reported last week, the hierarchy was split on who to appoint last summer, with Moshiri intent on Benitez and Bill Kenwright preferring a return for Martinez.
Rooney might have helped them find common ground; a highly impressive, if inexperienced manager, and one who learned to play football on the streets of Croxteth. Rediscovering Everton’s identity will be paramount for whoever comes in.
With the Derby boss out of the running, Duncan Ferguson, Frank Lampard and Vitor Pereira are being interviewed.
Pereira has almost certainly squandered his chance courtesy of a bizarre appearance on Sky Sports conducted hours afterwards, when he lamented the fact he may never manage in English football. Ferguson has only been an interim boss before but would be universally popular. Lampard would divide opinion.
Lampard, one of Rooney’s predecessors at Derby, probably made the decision a little easier. The Chelsea legend is now the go-to cautionary tale for iconic players who go into management but take the dream job before they have properly learned the ropes.
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Rooney can also not be seen to leave Derby in the lurch as they battle with administration. They have been given a one-month stay of execution, after which there is the very real threat of liquidation and expulsion from the EFL. Deducted a total of 21 points, now would be a cruel time for them to be robbed of their biggest asset and the one man who is providing any hope of Championship survival.
It’s just as well the offer from Goodison Park is not particularly tempting.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3GbrACC
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