On this day two years ago: Wayne Rooney stepped down as Derby County boss

The past few years have been turbulent for Derby County with a relegation, a promotion and financial problems.

Two years ago today, former England and Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney stepped down as Derby boss after over a season and a half in charge.

Rooney became manager of the club whilst he was playing for the Rams in November 2020 when Derby were bottom of the Championship - Phillip Cocu was sacked and Rooney was appointed.

The 38 year-old managed to keep the Rams from relegation in his first season as a football manager.

He then began the new season after having been dealt a 21 point deduction from the EFL. The task at hand to keep the Rams up was always going to be tricky.

Rooney’s side gave a good fight and would have finished in a mid-table position had they not had 21 points taken away.

However, they were relegated in May 2022 to League One.

Rooney announced that he would step down a month later and returned to DC United in the MLS where he was manager for over a year before he was sacked after the 2023 season.

Rooney has since been manager at Birmingham City where he was sacked after taking them from 6th in the table down to 20th.

He is now the manager of Championship side Plymouth Argyle and will face Derby for the first time since he left, his return to Pride Park is due to be an interesting one.