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Derby County: Steele explains ‘difficulty’ for Rooney with coaching badges

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Image for Derby County: Steele explains ‘difficulty’ for Rooney with coaching badges

Former Derby County player and coach Eric Steele appeared on the latest edition of the BBC’s Sportscene Podcast to discuss all of the latest Derby County news and he spent some time talking about Wayne Rooney and his coaching badges during the show. 

Rooney is currently in charge of the East Midlands club’s first-team in a caretaker role, however, the 35-year-old is yet to complete his UEFA A License or even begin his UEFA Pro License. 

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An easy one to kick off our quiz on the 2020 summer transfer window in the EFL, which player left Birmingham City to join Borussia Dortmund?

After explaining that it’s fine for Rooney to be in charge of the Rams in his current role as long as he is doing a UEFA A License course and as long as another member of the coaching staff has their UEFA A License, which some do, the pundit went on to explain that the caretaker boss faces some difficulty with obtaining his qualifications at present because no courses are happening due to the pandemic. 

He said: “Ultimately, you’ve got Liam Rosenior who’s an A License, Shay Given – A License, Justin Walker – A License, Jason Pearcey – A License, so it’s fine. As long as Wayne is on a course to train, which he is.

“Obviously, the difficulty is there’s been no courses. You know, I work on them at St. George’s [Park] – I’ve only spent four days at St. George’s since last March – where I would have normally spent something like 40 days, being involved in A Licence outfield, goalkeeping A, goalkeeping B. So, Wayne, at the moment, is on-the-job training.”

Should Rooney be in charge of Derby?

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YES

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NO

TIF Thoughts on what Steele had to say about Rooney’s course work…

While this hindrance won’t prevent Rooney from leading the Rams, it may be fair to say that it’s certainly not ideal that the caretaker boss will not be getting all of the training he needs to be fully qualified for the position of Derby manager. 

However, plenty of more qualified coaches are part of his backroom staff, while vastly experienced ex-Rams manager Steve McClaren is at the club as their technical director.

So, while that may raise questions as to why the more qualified people aren’t in the manager’s position instead of Rooney, it seems that while Rooney has got some difficulty in terms of completing his coaching qualifications at present, it may not be a major issue for the East Midlands club’s immediate plans of having him lead the first-team despite his lack of relevant qualifications.

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