Wayne Rooney linked with Derby County job as Phillip Cocu leaves with club bottom of Championship

ByEurosport

Updated 14/11/2020 at 18:13 GMT

Derby County have parted ways with manager Phillip Cocu after a disappointing start to the season, the Championship club said on Saturday. Veteran forward Wayne Rooney has been linked with the vacancy following the Dutch manager's departure, with bookies making him favourite for the role, even though he is still on the playing staff and has no managerial experience.

Wayne Rooney of Derby County

Image credit: Getty Images

Wayne Rooney has emerged as a candidate for the Derby County job after Phillip Cocu left the club by mutual consent.

Derby confirmed that assistant manager Chris van der Weerden and coach Twan Scheepers have also left the club.

Rooney, Shay Given, Liam Rosenior and Justin Walker will form an interim leadership team while the Championship club weigh up their next move.

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Former Dutch international Cocu took charge of Derby last year following the departure of Frank Lampard and guided the club to a 10th-place finish.

But Derby have won just once in 11 Championship games this season and sit bottom of the table with six points.

"The club would like to place on record its appreciation for the way Phillip and his staff conducted themselves in what were some extremely challenging situations during his tenure," Derby said in a statement.

"Phillip and his staff helped develop and establish a considerable number of academy players in to the first team and Phillip made significant financial contributions and personal efforts towards the club's community projects."

Cocu said he was proud of the work he had done at the club.

"Although this season has not gone as we all would have liked so far on the pitch, I believe passionately in the project that we started to build and I have no doubt that the future is bright for the club," the 50-year-old wrote on Instagram.

Bookmakers have already made Rooney favourite to replace Cocu.

The 35-year-old arrived as player-coach in January after returning to England from a spell with DC United in America. He has been repeatedly linked with the top job at Pride Park.

Additional reporting from Reuters