Rooney and Derby County, the challenge to save the English club

The best, for someone who has spent a lifetime fighting guilt, is to find an opportunity to publicly redeem themselves by chasing an impossible feat. The adventure of Wayne Rooney – 36 years old, former phenomenon of the Premier and of the English national team – as a manager of Derby County, the historical club of English football now on the verge of failure in the Championship, represents just this: to save someone to give a different idea of ​​himself. Rooney, over a long career at a very high level, has had something – or a lot, depending on the point of view – to be forgiven.

Sins

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Having left the Everton he grew up in for the richest and most powerful Manchester United, barely saw the possibility, after his first team debut at just 16 years old. He had had, when he was at the top of his career and until a few months ago, a sick relationship with the bottle and with alcohol. Often ended up in the meat grinder of the tabloids because of the betrayals towards his wife Coleen, already when they were engaged. Having presented himself to the retreat for the 2006 World Cup (his words) in poor physical condition, without letting him know. And thus stealing someone else’s place. Small and big weaknesses told in the documentary Rooney, aired on Prime Video since February 11th. Without the protagonist trying to hide, with the result of producing a story of uncommon strength.

Winning

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A history that does not forget, however, the competitive enterprises of a champion capable of boasting – in addition to 120 appearances with England – the conquest of a Champions League, 5 Premier League, an FA Cup, a Europa League and a Club World Cup. All with the Red Devils. A life in itself intense enough. In which, at a certain point, Derby County enters the scene almost by chance. Noble decayed, an FA Cup and two titles won (in 1971/72 with Brian Clough on the bench and in 1974/75), currently in the Championship, which for the English is the equivalent of our Serie B. Rooney gets there as a player, returning from US Major League Soccer, and in November 2020 he becomes its manager. Taking over an almost doomed team and narrowly saving it after six months.

The disaster

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It could be the beginning of a promising coaching career, it soon becomes something of a nightmare. Within which Wayne’s behavior takes on something heroic over time. Which many, for some weeks now, have defined as a kind of masochism. Because Derby County, in the hands of local businessman Mel Morris, who has changed nine coaches in six years since 2015 and gives away Pharaonic signing campaigns, ends up in an irreversible economic crisis. The current season begins with the club being placed in receivership (and the coach only finds out from Sky News …) and continues with a consequent penalty of 21 points. It means almost certain relegation. But he doesn’t leave.

Last chance

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Corporate bankruptcy, meanwhile, remains a real possibility. Not enough: before the January transfer window, the court administrators reassure him that it will not be necessary to deprive oneself of any player. They sold him nine at the end of the month. Rooney resists, trying to keep everything afloat amidst the rubble. Getting to pay for the training material in person and even some trips. And finding herself, at the end of long and difficult days of work, sleeping in his office inside the stadium. Captain of a ship that he does not want to abandon, even if he could say hello to everyone and recover a job in richer (it takes little …) and prestigious places. After 31 games played, the Derby today is penultimate with 18 points (without penalty it would have 39 and would travel in the middle of the table). Today they face Peterborough at home, who are 3 points above. Last call for the miracle.

Motivation

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What makes him do it? Stubbornness, sure. Also – why not? – the ego that accompanies the desire to succeed in an impossible undertaking. But perhaps most of all, redemption. It seems that Wayne, as a child, was certainly not a model student. But he showed interest in one subject in particular: religion. Rooney was raised as a Catholic, not a Protestant, he attended a primary school called Our Lady and St. Swithin’s – Our Lady and St Svitino (exists) – in Croxteth, the Liverpool suburb where he grew up. He said his prayers every evening and still today he does not deny his faith in him. The Via Crucis in Derby does not scare him. “If I had left I would never have been able to forgive myself – he said -: what person would I be if I had gone to lie down on a beach with the team in difficulty?”. Will he make it? Hard to say. Surely he will do well to brush up on the prayers he used to say as a child.