Wayne Rooney insists he would happily take a management job at Under-21 level after being sacked by Plymouth Argyle last month.
The Manchester United legend was sacked on New Year’s Eve as the club sat rock bottom of the Championship.
Rooney only managed four wins out of 23 league games, an extensive run of bad form which led to Miron Muslic taking over as head coach.
However Plymouth continue to struggle as Muslic is yet to preside over a win after five matches, one including a 5-0 loss to Burnley.
Rooney managed three clubs prior: Derby County, D.C United and Birmingham City, each of which ended on unfavourable terms.
Derby went into administration at no fault of Rooney, he failed to qualify for the MLS playoffs with D.C and mutually parted ways, then was sacked after a disastrous run at Birmingham.
The 39-year-old holds a 25.3 per cent win rate as a manager with 45 victories from 178 matches.
Despite the poor record, Rooney is not discouraged.
“I would like to go back in [to management],” he said on the Stick to Football podcast. “But it would have to be the right club.
“I’m not in a massive rush to go back in. There’s different things that I’m looking at to try and get involved with… unless something was absolutely the right thing to do.
“Every club I’ve been at, I’ve put myself in a really challenging situation. I’ve had some great experiences, good ones, bad ones (and) you’ve always got that to fall back on.
“Sometimes you have got different ideas which you’re trying to put across to the players, and maybe there’s a bit of arrogance where you’re thinking, “This is the right way”. Having better players helps.
“I’d have no problem dropping into an Under-21 team or going in as a coach… I’m still young enough to learn and develop. Just having a good group of players who were at a [good] level.”
In surprise, his former teammate Gary Neville replied: “Are you alright?”
Neville himself tested his skills as a manager first being an assistant coach for England.
Then in 2015 he took the jump to become a head coach at Valencia – infamously he was not fluent in Spanish, lost 7-0 to Barcelona and was quickly sacked.
Rooney continued: “It’s part of being a manager, regardless of [where you are], you’re fully in it. Whether you’re six, seven hours away or on your doorstep, you’re ingrained in the job, so it doesn’t matter where the location is.
“I loved my time there, the fans were great. The staff were great. We just hit a bad run of form. I can’t fault [the players], they were trying and giving me everything.”
At Plymouth, Rooney lived 250 miles from his wife Coleen and his children who are in Cheshire.
Now he is making up for time lost as he intends to ‘enjoy time’ with his family including a skiing trip which he ‘loved’.
“Enjoy my kids more, enjoy my family more, and enjoy doing stuff with them whilst I have this time off,” he said.
