“Just another bombshell” – Curtis Davies reflects on significant Derby County development

Adding to the chaos at Derby County at the moment, finding a new manager has emerged as a rather swift priority. 

It was confirmed yesterday that Wayne Rooney would be stepping down from his position at Pride Park, with continued uncertainty regarding how he could plan for the 2022/23 campaign. 

With Derby’s takeover taking plenty of twists and turns over the last few weeks, it remains to be seen how the situation will eventually play out.

Speaking to Derbyshire Live about Rooney’s decision to stand down as Derby boss, Curtis Davies said: “It’s just another bombshell in the life of Derby County.

“It was broken to me by my friend, I was just in the car and got a call from my mate. He told me that the manager’s walked.

“It was a big shock, but at the same time you can’t blame the gaffer. After everything that happened last year, he obviously stuck by us all season, didn’t really need to. I guess he’s found it a really difficult decision but he’s made the decision to walk away.

“I was always of the idea that he was going to stay, but I think with how long all this ownership stuff has taken, with all the planning he would have wanted to have for his squad, the season’s a month away now and he had five players.”

The verdict 

Walking into a very difficult situation, it is certainly fair to say that Rooney has done a good job at Pride Park under the circumstances. 

Despite the difficulties the club faced with luring players to their Midlands home for the 2021/22 campaign, they managed to show positive signs, with their eventual relegation a result of a massive points deduction. 

Playing an exciting brand of attacking football, whilst welcoming lots of youngsters into the first team, Rooney will have boosted his managerial