Wayne Rooney is edging closer to a return to management in the Championship this season, with the Premier League legend rumoured to be taking over at Birmingham City soon.
Here at SportsLens, we take a look at the top Premier League icons who moved into Championship management, with Rooney himself in our top five.
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5. Roberto Di Matteo
Roberto Di Matteo was given the difficult task of managing West Brom just after they were relegated to the Championship in 2009, but the Italian manager enjoyed man impressive first season at the Hawthorns to kick off his managerial career.
The new manager led his side straight back to the Premier League after just one season in charge, with Di Matteo guiding the Midlands’ outfit to a second place finish in the Championship in his debut season at the club.
The Chelsea legend struggled on his return to the Premier League though and he was eventually sacked by West Brom at the beginning of 2011.
Di Matteo went on to manage his former club Chelsea from 2011-13, where the manager played 175 Premier League games winning two FA Cups and one UEFA Super Cup.
4. Roy Keane
The first Manchester United icon on our list to transition into management was Roy Keane, who was as harsh on his players as a manager as he was during his time playing for the Red Devils.
Having made 366 Premier League appearances, Keane certainly goes down as a legend of the game, but his time in management was slightly tougher than his playing career.
Keane began his managerial career at Sunderland, with the Irishman making plenty of moves for former teammates during the beginning of his career as a coach.
Sunderland achieved promotion to the Premier League during Keane’s first season on charge, but after struggling in the Premier League Keane parted ways with the Black Cats, who reportedly celebrated when their tough manager left in 2008.
3. Scott Parker
Scott Parker made 367 Premier League appearances during his time as a player for West Ham, Fulham, Chelsea, Newcastle and Tottenham, before transitioning into management in 2018.
Parker took over at Fulham in his first managerial job when they were relegated to the Championship in 2019, with the young manager enduring a difficult season due to Covid 19 restrictions throughout the year.
Nevertheless Parker impressed during his time at Fulham, leading his side to play-off success against Brentford to achieve an immediate return to the top flight after just one year away.
Parker left Fulham in 2021 following their relegation, with the Premier League veteran taking over at Bournemouth where he again helped his side to promotion from the Championship at the first time of asking.
2. Wayne Rooney
Rooney himself does appear on our list of top five Premier League legends to manage Championship sides, after the 37-year-old made his managerial debut for Derby County in 2021.
Rooney was able to guide Derby to unlikely survival in his first season in charge of the Rams, with the Manchester United legend proving his doubters wrong to be rewarded the job on a permanent basis after one season.
Unfortunately for Rooney his time in charge ended after just two season’s, with Derby’s trouble with administration ultimately forcing Rooney to leave the club when his side was relegated to League One in 2022.
With Rooney recently leaving his job at D.C. United, the Premier League icon is now the firm favourite to take over at Birmingham City.
1. Frank Lampard
Coming in at number one on our list is another Derby County manager and a former teammate of Rooney, with Frank Lampard topping our list of Championship managers.
Lampard played 609 Premier League games throughout his career at Chelsea, Manchester City and West Ham and he is widely regarded as one of the greatest midfielders in the history of English football.
Although he was seen as an icon of the game when he was in his prime, Lampard has struggled during his time in management so far having coached Derby County, Everton and most recently Chelsea.
Lampard was able to guide his Derby team to the Championship playoffs in the 2018/19 season, but his side were unable to secure promotion to the Premier League after losing to Aston Villa in the playoff final.
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