Rooney stops playing to take Derby manager job permanently
London: All-time record scorer for England and Manchester United. A haul of 16 trophies. Wayne Rooney's illustrious playing career is over.
The former England and United captain has decided it's time to focus on trying to replicate his successes as a striker in management.
After taking temporary charge of Derby in November as a player-coach the 35-year-old Rooney has accepted the manager's job on a permanent basis with the second division club through 2023.
"It's a great feeling to go into management full-time," Rooney said on Friday.
"It's something that I've been preparing for, working for for a few years now. Obviously had a taste of it over the last couple of months and I've enjoyed it."
Rooney has enjoyed three victories and four draws in his nine games at the helm of Derby, which remains in the relegation zone.
It's been 13 years since Derby played in the Premier League a competition Rooney won five times after joining United from Everton at age 18 along with tasting glory in the Champions League, FA Cup, League Cup, Club World Cup and Community Shield.
"I've had a great career, I've enjoyed every minute," Rooney said. Some ups, some downs, I wouldn't change anything I've done in my career as a player."
It was often a tempestuous playing career, with the fiery Rooney embroiled in controversies in his private life and hot-headedness in games.
It is experience he will be able to draw on while nurturing future talents.
At United, Rooney worked under the greatest British manager of all-time in Alex Ferguson. With England, he witnessed more of the instabilities of coaching as a talented group of players never came close to winning a trophy.
"Hopefully I can now start to write some history and have a successful managerial career," Rooney said.
Rooney, just like at United with his 253 goals, overtook 1966 World Cup winner Bobby Charlton as England's record scorer by netting 53 times in 120 appearances the last in 2018 at Wembley Stadium against the United States.
"He did it all," former United and England teammate Rio Ferdinand said. "He scored a ridiculous amount of goals, scored absolute bangers from anywhere on the pitch, great passer, aggressive, passion, desire, work rate, team player, sacrificed part of his game for others.
"He had the lot and he won loads. What a player. Now that he has retired people will start appreciating him for who he is and what he was as a player because I don't think he gets the respect he deserves."
Rooney returned to England after a stint at DC United to last January, and joined Derby as a player-coach.
"Despite other offers I knew instinctively Derby County was the place for me," Rooney said. "I can promise everyone involved in the club and all our fans, my staff and I will leave no stone unturned in achieving the potential I have witnessed over the last 12 months of this historic football club."
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Student found dead in hostel room in IIT Kharagpur
Kolkata (PTI): A 22-year-old M Tech student was found dead in his hostel room in the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, the second such incident reported on the campus within a span of 10 days.
The student, identified as Soham Haldar, was found hanging from the ceiling of his hostel room on Tuesday and he was immediately taken to the institute hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead, an IIT Kharagpur official said.
Haldar, a dual-degree student in Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering, was a boarder of the Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya Hall of Residence on the campus.
Police from the Kharagpur Town police station have initiated a probe into the incident as preliminary findings indicated that it could be a case of suicide, though the exact cause of death will be ascertained following the post-mortem examination, the official said.
In a statement, the institute expressed deep grief over the student's death and said a detailed inquiry has been initiated.
The authorities have informed the family and are extending all possible assistance to them, it added.
Director Suman Chakraborty told PTI that the institute will strengthen the mechanism to identify stressed-out and depressed students and take follow-up steps to address their issues.
The grief-stricken parents of the student, who hailed from Barasat in North 24 Parganas district, have come to the campus and the authorities will speak to them, he said.
"Haldar's friends, faculty and staffers also could not gauge any stress or anxiety in him. But we need to enable students suffering from anxiety and extreme stress to open up their minds and do everything needed to prevent such incidents," he said.
Investigators are also scrutinising CCTV footage from the hostel premises to piece together the sequence of events leading to the incident.
The incident comes close on the heels of another student's death reported on April 18, when 21-year-old Jaibir Singh Dodia, a third-year Mechanical Engineering student from Ahmedabad, allegedly died after jumping from the eighth floor of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Hall of Residence. That case is also under investigation.
The back-to-back incidents have once again brought the issue of mental health and student support systems at the institute into focus, especially in view of several such cases reported last year.
