How England’s Golden Generation fared as managers – from Wayne Rooney at Plymouth to Gary Neville horror show
WAYNE ROONEY has become the latest member of England’s famous Golden Generation to be axed as a manager.
The Manchester United legend, 39, has been let go by Plymouth after a run of form that saw the club go winless since November 5.
With the Pilgrims rooted to the foot of the Championship and already staring at the prospect of life in League One next season, Rooney will now go into 2025 looking for a fresh start.
But Roo is by no means the only member of England’s so-called Golden Generation to have transitioned into management.
While many, such as John Terry and Ashley Cole, have thrived as coaches, others have gone down the punditry route – with Rio Ferdinand and Peter Crouch two staples on our screens.
But for those of Rooney’s old Three Lions pals who tried to be the leading man on the touchline, it’s been a largely mixed bag.
SunSport takes a look at how they have all fared… so far.
Wayne Rooney
Rooney kicked off his managerial career midway through the 2020-21 season, with Derby rooted to the bottom of the Championship.
And he started strongly, guiding the Rams out of the relegation zone after picking 31 points out of a possible 54 from his first 18 matches.,
From there, though, it was a downward spiral.
CASINO SPECIAL – BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS
Derby initially survived relegation, barely, by a single point. However a 21-point deduction saw them relegated to League One, prompting Rooney to resign.
The former striker headed back to America to take over at DC United – where he had starred at the end of his playing career – just three weeks later.
The Generation shame
They are widely remembered as the England team who promised so much but ultimately delivered nothing. So who were the Golden Generation and where did it all go wrong?
- England mauled Germany 5-1 in September 2001, leading to automatic qualification for the 2002 World Cup. The result led then FA chief executive Adam Crozier to dub them a “Golden Generation”, led by Sven Goran Eriksson.
- The team was well known for boasting a raft of world-class defenders, including Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, Sol Campbell, Jamie Carragher, Ledley King and Ashley Cole.
- However, England’s midfield was a sticking point – with managers seemingly unable to accommodate Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard AND Paul Scholes – with the latter often played out of position on the left flank. Many pundits have since claimed Scholes’ misuse was the key reason for the Golden Generation’s lack of silverware.
- The Three Lions were often accused of arrogance – including by Portugal after their 2006 World Cup quarter-final clash, won by the Portuguese due to the tag.
- England failed to win anything in the Golden Generation – and even failed to qualify for Euro 2008, a first missed tournament since the 1994 World Cup.
- Emile Heskey – part of the Golden Generation crop – once called the mantle inaccurate, as he pointed to the greater talents of France and Brazil at the time.
- Frank Lampard, speaking in 2009, went as far as to call the Golden Generation tag a burden.
- In 2020, Steven Gerrard blamed England’s managers for failing to get the best out of the squad – claiming his former Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez would have thrived.
After picking up just nine points from his final 14 games as the Washington-based club missed out on the play-offs for a second straight season, Rooney and the club split via mutual consent.
Just three days later, the United icon was back in English football, taking control at Championship giants Birmingham on a three-and-a-half-year contract.
It was a surprise move, with former boss John Eustace axed with the club flying high in sixth place.
After just two wins in 15 matches and the Blues in 20th place, Rooney was axed in January – after just three months.
He took the rest of the season off and spent the summer house-hunting in Devon ahead of taking over at Plymouth.
But after just six months, Rooney is now facing the prospect of entering 2025 unemployed.
Despite that, SunSport’s Martin Lipton insists he has a bright future in management.
Wayne Rooney's record-breaking career
WAYNE Rooney took the football world by storm when he made his debut for 2002 with Everton.
He quickly became the club’s youngest-ever goalscorer aged 16 years and 342 days and was named the BBC’s Young Sports Personality of the Year.
The striker joined Manchester United in 2004 and spent 13 years at Old Trafford. He went on to make 559 appearances for the Red Devils and scored 253 goals. To this day he is still the club’s all-time leading goalscorer.
Following his spell with United, Rooney returned to Everton for a season. He also spent one-season stints with D.C. United and Derby County at the end of his career.
As well as his impressive club career, Rooney is also England’s second-highest goalscorer with 53 goals in 120 appearances, behind only Harry Kane.
After hanging up his boots, the England icon turned to a career in management.
He took charge of Derby County in 2020 and managed to just about save the club from relegation from the Championship at the end of his first season.
However, with Derby handed a 21-point deduction the following campaign, he was unable to keep them up again and subsequently left.
Then came a 15-month spell in charge of MLS side D.C. United. He failed to impress during his time in Washington and parted ways with the club at the end of the 2023 regular season.
Rooney was controversially handed the Birmingham job in October 2023, replacing John Eustace with the club doing well and sixth in the Championship table.
However, in 15 games he suffered nine defeats and managed just two wins. He was sacked in January 2024 with Birmingham down in 20th. The club were relegated to League One at the end of the campaign.
He returned to management in May with Plymouth Argyle but managed just five wins in 25 games. The United legend now finds himself out of work once again.
Gary Neville
A stellar playing career saw the right-back win eight Premier League titles, two Champions League crowns and 85 England caps.
He’s more-recently become one of the faces of Sky Sports’ football coverage – on TV and podcasts.
However, sandwiched in between was an ill-fated stint at fallen LaLiga giants Valencia.
Neville was handed his start in management by business partner Peter Lim in December 2015.
But after just ten wins – and a 7-0 defeat at the hands of Barcelona – from 28 games, Neville was sacked.
He’s yet to emerge in a dugout since…
Paul Scholes
Blink and you may have missed it, legendary ex-Man Utd star Scholes very briefly dipped his toes into the world of management.
Having bought a share in the club the year before, Scholes took charge of Salford City on an interim basis – leading just one game back in 2015, coming out victorious.
He then took over the reigns at boyhood club Oldham in February 2019, but resigned after just seven games, having enjoyed just one victory.
The now-50-year-old took caretaker charge of Salford once again in October 2020 – winning two of his five matches at the helm.
But ever since, Scholes has stuck to punditry, most-notably for TNT Sports.
Steven Gerrard
After a stint managing Liverpool’s youth teams, Gerrard was handed his big break in senior football at a Rangers side enduring one of their darkest eras.
The Reds legend helped make the Gers competitive again – with his side even reaching the Europa League last 16 in 2019-20.
In the following season, Rangers would storm to the Scottish Premiership title and prevent fierce rivals Celtic from bagging a tenth straight crown – amassing 102 points in the process.
With Glasgow always being considered a stepping stone for Gerrard, he was brought back to the Premier League by Aston Villa in November 2021, replacing Dean Smith on a three-and-a-half-year contract.
But the midfield icon endured a mixed bag, watching his old side reach the Europa League final while he guided Villa to 14th.
After two wins from his opening 12 Premier League matches of the following season, he was let go by the Villans after just one year.
Gerrard then became one of a hoard of big-name players and bosses to be lured to Saudi Arabia, taking control of Al-Ettifaq.
However, he’s not enjoyed great success, averaging a mere 1.35 points per game across his 51 matches in charge – including just four victories from 13 league games this term.
Frank Lampard
Like Rooney, the Chelsea idol began his managerial career at Derby two years earlier – although Lampard inherited a very different side side.
With the help of talented loanees Mason Mount, Fikayo Tomori and Harry Wilson, Lampard managed to guide the Rams to the Championship play-off final in 2019, losing at the hands of Aston Villa.
But he was rewarded with a move back to Stamford Bridge, where he was able to guide his former team to a top-four finish despite a transfer ban, while blooding a number of talented academy graduates in the process.
Lampard subsequently struggled to embed expensive new signings such as Kai Havertz and Timo Werner into his team, however, and was sacked in January 2021.
After a year out of the game, Lampard was given a second crack in the Premier League with Everton, replacing Rafael Benitez.
Joining with the club 16th and just four points above the drop zone, Lampard did guide the Toffees to safety.
But after a run of just one win from 11 matches the following season, he was sacked after just under a year at Goodison Park.
Much to fans’ surprise, Lampard returned to Chelsea in April as caretaker manager, replacing Graham Potter.
The Blues’ form got even worse and they suffered their first bottom-half finish since 1996, with Lamps’ win-rate of nine per cent the worst-ever among Chelsea managers to have taken charge of at least three matches.
But after over a year away, Lampard was given fresh hope of salvaging his managerial career, as he was named Coventry boss in November 2024.
As of now, he has won three and lost just two of his six Championship matches with the club sitting in 15th place.
Sol Campbell
Campbell‘s managerial career got off to more-than-solid start when he joined crisis-club Macclesfield in 2018.
Having taken over with the club five points from safety in League Two, former defender Campbell quickly made the Silkmen hard to beat.
Macclesfield ultimately avoided the drop on the final day of the season with a 1-1 draw at Cambridge.
Campbell then jumped ship to League One side Southend, which proved to be a disaster.
The Shrimpers were also a basket case, but Campbell couldn’t turn things around at Roots Hall – winning just four of his 23 games in charge as his side were relegated.
Campbell hasn’t managed since.
Phil Neville
Having overseen one game at Salford alongside Scholes, Phil Neville was handed the England Women’s top job in January 2018.
During three years in charge, Neville won 19 of his 35 Lionesses games.
He did manage to guide them to SheBelieves Cup success in 2019 – but fans were left disappointed by semi-final exits at both Euro 2017 and the World Cup two years later.
Neville went on to lead former club and country team-mate David Beckham’s Inter Miami – where he would spend two-and-a-half years.
However, despite some star names in his squad – including Gonzalo Higuain, Blaise Matuidi, Kieran Gibbs and Ryan Shawcross – Neville won just 39 per cent of his 90 matches.
He missed out on working with Lionel Messi by two weeks – with Neville even suggesting the Argentina legend’s impending arrival led to his sacking.
Neville is now manager of another MLS side, Portland Timbers, but has won just 37 per cent of his 38 matches in just over a year.
Scott Parker
After a spell in charge of Tottenham’s Under-18s, Parker returned to Fulham to be part of Slavisa Jokanovic and then Claudio Ranieri’s backroom staff in 2019.
Following the Italian’s dismissal he was handed the caretaker job, but was unable to save them from the drop.
Parker guided the Cottagers back up via the play-offs in 2020, but left after once again being unable to stave off relegation.
On the same day as his Fulham exit, ex-Chelsea and Charlton midfielder Parker joined Bournemouth.
He got off to a flying start and won the Championship Manager of the Month award in his first two months.
Bournemouth ultimately finished second to return to the Premier League.
But Parker lasted just four matches… after beating Aston Villa 2-0 on the opening day, the Cherries lost 4-0 to Manchester City, 3-0 at the hands of Arsenal and were mauled 9-0 – a joint-Premier League record – by Liverpool.
Parker slammed his club’s transfer policy and claimed he’d been left “unequipped” for life in the Premier League.
He was sacked three days later.
In December of the same year, he joined struggling Belgian champions Club Brugge, with the team in fourth place and 12 points off the top.
By the time Parker had joined, his side had already reached the Champions League last 16 after a superb group phase.
However, a 5-1 loss to Benfica in Portugal – and a 7-1 aggregate defeat – was the nail in the coffin as Parker was axed after just two wins in 12 games, with the club then 21 points off the league leaders.
In the summer of 2024, just months after his Club Brugge exit, he was handed a three-year contract by Championship side Burnley following their relegation from the Premier League.
With just two defeats from his opening 24 matches, Parker currently has the Clarets sitting third – just one point behind Sheffield United and three adrift of Leeds – with automatic promotion back to the big time a very real possibility.