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WAYNE ROONEY has become the latest member of England’s famous Golden Generation to be sacked as manager.
The Manchester United legend, 39, has been let go by Plymouth after a run of form which has seen the club go unprofitable since November 5.
With the Pilgrims rooted to the bottom of the Championship and already looking at the prospect of life in League One next season, Rooney will now go into 2025 looking for a fresh start.
But Roo is not the only member of England’s so-called Golden Generation who has moved into management.
While many, such as John Terry and Ashley Cole, have flourished as coaches, others have gone down the punditry route – with Rio Ferdinand and Peter Crouch two staples on our screens.
But for some of Rooney’s old Three Lions friends who tried to be the leading man on the touchline, it has been very much a mixed bag.
SunSport looks at how they’ve all fared… so far.
Wayne Rooney
Rooney began his managerial career midway through the 2020-21 season, with Derby rooted to the bottom of the Championship.
And he started strongly, leading the Rams out of the relegation zone after picking up 31 points out of a possible 54 from his first 18 games.,
From there, however, it was a downward spiral.
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For starters, Derby narrowly survived relegation by one point. However, a 21-point deduction saw them relegated to League One, prompting Rooney to resign.
The former striker returned to America to take over at DC United – where he had starred at the end of his playing career – just three weeks later.
After picking up just nine points from his last 14 games as the Washington club missed out on the play-offs for a second consecutive season, Rooney and the club split by mutual consent.
Just three days later, the United icon was back in English football, taking charge of Championship giants Birmingham on a three-and-a-half-year deal.
It was a surprise move, with former boss John Eustace being axed with the club flying high in sixth place.
After just two wins in 15 games 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 before taking over at Plymouth.
But after just six months, Rooney now faces the prospect of entering 2025 out of a job.
Despite that, SunSport’s Martin Lipton insists he has a bright future in management.
Gary Neville
Following a stellar playing career, the right-back won eight Premier League titles, two Champions League crowns and 85 caps for England.
More recently he has become one of the faces of Sky Sports’ football coverage – on TV and podcasts.
However, in between was an unfortunate period for LaLiga giants, Valencia, who perished.
Neville was initiated into 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 has yet to appear in a dugout since …
Paul Scholes
Blink and you might have missed it, Scholes, the legendary former Man Utd star, turned his toes into the world of management very briefly.
Having bought a stake in the club the previous year, Scholes took charge of Salford City – leading just one game back in 2015, emerging victorious.
He then took over at boyhood club Oldham in February 2019, but resigned after just seven games, having enjoyed just one win.
The now-50-year-old took charge of Salford once again in October 2020 – winning two of his five games in charge.
But ever since, Scholes has stuck to punditry, most notably for TNT Sports.
Steven Gerrard
After a spell managing Liverpool’s youth teams, Gerrard got his big break in senior football with Rangers and endured one of their darkest periods.
The Reds legend helped make the Gers competitive again – with his side even reaching the last 16 of the Europa League in 2019-20.
During the following season, Rangers would reach the Scottish Premier League championship and prevent fierce rivals Celtic from bagging a tenth consecutive crown – collecting 102 points in the process.
With Glasgow always seen as Gerrard’s stepping stone, he was brought back to the Premier League by Aston Villa in November 2021, replacing Dean Smith on a three-and-a-half-year deal.
But the midfield icon suffered a mixed bag, watching his old side reach the Europa League final as he guided Villa to 14th.
After two wins from his opening 12 Premier League games the following season, he was let go by the Villans after just one year.
Gerrard then became one of a host of famous players and managers to be lured to Saudi Arabia, taking control of Al-Ettifaq.
However, he has not enjoyed great success, averaging 1.35 points per game across his 51 games in charge – including just four wins from 13 league games this season.
Frank Lampard
Like Rooney, the Chelsea idol began his managerial career at Derby two years earlier – although Lampard inherited a very different side.
Aided by talented loanees Mason Mount, Fikayo Tomori and Harry Wilson, Lampard guided 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 managed to guide his former side to a top-four finish despite a transfer ban, while bleeding a number of talented academy graduates in the process.
Lampard subsequently struggled to incorporate 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 had a second crack at the Premier League with Everton, replacing Rafael Benitez.
Joining the club who are 16th and just four points above the drop zone, Lampard guided the Taffees to safety.
But after a run of just one win from 11 games the following season, he was sacked after just under a year at Goodison Park.
To the surprise of fans, 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 performance since 1996, with Lamps’ nine per cent win rate the worst ever among Chelsea managers to be in charge of at least three games.
But after over a year away, Lampard was given a new hope of saving his managerial career, as he was named Coventry boss in November 2024.
So far, he has won three and lost just two of his six Championship games with the 15th-placed club.
Sol Campbell
Campbell’s managerial career got off to a more than solid start when he joined crisis club Macclesfield in 2018.
Having taken the lead with the club five points from safety in League Two, former defender Campbell quickly made the Silkmen hard to beat.
Macclesfield avoided the drop on the final day of the season with a 1-1 draw at Cambridge.
Campbell then jumped ship to Southend Southend, which proved to be a disaster.
The Shrimpers were also basket cases, but Campbell could not turn things around at Roots Hall – winning just four of his 23 games in charge as his side were relegated.
Campbell has not succeeded since.
Phil Neville
After overseeing one game at Salford alongside Scholes, Phil Neville was given the England Women’s top job in January 2018.
In three years in charge, Neville won 19 of his 35 Lionesses games.
He managed to lead them to SheBelieves Cup success in 2019 – but fans were disappointed by semi-final exits at Euro 2017 and the World Cup two years later.
Neville went on to manage former club and country player David Beckham at 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 games.
He failed to work with Lionel Messi by two weeks – with Neville even hinting that the Argentina legend was about to arrive led to his sacking.
Neville is now the manager of another MLS side, the Portland Timbers, but has won just 37 percent of his 38 games 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 dismissal of the Italian, he got the job of caretaker, but was unable to save her from the fall.
Parker led the Cottagers back up through the play-offs in 2020, but left behind once again unable to stave off relegation.
On the same day as his Fulham exit, former Chelsea and Charlton midfielder Parker joined Bournemouth.
He got off to a good start and won the Championship Manager of the Month award in his first two months.
Bournemouth eventually finished second to return to the Premier League.
But Parker lasted just four games… after beating Aston Villa 2-0 on the opening day, the Cherries lost 4-0 to Manchester City, 3-0 at Arsenal and were thrashed 9-0 – a game on the joint Premier Record of the league – from Liverpool.
Parker slammed his club’s transfer policy and claimed he had been left “disarmed” for life in the Premier League.
He was fired 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 joined, his side had already reached the last 16 of the Champions League after a fantastic group stage.
However, a 5-1 loss to Benfica in Portugal – and a 7-1 aggregate loss – was the nail in the coffin as Parker was axed after just two wins in 12 games, with the club trailing by 21 points off the league leaders.
In the summer of 2024, a few months after he left Club Brugge, he received a three-year contract from Championship side Burnley after they were relegated from the Premier League.
With just two defeats from his opening 24 games, Parker currently has the Clarets in third – just one point behind Sheffield United and three off Leeds – with automatic promotion back in time big is a very real possibility.
