Derby County certainly seem be approaching a crossroads in their history.

With the news that Mel Morris has agreed a deal in principle with Derventio Holdings (UK) Limited over a takeover deal for the club, it seems that everything around Pride Park Stadium is under increasing scrutiny.

That includes matters on the pitch.

As far as this season is concerned you can't call it much less than a disaster.

Going into the international break the Rams have recorded just one victory in their 11 fixtures so far.

Considering the target at the start of the season was to push for a top six finish you begin to see why supporters and the club's hierarchy are so concerned.

But regarding footballing matters there's only one man who's going to feel the heat and that's Phillip Cocu.

Cocu's first season in charge was a mixed bag as the Rams secured a 10th place finish in the league, while this term was expected to be much-improved.

But in contract things have gone dramatically downhill.

A tally of 16 goals conceded gives them the third-worst defensive statistics in the Championship so far this term, while at the other end things are much, much worse.

Come and have a go of our big quiz on Derby County's league goalscorers!

 

Derby have scored just five goals so far this season which is the worst out of any of the 24 sides in the league.

For a club like the Rams that is simply not good enough, and Morris will know that.

We can't speculate over whether Cocu has 'lost the dressing room', but from the outside it doesn't look good for the Dutch football maestro.

If Derby were to sack him as head coach then they would face a big task in finding the correct person to take the club forward.

We've seen from Sheffield Wednesday's manager search that there's plenty of credible names around at the moment who could get the Rams back to winning ways, but perhaps the correct man is already in the building.

Wayne Rooney is already the club's captain and boasts a real level of influence within the Derby camp.

Speculation has suggested that he could be the man to take charge of the club if Cocu was to leave, and it's hard to argue that he could be a real contender.

Rooney has a real football brain and given his reputation and standing in the game then he would command instant respect if he was in charge.

Being frank I'm not sure that supporters would see him as the readymade replacement for Cocu, but if anyone who was ready to take that step into management right now then it would be England's record goalscorer.