Derby County have been through a number of managers in the 21st century, and perhaps now have their most high-profile one yet after appointing Wayne Rooney in January.

England's top scorer of all time took temporary charge of the club back in November, but after a solid start to life in the dugout he was handed the reins on a permanent basis.

He joins other big footballing names such as Phillip Cocu and Steve McClaren who have managed County at some point in the last few years, and his first job is to make sure the club survive this season and go on a promotion charge in 2021/22.

How does Rooney fare compared to other Rams managed though on a game-by-game basis?

We have ranked the top 10 Derby managers on the basis of points per game where the stats are available - and despite four caretaker managers having a one game, one win record, the likes of Chris Hutchings and David Lowe do not make it despite having a perfect Rams record.

Rooney actually appears at number 10 in the list, just pipping George Burley to the position with his 1.43 PPG record since becoming permanent manager in January compared to the Scot's 1.37 over two years.

Of course they are completely different time-frames to judge upon, but Rooney has made a decent start to his life as a football manager.

The former Manchester United man has picked up the same amount of wins as he has losses since being given the role on a full-time basis - six of them to be exact - and also has two draws.

If the Rams are involved in a promotion or play-off challenge next season, expect Rooney to rocket up the PPG table.

Davies joined Derby in 2006 from league rivals Preston North End, having guided the Lilywhites to a play-off semi-final and a final in his two seasons in Lancashire.

His run would continue in his debut year at Pride Park, taking the Rams to Wembley where a Stephen Pearson goal secured their promotion to the Premier League, where Derby hadn't been for five years.

We all know how Derby's lone season in the top flight went in 2007/08 - they set a record-low points tally of 11 and Davies had departed the club before the end of November after winning just one of 14 games, but his overall record at the Rams was favourable and he ended with a PPG of 1.54, which was brought down because of that poor Premier League run.

One of the few blasts from the pasts in here for Derby fans, Mackay was an icon for both Hearts and Tottenham as a player before moving on to County in 1968, where he made 122 league appearances.

After managing their hated rivals Nottingham Forest for a year, Mackay returned to Derby in 1973, spending three years at the Baseball Ground.

He was a huge success, guiding them to the First Division title (the highest division in England at that time) in the 1974/75 campaign, and managed them in the European Cup the following season, where they were eliminated by Real Madrid.

Mackay is sadly no longer with us having passed away in 2015, but with a PPG of 1.55 he is definitely one of the top Derby managers in history after what he achieved.

McClaren has had two stints as Derby boss, and this one was his run between 2016 and 2017 - we'll talk about his original run later on.

The former England boss took over from Nigel Pearson in October after a poor start to the season in the Championship, and McClaren turned them around almost instantly.

He took the team on a seven match winning run not long after his arrival and if it wasn't for the aforementioned slow start under Pearson, Derby may have made it into the play-offs.

McClaren didn't actually see out the season though - a 3-0 defeat to Brighton in March 2017 cost him his job having won just once in the previous eight matches, and he was to be replaced by former player Gary Rowett, but he departed with a respectable PPG of 1.59.

Speaking of Rowett, there was much excitement when he arrived back at Pride Park, having spent three years at the club as a player in the 1990's.

Rowett hadn't exactly had a good time of things at Birmingham City in his previous job, but it was a different story at Derby, guiding them into sixth place in his first full season - which meant the play-offs were to be contested.

That ended in a semi-final defeat to Fulham, but following that Rowett jumped ship to Stoke City, the Potters paying the Rams £2 million for his services.

The move to Stoke didn't really work out for him in the end, but Rowett still ended up with a PPG at Derby of 1.60, and that could have been improved if he'd had stayed in his role instead of jumping ship.

Wayne Rooney isn't the only man that was given their break by Derby, as the club took a punt on Frank Lampard in 2018 to replace Rowett, giving him his first taste of a manager's job.

Derby finished exactly where they did the season prior - sixth place - but the play-off semi-final second leg against Leeds was one of the best County games in history as they overturned a deficit to book their place at Wembley against Aston Villa.

Whilst they weren't successful against Villa to get into the Premier League once again, Lampard can be considered a success individually and he was headhunted by Chelsea after just one season at Pride Park, finishing with a PPG of 1.63.

Following on the theme of giving someone their first try at management, Derby appointed Paul Clement in the summer of 2015, who had been a first-team coach at Chelsea, PSG and Real Madrid - that's some pedigree.

Clement only lasted in the job until February 2016, when he was surprisingly given the boot after not winning in his final seven games in charge.

At the time though, Derby were in the play-off places in fifth spot after 30 games, so you can see why some thought it was harsh - he ended with a PPG of 1.64 and has managed Swansea City, Reading and Cercle Brugge since.

Ironically it's Clement's temporary successor that trumps him into third spot, with Darren Wassell being a decent enough replacement in the short-term.

Wassell managed Derby's final 16 league games of the 2015/16 season and kept the club in the play-off places, but a three-goal deficit in the semi-final against Hull City was too much to overturn, despite their best efforts in the second leg which they won 2-0 at the KC Stadium.

It wasn't enough to earn him a more permanent role as Derby head coach, with Nigel Pearson taking over for the start of the following season and Wassell returning to coach in the academy - but he finished with a PPG of 1.67.

Probably one of only a few men that is loved in both Derby and Nottingham, Brian Clough was one of, if not the most successful manager in County's history.

In his six-year spell at the club, Clough got the Rams promoted to the top flight and then three years after that guided them to become champions of England for the first time ever.

Derby also became a big name in European football, reaching the final four of the European Cup 12 months after winning the league - only to be denied by Juventus.

Clough obviously went on to win the big one at Forest, but his legacy at Derby will always be remembered. His PPG of 1.73 according to transfermarkt places him second, but to a lot of Rams fans he will always be the best manager.

This may be a surprising one, but McClaren's first stint at Pride Park was a success in terms of points picked up.

He replaced Nigel Clough in September 2013 and turned their season around, eventually finishing third in the Championship to secure a play-off place - it ended in heartbreak though thanks to a Bobby Zamora goal for QPR in the final at Wembley.

Derby were in top spot at the end of February in the following season, but a collapse of epic proportions occurred - just two wins from the final 13 league games saw the Rams not even make the play-offs, and it cost McClaren his job.

Despite that, his strong results for well over a year before the final few months means that the former England boss tops Derby's PPG table with a figure of 1.85 for his first stint - impressive indeed.