Derby County manager Wayne Rooney has reaffirmed his commitment to the Rams and insisted that he will not be walking away from the club despite their continued off-field struggles.

It has been a very tough start to his first full season in charge as a manager at Derby for Rooney. The Rams currently sit bottom of the Championship table after being deducted 12 points for entering administration, but they are now just six points adrift of safety.

The Rams’ form on the field so far this season has been strong considering all of the issues they have been contending with.

Rooney’s side without the 12 point deduction would be sat on 17 points at this stage which would only have them four points shy of 5^th place in a very congested table.

Rooney’s achievements at Derby so far this season have not gone unnoticed. He has even been linked with a potential move to Newcastle United recently as they search for a replacement to Steve Bruce under their new regime.

Speaking to The Times, Rooney has now once again insisted that he and his coaching staff are not going to be walking away from the challenge at Derby despite their current circumstances.

While he also revealed he is actually enjoying the challenge and has urged his players to show what they can do to potentially attract new clubs if that is needed.

He said:  "I’m enjoying this. "I wanted to be a manager and this is a challenge — for me, for the coaches, the staff.

"As I’ve said to them, there’s no point walking with your head down. Get on with it, do your work and people will respect it, no matter what the outcome for this football club is.

"And I’ve said to the players, this is an opportunity to show yourself. If you can come out of this with credit, you’ll be attractive to other owners and managers."

The verdict

These will once again be comments that Derby fans will be pleased to see from Rooney and there is no doubt that he has handled the situation around the Rams excellently so far this campaign.

Rooney has managed to very intelligently grow his stock as a manager despite Derby struggling off the field.

The fact that he was even suggested as a potential option for Newcastle shows how well regarded the work he has been doing is by others in the game.

In many ways Rooney has a free hit with Derby this term, keep them up from their current position and he will be regarded as something of a miracle worker.

However, even if Derby go down he will not receive much criticism or blame given everything that has been going on.

There would have been plenty of other managers who would have walked away from this situation long ago. Rooney though has perhaps sensed a chance to grow his own standing in the game as a manager and wants his players to do the same. That approach is paying off for the Rams on the field at the moment.