WAYNE ROONEY has become the latest member of England's famed Golden Generation to be sacked as manager.
The 39-year-old Manchester United legend has been sacked by Plymouth following a dip in form that has seen the club winless since November 5.
With the Pilgrims at the foot of the Championship and already staring at the prospect of life in League One next season, Rooney now heads into 2025 looking for a fresh start.
But Roo is certainly not the only member of England's so-called Golden Generation to have made the transition to management.
While many, such as John Terry and Ashley Cole, have flourished as coaches, others have taken the path of the pundit – with Rio Ferdinand and Peter Crouch being two key players on our screens.
But for those of Rooney's old Three Lions friends who tried to be the leading man on the sidelines, it was largely a mixed bag.
SunSport takes a look at how they've all fared… so far.
Wayne Rooney
Rooney started his managerial career midway through the 2020/21 season with Derby bottom of the Championship.
And he started strongly, guiding the Rams out of the relegation zone after picking up 31 points from a possible 54 from his first 18 games.
From then on, however, things went into a downward spiral.
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Derby initially barely survived relegation by one point. However, a 21-point deduction saw them relegated to League One, prompting Rooney to resign.
The former striker headed back to America just three weeks later to take over at DC United – where he had played a starring role towards the end of his playing career.
After collecting just nine points from his last fourteen games as the Washington club missed the play-offs for the second season in a row, Rooney and the club parted ways 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 contract.
It was a surprise move, with former boss John Eustace quitting and the club finishing high in sixth place.
After just two wins in 15 games and the Blues in 20th place, Rooney was dropped 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 being unemployed by 2025.
Despite this, SunSport's Martin Lipton insists he has a bright future in management.
Gary Neville
During his stellar playing career, the right-back won eight Premier League titles, two Champions League crowns and 85 England caps.
Most recently he has become one of the faces of Sky Sports' football coverage – on TV and podcasts.
In between, however, was an ill-fated spell at fallen LaLiga giants Valencia.
Neville got his start in management in December 2015 from business partner Peter Lim.
But after just ten wins – and a 7-0 defeat to Barcelona – from 28 games, Neville was sacked.
He hasn't appeared in a dugout since…
Paul Scholes
Blink and you might have missed it: legendary ex-Man Utd star Scholes dipped his toes very briefly into the world of management.
After purchasing a share in the club the year before, Scholes took charge of Salford City on an interim basis. In 2015, he managed just one match and emerged victorious.
He then took charge of boyhood club Oldham in February 2019, but resigned after just seven games, having managed just one win.
The now 50-year-old took charge of Salford again in October 2020, winning two of his five games at the helm.
But since then, Scholes has stayed true to the expertise, especially for TNT Sports.
Steven Gerard
After a spell managing Liverpool's youth teams, Gerrard got his big break in senior football with Rangers, who were going through one of their darkest eras.
The Reds legend helped make the Gers competitive again, with his side even reaching the last 16 of the Europa League in 2019/20.
The following season saw Rangers storm to the Scottish Premier League title and prevent fierce rivals Celtic from claiming a tenth successive title, amassing 102 points in the process.
With Glasgow always considered a springboard 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 faced a mixed bag as he watched his old side reach the Europa League final while guiding Villa to 14th place.
After two wins in his first twelve Premier League games of the following season, he was let go by the Villans after just one year.
Gerrard subsequently became one of the major players and bosses lured to Saudi Arabia and took control of Al-Ettifaq.
However, he has not achieved great success, averaging just 1.35 points per game in the 51 matches he has been in charge, including just four wins from 13 league games this season.
Frank Lampard
Like Rooney, the Chelsea idol started his managerial career at Derby two years earlier, although Lampard inherited a very different 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 to Aston Villa.
But he was rewarded with a return to Stamford Bridge, where he was able to guide his former team to a top-four finish despite a transfer ban, bleeding a number of talented academy graduates in the process.
However, Lampard subsequently struggled to integrate expensive new players such as Kai Havertz and Timo Werner into his squad, and was sacked in January 2021.
After a year out of the game, Lampard got a second crack at the Premier League with Everton, replacing Rafael Benitez.
Lampard joined the club 16th and just four points above the drop zone and guided the Toffees to safety.
But after a run of just one win from eleven games the following season, he was sacked at Goodison Park after just under a year.
Much to the surprise of fans, Lampard returned to Chelsea as caretaker manager in April, replacing Graham Potter.
The Blues' form got even worse and they experienced their first bottom-half finish since 1996, with Lamps' winning percentage of nine percent being the worst ever among Chelsea managers in charge of at least three games.
But after more than a year away, Lampard was given new hope of saving his career as a manager when he was appointed Coventry boss in November 2024.
So far he has won three and lost only two of his six championship games, with the club sitting in 15th place.
Sol Campbell
Campbell's career as a manager got off to a more than solid start when he joined crisis club Macclesfield in 2018.
After taking the club five points from safety in League Two, former defender Campbell quickly made the Silkmen difficult to beat.
Macclesfield eventually avoided the fall on the final day of the season with a 1–1 draw at Cambridge.
Campbell then jumped to League One side Southend which turned out to be a disaster.
The Shrimpers also hit the mark, but Campbell couldn't turn things around at Roots Hall. He won just four of his 23 games in charge as his team was relegated.
Campbell hasn't succeeded since.
Phil Neville
After overseeing one match in Salford alongside Scholes, Phil Neville was given the top job with the England women's side in January 2018.
During his three years in charge, Marcel won 19 of his 35 Lionesses matches.
He did manage to guide them to SheBelieves Cup success in 2019, but fans were left disappointed by their semi-final exits at both the 2017 European Championship and the World Cup two years later.
Neville went on to manage former club and country teammate David Beckham's Inter Miami, where he would spend two and a half years.
However, despite some big names in his squad, including Gonzalo Higuain, Blaise Matuidi, Kieran Gibbs and Ryan Shawcross, Neville won just 39 percent of his 90 matches.
He missed teaming up with Lionel Messi by two weeks, with Neville even suggesting the Argentine legend's impending arrival led to his sacking.
Neville is now manager of another MLS team, 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 in 2019 to join Slavisa Jokanovic and then Claudio Ranieri's backroom staff.
After the Italian's dismissal, he got the job of a caretaker, but he could not save them from the fall.
Parker guided the Cottagers back through the play-offs in 2020, but left after failing to avoid relegation again.
On the same day he left Fulham, ex-Chelsea and Charlton midfielder Parker joined Bournemouth.
He got off to a flying start, winning 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 by Arsenal and were mauled 9-0 – a fellow Prime Minister. League record – by Liverpool.
Parker slammed his club's transfer policy and claimed he was 'not equipped' 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 stellar group stage performance.
However, a 5-1 defeat to Benfica in Portugal – and a 7-1 aggregate defeat – was the nail in the coffin as Parker was dropped after just two wins in twelve games, with the club then 21 points behind the league leaders.
In the summer of 2024, just months after leaving Club Brugge, he was signed on a three-year contract by Championship side Burnley following their relegation from the Premier League.
With just two defeats in his first 24 games, Parker currently has the Clarets in third place – just one point behind Sheffield United and three behind Leeds – with automatic promotion to the top flight a very real possibility.
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