 Welcome to Inside the Game, and join by Dishy United manager Wayne Rooney. Good? Yeah, good. I'll have a little chat about your coaching career. Your football career has finished with a million goals and everything else that you did, everything you won. And obviously you've moved into the coaching side of it now so. Did you always think towards the end of your career, did you have an eye on that managing coaching or has it come about by surprise? Yeah, no, I've always wanted to be a manager. And then I think I was 21 and started my coaching badges. And then I started them, done them for a while, then stopped. Then obviously we started towards the end of me. My last year at United back then at DC went through them then, so I've always wanted to do. Is there a huge difference to playing? Because obviously you're very angry as a player as we talked on another one. And now you've got something to say. So how are you able to do that? Yes, I think over the years I've calmed down a bit obviously, but you need to be a bit more calculated. Every manager is different in how they work, but I try and be calculated. My management side is huge. You need to make sure every player is different individually and you need to speak to them in different ways. But in the main I'm normally quite calm. It's one where the players know if they're letting you down or disappointing you. It's like as a parent when your kids will know just by the look you give them. It's almost like that with the players, the players will know. I feel you have to give players responsibility as well. Because then today they're the 11th, however many sub you make, whoever they are. The players who go on the pitch, they're the ones who have to make decisions. You can put them in a structure, you can set them up in certain ways. But players need to feel free to make decisions on the pitch. That's what I try and bring out in them. That is important, isn't it? Because obviously they are also the ones making them decisions. You can't do it before them. Yes, and you can show them on the training pitch. You can show them on videos and slow it down and etc. But then today they're the ones who have to make the decisions on the pitch. I think the one thing my biggest strength as a manager is to allow the players to play the freedom. They're going to make mistakes. I always say this to the players. They're going to make mistakes and don't be afraid to take risks. That's a big motto on that which I say on a daily basis to the players. I encourage that, despite the mistakes. It's the key in it and the guess. Often that's how you win a game, isn't it? By someone taking the risk. If it's everything's safe to you, you're well organised. I went into the Washington Commanders, the NFL team. When I was in the States. I went to watch them saying I spoke to the coaching. It was interesting to see the difference. They played to not make a mistake. That's their motto. To not make a mistake where I'm saying to players, I'm not encouraging them. You're going to make a mistake. It's fine. It happens. If you don't make a mistake you're safe. You're playing safe. You're playing sideways, you're playing backwards. I want you to break lines. I want you to put balls in the box. I want you to try things. It's amazing when you see players change that mindset and do that. How much better players they come. That's what you want to see. It's fans who are watching it as well. A fast attacking football team plays willing to take that little bit of a risk because that's how you're opening it up. I think safety becomes born. There's obviously a time and a place for it if you're away. It's game management. That comes into play. Certainly the last 10 minutes of games where you lose and whatever. You want to change it that way. I think having a structure and coaching the players is important and the players understand the role. I went in just after Christmas as a full-time manager. I was adapting to the opposition from game to game. We stayed up the last day of the season. The next summer, my pre-season was 11-11, constantly 11-11 still. The style of football I wanted to play in. We had a 21 debut from the academy in that season. Every player knew exactly what the role was. He got on the pitch and knew where they were going. That's really why we were able to play with 56 points. We picked up with a team of kids plus Jags for half a season and two or three older lads. He's a 15-year-old player. Young kids would never play facing football in fairness. He's unbelievable. You're playing for DC over there. You come back to Dabi with a bit of coaching. How did the manager thing come about? Because obviously it was a cocky. He offered me to play a coach role. I felt I'd come back and still play. I've won foot in with the coaches and develop as a coach. I knew I wanted to be a manager. That was it really. We went in and just missed the playoffs. When I went in, it started in January. Then we went into Covid and all that crap. Then the cocky was sacked. He put me and Liam Rossini in. Two of us really for two games. It was clear they had to be one manager. Then they offered me the job. I knew then I had to stop playing. I could have carried on playing, but I knew I had to stop and focus on managing the team. I've loved it. You've been there at D.C. Being around football and trying to develop young players. Developing your team has been great. Has there been a difficult transition from player to man? Not so much. I feel comfortable. I think the main thing is I know what I want. I know how I want my team to play. I know how I feel I should be coached in. Of course you learn along the way different things as well. I'm very clear in how I want my team to play. That makes it a lot easier. Obviously at Dabi, in incredibly difficult circumstances, I remember seeing you doing an interview. Must have been the start of your first full season. I think you were playing a friend. You were like, I need some players. I've got no players, I've got no money, but we need players. How difficult is that? You cut your teeth, so to speak. They are a big club Dabi. You're having to do it with your hands behind your back. I think firstly we went into administration and then it's not just the players, the staff, the coaches, all the staff around the training ground. Rarely I had to deal with all of them. There were people going to lose their jobs. People got made redundant. It was just a mad thing. I felt the best way for me to do that is be honest with people and be truthful. I called them meeting with all of them, all of the staff. I said to them, I'm going to be honest with you, some of you are going to lose your jobs. This is what happens. It's sad. It's not nice. I'll do everything I can once we come out of it to get you your job back. I'm going to be honest with you. Some of you are going to lose your jobs. Obviously I went in control of who that was. That was the administrators then. We were in control of that. It went nice. It was horrible to see people have been at the club a long time or people then getting the livelihood taken away from them. I felt honest with you. It was the best way to deal with that. With the players, we couldn't even play players. We signed players for the 20s and we couldn't use them. The EFL were putting in and signed Jags. I could only sign them until January. Then we couldn't re-sign them. The restrictions were crazy. Having to deal with that, we had a little broad under-20s team up to the first team, mixed with a few first team players with experience. It was a challenge, but in fairness to them, they loved coming in. They had Jags. All Jags at times can be a bit difficult, but he was brilliant coming in. Just giving them a responsibility and seeing them like adults. That's how I treat all the players. I was adult and open with them and honest with them whether they were good or bad or whatever they were. I got a great response from them. Is it difficult to motivate players with the stuff going on in the background of being able to just... Again, for me, it was purely about being honest with the players in a difficult situation. I had Jags. I had seven players do the pre-season with us. Not knowing if they can sign on us. They've done the full pre-season. I took a risk because I played them in the pre-season families. Not knowing whether they were going to be my player on us. Ultimately, I could have been getting them ready for another team. I just felt we had to sign them. So then we agreed for them to sign them on a really low salary. It was incredible that they signed for what they did. They all came out on the same ground. With the agents, seven players, we had to meet Mel Morris. Then he turned around and said, we can't sign them. I was like, what do we do? I've got them down, told them. I've been told that we can sign. This is what I was saying about being honest and truthful. I called all the players in with Mel Morris. I said, he's got something to tell you. He didn't tell them that. He was like, I'm waiting for something. Then we could sign them. A couple of weeks later, we managed to sign them. Whatever. Certain things and decisions you make. I think just sticking to your principles. You've had to learn a lot very quickly. I think you've had two of the toughest jobs. That's going to show me point deduction. The fact that you got so far into the season, you're still being able to stay up. I remember looking part way through the season, it must have been January, February. If you wouldn't have had the points deduction, give it a tenth in the league. It was incredible what you were doing. Honestly, with some of the young lads, they'd never played a professional game. They'd never played in front of fans. To get some of them. I had two players on the bench. At the time, they didn't even know they couldn't come on. They could sit on the bench, but they actually couldn't come on. To the rules. They didn't know the warm-up. We had no other players. We put them on the bench as a reward. But they didn't know they couldn't get on. So, I ended up having to get the plays. That young had to get the plays in with the parents. I'm speaking to the parents to explain the situation of what it is and how we're trying to move forward. Then, when I could play them, some of the performances. Remember Lee and Thompson? They were five, four, six lads. But you're right. Never seven. Small lads. I said to the lads, because they were training with us, then getting game time with the under-20s in the ones who weren't playing. That's important to me. I stress this to the players. If you don't play well for the 20-30s, you're not good because you've now trained the first team. You won't play for me. We had a game on the Monday night in the 20s and five, six lads played. They were terrible. One of them, Lee and Thompson, was playing by a mile and they had been for a few games. The rest were terrible. They were too big for the 20s. I had a meeting on Tuesday. I said, you were crap. You were crap. You were crap. Tom was at the back. I said, Tom, you were brilliant again. We were playing Bournemouth on Sunday. You were top of the league at the time. I said, you're going to star for me. That was perfect for me to show these five. Give them that message. It's important when you're playing for the 20s that you do it right. He started the game, got man a match. Best player on the pitch. Then we played four on the way. He was second in the league at the time. Again, best player on the pitch. Then he gradually has performed to us. I think he gives young players responsibility. Sometimes he surprises you. I know you were obviously tremendous young player. It's that because of what you had as well. You were in at the young games as well. I think you see things in players. I've seen it many times. Some managers have a lot of pressure. Managers have escaped the jobs. It's more difficult to put a young player in. You don't know. Sometimes you are taking a risk. I think you see them every day in training. You can see what they've got. I'm a big believer in giving them a chance. Helping them and coaching them. Making them feel at home. Making them feel comfortable on the pitch. By doing that, you get more. The old school way of managers screaming. It won't work in today's society. What do you do for managers going on? If you had three as a manager, what would they be for you? Or that you have expect from players? There's loads of different things on the pitch. There's loads of different things. Of course you don't want players to play for training or late on to the training pitch. There's injury prevention stuff. You don't want them not doing it. For me it's hard work. It's always stuck with me. You can be the most talented player in the world. Or you can work in different jobs wherever you work. The greatest talent you can have is getting up every day and working hard. That's always stuck with me. That's what I expect from my teams now. I just say, yeah, make myself comfortable. I'll have a bad game or a team at times. I might have a bad game. But I know what fans want to see. I know what fans expect and what I expect. That's the place to come in every day and train hard and play hard. You have time off. You have your days off. You have time to spend your family and mates wherever. But when you're in training and when you're on match day, you have to work hard. That has to happen. What do you think about data and stuff as a coach? Are you a big data guy? You can use it, of course. You can use it to see if a player is likely to get injured in training. If you push him a bit hard, there's loads of different things you can do. That's where I delegate really well with my staff. They know more than I do on the data side of things and stuff like that. If anything flags up, they come to me and I'll deal with it. I think it's important because you'll be crazy not to use it now because there's so much technology which can help you and benefit you. We use it, but I think sometimes as well, we tend to forget that you're actually your eyes. You can see a lot as well, but you can use all the data as well to help you give that strong base. Would you use that and consider that with recruitment as well? I think you have to with recruitment as well. You can watch players, you can go and watch them live, you can watch them on Y Scout or whatever, however you want to watch players. Then you can look at the data and you're looking for patterns of what players are, how consistent are they, if they're playing well, one in four games, if they're playing well. It's the house of four games, four out of four games, wherever. There's loads of different stuff you can use. I suppose everyone will do it in different ways, but certainly for recruitment, I think it's important. Obviously, it's such a different league. Have you found that from going from Derby County? Was there a big risk for you to take the DC job? I don't mean risk as in, you know, should you go on it. Of course, because your reputation is a manager, because whatever job you take is, your reputation is on the line. For me, I'm still a young manager. I'm really confident in the ability to manage exactly what I want. As I was saying before about players, taking risks is no problem. I'm not weighing in with the player where I was at the top. I'm weighing in with the manager and I need to build myself. I need to gain that experience and I've gone there to deal with different cultures, different religions, different aspects of managing. For me, to be the best version of myself, I can be. In the future, I think we'll make it clear. There's two clubs I'd love to manage in one day. I want to make sure I want to do that. If I do that, then I'm at the best version of myself, I can be. Is it more challenging managing in a left than over here? I'd say so, yeah, because obviously there's... Over here, you know everyone, every player. Over there, you get to learn different players, different... And rules are good because it is a bit mad at you. Rules are crazy. So many different rules. You need to deal with them. It's different, but ultimately, that's off the pitch, which is all different. When you're on the training ground and the coaching and the preparation for games is the same. It's me learning stuff off the pitch rather than actual stuff on the pitch, which I feel can really benefit me in helping. With players, you're native or native, what do you think? Is it a case of the natal ability or can players... It's difficult for you because you did have that natal ability and the way you say, you're probably one of the last street footballers that have come through in terms of just literally being out with your mates. So, is it all just simply about natal ability or do you look up and think, you know, we can coach and coach and coach? I think it's details. Is it? Is that what it's? It's details, Geron. If you get a chance and come over and watch your training, you'll see how I work as well. I really focus on the details. Right, okay. There's a difference between why a player can play from a mid-table team in the Premier League or play at the top. And it's not physical aspect. It's not, can you pass the ball from A to B? It's the details. That's the difference. Geron, give me an example of what you talk about in details because people are going... So, the amount of times you see a goalkeeper, for instance, pass the ball to a centre half and pass it to the wrong foot. Yeah. Then it makes it so much easier for the opposition to press. Well, actually, if you pass it to the right foot, they can't press it. So, it's a small detail of the angle of how you press and your body position. There's different little details which makes a huge difference and I focus on that with the players. And it might be the players out of position by one yard. Okay. It's that fine. It's a detail where if he's actually a yard here, it stops. Yeah, that next action. It stops or everything happening. We're buying being a yard this way, we're in trouble. So, it takes a lot of preparation as well because we show it daily to the players on the screen and we show them and we pull players into the positions. It's exactly what I was saying before I'd done with Tarby. Then, all of a sudden, you see them doing it and then you have to keep on top of it but you see them doing it and you see players taking responsibility and telling them to come here or if they don't pass it to the right foot, they'll tell them. So, it's them details which make a big difference. That's massively important because, obviously, those fine details win your game. What does a wane do when you win and see him look like then? Everyone, your aspirin, it's always easy to say, oh, high-press, and we do this and we do that. But ideally for you, are you closer to Manchester City or are you more, I don't know if you want to say, Liverpool, that kind of life? Yeah, it depends. Basically, in possession, I'm a 2-3-5. 2-3-5. 1-2-3-5 because the keeper's never happy. Okay. You have your two centre-backers. You stay back. Then you have, and this could be the changes. So, you have the three in front so that could be three midfield players or it could be a full-back. And then you have your five, two number tens, two players high and wide, and then number nine. And really, then five, I've got licence to be free and go and win you the game and the other five or six would keep it behind. I think you get out. They give you that balance. Give you that shape and that security, really. And then, when we're defending, it's a 4-4-2, 4-4-1-1. It's not really a high press. It's forcing them down one side and then pressing, squeezing it to the side and making a pitch smaller and pressing them from there. Sounds exciting. Crosses and shots and all of that. Everyone goes away from full-wit. It's one of the best ways to score a goal. Have them full-wit and put them across in the box and sustain the tags. No-one does it no more. We've had the chat about city on that. All the wide men now are coming in but whether it's your full-back or whether it's a wide man, you have to have full-wit. For me, that's a must. I'll go on all day, but it's very busy. We'll probably have a party to this as well. But Wayne, thank you very much. Let us know what you think in the comments section below. Give the video a thumbs up. Subscribe if you haven't. See you later. Bye.