Wayne Rooney responds to Gary Lineker 'joke' about his managerial career on live BBC broadcast

Wayne Rooney remains determined to succeed in management despite his nightmare spell at Birmingham City, naming two "big" roles he would relish taking on in the future.

Rooney, 38, has already has spells in charge of Derby County, DC United and Birmingham City, with mixed success.

He was appointed manager at Birmingham in October - controversially replacing John Eustace - but would last just 15 games in the role, and was sacked in January after winning just two matches.

However, his ambition to become a world-class manager has not been dampened by his disastrous spell at St Andrew's.

While appearing as a pundit on the BBC's coverage of former club Manchester United's 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup on Wednesday night, Rooney reiterated his desire to return to management.

"Yeah I definitely want to get back into it," Rooney told the BBC.

"Obviously it's a setback, of course, what happened at Birmingham City. But I'm a fighter, I want to get back into it.

"I've enjoyed my time, a few months out with my children, go and watch them play their games, school runs and stuff.

"You know as a manager it's part of the job, you have setbacks. A lot of the top managers around world football have had various roles and had setbacks.

"It's how you bounce back, it's been a good time for me to reflect and make sure I get it right next time."

"That's the aim."

Wayne Rooney has high hopes for his managerial career.#NFOMUN #BBCFootball pic.twitter.com/AYZWo5ksNy

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) February 28, 2024

BBC host Gary Lineker then joked that the managerial role at United, currently occupied by Erik ten Hag, could be a target for Rooney on his return to football.

To which the former England international gave a very serious response.

"That's the aim, that's where I want to get to," added Rooney.

"Obviously United or Everton, these big jobs. You want to try and do them.

"It's a process and I've got to go through the steps of getting back on track, back into management and in the next 10 years I'm in a position where I can go into one of the big jobs."