Wayne Rooney: Derby County boss refuses to accept relegation is inevitable

Derby County boss Wayne Rooney insists that escaping relegation is still possible despite the deduction of 21 points by the English Football League.

The Rams will go into Sunday's game with Championship leaders Bournemouth on -3 points, currently 18 from safety.

Rooney does not, though, accept that dropping into League One is inevitable.

"We're still competing and if there's a small chance of us staying in the Championship, we'll fight for that," the former England striker said.

"It's possible. It'll be a huge challenge. We know in football anything can happen and it'll take us going on a good run and others dropping points."

Derby were docked 12 points in September for going into administration and a further nine earlier this week for breaches of accounting rules.

Administrators Quantuma remain hopeful of finding a buyer for the club and US businessman Chris Kirchner indicated on Thursday that his interest was unaffected by Derby's precarious position in the table.

Rooney reiterated that he will not walk away from his first managerial job, having succeeded Phillip Cocu when he left the club in November 2020.

"It's a fantastic club - it was a gamble to put me in charge, my first managerial job in football and I want to repay that faith," the 36-year-old told BBC Radio Derby.

"You have difficult moments, you have tough times, and that's part of football, part of life in general.

"I'm not a person who, at the first sign of trouble, is going to turn around and walk away. I want to help rebuild this club and over the next two, three years, I feel there is a big opportunity to rebuild the club in the right way.

"I'll do everything I can to make sure that happens and try to get the best out of the group of players, whether its future players coming into the club or younger players coming through the academy and rebuilding the whole club from the bottom upwards."

The Rams were relegated from the Premier League in 2008 and are now in their 14th consecutive season in the second tier.

They have earned 18 points from their 17 league games this season and have only conceded 16 goals, a total inferior to just the top three teams in the division - Bournemouth, Fulham and West Brom.

Rooney added: "It would be naive and stupid of me to think I'm better than that league (League One), but we are in the Championship and we'll give everything we can to stay in it.

"If we end up in League One next season, which of course is a possibility, I'm more than prepared to help us get out of that league."