What do we know about Derby County assistant Liam Rosenior - the odds-on favourite for the Blackpool job?

The Seasiders remain on the lookout for a new number one following Neil Critchley’s surprise decision to link up with Steven Gerrard at Aston Villa.

The club continues to work its way through a shortlist of candidates before whittling the names down.

The interview process is now underway, with Cheltenham Town boss Michael Duff speaking to the club at the start of the week.

The 44-year-old is also in the running for the vacant Barnsley job, however, and reportedly spoke to the Tykes a day before the Seasiders.

The former Burnley defender had been the early favourite for the Bloomfield Road hotseat, but he’s since been taken over by Derby County assistant Rosenior.

But what do we know about the 37-year-old?

The former right-back made over 450 appearances during his 17-year playing career, representing seven different clubs.

The son of former manager Leroy, Rosenior entered the coaching game in 2018 when he became assistant to Simon Rusk with Brighton’s Under-23 side.

A year later, he left to join Phillip Cocu’s backroom staff at Derby, later earning a promotion to assistant manager when Wayne Rooney took the number one role.

The former Bristol City, Fulham and Reading defender is highly thought of as a young up-and-coming coach and a respected figure at Derby, with supporters reluctant to see him go.

To find out more about him, The Gazette caught up with the BBC’s Derby commentator Ed Dawes - and here’s what he had to say.

What view do Derby fans have of Liam?

The start of his role at Derby came when Phillip Cocu arrived and Phillip didn’t know the Championship according to Mel Morris, so what Mel Morris did was bring in someone with some knowledge of the EFL.

In came Liam and we know how Phillip Cocu’s reign ended, but he had more of a role in the interim period when Wayne Rooney became the manager. Just before that they had a joint role as managers while Rooney was still playing, which was confusing.

They got beat at Middlesbrough, I think it was, and then they made a decision to give Rooney the job and make Liam the number two. But Liam has always been prominent in the fact he wants a first-team management job.

Whenever I’ve been down to the training ground, Liam always takes the sessions. He’s wandering around the pitch with his clipboard, very hands on, whistle in mouth, talking the first XI through the next game, talking tactics, how we wants the style played, set-pieces and so on. It’s all very well organised.

On a personal level, he would always come over to greet you, shake your hand and engage you in conversation.

He’s very well spoken, he’s clearly a student of the game and I think he’ll clearly do very well when he finally gets his hands on his own team.

He comes from a rich heritage of football from his own playing career as well as his Dad, who obviously played for West Ham and later went into management.

Once he gets this opportunity, I’m sure he’ll take it with both hands and good luck to him.

Is it fair to say Wayne Rooney is the front man, while Liam is more hands-on with the coaching?

Absolutely. From what I perceive and the times I was allowed to come down to the training ground before press conferences, Liam would be going through the set-plays and the organisation and then Wayne would have little words with members of the team and the squad about what could be done better or this, that and the other.

We’ve seen managers do their hands-on approach, I think it was Neil Redfearn at Leeds who marked the cones out before the matches, which was totally hands-on.

It will be interesting to see if Liam takes a backseat and lets someone else do the coaching, or if he’ll be a tracksuit manager as it were.

What’s he like as a person? Is he a good talker?

He’s a really good communicator and he does take his time to talk to people. He doesn’t have to, but he will do.

For example, when he goes out onto the pitch before matches to assess the surroundings, he will come back and give you a nod or a wave if you’re in the stands and acknowledge you exist.

Post-match interviews are honest, he’s very honest. You might not always agree with his view because you’re watching it from a different perspective, but he won’t shirk a question and will engage in a debate.

It’s all about communication, isn’t it? And watching the game the fans have seen.

Does he have a certain style of play?

The style that Derby were playing, it seems bizarre to say, but at times it was Premier League football in the Championship.

It was passing, it was moving the ball forward, it was passing the ball out from the back…

I’m not sure if that’s the way Liam will play and if Liam will have the players to do that, but one thing he can safely say is that Derby were not relegated because of the football that he and Wayne Rooney were asking the players to play.

Everyone that sees the CV of Liam Rosenior and Wayne Rooney going forward will know it was outside forces that got the club relegated and not them, so they shouldn’t have that on their CV.

The fans really enjoy Wayne Rooney’s football because it gets them off their seat, they get the ball down, they play it wide and they get the ball forward quickly, which was a breath of fresh air from when Phillip Cocu was here because it was laborious and it was possession.

But Derby have worked out how to play pass and move quickly and create chances.