Important season for Rooney as well as it is for Argyle

ENGLAND GREAT HAS TO PROVE HIMSELF AS A SUCCESSFUL COACH

- CHRIS ERRINGTON

PLYMOUTH Argyle sprang a big surprise early in the close season when they appointed Wayne Rooney as their new head coach.

Former Sheffield United boss Paul Heckingbottom had been the bookies’ favourite to take over at Home Park before the club opted for Rooney after he impressed the Pilgrims’ powers-that-be when they interviewed him in London. It is fair to say the initial reaction among the Green Army to the news was quite negative, largely because Rooney had a short-lived, unsuccessful spell at Birmingham City last season.

Birmingham, under new American owners, replaced John Eustace last October with Rooney in what was intended to be a high profile appointment.

At the time, City were in a play-off position. However, they lost nine and won only two of their 15 games under Rooney before he was sacked at the start of January.

Birmingham ended up being relegated to League One while Argyle stayed up by a single point, and now Rooney has been charged with the task of making sure they continue to build themselves up as an established Championship side.

The England legend is now onto his fourth club in management since getting his first opportunity in the role at Derby County in 2020 and needs for it to be a success at Argyle for his own sake too.

On the face of it, the appointment of Rooney is a risky one for the Pilgrims given what happened under his leadership at Birmingham, but there were a number of possible factors for his struggles at St Andrews.

Firstly, Rooney replaced the popular Eustace, who had moulded a squad into a very effective unit and they were enjoying a good run of results.

Rooney has admitted since taking over at Argyle that he never felt the Birmingham fans took to him, and the City players must have questioned the change at the top too.