Football Daily | Was Wayne Rooney drinking in management’s Last Chance Saloon?

3 days ago 5

ON THE WAYNE

Sacked by Birmingham City on 2 January last year after steering the club from sixth place to 20th in the Championship inside 15 games, then mutually relieved of his duties by Plymouth Argyle with the club rock-bottom of the table 363 days later, it has not gone unnoticed that 2024 was something of a managerial annus horribilis for Wayne Rooney. He suffered the ignominy of being both the first and last of the – we make it – 21 different managers from England’s second tier to take an unceremonious step through assorted doors marked “Do One!” in the calendar year that’s just drawn to a close.

Upon accepting the job at Home Park back in May, Rooney joked that he had agreed to take the job because he didn’t “want to become the next Gary Neville” but after winning four out of 24 league games, shipping 53 goals and leaving the Pilgrims at the foot of the table with 19 points and a goal difference of -29, his managerial record certainly stands up to that of his former Manchester United and England teammate’s ill-fated spell at Valencia. Unsurprisingly, Neil Dewsnip, the Plymouth director of football who emphatically denied in May that the Rooney hire was “a gamble”, is also set to leave the club after his “coup” backfired in such spectacular fashion.

While the myriad stories of Rooney’s time at Argyle ought to be taken with a pinch of salt, the 39-year-old was variously criticised for his hands-off approach to coaching, hands-on approach to embracing trendy Plymouth nightspots, his fondness for travelling back north to spend time with his family and assorted other “foibles” that would have been readily accepted without a murmur of complaint if results had been going his side’s way. But while there were notable wins over Sunderland and Blackburn, a baker’s dozen of beatings – some of them thrashings – left fans feeling disgruntled and Rooney’s exit inevitable.

So what now for Wazza? What’s clear is that he really, really wants to be a successful football manager, but most available evidence based on spells at Derby, DC United, Birmingham and Argyle suggest he might not be cut out for the job. After all, Football Daily can think of few things it would like to do more than trade 180s with Luke Littler up on the Alexandra Palace stage at some point over the next 20 years, but no matter how many arrows we chuck, our three-dart average of 17 and ongoing inability to hit a double-top through anything other than blind luck means we’re teetering on the precipice of accepting it maybe just isn’t going to happen. While Rooney was spotted out and about in various Plymouth hostelries during his short stay in the south-west, only time will tell if he was drinking in the Last Chance Saloon.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I think the Blackburn one last year was better. But it was obviously a good goal. I decided to hit it as soon as I saw the keeper off his line – I was going to kick it past [Derby’s Craig] Forsyth, because I know I’m quicker than him and he was the last man, but I’d just come on, it was freezing, and I didn’t want to risk my hamstrings” – after scoring from way downtown for Sheffield Wednesday in their win over the Rams, Josh Windass still reckons this was superior.

Josh Windass scores from inside own half

Happy new year! A hearty rendition of ‘Hey Jude’ rang out at Brentford yesterday, but given that Arsenal’s No 9 has rediscovered his scoring form, I reckon that Jesus is more popular than the Beatles (in north London, anyway)” – Peter Oh.

I don’t know who to feel more sympathy for: Julen Lopetegui or Ruben Amorim. After much consideration, it has to be Amorim, who has gone from having a fast young energetic successful squad at Sporting to managing a relegation-threatened team with one superstar on massive wages barely able to make the squad, and what looked like a 47-year-old struggling badly to perform at centre-half in a poor Sunday League team” – John Weldon.

Send letters to [email protected]. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … John Weldon. Terms and conditions for our competitions – when we have them – can be viewed here.