Wayne Rooney was sacked by Plymouth Argyle in December with the club bottom of the Championship, and now their CEO has now revealed the reasons behind his ill-fated appointment
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Plymouth Argyle's CEO has touched on the hiring of Wayne Rooney
Plymouth Argyle's CEO explained the thought process behind hiring Wayne Rooney
(Image: Business of Sport)
Plymouth Argyle CEO Andrew Parkinson has shed light on his decision to appoint Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney as manager. Rooney, who netted over 350 goals for the Red Devils, was given his first coaching opportunity at Derby County in 2020.
After hanging up his boots, he had a stint managing D. C. United in the MLS before making a return to English football with Birmingham City in October 2023. Under the club's new American owners, Rooney's tenure was short-lived, lasting only until January after securing just two victories in 15 matches.
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However, his exit from the soon-to-be relegated Blues didn't leave him jobless for long. In May, the 39-year-old was handed another opportunity with Plymouth, but his fortunes didn't improve in Devon compared to the West Midlands.
Rooney was shown the door in December, with Argyle languishing at the bottom of the table and struggling to adapt to his possession-based style of play. Despite what many may consider a lacklustre spell, the Championship club's CEO insists that Rooney was the standout candidate and came with an undeniable desire - stressing that the appointment wasn't influenced by the former England star's high-profile status.
"To be honest, he was the best candidate that we saw when we got down to the interviews," Plymouth CEO Parkinson revealed to Business of Sport. "The biggest thing for him is he really wanted it.
"Now, there are obviously lots of other things that play into that. We went down from a long list of, say, 30. The process isn't a straightforward one necessarily. People might already be at existing clubs. They may not want to come.
Morgan Whittaker of Plymouth Argyle listens to instructions from Plymouth Argyle manager Wayne Rooney
The 39-year-old failed to win his last nine games(Image: Offside via Getty Images)
"They may have contracts where it would be expensive to get them out of it. It's sometimes more difficult to get people to come down to Plymouth, let's face it.
"So when we got down to our final candidates, he absolutely wanted to prove himself, wanted to show that he could do the job. Obviously he'd had a couple of difficult experiences at other cubs, but we felt at the time that he was the best candidate. We didn't do it for profile reasons at all."
Parkinson admitted that Rooney's eagerness to prove himself at Plymouth made him stand out among other candidates. However, he also acknowledged the undeniable boost and attention that came with hiring such a high-profile figure.
Manchester United legend and former Plymouth Argyle boss Wayne Rooney
Rooney departed Home Park in December(Image: Isabelle Field/Plymouth Argyle via Getty Images)
"Yeah, it was massive in terms of that," Parkinson responded when asked about Rooney's profile, via the Manchester Evening News. "Some of it is a bit ridiculous, though, too, because you could have things like lifestyle programs.
"In fairness, he didn't want to do any of that. He just wanted to concentrate on football, and actually so did we really. Otherwise, it becomes a bit of a circus."
Parkinson also revealed the behind-the-scenes discussions about a potential Netflix show, saying: "We did look at doing a show. But, that was all around football and wasn't around, say, like a Wayne and Coleen show or something like that. It had to be about football."
On the topic of how the connection with United legend Rooney came about for Plymouth, Parkinson touched on who approached who. "It was a bit of both, to be honest," he explained.
"When you have got a managerial vacancy, you look at people who might fit your criteria from a football perspective, that would be on data, on previous records and all sorts of things. You then get a lot of people approach you, too."
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