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Plymouth Argyle chief executive Andrew Parkinson has said that the Pilgrims were taken by Wayne Rooney’s passion to launch his managerial career after his Birmingham City disaster – and that both parties were ‘naturally aligned’ in their thinking of how to progress.
Rooney, sacked by Blues on New Year’s Day having claimed just two wins in the space of 15 matches, is back in work and back in the Championship, shortly after Blues themselves had vacated the division having failed to accrue enough points to leapfrog Argyle. While they’re preparing for League One football, Plymouth are readying themselves for a second season in the second tier – under the tutelage of Rooney.
While a few eyebrows were raised when the Devon club unveiled Rooney as their new long-term boss, fresh from the poor set of results he oversaw during his ill-fated spell at St Andrew’s, Argyle are insistent that they have their man for the job, whose ambitions and ‘ideals’ match theirs.
“Wayne brings a wealth of football experience to Argyle and a passion to kickstart his managerial career with an ambitious, forward-thinking and well-managed football club,” Parkinson told PlymouthLive.
“As conversations advanced, it was clear there was a natural alignment in our footballing ideals and the best way to take the club forward. When you have positive conversations like that it is a perfect match, and we believe Wayne is the ideal person to help the club on its next five-year journey.”
Former Irish international Andy Townsend, meanwhile, has warned that Rooney must now earn this opportunity which has been afforded to him, especially after his Blues experience which involved nine defeats following his appointment last October.
“It was crazy what happened for him at Birmingham, just a total disaster for him,” told talkSPORT. “I like to see former players walking into jobs in football. I believe there’s a place for that, but these guys have got to really earn their corn and I think Wayne’s going to have it full on to show exactly what he can do as manager of Plymouth.
“You can’t knock him for embracing the challenge. I mean it would be very easy for someone like Wayne Rooney to sit on their backsides and do nothing. [He could] just do the television and do that for the next ten years no problem, but [he] wants to prove himself as a coach. I hope that we start to see exactly what Wayne is about as a coach, I really do.”
