Wayne Rooney backed to manage ‘big, important club’ after start to life at Plymouth – but ‘problem’ facing ex-Man Utd star is outlined

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    WHAT HAPPENED?

    The former England captain returned to coaching in the summer of 2024 when inheriting the reins at Championship side Plymouth. He has previously worked at that level with Derby and Birmingham, while also spending time in MLS at D.C. United.

THE BIGGER PICTURE

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  WHAT SAHA SAID

  Former United team-mate Louis Saha has told cryptocasinosuk.net: “Wayne Rooney has got an enormous desire for football, and he’s got an enormous desire to transmit that knowledge to players. I would love to see Wayne Rooney managing a big, important club, but it’s a difficult journey and Wayne knows that better than anyone. Sometimes, you must be in the right place at the right time. You need the right opportunity. I don’t think Wayne has had that opportunity yet to manage the type of players that he would really like to work with. I’m talking about players with exceptional quality.

  “In many ways, it’s a similar problem to what Patrick Vieira had. He went into Palace, it took him a bit of time, but he wasn’t working with players that were anywhere near the level he played at. Sometimes, that can be hard for a manager to deal with. Frank Lampard is the other example. He got the opportunity to manage his club, Chelsea, early in his career. OK, he had managed Derby, but making the jump from Derby to Chelsea is huge.”

  DID YOU KNOW?

  Rooney has been accused of landing jobs because of who he is, rather than what he has achieved as a boss, but Saha went on to say of the ambitious 38-year-old: “I don’t think Wayne Rooney expects anything in management to be handed to him on a plate. You can tell he’s hungry to show that he can manage because of the club’s he’s taken on. Nobody could describe those jobs as easy. He’ll know that he needs to improve to get a big opportunity, but I hope he gets it because he has so much to offer, and he had such an unbelievable playing career.”

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  WHAT NEXT?

  Rooney’s vast experience, which saw him become United’s all-time leading goalscorer and earn 120 caps for England, is being put to good use. He lasted just 83 days in charge of Birmingham, after being drafted in by Tom Brady and Co, but is slowly rebuilding his reputation in Devon – where he finds himself separated for long periods from wife Coleen and their four sons.