AND so the long goodbye for Wayne Rooney has finally come to an end.
His departure from Plymouth comes as no surprise. In fact, it’s been there screaming on the wall for a few weeks now.
And the question now, really, is: What next for the former Manchester United man?
After all, Rooney really believed he was going to be a manager and that he was cut out for it.
But at Derby County, he had a less than 30 per cent win ratio.
And it’s been worse everywhere he’s been since then.
He had a miserable time with DC United and picked up just TWO wins in 15 games at Birmingham City.
And he leaves Plymouth Argyle with the Devonshire club staring relegation back to League One full in the face.
It’s tough. Rooney really cares, there’s no doubt about that.
I spoke to him in the US 18 months ago and his enjoyment of the job was clear.
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WAYNE Rooney took the football world by storm when he made his debut for 2002 with Everton.
He quickly became the club’s youngest-ever goalscorer aged 16 years and 342 days and was named the BBC’s Young Sports Personality of the Year.
The striker joined Manchester United in 2004 and spent 13 years at Old Trafford. He went on to make 559 appearances for the Red Devils and scored 253 goals. To this day he is still the club’s all-time leading goalscorer.
Following his spell with United, Rooney returned to Everton for a season. He also spent one-season stints with D.C. United and Derby County at the end of his career.
As well as his impressive club career, Rooney is also England’s second-highest goalscorer with 53 goals in 120 appearances, behind only Harry Kane.
After hanging up his boots, the England icon turned to a career in management.
He took charge of Derby County in 2020 and managed to just about save the club from relegation from the Championship at the end of his first season.
However, with Derby handed a 21-point deduction the following campaign, he was unable to keep them up again and subsequently left.
Then came a 15-month spell in charge of MLS side D.C. United. He failed to impress during his time in Washington and parted ways with the club at the end of the 2023 regular season.
Rooney was controversially handed the Birmingham job in October 2023, replacing John Eustace with the club doing well and sixth in the Championship table.
However, in 15 games he suffered nine defeats and managed just two wins. He was sacked in January 2024 with Birmingham down in 20th. The club were relegated to League One at the end of the campaign.
He returned to management in May with Plymouth Argyle but managed just five wins in 25 games. The United legend now finds himself out of work once again.
He said: “I know I am not where I want to be as a finished article.
“But these next few years are really important in terms of me getting to grips with the role.
“And getting the best out of myself and eventually out of the players.”
He was really dedicated to making it work. But it doesn’t seem to work.
Maybe it’s a little bit of the Glenn Hoddle syndrome with Wazza.
When the former Spurs midfielder walked onto a training ground as a manager, he was the best player there.
It’s the same, I suspect, with Rooney. Certainly lower down in the leagues, he’ll be much, much better than most players.
That was the level of talent he possessed.
And if you’re that good, how do you make limited players play when they can’t do things that come naturally to you?
It is tough, no question. But I still think there’s a chance for Rooney. It isn’t the end for him.
It seems almost inevitable that at some point, he will be handed the reins to his boyhood club Everton.
But for now, that seems a long way away.
This axing, however, will be brutal. It will be hard and it will hurt.
There were a few jokers wondering whether he would actually be given the boot in time to see his wife Colleen out of the I’m a Celebrity jungle.
Well, that didn’t happen. But didn’t last too much longer, did it?
Let’s just hope for Rooney that he doesn’t let his own inner demons – the ones he’s talked about in the past – descend on him now.
And let’s hope he can cope with this adversity, come out firing and prove next time that he has what it takes to be a successful gaffer.
