Wayne Rooney: Plymouth Argyle boss holds first press conference

Rooney endured a difficult time at Birmingham City, and also had a relatively unspectacular spell in charge of Major League Soccer’s DC United.

England’s former record goalscorer began his managerial career at Derby County when the club was going through financial problems.

With Rooney having spent part of the summer as a BBC pundit at Euro 2024 and having had a lucrative playing career why did he decide to move to one of the farthest-flung clubs in England?

The answer, he says, is his love for the game.

“I don’t want to become the next Gary Neville,” he joked.

“I have a desire, a passion with football and a love for football and I’ve always had that.

“The last few months have been very strange for me. Since January it’s been a real strange time being at home.

“I’ve done bits of TV work, but my real desire is to get back into management.”

Argyle survived relegation straight back to League One on the final day of last season.

Having sacked head coach Ian Foster at the start of April they were under the caretaker guidance of director of football Neil Dewsnip and coach Kevin Nancekivell.

With the Pilgrims searching for a new coach, and a whole summer to work on a side, Rooney said it was a role he could not turn down.

“What I didn’t want to do was go in somewhere again mid-season – I did that at DC United and again at Birmingham and straight away it becomes a lot more difficult to get the messages across and the point across and get the players to perform.

“So it was really important I went in somewhere and got the pre-season to start, and I was delighted that was the case here at Argyle.

“It’s my love, it’s what I know, it’s what I want to do and without it for the few months which I had, I found that very difficult.”