'Wayne Rooney glad Plymouth Argyle sacked him'

01/03/2025 03:00 AM

Wayne Rooney is likely to be glad his time as Plymouth manager has come to an end, Paul Merson has claimed.

The 39-year-old left his role at Home Park on Tuesday (31 December) having only taken the job on in the summer.

He departed with the Pilgrims bottom of the Championship table, four points from safety and with just one win in their last 14 games.

They had also been on the end of some heavy defeats away from home, conceding six at Norwich, five at Cardiff and four at Sheffield Wednesday, Bristol City and Coventry.

There have already been suggestions that Rooney may have “had enough” at Plymouth, and it appears Merson also believes he may feel a sense of relief at being out of the role.

Speaking on Sky Sports’ Soccer Special, the former Arsenal man was asked if it was strange Rooney had left just a few weeks after his former Man United coach Mike Phelan was added to his backroom team.

Responding to that question from host Julian Warren, Merson said: “Not really with the results that have been happening.

“I mean sooner or late you can’t keep on going on. They’re down in the bottom and it’s just the way the results were the way they were getting beat the way they were rolling over at times was worrying.

“I think that’s the thing you always look at you always think there’s ways of losing football matches, some of the football matches they were losing, if you were the owner of the club you would be sitting there going ‘has he got the players on his side?’

“Some of them you know when they’re going three, four, five. I worried for him a while back. I think he’s been put out of his misery if I’m being honest.

“I think part of him his ego and his pride will be hurt, but there will be a part of him that thinks ‘I’m glad that’s over.’

“I might be wrong but when I was manager at Walsall you get to a stage where you’re losing every week, it’s hard to turn it round, they need a new face, they need a new voice and then they go and get a result today 2-2 (vs Bristol City, 1 January).

“It’s a shame, he was an unbelievable football player and at the moment he just can’t get it right in management but what I like about him he always gives it a go.”

Wayne Rooney may not be sad to see his Plymouth Argyle spell come to an end

Football Insider Opinion

Losing his job at Home Park after such a brief and unsuccessful spell with the Pilgrims will be a blow to Rooney and his clear hopes of succeeding as a manager.

Even so, there may be an element of relief for the 39-year-old that his time with Plymouth has now come to an end.

Rooney was obviously used to success during his playing days, and so losing week on week with the club at the bottom of the Championship will have been tough to take.

The stick he has been getting from the supporters will not have helped his mindset either, having been consistently on the end of criticism for his side’s performances.

Given what he earned during his career as well, Rooney will surely not have felt he needed to be a Plymouth for financial reasons either.

With all that in mind, there may now be an element of relief for the former Man United and England that the pressure he was under at Home Park has been lifted from his shoulders.

In other news, Rangers are lining up a January bid for a Plymouth Argyle player.

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