Structure is a much-discussed word over 48 absorbing hours, but at 11.30am on Friday morning, its importance in relation to a team is being hammered home.
‘Remember what we do!’ Wayne Rooney hollers, as a break is called to an 11-a-side warm-up game that is being played at a furious pace at Plymouth Argyle’s picturesque training enclave, where the pitch is surrounded by lush, towering trees.
‘We need voices from the back! When you shout to him to press, he’ll be aggressive and we’ll all go with him. We stick together and we stay as a unit. If we don’t keep our structure, then that’s where we’ll have problems.
‘Let’s go again. Control! Tempo!’
This is compelling, for many reasons. Rooney the player was without equal — a genius who represented England on 120 occasions and won 16 major honours. He’s the only man to score more than 200 times and create more than 100 goals in the Premier League.
Wayne Rooney is finalising preparations for his first competitive game as Plymouth boss
The former England international was announced as The Pilgrims’ new manager in May
But Rooney the manager? There are many preconceptions, the biggest of which is that he gets jobs because of who he is, rather than what he can do. A calamitous 83-day spell in charge of Birmingham last season has led many to conclude that one more strike and he’ll be out of management for good.
He knows what critics are saying but none of this bothers him. He’s 72 days into his tenure at Championship club Plymouth and to watch him work ahead of his first competitive match, at Sheffield Wednesday on Sunday afternoon, even in this limited window, leaves the lasting impression that this 38-year-old is in the right place to progress.
‘When you are in football, you get knockbacks along the way in this kind of job,’ Rooney says. ‘But I want to be great in this role. Whatever happens, I don’t want anyone ever to doubt my work-rate or my willingness to go and try things out of the box.’
Rooney’s commitment, certainly, cannot be doubted. Plymouth is a long way from anywhere but Rooney has already endeared himself to locals, moving into an apartment on the sea front, where he stays on his own, while his wife, Coleen, and their boys remain in Cheshire.
He’s been free to move around the city and, in something that chimed with how life was when he first moved to Washington DC as a player in 2018, Rooney has been able to eat in local restaurants with his staff without the persistent intrusion of camera phones or paparazzi.
‘A normal lad with an extraordinary talent,’ is how Neil Dewsnip, Plymouth’s director of football, describes him, and he is better placed than most to make the observation, having first crossed paths with Rooney when he was on the coaching staff at Everton’s academy in the late 1990s.
Dewsnip, along with Plymouth chairman Simon Hallett and chief executive Andrew Parkinson, was central to the recruitment process for a job that had many applicants, including the former Sheffield United manager Paul Heckingbottom. Rooney, though, stood out.
‘This is a coup — it isn’t a gamble,’ says Dewsnip, who was caretaker manager for the final six games of last season when Plymouth stayed up on the final day. ‘We have done our research and Wayne was selected after a thorough process as the best candidate.
‘He was asked during his interview in May about relationships and dealing with staff. The chairman asked him what members of staff he knew at Derby outside the football set-up, and straightaway he told him the name of a groundsman and the laundry lady.
Rooney has a point to prove in management following a disastrous spell in charge of Birmingham
Plymouth director of football Neil Dewsnip worked with Rooney during his time as a youngster at Everton
Rooney has moved away from his family to an apartment on the south coast as his side look to cement their Championship status this season
Victory against Hull on the final day saw Plymouth avoid the drop by the narrowest of margins last term
‘He’s got great people skills and that’s important to us. The squad have taken to him incredibly well. They obviously respect him for what he was as a player, one of the best three of his generation — you don’t need me to say the names of the other two.
‘But respect has to be earned as a coach and his way of doing that is to show his great personal qualities. He is an excellent communicator, brilliant in one-to-one situations. I don’t think he’s realised yet how powerful he is with his words.’
This takes us back to structure. Plymouth’s finances don’t stretch as far as some of their rivals and Rooney, aside from dealing with tactical issues, has many other areas which he must address, most notably travel.
There is a budget for the team to take 12 flights a season — when you consider the combined total of miles they will cover in round trips to 23 away fixtures is a colossal 12,050 (shortest: Bristol City, 246 miles; longest: Sunderland 804 miles) a plane, occasionally, will come in handy.
But does he use them all up on return journeys (such as to Norwich, 361 miles away, on a Tuesday night in November) or take single legs? Every decision will be made considerately, in the same way he puts together six-week plans for players and staff so there is no ambiguity on schedules.
Rooney is very much a manager. Of course, he can coach and has been preparing for this since he began studying the opposition, alongside Ryan Giggs, when Louis van Gaal was Manchester United manager.
But Rooney picks and chooses his moments when to speak during a session. He thinks deeply about the game and will frequently study other sports, such as handball and basketball, to look for ideas to shape tactics — games, increasingly, are being played in small parts of the pitch, and he wants to ensure he has an edge.
By his side there is a strong team. Dewsnip is a wise old head, as is Kevin Nancekivell, who embodies everything good about Plymouth. He took Rooney on a tour of Home Park the day he was unveiled and talked to him about the figures whose images adorn the walls outside the staff changing room.
Rooney’s first experiences in coaching came when he began studying the opposition during Louis van Gaal’s reign at Man United
He would later receive a baptism as he began his managerial career at cash-strapped Derby
There is a picture of Pele, from the famous friendly in 1973 when Santos were beaten in front of 40,000, another of the late Paul Mariner, and one of Jack Leslie, the first black player to represent England. Rooney bought into everything Nancekivell told him.
Completing the backroom squad are Simon Ireland, Pete Shuttleworth — Rooney’s sole appointment, having worked with him at Derby, Birmingham and DC United — and goalkeeping coach Darryl Flahavan. Rooney actively encourages debates, listening to different points of view. Flahavan certainly has a key role, as Rooney wants his goalkeepers to be the fulcrum of the team. Clearly, it has been a good summer. Five friendlies yielded three wins and a draw, while six new players have been added to the squad, including the Guinea-Dutch striker Ibrahim Cissoko, who arrived on loan from Toulouse and was starstruck when he was first introduced to Rooney.
‘There are times I will find myself saying “Oh my God!” when he does something in training,’ says 23-year-old midfielder Adam Randell. ‘It’s all surreal. I never thought that he would come down here but now he is here, I want to learn as much as I can from him.
‘There are times he will drop a name or tell a story from his career and you realise the level he was at. He’s so into the tactical side of things and he is more than happy to have a conversation with you. He’s so approachable.’
Rooney takes an active part in this training session, the ball sounding a little different when he sweeps a pass out from central midfield, but it’s the way he intervenes that grabs you, demanding high standards and concentration.
There are going to be bumps in the road, Rooney knows. Plymouth only preserved their Championship place by a whisker in May and many expect they will fall through the trapdoor.
Ibrahim Cissoko admitted being star struck by Rooney after signing for Plymouth on loan
The former England record goalscorer detailed his burning desire to prove himself in the dugout
Would his reputation be able to withstand such a blow? Perhaps not. Many would tell you he would be better off in a TV studio on punditry duties, but it is in a conversation after the training session finishes that he explains why he wants to walk this tightrope.
‘It’s inner drive,’ Rooney tells Mail Sport. ‘Many people in many different walks of life have it — my drive is through football and that is something I have loved ever since I was a young boy. I stopped playing and, that day, I went straight into management.’
After his first coaching job at Derby, Rooney says, ‘I had a short break, maybe a week or so, before I went to manage DC United, and then I had 48 hours before I went in to Birmingham City. Before coming here, I had a few months. It was good. I was able to reflect on everything I have been through as a coach.
‘I looked at things I have done well, things that I didn’t do so well. I had the chance to get some personal feedback and I spoke to many different people within the game. It was really helpful having that time but the hunger to get back in was huge.
‘I’m not someone who can sit at home. I’ve got four young children but I’ve got that desire — I want to be great. I had a really good playing career. I know many ex-players who have been at the top but are unwilling to put themselves out there. I’m not like that.
‘I want to be an example for my children, for my players. I want to be in football. That’s what I know, that’s what I love. Hopefully I can bring many smiles to a lot of fans’ faces here.’
Rooney’s doing that already. Outside the gates to the training ground, the squad must walk through a public park, alongside the dog walkers and the children on their bikes, before going into Home Park. Since Rooney arrived, the congregation waiting for pictures has grown considerably.
Rooney believes previous stints in the hot seat have provided valuable experience for him
Rooney remains a big draw for young fans and regularly poses for photos with supporters
On this particular morning, he stops and talks to everyone, aware of what the club mean to the community and the duty he has to them. There will be pressure from them, pressure from the outside world, but none of that pressure will be anything like what he puts himself under.
‘I have had that since I was 16 —getting into Everton’s first team, playing for England, going to Manchester United,’ he says. ‘That pressure is there every day. I know what my name means — it brings headlines. Sometimes it can be seen as being a bit more pressure than what it actually is.
‘But I am someone who really believes in what I do and how I do it. That inner pressure is there —that’s what keeps pushing you on and driving you forward. My job is to take the pressure off players, let them go and play with freedom and try to win games. Pressure for me? It’s not an issue.’
