Wayne Rooney is taking lessons from the highs and lows of his managerial career so far as Plymouth Argyle travel to face Sheffield Wednesday for his first game in charge of the club, live on Sky Sports Football.
Rooney is seeking to repair his managerial reputation after an underwhelming stint at Birmingham City last season, which lasted just 83 days.
“This is my fourth job as a manager, so I’ve gained quite a bit of experience over the past few years, both good and bad,” he told Sky Sports.
“I feel like I’m in the best possible place to go and manage Plymouth Argyle, so I feel ready for this challenge.
“It’s a big season for us, to try and improve on what we did last season and I’ve been really pleased with the players.”
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Wayne Rooney is settling into life at Plymouth, thanks in part to his powers of persuasion convincing wife Coleen on a move to the south west of England
Argyle finished 21st last season, staving off the drop after a 1-0 win over Hull City on the final day.
Rooney is hoping to make immediate improvements on that finish but has a long-term vision for the club.
“We certainly want to improve on last season. But it’s not just this season, we’ve got a plan over the next few years of where we want to be as a club,” he said.
“Coming into the football club and having a strong idea of where the club wants to go, of the way the club works, a philosophy of how the club works, and not moving too far away from that has been really refreshing.”
Birmingham paid the price for Argyle’s escape from the jaws of relegation, dropping to League One despite a 1-0 win over Norwich on the final day.
Rooney fell to nine defeats during his 15 games in charge and must take some blame as The Blues suffered their first relegation to the third tier of English football since 1995.
Since his dismissal in January, he has taken time to reflect on where it went wrong.
“Ultimately, the results weren’t good enough,” he admitted.
“The plan was always to go in with a long-term plan, which obviously wasn’t to be, so really disappointed with how that ended.
“I would’ve at least liked a transfer window but, listen, I’ve moved on from that. Looking back, the timing wasn’t great from both myself and the club’s point of view.”
The time spent away from football in the months after his sacking have only stoked the fire further ahead of the new campaign.
“From January until May was the longest I’ve ever had off football,” he said. “It was strange, you miss it, you want to be back involved in it.”
While he was brought into Birmingham during October of last season, Rooney has benefitted from a full pre-season and a transfer window at Argyle.
“Yeah, of course [it’s a big advantage], you have time to give your ideas to the players on how you want to play,” he said.
“We feel it’s been a good pre-season but ultimately we’ve all been gearing up for the first game of the season so really excited for the game on Sunday. You can already feel the buzz around the city.”
He has also strengthened his side with some new signings.
Winger Ibrahim Cissoko, 21, has joined on loan from Toulouse after making 11 appearances in Ligue 1 last season.
“He is a player that will excite Argyle fans and I know for a fact they will enjoy watching him play,” Rooney said on his arrival.
“He is a quick, athletic and technical winger who will add strength to our forward options.”
The winger himself declared he is “focused and ready to conquer” ahead of the season in a post to social media.
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Loan deals have also been agreed for Darko Gyabi and Muhamed Tijani with Leeds and Slavia Prague respectively.
Full-back Nathanael Ogbeta joins on a free after exiting Swansea, as does Icelandic defender Victor Palsson following his departure from KAS Eupen.
Seven players have left Home Park, but Argyle have retained reigning player of the season Morgan Whittaker – at least for the time being.
The forward scored 19 league goals last season, earning him a place in the Championship team of the season.
Despite rumoured transfer interest in the 23-year-old, he remains with Rooney’s squad ahead of the new season and started their final pre-season game against MK Dons.
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There are reasons for optimism ahead of his debut campaign, but Rooney is keen to manage expectations.
“We’re realistic, we understand it’d be very difficult to go and win the Championship,” he laughed.
“We’ve got realistic goals. We know where we can get to over the next few years, and if we keep improving gradually we will reach the targets we want to get to.”
There is no doubting his excitement, though.
“I think to get the fans back in and get playing here for my first time as Argyle manager, I think it’s going to be a special moment.”
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