Wayne Rooney points a rallying cry after Plymouth’s dismal 4-0 defeat towards Sheffield Wednesday in his first match in cost

Misspelt names on gamers’ shirts, 4 targets, 30 photographs conceded, and totally abject all through, this was an terrible begin to life as Plymouth Argyle boss for Wayne Rooney.

The legendary former England striker spent a lot of this recreation stood in his technical space, arms folded and powerless to have an effect on a ludicrously one-sided recreation.

Eyebrows had been raised when the best English participant of his era pitched up in deepest, darkest Devon on Could 25 however nobody might have anticipated a begin as unhealthy as this.

Rooney’s earlier spell in administration at Birmingham Metropolis had resulted in ignominy following a 3-0 defeat at Leeds United on New 12 months’s Day. He was thrown out lower than 24 hours later, ending a tenure which lasted 83 days and harvested simply two wins.

After a lot soul-searching, Rooney mirrored on the place it had all gone unsuitable. He had the humility to talk to many individuals throughout the recreation about how he had carried out at Derby County, DC United and Birmingham.

Like so many former nice gamers whose managerial careers flip bitter, Rooney might have opted for the consolation of a tv studio as a pundit. However the attract of soccer struck each single certainly one of his battered coronary heart strings, as he advised Mail Sport on the weekend.

To Rooney — raised on the streets of Croxteth in inner-city Liverpool earlier than making his debut for Everton aged 16 — soccer is a drug and he wants his repair. When Argyle provided him the job in Could following their profitable battle towards relegation, the 38-year-old took it.

It’s a good distance from his spouse Coleen — though she was within the stands right here on Sunday to assist her husband — and 4 kids who stay primarily based in Cheshire, but Rooney seems to be having fun with life within the Plymouth hotseat. No less than he was till the intense stuff started with this Championship opener away to Sheffield Wednesday.

Rooney’s males — two of whom, Adam Forshaw and Ibrahim Cissoko, had been given jerseys with their names misspelt — had been outplayed by an Owls facet who, like Plymouth, solely secured their Championship standing on the ultimate day of final season.

Few can neglect Rooney’s talismanic affect as a participant, intimidating and galvanizing in equal measure.

He struggled badly, although, to get a tune out of his troops at Birmingham and Plymouth seemed like no-hopers for a lot of this recreation.

Rooney fielded new signings Nathanael Ogbeta, Victor Palsson, Muhamed Tijani and Cissoko, but there was treasured little invention or confidence in Argyle’s play. Rooney denied it was an absence of want.

Nonetheless, the Liverpudlian was compelled to concede: ‘At present wasn’t adequate — I believe that’s clear — and I’m disillusioned, indignant and shocked.

‘From the whole lot we’ve seen in pre-season I used to be shocked, however the fundamentals of the sport weren’t adequate, whether or not that’s attending to the ball, tackling or being aggressive.

‘We knew final season Sheffield Wednesday had been top-of-the-line groups within the league for crosses and cutbacks — and all 4 of their targets got here that approach.

‘We had a gameplan and we simply didn’t execute it in any respect, so it’s a wake-up name for us all.’

Owls debutant Jamal Lowe fired in a first-half opener earlier than the floodgates opened after the break.

Brendan Galloway headed into his personal web and Josh Windass slammed dwelling a 3rd earlier than substitute Michael Smith rubbed salt in Rooney’s wounds with a late fourth.

Simply as he had been at Elland Highway on New 12 months’s Day, Rooney was predictably subjected to vicious taunts from the house supporters.

When Rooney headed in direction of the away finish on the finish of the sport, Wednesday counterpart Danny Rohl’s identify was belted out loud and clear by the jubilant dwelling followers. The Owls, it will appear, are on the up however Rooney performed down the importance of the outcome.

He added: ‘It’s the primary recreation of the season, and I’ve seen the work we’ve finished in pre-season which supplies me encouragement, so it’s not a time to panic.’