An hour into what was a chastening reintroduction to Championship management for Wayne Rooney there was an uncharitable chorus of “You’re getting sacked in the morning” from a section of the Sheffield Wednesday support.
Even by football’s sharpshooting hire and fire standards that would be crazy stuff but there was precious little in the way of positives from game one of Rooney’s latest venture in the precarious profession.
His Plymouth team were overpowered in South Yorkshire by Wednesday and beaten all ends up. The visitors managed only one shot on target all game – a 26th-minute free-kick from Adam Forshaw which was easily dealt with by James Beadle in the Wednesday goal.
As a signpost to what lies ahead for Rooney in his fourth job it was alarming and he read the riot act to his players afterwards.
“I think it’s a wake-up call to us all,” said Rooney. “Everything about the game today I didn’t like.
“You can lose football games but you have to make sure you’re running and tackling and getting to the ball. The basics of the game weren’t good enough and that’s not acceptable.
“You can put whatever tactics you want out there but if the basics aren’t right you’ll lose the game. I’m disappointed, angry and after everything I’ve seen from the players in pre-season, surprised.
“I don’t think it’s the time to panic. I didn’t like the performance one bit today but we have to stay calm and it doesn’t change our ambitions of what we want to achieve this season.
“The players know my thoughts. I told them after the game if I see a performance like that from any player, whether they have been at the club a long time or are new to the club they won’t play.”
Rooney’s return to Championship management after his disastrous wine-to-water tenure at Birmingham City has a lot riding on it.
He was dismissed in January after just 83 days in charge during which time he oversaw a slide from sixth to 15th, a reverse momentum which eventually saw the club relegated.
Few managers who dropped the ball so badly would find themselves back at the same level so soon but the lure of the Rooney name evidently remains strong.
His progress at Plymouth will be scrutinised intently, however. After making a creditable start to management in near-impossible circ*mstances at Derby, Rooney failed to kick on at DC United in the MLS and departed after their failure to make the play-offs. Then came Birmingham. The England great surely cannot afford another failure at Plymouth if he is to make a fist of his managerial career.
Rooney included five summer signings in his first starting XI at Hillsborough but it was Wednesday’s new arrivals who made much the more significant impact with a goal from Jamal Lowe and an outstanding debut from Yan Valery at right-back.
Although Wednesday narrowly escaped the drop themselves last season, they were one of the form sides in the Championship over the run-in and they carried that on with an impressive start to the new campaign.
They put Plymouth under sustained pressure from the start, prompting Rooney into an animated interjection during the first-half water break on a roasting South Yorkshire afternoon.
It fell on deaf ears. Wednesday took the lead in the 35th minute with a high-quality goal crafted down the right by Barry Bannan and Svante Ingelsson and converted by Lowe, sliding into the six-yard box to divert the Swede’s cross past Conor Hazard in the Plymouth goal. It was the perfect start to Lowe’s Wednesday career having arrived from Bournemouth last month.
Wednesday doubled their lead seven minutes into the second half as Plymouth defender Brendan Galloway inadvertently diverted Lowe’s header back across the six-yard box into his own net.
With the visitors being pulled from pillar to post, Anthony Musaba missed a great chance to make it three moments later.
Rooney’s response was a triple substitution but it made little difference to the direction of traffic and Josh Windass made it 3-0 in the 81st minute after some lovely approach work down the left by Musaba.
Substitute Michael Smith completed the rout in added time as Rooney looked on, hands on hips, helpless.
For Wednesday, there was much to savour. “This is the dominant football I want to see,” said manager Danny Rohl. “I like it but we know it’s just the first step this season.
“We are ambitious and hungry this season. We showed why we are maybe sexy this season and we must keep going.”
