As we approach the busy Christmas period across the Football calendar, there are ever looming questions at Plymouth Argyle, and those questions are all surrounding current Head Coach, Wayne Rooney. The Greens recent run of form has sparked a divide within the fanbase, with some fans saying Rooney must walk or be sacked, and the other side are saying for Rooney to stay in his role at the club. These debates have kicked into another gear due to Argyle’s recent run of form in the Sky Bet Championship, from last Tuesday’s humiliating 6-1 loss to Norwich and then another abysmal performance over the weekend, with a 4-0 loss against Bristol City. Conceding 10 goals in a week and only scoring 1 goal is normally enough for a manager to face an inevitable sacking from their club, but it seems Wayne Rooney might have got away with it, for now.
As many football fans know, the Christmas period is very fixture heavy, with a game being played roughly every 3-to-4 days. Normally, if a team is struggling with their form during the Christmas period, it can deem an even harder challenge in the second half of the season to turn their results around, and even think about surviving relegation in the season. For Argyle, they are matching their similar form from last Christmas, and after 23 games played last season, Argyle were sat on 27 points and in 17th. Compared to this season, there have only been 18 games so far into the season, but Argyle are sat 21st in the league, with only 17 points to show from it, and a 10-point difference from last season, but with 5 games less played.
Other clubs last season that was in and around the Relegation zone at Christmas, only one team in the bottom three ended up being relegated to Sky Bet League One, which was Rotherham. The other two teams, Queens Park Rangers and Sheffield Wednesday, managed to survive the drop to League One, with Wednesday finishing 20th, and QPR finishing 18th.
Going back to Argyle, it is becoming more apparent and worrying for them as games go on and their performances do not seem to be changing, so the questions facing Rooney and now the Board of Argyle, are becoming more volatile, and change needs to happen sooner rather than later, on the pitch and/or off it.
Argyle chairman, Simon Hallett, had recently hosted a fan’s forum, in Cornwall, to address the questions posed from the Green Army. He had stated, regarding Rooney’s future, that Argyle will be sticking with him for the future and will be supporting him through the difficult times that him and Argyle are going through, instead of sacking him. These comments from Hallett can be taken either way from fans, with the positives being that Argyle want Rooney to be successful during his time in the South West, but fans can take it the other way by thinking Hallett is accepting that Argyle may not be up for the challenges of being a “Sustainable Championship Club” and wouldn’t mind a relegation to League One with Rooney. Hallet has also previously said in another statement that he would not mind Argyle being a “championship league one yo-yo club”.
The main talking point from these recent events, is mainly regarding Rooney and his time at Argyle, will results turn in favour of the Ex-Manchester United striker, or will woeful games carry on and will he face the sack?