Plymouth Argyle are looking at ways how they can support head coach Wayne Rooney rather than replacing him, Simon Hallett has declared.
The Pilgrims’ owner and chairman gave his backing to Rooney during a fans’ forum staged by the Plymouth Argyle Cornish Supporters’ Association last night. It came after reports in the national media that the 39-year-old was ‘fighting for his job’ ahead of back-to-back home games against Oxford United and Swansea City.
Injury-hit Argyle have dropped to 21st position in the Championship after heavy defeats away to Norwich City (6-1) and Bristol City (4-0) last week, while they have won just one of their last nine games and lost five of them.
Hallett told the fans’ forum at St Dennis Working Men’s Club: “Clearly, we are all under pressure. We are not playing well, we are not doing on the pitch what we wanted us to do.
“So we are all feeling the pressure. Fans are feeling the pressure, the board is feeling the pressure and Wayne is feeling the pressure. What we are going to do is not think about getting rid of him and changing him. We are thinking about how we can support him.
“So there are no conversations going on about replacing Wayne but there are conversations going on about how we can support him to help him become the great coach we think is in there.”
The club’s director of football Neil Dewsnip also attended the fans’ forum and came out in support of Rooney. “He’s incredibly motivated to get Argyle to safety and then onwards and upwards from there.”
He continued: “He’s desperate to help Argyle to be successful. Success is staying in the league, doing a little bit better than that if we can. He talks about being safe four games from the end of the season. There’s a thought. That’s his own personal goal.
“When we have all our players back (from injury), I believe very positively that Wayne will be exactly the right head coach for us so we just have to give him the best chance.”
Hallett spoke further to Plymouth Live’s Argyle reporter Chris Errington about Rooney after a 90-minute question and answer session at the fans’ forum.
“Is he under pressure? Absolutely, we are all under pressure,” said Hallett. “But there has been no conversation about changing the head coach, none at all. There has been lots of conversation about can we give him the best possible support. We will do that.
“What is it he needs? Do we need a sports psychologist? Do we need a set piece coach? Do we need this, do we need that? What is it around him that is going to best help him succeed? We are looking at any way we can to support him.”
Rooney has a record of four wins – all of them at Home Park – from 18 league games while the Pilgrims have also drawn five times and suffered nine defeats, to leave them two points above the Championship relegation zone.
Dewsnip also addressed the quality of Argyle’s player recruitment this summer, with many supporters believing that has been a cause for the team’s struggles.
He said: “In terms of the last six years we have signed some really good players who have got us to where we currently are, but I guess the question is more about the current crop.
“I think generally we are pleased with who we have signed. We think some have done well, and we think some are maybe struggling a little bit to get going. Part of that might be around injuries, part of that might be about settling in a new environment.
“I would love to tell us all we get every signing right all the time. I’m not so sure there is a football club in the world can say that really.
“What I would say is we are just a third of the way through the season. It might still be a little bit early to make black and white judgments on all our signings this year.”
Hallett added: “When things go wrong, and when things go right, we like to review how people have done, how departments have done. We did a big review of the recruitment over the last four or five years, two weeks ago.
“We concluded we had got somewhere between 60 and 70 per cent of our decisions right. That means paying roughly the right price, getting players who have contributed relative to what they cost us.
“By football standards, that is pretty good. I think it’s pretty well established that 50-50 is quite often what most clubs get, so getting above that is, I think, doing well. Hopefully we can improve, and we will continue to look for ways of improving but it has been by and large pretty good.”
Discussion about this post