Wayne Rooney: Former Man Utd striker leaves Plymouth Argyle by mutual consent

Wayne Rooney has left Plymouth Argyle after a nine-game winless run left the club bottom of the Sky Bet Championship.

Appointed in May on a three-year deal, Rooney departs Plymouth after just seven months in charge with the club four points from safety.

His last game at the helm came on Sunday, when Argyle were beaten 2-0 at fellow strugglers Oxford.

In a statement on the Plymouth website, Rooney said: "I would like to take this opportunity to thank the board of Plymouth, in particular Simon Hallett and Neil Dewsnip who I shared great relationships with.

"Thanks also to all the staff who made me feel welcome and who make the club such a special place, the players and fans for their efforts and support during my time as head coach and I wish them all the best for the future.

"To the Green Army thanks for making the games at Home Park so special, they are memories that we will share forever.

"I would also like to give a special mention to my coaching staff Kevin Nancekivell, Simon Ireland, Darryl Flahavan and Mike Phelan for their knowledge, dedication, help and support.

"Plymouth Argyle will always hold a special place in my heart, and I will continue to look out for and take interest in their results."

Following Rooney's departure, first-team coach Nancekivell and club captain Joe Edwards will be in charge for Plymouth's New Year's Day clash against Bristol City.

A statement on the club website read: "Plymouth Argyle can confirm that the club and head coach Wayne Rooney have mutually agreed to part ways with immediate effect.

"Departing the club with Rooney will be assistant head coach Mike Phelan and first-team coach Simon Ireland.

"First-team coach Kevin Nancekivell and club captain Joe Edwards will lead the team for our Sky Bet Championship match against Bristol City on New Year's Day. Daryl Flahavan will continue as goalkeeping coach.

"We would like to thank Wayne and his team for all their efforts and wish them well for the future.

"The club will be making no further comment at this stage with updates on our new first-team management staff in due course."

Sunday's defeat at Oxford was an 11th loss in 13 games on the road for Rooney.

Speaking after the game, in what turned out to be his final post-match interview as Argyle boss, Rooney said: "You have to look at every possible outcome, that's normal with the results we're going through. You have to feel, 'do we have the players to turn it around? Can I turn it around? Can the coaching staff turn it around?'

"I'll go back and try to prepare for Bristol but ultimately I know football and how it works. I understand the fans. I've been there myself. As a fan you want to see your team win, to see your team running, making tackles and when your team is losing games, as we are, the frustration is there. I get it. I know the work we're doing is good work. Unfortunately we're not getting the results.

"It wasn't good enough. We didn't create enough chances, the goals we conceded - we didn't do enough to stop them scoring goals. Defensively this has been going on for a few weeks now. We've been trying to score goals but we didn't hurt them enough today."

Livesport VIP News reporter Mark McAdam:

Rooney's time at Plymouth lasted just 221 days.

He signed a three-year deal back in May and had a relationship with Neil Dewsnip, who has been the sporting director at the club for a number of years. He has overseen much of the recent success at the club and was Rooney's coach when he was in the academy at Everton. It's a long-standing relationship that goes back 30 years, hence why they picked Rooney in the summer as someone who could potentially lead Plymouth forward.

As a manager, Rooney hasn't had much success. At Derby, it was a bit hit and miss but they had a real fighting spirit about them with everything that was going on off the pitch. We know things didn't go so well at Birmingham City and he had experience in the MLS.

Plymouth thought they were getting someone with a lot of experience and we know about his playing credentials, but he was still very new to management and didn't have the right fit for the club.

Plymouth is a community club. It's a great club with great people. There's a really good spirit and Home Park is fantastic to go to because of the way the crowd really get behind the team, and they have had a lot of success under recent managers, going from League Two to the Championship.

At the time, for the club this felt like a perfect fit.

A young, hungry, ambitious coach who we know and understand and he wants to play the Plymouth way, and the club believed, despite the low budget, he could take them to places they have never been before in the Championship. It hasn't turned out like that and it simply didn't get going for Rooney and Plymouth.

There have been highs and some positive results but it just simply hasn't been good enough, which led to the board, along with Rooney, deciding it had to end because it just wasn't working.

More from Livesport VIP News reporter Mark McAdam:

Rooney will be desperate to prove he is a good manager and a good head coach. He won't want to sit around, he'll be looking for the next opportunity and he'll be keen to get back into work as soon as it feels right.

I don't think this is the end of Rooney as a head coach or a manager. I still think he harbours those ambitions to be successful.

For Plymouth, they will have to take stock, reflect and look because they have had two managerial appointments that haven't really worked. Rooney was the most recent and before that there was Ian Foster.

The two appointments made before that were hugely successful and it is interesting that Ryan Lowe and Steven Schumacher are both out of work at the moment.

The key thing the board will be thinking about with this next decision and this next appointment is getting someone who understands the city, the culture of the football club, the community spirit it has and the group of players already there.

So you'd think someone like Lowe, who is keen to get back into work and understands the club, might say he'd take it until the end of the season to have the opportunity to get Plymouth away from the bottom of the table and up towards the top half of the Championship.