There have been some mitigating elements to Rooney’s demise at Plymouth – some avoidable, some not so.
As head coach, relatively than supervisor, he couldn’t be held solely answerable for transfers, although his repute within the recreation performed an element in some gamers opting to affix.
Nonetheless, it was clear the signing of skilled Iceland defender Victor Palsson – who performed underneath Rooney at DC United – was one he had pushed for.
The previous Liverpool academy participant managed simply eight appearances underneath Rooney, combating type and harm, and with the January switch window now opening it didn’t encourage confidence in his eye for a participant.
“To be honest to Wayne he is been dealt a tough hand – we’ve the smallest funds within the division, we’re a small fish in an extremely massive pond, we’re constantly punching above our weight and he needed to are available and overachieve,” Bell stated.
“I do really feel for Wayne as a result of it’s a tough job – it’s difficult to attempt to hold Plymouth Argyle within the Championship. We did it by the pores and skin of our enamel final 12 months and sadly, as a lot as I would like a neater season, I believe we’ll most likely need to do it the identical approach once more this 12 months.”
One factor Rooney might definitely not be blamed for was Argyle’s crippling harm record.
He has been with out the backbone of his staff, together with captain Joe Edwards – now caretaker supervisor – on-loan Toulouse livewire Ibrahim Cissoko and Morgan Whittaker, who scored 20 objectives final season and was the topic of a multimillion-pound bid from Italian giants Lazio final January.
It meant 16-year-old academy product Tegan Finn needed to begin their 4-0 defeat at Coventry on Boxing Day.
“Sadly, regardless of having an harm record the size of anyone’s arm, it is not labored out for Wayne and the time needed to come.
“Lots of people in defence of Wayne have requested: ‘Who might have completed higher?'”
“The straightforward reality is we do not know, we’ll solely discover out now.”
