Managing Plymouth Was A Bold Move By Rooney – Rene Meulensteen

Manchester United legend, Wayne Rooney can land a Premier League job next, Rene Meulensteen has said. He recently had his say while speaking to the press, and fans have been reacting.

According to him, even if the Birmingham job did not go as planned, Rooney did well to keep Derby above water for a while despite the club being in a difficult situation at the time.

Rene added that he respects Wayne for choosing Plymouth straight after because that was bold and brave.

His words, “It’s a matter of him needing to get back in. Derby was a big challenge in difficult circumstances, with the club in a difficult situation. He managed to keep them above water for a while. He then went to MLS, which is a completely different challenge – I’ve been there and seen it myself, the different mentality.

I think the biggest setback for him was the Birmingham one, on the back of them doing well and all the fans were quite happy with [John] Eustace. Wayne comes in because the ownership changes and they want a name in there. It went straight from bad to worse. He has picked up Plymouth, which is bold and brave, but I respect him for doing that. There, you really have to show everything – your management style, your coaching credentials.

The difference when I was coaching at Manchester United, I had a group of such talented players, half the work was enough. The really traditional coaching way of stop, stand still and telling players what to do, I never used that because I knew that if I give the players the right information, they will take responsibility – empower the players and they will play the game with their decisions.

At the level Wayne is working at now, he will sometimes think that the players should know that, but they are not of his calibre and they don’t know that. You have to reinforce your tactics, you have to be really clear and make it simplified to some extent. Mick has gone in with him, Mick Phelan, which I think is a wise decision, to get somebody as a sounding board and looking over his shoulder – what about this approach, what about this? I really hope that he gets it right and steers them away from relegation and into mid-table.

It will be a massive learning curve for him this season. If he stays safe, then build on it next year and maybe do a really good job and maybe there will be a bigger club, or a club in the Premier League, that say ‘okay, Wayne, we know what you’re capable of’.

He’s an intelligent boy. It’s probably a bit of a clash between what he has always been as a player, what he’s used to, to suddenly drop down. Another example of that, top players at Manchester United – if Wayne was playing and suddenly dropped down from United to Plymouth when they were still in League Two, Wayne would still be a very good player but he would never be the player that he was at Manchester United – not because of him, because of his surroundings. That is also the case with managers. If you have to step down a certain level, you have to make sure that you can understand what that level needs.”