Argyle director backs Rooney despite poor form​​

Plymouth Argyle’s director of football Neil Dewsnip has backed Wayne Rooney and said everyone at the club is behind the manager to stay despite a poor run of form.

Rooney’s side have conceded 10 goals in their past two matches, including a 6-1 defeat against Norwich City and a 4-0 loss to Bristol City in what the former England captain described as the “hardest week” of his managerial career.

“He’s driven to turn the ship around,” Dewsnip said. “We’re all behind him, we’re all fighting alongside him and hopefully we can turn that into a good performance and a winning performance on Saturday.”

Argyle face Oxford United on Saturday with both teams struggling to gain results in the Championship. The newly-promoted Oxford sit 17th in the table just one point above 21st place Argyle with 18 points.

Plymouth, with the third smallest ground in the Championship, do not benefit from Premier League parachute payments that other sides in the league receive.

Dewsnip has said the club need to be realistic about their place in the league after surviving but just one point last season.

“We compete in the Championship, which I think is the fifth-biggest league in the world,” Dewsnip said. “Over the last few years we’ve come from League Two to where we are, we’ve earned the right to be in the Championship, we want to stay in the Championship.

“We managed to do that last year and this year our aim is still the same — we’d like to do a little bit better than that.”

Since the appointment of Rooney in the summer of 2024, Argyle are yet to win an away game.

“Wayne talks about how he’d love to be safe [from relegation] with at least four games to go, so that’s kind of where the target will remain until we’ve achieved it,” Dewsnip said.

“But we mustn’t forget we’re in a league that has some really big football clubs, Premier League clubs if we’re really honest.”