Was Wayne Rooney drinking in management’s Last Chance Saloon?

Sacked by Birmingham City on 2 January last year after steering the club from sixth place to 20th in the Championship inside 15 games, then mutually relieved of his duties by Plymouth Argyle with the club rock-bottom of the table 363 days later, it has not gone unnoticed that 2024 was something of a managerial annus horribilis for Wayne Rooney. He suffered the ignominy of being both the first and last of the – we make it – 21 different managers from England’s second tier to take an unceremonious step through assorted doors marked “Do One!” in the calendar year that’s just drawn to a close.

Upon accepting the job at Home Park back in May, Rooney joked that he had agreed to take the job because he didn’t “want to become the next Gary Neville” but after winning four out of 24 league games, shipping 53 goals and leaving the Pilgrims at the foot of the table with 19 points and a goal difference of -29, his managerial record certainly stands up to that of his former Manchester United and England teammate’s ill-fated spell at Valencia. Unsurprisingly, Neil Dewsnip, the Plymouth director of football who emphatically denied in May that the Rooney hire was “a gamble”, is also set to leave the club after his “coup” backfired in such spectacular fashion.

While the myriad stories of Rooney’s time at Argyle ought to be taken with a pinch of salt, the 39-year-old was variously criticised for his hands-off approach to coaching, hands-on approach to embracing trendy Plymouth nightspots, his fondness for travelling back north to spend time with his family and assorted other “foibles” that would have been readily accepted without a murmur of complaint if results had been going his side’s way. But while there were notable wins over Sunderland and Blackburn, a baker’s dozen of beatings – some of them thrashings – left fans feeling disgruntled and Rooney’s exit inevitable.

So what now for Wazza? What’s clear is that he really, really wants to be a successful football manager, but most available evidence based on spells at Derby, DC United, Birmingham and Argyle suggest he might not be cut out for the job. After all, Football Daily can think of few things it would like to do more than trade 180s with Luke Littler up on the Alexandra Palace stage at some point over the next 20 years, but no matter how many arrows we chuck, our three-dart average of 17 and ongoing inability to hit a double-top through anything other than blind luck means we’re teetering on the precipice of accepting it maybe just isn’t going to happen. While Rooney was spotted out and about in various Plymouth hostelries during his short stay in the south-west, only time will tell if he was drinking in the Last Chance Saloon.

If you’re quick, you can catch the end of Rangers v Celtic in the Scottish Premiership with Michael Butler’s hot MBM coverage.

“I think the Blackburn one last year was better. But it was obviously a good goal. I decided to hit it as soon as I saw the keeper off his line – I was going to kick it past [Derby’s Craig] Forsyth, because I know I’m quicker than him and he was the last man, but I’d just come on, it was freezing, and I didn’t want to risk my hamstrings” – after scoring from way downtown for Sheffield Wednesday in their win over the Rams, Josh Windass still reckons this was superior.

Happy new year! A hearty rendition of ‘Hey Jude’ rang out at Brentford yesterday, but given that Arsenal’s No 9 has rediscovered his scoring form, I reckon that Jesus is more popular than the Beatles (in north London, anyway)” – Peter Oh.

I don’t know who to feel more sympathy for: Julen Lopetegui or Ruben Amorim. After much consideration, it has to be Amorim, who has gone from having a fast young energetic successful squad at Sporting to managing a relegation-threatened team with one superstar on massive wages barely able to make the squad, and what looked like a 47-year-old struggling badly to perform at centre-half in a poor Sunday League team” – John Weldon.

Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … John Weldon. Terms and conditions for our competitions – when we have them – can be viewed here.

Having seen their team offer nothing in a limp 2-0 home defeat by Nottingham Forest, it wasn’t going to take much to enrage Everton fans. Enter Neal Maupay, a man whose favourite sport appears to be sh!thousery. Yes, the on-loan Marseille forward is never happier than when he is poking the bear – especially when said bear is his parent club and their enraged followers. “Whenever I’m having a bad day I just check the Everton score and smile,” deadpanned the 28-year-old, who is still contracted to the club until 2026. The reaction from supporters was as predictable as you would expect, with some fans calling his tweet “shameful” and former boxing world champion Tony “top, top Blue” Bellew simply calling him a “pr!ck”. The Frenchman is perhaps more skilled as a wind-up merchant than he is as a footballer; he scored one goal in 31 appearances for the Toffees and has hardly set the Stade Vélodrome alight since his move there. Maybe he just wanted to absolutely ensure he wouldn’t be returning to Goodison any time soon. He recently told L’Equipe: “I was maybe born a pain in the arse.” We think Everton fans would agree.

New year, same PSR worries for Leicester City, who could be charged by Premier League suits for a second straight season.

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has praised his players’ ­fortitude after they overcame a sickness bug in the squad to see off Brentford 3-1. “These things happen – in this period there are always throat infections and viruses,” he coughed.

Real Madrid are sniffing around Trent Alexander-Arnold, which usually only ends in one thing, although Carlo Ancelotti isn’t for blabbing. “It is difficult for me to talk about that,” he tooted. “But we are going to have to wait and see. It’s not sensible for me to speak about the market right now.”

And we’re hoping nominative determinism doesn’t lead to a spell on the sidelines for Rebecca Knaak after Manchester City moved quickly to bring in the defender as cover for Alex Greenwood.

In need of some new year reading? Then get yourselves over to the Big Website bookshop, where you’ll find a host of great tomes just waiting to be added to your online basket. And you can also get a copy of the latest David Squires cartoon, his headline-grabbers of 2024, right here.

David’s been busy, also looking at the coaches, clubs, characters and collective crises set to define flamin’ football in 2025.

Our sister newsletter had no qualms with a New Year’s Day delivery: here’s an extract on the big women’s football stories to watch in 2025.

The life and death of Aleksey Bugaev. By Michael Yokhin.

These were the goals of 2024.

Our transfer interactives are back, back, back: keep up with all of the latest men’s and women’s moves.

So is the Mill, grinding out the latest transfer t1ttle-tattle just for you.

John Brewin was at Brentford to watch “Set piece FC” strike again.

Enjoy the pain, never tire of beauty: Max Rushden’s advice for fans in 2025.

Quiz time: guess the Premier League season from the managers’ nationalities.

Eight years, three league titles and lots of money: how Oscar made a rare success of his stay in China. By John Duerden.

And Suzy Wrack picks 10 of the standout WSL and Women’s Championship talents to keep an eye on through 2025.

The darts are still going on at Ally Pally – there’s even been time for James Maddison and co to show their faces on the “boring, boring tables”. So we can throw this back to July 1938 and find more Spurs action relating to the oche as manager Peter McWilliam, resplendent in his hat, watches players taking a break from it all at the White Hart Lane recreation room.