I've played under Wayne Rooney - the players all love him

Former Birmingham City loan player Ravel Morrison has revealed why Wayne Rooney is so popular in the dressing room.

While some of Rooney's former team-mates retired and headed straight into punditry or the security of the commentary booth, Rooney took a more difficult path, taking over at Derby County in 2020 as player/manager where he had to find a way through the club's troubles off the pitch.

After leaving in the summer of 2022 he moved to DC United in the MLS - and signed former Man Utd wonderboy Morrison at both clubs. Rooney returned to the UK for an ill-fated spell at Birmingham City and is currently boss at Plymouth Argyle.

Morrison spoke candidly about his former boss on The Stomping Ground podcast, responding to host Troy Deeney regarding Rooney's often critical press as a manager.

"I'm not sure you know, because I feel when he's in the club all the players love him. So he's a players' manager. The players all love him.", reports the Mirror.

"Rooney has all the players' intentions - the best intentions. So he wants what's best for the players cause obviously he was a player himself, and he's a bit of a, would you say, 'Wildcard'? So he knows what it's like. What the players require."

Despite a rocky start to the 2024/25 Championship season with Argyle, which saw them win just once in their first five games, including a heavy 4-0 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday and a 1-0 loss to Stoke City, spirits were lifted following a narrow 3-2 victory over league leaders Sunderland. However, Rooney faces a challenging schedule ahead, with upcoming matches against Watford on Friday and an away game at Norwich the following Tuesday.