Former Manchester United coach Mike Phelan has joined struggling Plymouth Argyle as Wayne Rooney's number two.
Rooney's latest managerial foray has been a tough one, with Plymouth in relegation trouble towards the foot of the Championship. To make matters worse, assistant manager Pete Shuttleworth has been forced to step down for personal reasons.
This has prompted Rooney to turn to Phelan. The 62-year-old coach, who previously managed Hull City in the Premier League, had two spells on United's coaching staff - first under Sir Alex Ferguson and later under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick.
Plymouth dropped into the relegation places in the Championship despite not playing over the weekend. Their match against Oxford United was postponed, but results elsewhere sall them fall to 22nd on goal difference.
“I am sad to see Pete leave the club," Rooney said following the coaching change. "He is someone I have worked with very closely throughout my managerial career having first met at Derby County and he has also been a close friend.
“Pete has some personal matters going on which is where his focus needs to be and we all completely respect that and have mutually decided to part ways.
“Mike is someone I know well having worked with him when I was a player at Manchester United and he has vast experience at the highest level of football. I am really pleased to bring him to Argyle and look forward to seeing him get to work immediately.”
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Plymouth have spent the entire season in the bottom half of the Championship table, having narrowly avoided the drop last term. They conceded 10 goals in their last two league games, but only fell into the drop zone when fellow strugglers QPR beat Norwich City on Saturday.
"From there, the players collapsed," Rooney said after a 4-0 defeat against Bristol City. "Again, this is not something I haven't told the players. They completely collapsed. It was the same at Norwich away, it was the same at Leeds away.
"When you want to have a career in football you need to dig deep at times, and dig deep within yourself. It's something I have done many times as a player, and I feel the players showed a real lack of character and lack of fight after we conceded the first goal, and that is very disappointing."
All of Plymouth's league wins this season have come at home, and they're in front of their own fans again on Tuesday as Swansea City come to town. The Swans are unbeaten in their last three in the league, drawing at Luton last time out.
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