Wayne Rooney risked his stuttering managerial career with a shock move to Plymouth - but after moving away from his family for a shot at redemption, is a dream Man Utd return really a possibility?

Rooney's first taste of management came in November 2020 where he was entrusted with attempting to steer Derby County away from relegation from the Championship following the dismissal of Phillip Cocu. Already in place as a player-coach at Pride Park, this was his big chance - and he didn't make a bad fist of it.

Rooted to the bottom of the table and in their lowest league position for 12 years, Rooney took charge, first as part of a four-man interim team before getting the job permanently in January 2021, and would go on to settle for 21st place. Relegation avoided, mission accomplished - just about, it must be said, with the Rams surviving by a single point.

It would ultimately all end in misery, however. The following season saw Derby hit with deductions totaling 21 points, crippling their chances of survival. Indeed, the east Midlands club were relegated despite amassing 14 wins and 55 points - a tally that would've put them in 17th place had they not been punished by the EFL.

Rooney decided to step down from his position following relegation to League One, and headed back to the United States and D.C. United less than a month later. It didn't go so well.

Under their former striker, D.C. finished plum last in the Eastern Conference and then followed that up by failing to make the MLS play-offs for the second season in a row. Rooney's days were numbered.

Onto Birmingham City. Out of nowhere, the Championship play-off hopefuls - who had seen Tom Brady join as a minority owner just a couple of months before, raised eyebrows when they sacked John Eustace in October 2023 and bet all their chips on Rooney - it was bold, bizarre and by no means a guarantee of success.

It ended terribly, for all concerned.

After winning just two of his 15 games in charge, Rooney was shown the door. Birmingham would go on to be relegated and the Manchester United legend was shouldering the majority of the blame. His managerial reputation was in the gutter and at the point of no return, or so it seemed...

Plymouth Argyle and Wayne Rooney. A shock appointment that, just a few years ago, would've made it as a screenshot on the Out of Context Football Manager Twitter feed. But here it was, an opportunity for Rooney, and possibly his last-chance-saloon as a manager.

Following the Birmingham debacle, the former England captain had been out of work for a little over four months but he was in no mood to give up. Speaking via BBC Sport, he outlined his intentions to "bounce back" and that he was a "fighter", determined to rise off the canvas and keep on punching. And what's more - he'd had enough of being sat on the sofa at home, twiddling his thumbs. It was getting "weird".

It came out of the blue, but ahead of the 2024-25 season, Plymouth emerged as Rooney's salvation. Just like Derby back in 2021, Plymouth had survived relegation by the skin of their teeth. Change was needed, Rooney, they felt, was needed, with the 39-year-old reportedly winning a race consisting of as many as 80 candidates to land the job.

Argyle chief executive Andrew Parkinson called it a "perfect match" - time will tell. So how's it been going so far?

When Wayne Rooney walks through the door, whatever level of football you're playing at, you're going to take notice. After a full pre-season with his new manager, midfielder Adam Randell complemented Rooney's tactical awareness, commenting on how "approachable" he found England's second highest-ever goalscorer, despite all his enviable achievements as a player.

Come the start of the season, though, it couldn't have gone much worse.

Plymouth were ripped apart by Sheffield Wednesday, losing 4-0 and being completely played off the park - allowing 31 attempts at their goal attests to that. No one said it was going to be easy.

Since then, results it's fair to say, have been up and down. Of their 15 league matches to date, Argyle have put 16 points on the board - that's four wins, four draws and seven losses. They've only won one of their last five in the league but find themselves outside of the relegation spots and in 18th place - a 1-0 victory over fellow strugglers Portsmouth undoubtedly helping clear some of the doom and gloom.

Not great, it's fair to say, but not a complete disaster either. And Rooney's certainly not lost any of that fire that became synonymous with his playing career - a rage-induced red card during a narrow win over Blackburn proved as much.

Before a ball had even been kicked, or cone laid out, the Rooney family had some significant decisions to make after the Plymouth role was rubber-stamped - the most obvious being where they'd all live, and whether upping sticks to the south Devon coast was workable.

To put it simply - it takes five hours to drive from Rooney's family home in Cheshire's Golden Triangle down to Plymouth, some 260 miles away. The logical solution would've been to move his entire family - wife Coleen and their four boys - to Devon with him, something that was considered but ultimately ruled out.

Speaking on the topic, Coleen told the Daily Mirror in September: "We thought long and hard about it (moving to Devon) but with the kids it didn't work.

"Kai's now in year 10 and just starting GCSE prep and everything’s going well with football, and the other boys are all settled at school, so it didn’t seem fair on the children to pick them up and take them away, and start in a whole new place. It’s manageable. It's life. Other couples and families have similar situations and have to get on with it."

The end result has seen Rooney purchase a flat in the city, with Coleen admitting that they only see him "a couple of times a week".

Forget the football side of things for a moment, taking the manager's job at Plymouth was clearly a significant - and, to some extent, lifechanging - decision for the Rooney family, with the 39-year-old sacrificing a lot of quality time with his wife and children to pursue his managerial dream. It surely takes its toll.

There's no denying it. Rightly or wrongly, Rooney is the most scrutinised manager in the Football League. Wherever he goes, whatever he does and whatever he says, it's going to make headline news. It comes with the territory of being the most recognisable name and face of English football - David Beckham aside - of the past two decades. And to be fair to Rooney, he often tackles it head on.

One thing that wasn't on our bingo card so soon after his appointment, however, was the sight of Rooney singing his heart out - albeit terribly - at a pub on the south coast. As expected, it went viral on social media.

On this occasion, though, it was for the right reasons, with Manchester United's all-time top scorer mixing with locals and showing that, despite his global status and fame, he's a pretty normal bloke at heart.

The headlines in November weren't quite as complementary.

The Daily Mail likened Rooney's life in Devon to that of a "bachelor", claiming he enjoys "boozy nights and takeaways" while in the temporary arrangement of living away from his family. That, and whether he's getting "stuck into the pasties", as one customer at a local bar speculated, can't be confirmed, but there have been suggestions that Coleen's concerned.

A source told Heat Magazine in September: "Coleen got a bit of a shock when she saw Wayne recently. She's worried he's not taking enough care of himself now that he's living on his own.

"It was always going to be a big adjustment for him when he gave up playing football professionally. He was at the peak of his fitness during that time. Coleen made sure he ate healthily and he was always running about and playing footie with the boys. Now, she feels he's not putting himself first, and worries that he's struggling to cope without her looking after him."

If getting Coleen to make a freshly-prepared Egg Soufflé was tricky before, it's going to be impossible now that she's away munching on critters in Australia for up to a month, taking part in reality TV show 'I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!'.

The 2024 version of the ITV programme, which only kicked off a few days ago, has already seen the spotlight thrust upon Coleen - who is set to earn a record £1.5m fee for her appearance in the jungle - complete with early revelations about her much-publicised 'Wagatha Christie' spat with Rebekah Vardy.

While Coleen's Australian adventure doesn't directly involve Wayne, he's undoubtedly watching the show behind the sofa, curtains fully drawn, wondering if the next scene has the potential to get his name on the front page of the next morning's newspapers.

Indeed, OK! Magazine quoted a source that claimed Rooney is concerned about what Coleen "will say about their marriage, and whether all his past misbehaviour gets brought up". Nail-biting stuff.

When it comes to negative press, Rooney, it must be said, doesn't exactly help himself at times. His part in allowing the cameras in at Plymouth to record a 'Welcome to Wrexham'-style documentary hasn't exactly gone down well with many supporters. If one wasn't enough, there's even suggestions a second documentary is in the pipeline. Cashing in.

What's more, Closer quotes a source claiming that Rooney "could get cover" for Plymouth games so that he could travel to Australia to greet Coleen when she leaves the jungle - not exactly music to the ears of Argyle fans and something that Rooney's wife apparently vetoed herself.

Rooney does, at least, have a thick skin to deal with any negativity thrown at him. And as for any concerns that the Plymouth documentary might prove to be a distraction, he isn't the slightest bit concerned.

Speaking to the media ahead of Friday's Championship clash with Watford, the Argyle boss said: "From the club's point of view, it's beneficial financially. It will be great for the fans to see what happens behind-the-scenes.

"They can go anywhere, but it has to be at the right times. If it will affect the players, they can't have that access." It seems Rooney knows where to draw the line, at least.

It's no secret. Managing in the Premier League - and particularly at Manchester United - is part of Rooney's grand plan. Not put off by the failure of others - Ole Gunnar Solskjaer being a very apt case in point - the former England striker made it clear earlier in the year that he had designs on one day taking the top job at Old Trafford.

Speaking via BBC Sport in February, Rooney ambitiously stated: "Managing Manchester United or Everton is the aim, these big jobs are where you want to get to.

"But it's a process I have got to go through the steps and get myself back on track. I want to get myself back into management to make sure in the next 10 years I'm hopefully in a position to go into one of the big jobs."

The truth is, as much as Rooney dares to dream, landing a big job in the higher echelons of England's top flight feels unrealistic, and that's being kind.

United, it's fair to say, have been in constant decline since Sir Alex Ferguson's exit in 2013, moving from manager to manager in a desperate bid to find someone, anyone, who is capable of steering their broken ship back on course.

Ruben Amorim's the latest to inherit what's become something of a poisoned chalice of a job - and he comes with a pristine reputation of being one of Europe's most sought-after young coaches who has already delivered trophies and titles, something Rooney the manager simply doesn't have as part of his CV - for now, at least.

Even Everton, which feels more attainable for where Rooney currently is on his managerial journey, surely wouldn't take what would be a seismic risk in appointing the Scouser, given his lack of experience as a Premier League manager, and their avoid-at-all-costs need to steer away from relegation to the Championship.

For now, Rooney - and don't be fooled into thinking that he doesn't know it - needs to get his head down and focus on the job at hand; keeping Plymouth in the second tier and building from there. The rest can wait. The United dream, for now, is on hold.