Wayne Rooney’s time at Plymouth Argyle felt a little familiar to DC United fans.
Rooney guided Major League Soccer club for 18 months in 2022 and 2023 and his stay in the US capital shared many of the same characteristics of his time in Plymouth: the hopeful start with talk of a turnaround, the poor results on the pitch and questions about their commitment to the job.
And then the inevitable departure and disappointment that followed it.
After failed and complicated head coaching hiatuses on Derby CountyUnited, Birmingham City and now Plymouth, pundits have begun to speculate where Rooney could end up next. Harder critics assume his coaching career may be over. A job in the upper echelons of English football seems unlikely given Rooney’s current CV, leading some to suggest a move back to the US could be a viable option.
It’s certainly possible, but it’s an opinion that feels steeped in a lack of understanding of the rapidly changing American game. Rooney isn’t the first and won’t be the last big-name foreign coach to struggle in Major League Soccer, with its unique demands, but MLS history points to the reality that reputation and profile alone do little in North America’s top men’s league, even with some of the world’s best players of all time. French legend Thierry Henry floundered in Montreal, while others – Ruud Gullit, Rooney and Frank de Boer among them – have struggled to thrive.
Rooney’s profile as a legend of the game will always make him an attractive candidate in theory. But a potential return to MLS could be complicated, both on and off the field.
Rooney arrived at DC United in July 2022 after playing and training at Derby. At the time, Derby were saddled with financial penalties and Rooney was instrumental in navigating that mess, performing admirably given the difficult circumstances. Rooney had openly stated his goal to train in Premier League one day — maybe even in a former club Manchester United — and a stint in MLS seemed like a perfect step on his journey.
DC were struggling at the time and the club hoped Rooney, who played for the club during a memorable 18-month stretch in 2018 and 2019, would give them a much-needed shot in the arm. At the time, it seemed like a sound move, with Rooney’s reputation as a manager on the rise.
Player Rooney brought spectacular moments to DC (Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)
When manager Rooney arrived at DC United, a major point of concern was whether the England legend would have much of a say in incoming and outgoing players. United had just begun to shed its image as one of MLS’s thriftiest clubs, and player personnel decisions had long been made by the club’s front office, not its coaches.
Rooney was not blind to this. During his playing days he had publicly complained several times about DC United’s lack of ambition in the transfer market and when he signed on as manager of the club he was assured by the owners that he would be handed the keys. “We’re in the process of trying to get it done right now,” Rooney said The Athletic just days after his signing. “There will be players who will excite the fans and make them better.”
It never happened. One of Rooney’s first moves was to bring in Jamaica international Ravel Morrison, who had been with him at Pride Park. United would be Morrison’s 13th club and they paid dearly to sign him, signing him on a contract worth $922,844 a year – several times what he earned at Derby. Rooney – a long-time supporter of Morrison, who began his career at Manchester United – announced that club ownership felt Morrison could be a “top five” player in MLS, an optimistic assessment given the league’s ever-increasing quality.
Ravel Morrison has bounced around several clubs, including Derby County and DC United (Tony Marshall/Getty Images)
Things could not have worked out worse for Morrison, who now plays for a second division club in the United Arab Emirates. He was unproductive in his first half-season and as 2023 approached United decision-makers questioned his commitment. He was banned from the team completely before the start of the season, and United bought out his contract later in the year. It wasn’t the last bad personnel decision Rooney would make as he learned the ropes in MLS.
United have spent the last year or so regretting some of those decisions, but it would be short-sighted to say Rooney didn’t have his fair share of hits too. He was decisive in the recruitment of the former Crystal Palace and Liverpool striker Christian Bentekewho would go on to become the league’s MVP in 2024.
And it was Rooney, more than anyone else, who identified himself defender Matai Akinmbonithen 15, as a budding talent, insisting he sign a first-team contract. Earlier this year, Akinmboni was sold to the Premier League side Bournemouthgiving Rooney’s eye for quality some credence and making United a hefty sum in the process.
As a coach, Rooney also showed an interest in studying MLS’s complex and often arcane team rules and regulations, something many foreign coaches have had little appetite for. It was an extension, one former United employee said, of his “obsession with football”.
“It never ended,” they added. “You’d see him on his phone or in his office, and he was either watching the game, talking about the game, or studying the game. I don’t know that I’ve ever met anyone who was so deeply addicted to the game itself.”
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Rooney undeniably made DC United more fun to watch. The club never had a particularly clear identity under him, but his focus on agility – tinkering with shape and form from opponent to opponent – made them more manageable than they had been for years. He also regularly used his platform to pressure MLS decision-makers, criticizing officiating, the league’s broadcast deal with Apple and more.
The club were terrible in 2022 and under Rooney’s leadership they managed to improve in 2023. Halfway through the year, Rooney approached United management about a contract extension, as he was clearly keen to stay. United declined then, and eventually outright.
Despite the bright spots, Rooney’s tenure in MLS was ultimately seen as a disappointment. In a league where most teams qualify for the postseason, Rooney was unable to guide DC into the playoffs, the lowest bar for success.
It feels undeniable that part of Rooney’s logic in moving Stateside was to escape the gaze of the press in Britain, where he has been in the spotlight since emerging as a generational playing talent as a teenager. He often spoke of the anonymity of his life in the United States.
“I can go and sit in a coffee shop and have a coffee,” Rooney shared The Athletic 2019. “It’s small things, but it’s a huge difference from what I’ve been used to; without a doubt, it has been nice to be able to do and relax with it.”
Just as he was in Plymouth, Rooney was seen in bars and clubs in DC and on the road from time to time as well. Rooney has since spoken about how he used alcohol as a “release” during his early playing daysbut his presence was rarely seen as a problem during his time in MLS.
Even after his arrest at Dulles International Airport 2018when Rooney walked through a secure airport door and then paid a $25 fine after being arrested for “public intoxication,” fans saw the attacker as “one of us,” going so far as to slap that slogan — and Rooney’s mugshot — on a banner at United’s stadium. At the time, Rooney’s spokesman said the former striker had been “disoriented” because he “took a prescribed amount of sleeping pills mixed with some alcohol consumption” on a flight.
Rooney’s managerial stint with DC United began in July 2022 (Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images)
Against this background, the appointment of Rooney would be seen as a risk by some, despite the elevated profile his name would inevitably bring to a club.
MLS is a unique league, proudly so, and smooth transitions on the coaching side are rare. Gullit, twice named the world’s best player in the 1980s, came in to lead LA Galaxy during the early part of David Beckham’s stay with the team and fared dismally.
Dutchman Frank de Boer, a former defensive star with Barcelona and the Dutch national team, struggled with Atlanta United.
Among high-profile foreign players, only French legend Patrick Vieira has tasted any real success in MLS, a league that in many ways demands more from managers than others. And even Vieira didn’t win anything here with New York City FC.
Patrick Vieira found some success during his time as coach in New York. (Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/AFP via Getty Images)
Rooney was an influential presence for DC United’s players, especially the youngest of them. But like Henry, it sometimes felt like he struggled to grasp the idea that many players in MLS don’t and never would read the game the way he does, let alone perform at the level he did even late in his career. It’s a question that faces many stars-turned-coaches, one that Henry certainly faced in Montreal.
To Rooney’s credit, he has shown a willingness to hone his craft at clubs lacking a bit of glamour. DC certainly isn’t one of MLS’ elite teams and Birmingham, Derby and Plymouth Argyle hardly qualify as sexy bullet points on any resume.
It’s enough to make one wonder if, for example, he could consider taking a job as an assistant; something many coaches do before stepping into a head coaching role, or exploring the possibility of coaching at a second division in the US, something that realistically feels a bit unfathomable.
But who knows?
“It’s never been about the money with Wayne,” said one former DC employee. “It’s always been about the football with him. He could make multiples of what he makes as a coach as a pundit, full-time, but I can’t imagine he doesn’t want to get his hands dirty again.”
Either way, and despite perception, Rooney may find a more difficult path forward in America than he does overseas.
(Top image: MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
