While many have called it and few expected it to go on this long, Wayne Rooney has officially left Plymouth Argyle by mutual consent, after the club endured a 9-game winless streak and has ended 2024 at the bottom of the Championship. Despite having only been appointed in May on a three-year contract, Rooney and his assistant head coach Mike Phelan will immediately vacate the position, leaving first-team coach Nancekivell in charge for their fixture against Bristol City on New Year’s Day. While only 4 points from safety, albeit it with a winless run that stretches back till the 5th November, all eyes are now turned to the next Plymouth manager odds and who the bookies have as the favourite to take the helm at the struggling Pilgrims.
According to BetVictor, at the time of writing, there are five names at the top of the list, but three with a distinct possibility of taking charge, as both Neil Harris and Russell Martin are currently still longshots. In third place, at odds of 8/1 with a £10 bet paying £90 if correct, is Tony Mowbray. Having been at Birmingham City, taking over ironically from Wayne Rooney in January 2024, he ended up departing just a few months later on medical leave, with a bowel cancer diagnosis, where he stated that he wanted to prioritise his family before returning to management. While has had a lot of Championship experience, his ailing health might make him a difficult long-term appointment. In second, at 4/1, where the same £10 wager would return £50, is Ryan Lowe. Having last been the manager of Preston North End from 2021 to August 2024, where he chose to leave the club by mutual consent to pursue other things, he could be a great fit if given the chance, considering his previous role was actually as manager for Plymouth Argyle until December 2021, having overseen promotion from League 2 for them and having left by at his own request and on good term with the club. Finally, in 1st place, is Steven Schumacher at odds of 1/1 where a £10 bet would pay £20. Another former Plymouth Argyle manager from 2021 to 2023 with a strong 53% win rate, who then had a subsequent stint as Stoke City manager from 2023-2024, although dismissed after just 32 games in charge, his relationship with the fans and previous ties to the role before they appointed Wayne Rooney could see him in good stead to take over, especially as he is beloved by many of the Green Army still. While this would be an arduous task to bring them back from bottom of the table, his love for the club could well swing the boat on this occasion.
While this is still an ongoing situation and no appointments have been made as of yet, we expect thenext Plymouth Argyle manager odds to heat up in the coming days as the club looks to recover from a dismal start to the 24/25 season, they are still in the FA Cup 3rd round, where they will face Brentford on the 11th January, so an early announcement of a successor could give them enough time to try buoy the team’s confidence and at least give them a fighting chance of progression. In the meantime, all that is left to do is wait and keep an eye on any updates, but why not check out our other next manager odds at BetVictor, or take a look at all the latest Championship betting odds ahead of the upcoming games as we go into the New Year.
