Wayne Rooney aims cheeky dig at Gary Neville in his first news conference as Plymouth head coach

Wayne Rooney couldn't resist a cheeky dig at his former Manchester United teammate Gary Neville in his first press conference at Plymouth Argyle ahead of the new season.

Rooney was announced as the new head coach of the Championship club back in May, the former England captain signing a three-year deal at Home Park.

It's a swift return to management for Rooney, who was sacked as Birmingham manager midway through last season after a disastrous 83-day reign at the club.

Rooney lost nine of his 15 league matches in charge of Birmingham, who were eventually relegated to League One on the final day of the season – with Plymouth avoiding the drop at the Blues’ expense after finishing in 21st place.

Rooney spent part of the summer on punditry duty for the BBC at Euro 2024 before departing after the group stage to take up his role at Plymouth.

On Thursday, he held his first press conference as head coach ahead of the new season.

After being asked why he gave up his punditry role for a return to management in the second tier, Rooney told reporters: "I don't want to be the next Gary Neville!"

Former United captain Neville had a brief spell in management after retirement, taking charge of Spanish club Valencia during ill-fated spell in 2015 and 2016.

Neville was sacked just four months into his reign after managing just three wins from 16 league matches.

Rooney and Neville played together for Manchester United and England (Image: Getty)

Speaking in 2022, Neville said he would never return to management after his nightmare spell in Spain.

Speaking on Sky Sports' The Overlap, Neville said: "I didn't want to be a manager. I should have said no, it wasn't for me and I wasn't experienced enough.

"You [Roy Keane] get p***** off all the time about people getting jobs and they don't deserve it.

"I didn't deserve that job. It's one of the biggest clubs in Spain. Didn't speak the language, didn't have the knowledge of the league and didn't have the knowledge of that sort of culture or anything."