PNE head to Plymouth Argyle on Saturday afternoon

Preston North End manager Paul Heckingbottom felt Plymouth Argyle was a perfect next step for Wayne Rooney to take.

The England and Manchester United legend was appointed as boss at Home Park, back in May. Five months after his 15-game stint at Birmingham City, Rooney returned to work - for his fourth job as a manager. He started off with Derby County and then moved to D.C. United for 15 months.

Now, Rooney is looking to help Plymouth establish themselves in the Championship - with it their second season back in the division. Argyle sit 21st currently, with 11 points to their name - only two fewer than 16th placed PNE. And, as for Rooney, there is certainly some admiration on the Preston boss’ part.

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“Yeah, he has had a few jobs now and like you say, he doesn’t have to do it,” said Heckingbottom. “It is through him wanting to be successful, but I think it’s a good club for him. I know some people down there as well and the club is run great. Like I say, for him, to go and just focus on the football and the coaching, I think it’s a good fit. And the fact, like you say, that he has not been deterred by any experience he has had; it’s made him more hungry and he’s come back again to try and be successful.”

On the style of Rooney’s teams, Heckingbottom added: “I didn’t see too much at Birmingham, or over in the States. But, Derby and Plymouth, yeah I can see similarities. They had to put some young players in at Derby and went with them and coached them, in a similar shape. I think there are similarities there. But, a season in football is a long time and that was three seasons ago now. He will have learned a lot, and picked up little bits of information from people. So, even if it’s a 4-3-3 and it was a 4-3-3, he probably plays it totally different for certain people.”

Plymouth are down the lower end of the table, but that is certainly not down to their home form. PNE’s next opponents have picked up 10 of their 11 points, on home soil. In the eyes of North End’s manager, those games and performances are the only ones worth taking real notice of, at this stage.

“Certainly, we look at them totally different as a home side,” said Heckingbottom. “If you had a statistical breakdown of their season, you could probably ignore it. You would want a statistical breakdown of their home form and away form. So yeah, everything I have seen of them at home, they are a dangerous side - I think that is the best way to describe it. They have not really changed how they play, home and away, but they are much more dangerous at home.”