Wayne Rooney was told in a phone call from Andrew Parkinson, Plymouth Argyle’s chief executive, late on Monday night that his time at the club was over. In truth, though, the message had been more forcibly conveyed by the club’s travelling fans at Oxford United 24 hours previously.

Less than 250 days after being appointed as the new manager of Plymouth Argyle, Wayne Rooney has departed by mutual consent, the club announced. He leaves a club sitting at the bottom of the Championship after conceding a league-high 51 goals while also scoring the joint-fewest goals with 22.