Neil Dewsnip in Plymouth Argyle touchline debut against familiar face Wayne Rooney

Dewsnip and Kevin Nancekivell are taking interim charge of Argyle for the first time against Rooney's Birmingham at Home Park tomorrow

Neil Dewsnip used to coach England legend Wayne Rooney as a young boy in the academy at Everton. Tomorrow the pair will be reunited but in opposite technical areas as Plymouth Argyle take on Birmingham City at Home Park.

Argyle's director of football will take interim charge of the Pilgrims, along with long-serving coach Kevin Nancekivell, for the first time since Steven Schumacher quit to take over at Championship rivals Stoke City. There is a certain irony, therefore, that Dewsnip's debut in the Argyle technical area will come a few yards away from Rooney.

Dewsnip said: "I probably came across Wayne when he was nine, 10 years of age. I worked with not just Wayne but his two younger brothers (Graham and John) as well. I know the family extremely well. He will find it quite amusing that it's going to be me on the touchline I'm sure."

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Rooney was appointed by Birmingham in October as the club's new American owners replaced John Eustace with him even though Blues were sixth in the table at the time.

Birmingham's good start to the season under Eustace had included a 2-1 win against Argyle at St Andrews in August, when Jay Stansfield scored in the fifth minute of added time to clinch the victory.

However, Blues have dropped to 17th position after a run of two wins, two draws and seven defeats under Rooney, and they are level on points with the Pilgrims going into the game in front of yet another Home Park sell-out.

Dewsnip said: "I don't know if he (Rooney) is under pressure, I have no idea about that. I have not really taken too much notice of that. There has been plenty of other things to occupy my mind recently.

"What I know about Wayne is that he's a competitor, he's immensely talented as a footballer - that goes without saying - and he will be trying to be exactly the same in management. So he may have got off to a slow start in terms of results but he will turn that around."

Argyle are 16th in the Championship after their dramatic 3-2 win against bottom-of-the-table Rotherham United at the Theatre of Greens last weekend, and now start a new era in the club's history without Schumacher.

Dewsnip said: "It's a time of change, so it's an opportunity for the players to carry on to achieve the goal of hopefully beating Birmingham on Saturday. If we are to do that we are going to need the support of that massive Green Army.

"I can already see the flags and so on outside. I sense that everybody is up for it, which is great, and we will need all the support we can get, but it's a great opportunity for us."

Dewsnip does not believe the Argyle squad have been distracted by the events off the pitch this week. "They are a pretty special bunch of players," he said. "It is part of the reason why we have done so well over the last few years, and you shouldn't under-estimate the resilience of footballers.

"Within their careers they are going to play for a lot of managers, and I'm sure Steven was very popular. Most managers who are successful are quite popular with the dressing room. There is a kind of logic to that, but they have already moved on.

"Joe Edwards is an absolutely top drawer captain. He has held a players' meeting already, I'm led to believe, where he has talked about how important it is to train properly and to perform well on Saturday in front of the fans, so they are all over it."

As for how the team to play against Birmingham will be picked, Dewsnip explained: "It will be a joint thing (with Nancekivell) but if there are any kind of him or him that will be me."

Dewsnip added: "The players asked me (on Thursday) 'What do we call you?' because there is the kind of thing where they all want to call somebody gaffer. We don't need to do that, just call me Neil.

"I have no intention of being the manager, and I know in the past people will have said that and they don't mean it. Well this person really does mean it.

"But what I do intend to do is to make sure the team is prepared in the manner it has been prepared over the last few years. We will be thorough about our preparation and the detail that goes into a game plan.

"I'm getting battered by the analysts already. It's incredibly impressive how they do it. And we will be ready for not just Birmingham but the other games that are coming up."

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