The message from Wayne Rooney to his Derby players trying to pull off arguably the greatest of escapes in the face of extreme adversity is defiant and repeated regularly.
‘He has got into everyone’s heads that there is a chance,’ teenage striker Luke Plange said.
‘He’s always talking to us whether it’s in training or during team meetings, saying that giving up is impossible.
Wayne Rooney has been praised for doing an excellent job in difficult circumstances at Derby
‘That’s in the back of everyone’s minds during games now and everyone is putting in everything they’ve got.
‘Everyone knows it’s going to be extremely hard to do but there is always a chance we can pull it off and probably go down as one of the biggest things to happen in the Championship because of the amount of points deducted [21] and everything that’s gone on with the club recently. It would be a major achievement.’
If there is one man who needs no reminding about how quickly fortunes can change in football it is Plange.
In January last year Arsenal decided they were not going to offer professional terms to Plange, the news broken to him via a Zoom meeting in a sign of the times.
The Championship club have been deducted 21 points are set to run out of money in days
The club was a founder member of the Football League, but now feels abandoned by the EFL
The club received a formal bid of £28m from private investment firm Carlisle Capital on Friday
But by the end of 2021 Plange, previously struggling for minutes with Arsenal’s under-18s, was playing and scoring for Derby in the Championship.
The speed of his turnaround from leaving Arsenal to leading the line for Derby is one that sparked questions about the north Londoners’ judgment but Plange, 19, also welcomed the fresh challenge.
‘It wasn’t going the greatest at Arsenal,’ admitted Plange, who first joined Arsenal aged six. ‘I wasn’t getting the game time and knew I needed a change as well. I wanted to be seen and make an impact.
‘They said they don’t feel like you have a place, you’ve been here for a long time and didn’t think I’d be getting the time I wanted in the next years coming into the under-23s.
‘It was a tough one to take but I’d been thinking about it a lot and thought it would be refreshing to have a change of clubs and go to one where they can see my ability just for my ability, not anything else.’
Luke Plange struggled to get meaningful playing time with Arsenal U18 team last season
But the striker has found form at Derby and has been scoring regularly for Rooney’s side
Plange had interest from Newcastle, Everton and QPR among others before he opted for Derby.
‘I didn’t mind going down a bit for more opportunities at a different club,’ he said.
‘Seeing other players playing adult football regularly at a young age gave me an incentive to try and do the same because I want to break through at a younger age.
‘Some of the big stars in football they’ve all been playing first-team football very young which gave them an advantage because they’re used to that type of football at a young age.’
Despite their struggles off the pitch, the Rams are refusing to go down without a fight
Derby have won four of their last five league games and are eight points from safety
Like Rooney, who made his Everton debut at 16, three months before Plange was born.
‘I used to watch him play for Manchester United and he was ridiculous,’ Plange said. ‘One of the best strikers in the world for quite a while and he’s played with all the great players.
‘He really helps me to improve as a striker because he can give me tips to help everything about my game and me progress as a player.
‘That’s definitely going to give me an advantage in games as well. He is helping me with my movement in and around the box, small details that are going to give me a better chance of scoring.’
Rooney made his debut for Everton debut at 16, three months before Plange was born
From the moment he made his debut, Rooney made an instant impact on the Premier League
Plange said he grew up watching Rooney play for Manchester United for a decade
Plange’s goals in Derby’s underage sides helped him catch Rooney’s eye, including a double against Arsenal’s under-23s in November.
‘That was a nice feeling,’ Plange said in an understated fashion, remaining respectful to his former club.
And he got the call for his first-team debut against Bristol City in December before scoring his ‘surreal’ first goal against Blackpool a week later.
Another important strike followed at Stoke and Plange has started Derby’s last five league games.
Plange (centre) is now in the position of learning the tools of the trade from Rooney
They have won four and drawn one in a run which has helped make what looked impossible – Derby surviving – become very possible.
Plange has had little chance to take all that is happening in – the scale of what he could be involved in with Derby or how different his career looks now.
‘I went straight back home to London after that game [against Blackpool] and sat down with my family,’ he said.
‘We were talking about going from Arsenal, then all the steps that I had taken to get into the first team and scoring that goal.
‘My dad was definitely pleased with everything but the mindset, his mindset as well, is just to get on, keep doing it and being consistent throughout because people forget about you after a couple of games if you don’t keep performing.
‘There is a big hurdle for us to get over and one game is not going to do it. I had to think about what I was going to do in the next game and try and keep doing what I can for the team until the season is over.
‘It was just a short period of thinking about it [scoring] and be ready to crack on again.’
The Plange approach is one seemingly shared throughout Derby’s squad. And, with it, Rooney is right – Derby do have a chance.