Wayne Rooney’s tenure at Birmingham City has gotten off to a disastrous start as the Blues have lost two consecutive games in the Championship, failing to score a goal in either.
The Manchester United legend’s appointment at St. Andrew’s didn’t come without controversy. Former manager John Eustace had guided the side to sixth in the table and his final game in charge was an emphatic 3-1 win over rivals West Bromwich Albion in the West Midlands Derby.
However, over two weeks ago, it was announced that Eustace and Birmingham City had parted ways and that ex-Derby County boss Rooney would be his successor in the dugout.
Rooney needed to pick up points quickly in order to appease a disgruntled fanbase but a 1-0 defeat away at Middlesbrough at the weekend and a 2-0 loss to Hull City at home last night has piled pressure on early doors.
In fact, there were boos directed at the new head coach following yesterday’s result. The Athletic even reported that one fan shouted ‘f**k off back to America’ at the 38-year-old.
Fixtures don’t get any easier either for Birmingham City who face Southampton, Ipswich Town and Sunderland over the course of their next three matches in the Championship.
Pundit and former Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan believes that this appointment will ‘end badly’ for Rooney and even compared the situation to Steven Gerrard’s arrival at Aston Villa two years ago.
Speaking on talkSPORT on Thursday morning, Jordan said [quotes via Birmingham Live]:
“Do I think this is going to be a troubled project? I think it has in the same way I’d looked at Gerrard going to Villa and said to myself and said on air, I think this is gonna end badly and it did,”
“I don’t have high optimism for Wayne Rooney’s successes at Birmingham. Not because I dislike Wayne, not because I have an agenda against Birmingham, but because I think if it ain’t broke, why fix it?
“They were going in the right direction. Danny [Murphy] made a point yesterday, and I don’t know how relevant it is. Only Birmingham fans can attest to it, but actually, there was a reaction to the nature of football being played well. You heard that reaction last night because they got beat.
“Were the Birmingham fans complaining about the way John Eustace’s pragmatic brand of football was delivering a slightly, you know, uninspiring outcome? Or were they happy being sixth in the league when they sacked their manager.”
Writer’s View
It’s still far too early to tell whether Rooney will be a success at Birmingham City or not. While results haven’t gone how he’d hoped, there is still a lot of football left to be played in the season.
The Blues’ owners will have expected the hostility from the fans and certainly won’t be looking to make any rash decisions any time soon.
