Championship side Birmingham City have now officially confirmed the appointment of former England captain Wayne Rooney as their new manager.
The 37-year-old will be joined by his former England teammate, Ashley Cole, and former Manchester United teammate, John O’Shea, on his coaching staff which will also include Carl Robinson and Pete Shuttleworth, who have previously worked with Rooney. Former City goalkeeper, Maik Taylor, remains in place as the first-team goalkeeping coach.
The second city club parted company with John Eustace on Monday, despite back-to-back victories before the October international break meaning that the club are currently sitting sixth and in the playoff places in England’s second-tier.
The ownership model at the club changed over the summer with the previous Chinese ownership group, Birmingham Sports Holdings, having their share in the club diluted with American group, Shelby Companies Ltd, now owning 46.64% of the club, installing Tom Wagner as chairman with NFL legend Tom Brady on the board.
Rooney began his professional playing career at just 16 with Everton. He went on to score 313 goals in 763 appearances for The Toffees in two stints, Manchester United, Derby County and DC United. He is Manchester United’s leading scorer of all time and was England’s top scorer until Harry Kane recently broke that record.
He won five Premier League titles, one FA Cup, three EFL Cups, four Community Shields, the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and FIFA Club World Cup as a player.
He took charge of Derby County as player-manager in 2020 and initially kept them up despite off-field turmoil. However, The Rams were relegated in 2022 after hefty points deductions and Rooney’s squad being gutted but he still performed well in charge. At DC, they failed to make the Eastern Conference playoffs in Major League Soccer this season and he departed the club with a 26.4% win rate.
Rooney’s first game in charge of Birmingham will see him face former Manchester United and England teammate, Michael Carrick, as The Blues travel to The Riverside to face Middlesbrough after the international break.
