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Birmingham sack Wayne Rooney as he calls out ‘unacceptable’ chants in defeat at Leeds

Birmingham City have decided to sack Wayne Rooney as he calls out ‘unacceptable’ chants in the 3-0 defeat at Leeds United on New Year’s Day.

Rooney’s side fell to a 3-0 defeat thanks to goals from Patrick Bamford, Dan James and Crysencio Summerville.

In the Championship fixture, a number of chants were directed at Rooney, with his final game in charge seeing him suffer his 9th defeat in 15 matches, seeing his side go from 6th down to 20th in the table.

SEE MORE: Wayne Rooney makes dig at Birmingham’s owners in his statement just minutes after being sacked

CLUB STATEMENT:

Birmingham City has today parted company with Manager, Wayne Rooney, and First Team Coach, Carl Robinson.

Despite their best efforts, results have not met the expectations that were made clear at the outset. Therefore, the Board feels that a change in management is in the best interests of the Football Club.

The Club’s Board and management are fully aligned and will continue to drive transformation and take bold steps to rebuild Birmingham City into the organisation its fans and community deserve.

The Board would like to place on record their sincere thanks to Wayne and Carl for all of their efforts.

Chief Executive Officer, Garry Cook, commented: “We are committed to doing what is necessary to bring success to St. Andrew’s.

“Unfortunately, Wayne’s time with us did not go as planned and we have decided to move in a different direction.

“The search for a successor begins with immediate effect and we will update supporters when we have further news.”

Professional Development Coach, Steve Spooner, will assume responsibility for Men’s First Team matters on an interim basis. The remaining coaching staff will be required to continue with their duties to assist Spooner.

No further comment will be made at this time.

FAVOURITES TO BECOME NEW BIRMINGHAM MANAGER

Sky Bet – 2nd Jan 2024 – 11am
Jesse Marsch – 6/1
Scott Parker – 7/1
Will Still – 8/1
Lee Carsley – 9/1
Steve Cooper – 9/1
Anthony Barry – 10/1
Nathan Jones – 10/1
Frank Lampard – 12/1
Paul Heckingbottom – 14/1

Sky Bet – 2nd Jan 2024 – 1:30pm
Steve Cooper – 2/5
Tony Mowbray – 5/1
Gary Rowett – 7/1
Jesse Marsch – 7/1
John Eustace – 10/1
Frank Lampard – 12/1
Graham Potter – 14/1
Lee Carsley – 14/1
Paul Heckingbottom – 14/1
Neil Warnock – 16/1

The travelling away fans aimed chants at Rooney, with calling out one particular song he didn’t approve of.

Leeds Live writer Beren Cross said in a tweet: “Rooney on today’s chants. “Only chant I did not appreciate was the Jimmy Saville one. Didn’t feel that was acceptable.”

However, Cross adds: “As many fans are pointing out, hard to recall any Saville chants from the home support today.”

There were also chants of ‘Rooney, Rooney time to go’ as well as ‘sacked in the morning’, ‘Three-nil and it’s Rooney’s fault’ and ‘Wayne Rooney he’s sending you down’.

It’s reported that John Eustace would be open to returning to Birmingham, but do those at the top of the club want to bring him back?

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Goals from Patrick Bamford, Dan James and Crysencio Summerville saw Daniel Farke’s men produce a routine victory to keep up the pressure on Southampton, Ipswich and Leicester above them.

Speaking to BluesTV post-match, Rooney gave his verdict: “It was always going to be a difficult game, we knew that, but I felt for 30 minutes until they scored the goal, the game plan we had set out was working.

“We were creating chances, causing them problems on the break and then we concede a real poor goal. We have three centre-halves on the pitch and Bamford is free in the six-yard box.

“That changes the game and then they get the second goal. We knew it was going to be a battle. We come out in the second-half and try to be in the game but concede the third, so I am, obviously, really disappointed.

“We all have to look at ourselves, not just myself. As a group, we all need to look at ourselves and do everything that we can to get through this.”

Rooney as per Sky Sports: “We’ve got a very young squad and it’s difficult for the players as well. The second half wasn’t good enough, but we have to keep fighting.

“It was not the result we wanted. We knew it was going to be a tough game here.

“Until they scored the first goal, I thought we played well. The first goal makes a big difference to the game.

“You can’t leave Bamford free in the six-yard box because he will punish you. After they scored the second, I felt if we got the next goal we could get back in the game.”

Leeds’ Daniel Farke: “When you head into the fourth game in 10 days on the back of back-to-back defeats, the confidence level you could feel was low in the first 20 minutes.

“We needed to dig in and get the opening goal. Then we controlled the game and didn’t allow them to have chances.

“It was a really good performance. A big win today to return to the dressing room with a clean sheet.

“I’m delighted for Patrick. He has had a really difficult time. He had a pretty good pre-season then a long-term injury, he was eight weeks out.

“There was a period where he lost his confidence, but I had a good feeling about today from his performances in training.”

This is how fans reacted as Birmingham sack Wayne Rooney after just 15 games in charge, and he calls out ‘unacceptable’ chants in the latest defeat, a 3-0 loss at Leeds on New Year’s Day…

@TheVillaPolls: Such a sad day, we won’t forget your work agent Rooney

@Genie_93: 13 weeks you took us from 5th to 20th. If we never had a manager during that period, we would still be better off

@LukeForward95: It’s a shame it couldn’t work out. However sacking a manager when you’re 6th in the table, bringing in a manager who has no success anywhere, with a tactic and style of play not suited to players was never ever going to work. Owners have to get the next manager right. #bcfc

@curran_steve: All jokes aside, I would be fuming if I was a #bcfc fan!! Not at this sacking, but at Eustace’s sacking and Rooney’s appointment in the first place…was such a bizarre thing to do given how they were going at the time!!

@discoDA1875: Hopefully some of the lazy bastards will get off there backsides and turn up for matches now Rooney has gone. No excuses #bcfc

@ANT_LCFC: Awful appointment from day 1

@MattH1874: If only every single person in football had warned their new owners about the reality of this appointment… They wanted all eyes on Birmingham City… They got it. Oops.

@SouthBrumBlue: A massive learning curve for the club, think a lot of fans want Cooper/Hassenhult although maybe slightly unrealistic. I think these owners have the capability and ambition to attract them or others with similar ilk, Up the blues, time for the project to really start #bcfc

@daz_atkinson: Not surprised, didn’t connect with the fans from day 1 & tried to change things too quickly. In any level of management you don’t hammer your staff and expect them to work hard for you, football is no different. Let’s hope the board already have a plan. #BCFC #KRO

@Keith83g: As a blues fan I think lots of other blues fans need to be realistic, keep shouting for cooper, potter etc they ain’t coming to blues! Clearly it wasn’t working and I was all for giving Rooney the chance but we were running out of time. Not many available now though! #BCFC #KRO

@jbablues: #BCFC lesson for our new owners. You do not replace a manager when you are in 6th place no matter who you have lined up. We did this with Zola under old regime and now again. Its stupid. Splits the fans and again it has gone sour. Forget style of play clap trap lets just get up.

@MikeJabBCFC: Graham Potter or Steve Cooper are probably out of our reach but who we should be looking at

@TweetyPie100: Great to hear the owners have made the right decision, it had to be done as Blues were in freefall. And the fans had turned against Rooney so no way back. Onwards and upwards now hopefully #bcfc #KRO

@Jamief_12: How can every man and their dog see sacking Eustace at the time in its self was a bad idea, but also to replace him with Rooney were two of the worst decisions we’ve ever seen, yet the owner of the football club couldn’t?

@LeeAHinton95: It’s a shame, I’d have loved it to work out. Always had massive respect for Rooney as a player. Unfortunately it hasn’t worked, performances regressed and there was never a sight of it turning around. Change had to happen. Next appointment now massive #bcfc

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