Wayne Rooney Has Gone. How Did This Happen & Where Do We Go Next?
Wayne Rooney has been sacked by Birmingham City after less than three months in charge. What went wrong?
Less than three months after replacing John Eustace, Wayne Rooney has been ousted from his post as Birmingham City manager.
He oversaw fifteen matches, winning two and losing nine. His team scored fifteen goals and conceded thirty. The ten points accrued is the worst in the Championship during that period.
The performances hadn’t been much better, his side regressing in a number of key statistics compared to the early part of the campaign, including sizeable differences in expected goals and big chances for and against.
The fan base did their utmost to block out the dissenters and get behind Rooney following early criticism and abuse being caught on camera but were left jeering one of England’s most decorated footballers as patience finally ran out.
This was supposed to be a “defining moment for the football club” yet it finds itself in an all too familiar position.
How did this all go so wrong, so quickly?
Rooney could scarcely have asked for five tougher fixtures to open up his reign as manager yet after deserved defeats against Middlesbrough and Hull City, the 38-year-old stated:
It took two games for this to already feel like the beginning of the end.
By the time Rotherham United had rolled around on matchday eight, we had heard numerous reasons for poor performances, including fitness levels, the players being used to a different style, defenders not defending the box well enough, players needing to be more comforts with the ball and stopping goals going in, that they were too used to “snot and guts “football” and had poor concentration, lacked leadership, made silly errors and had poor game management.
And his post-match comments following the goalless draw with the Millers were brutal. He stated the players need to “grow a pair of balls”, that they become “a different player and person” from training pitch to matchday and that players know what he expects and “if they are not doing it, they won’t play. And by not playing, they won’t be at this football club. We will get different players in”.
It’s a familiar tale at St.Andrews. Harry Redknapp, Steve Cotterill, Aitor Karanka and Lee Bowyer have all stood in front of the camera and claimed the players aren’t good enough and blamed various other factors for their sides failing to perform. It has never ended well. In fact, it rarely ends well anywhere and certainly didn’t here.
It has led to a lot of debate.
Is Rooney right about the players? Should he have been given time to overhaul the squad with stronger personalities? Or was he simply not very good at his job?
As is almost always the case, the answers lie somewhere in-between the hyperbole.
The dressing room at Blues has been a contentious issue amongst the fan base for some time.
The way many faltered after being taken out of their comfort zone by Gianfranco Zola. Rumours of training ground scrapes under Harry Redknapp and Steve Cotterill. The major downturn in performance under Pep Clotet. The infamous shrug post-Aitor Karanka. The drop off under Lee Bowyer. Now this.
I’ve no doubt it has been a difficult dressing room to manage over the years and in a difficult environment too.
The club has lacked any kind of stability or identity with the club constantly changing direction under the old ownership yet never updating and improving outdated facilities that were falling behind what others were providing to their players. There were constant shifts in management and transfer strategies. All the while, a core of players had been signed on big money contracts and long-term deals making true change difficult. And these weren’t young, impressionable footballers for the most part that could be adapted and moulded but often experienced professionals.
The dressing room hasn’t helped itself over the years. The drive to be consistent, even under managers that did get the team performing and in a better place, wasn’t there. They always did just enough to get by and the vibe was “complain not fix”.
One of the major positives of the John Eustace reign was that he got a handle on this. He, along with his coaching staff and dressing room leaders such as Troy Deeney and George Friend, devised plans to improve things. That included doing more community work. Shutting off doors so players couldn’t sneak in without saying hello to people. Putting a fines system in place so that players were punished for indiscretions such as being late. Raising standards on the training ground. Keeping everything in house to avoid leaks and other things undermining what was always going to be a tough campaign.
It worked. The team survived a relegation many predicted and also showed a togetherness to come out of a tough situation post-Christmas – it has been rare for a manager to turn things around for the better over the last decade. Garry Monk managed it, turning a five-game losing streak into a seven-match unbeaten run. Otherwise, managerial change has been required to pull us out of a rut.
A raft of new players joined the club in the summer and with it, a new leadership structure formed headed by Lukas Jutkiewicz and Dion Sanderson while John Ruddy and Kevin Long’s experience became key behind the scenes.
Jutkiewicz is a key name here. My tweet the other day was unnecessarily sarcastic in response to concerns around the dressing room but the point stands that he’s the longest serving member of this squad yet Wayne Rooney publicly praised him more than once for his leadership. Marc Roberts stepped back into the fray due to injuries and did okay. Neil Etheridge has not kicked up a fuss while not playing and appears to have a good relationship with John Ruddy. Ivan Sunjic’s work ethic has never been in doubt and he was brought back into the team by Rooney.
That leaves Gary Gardner, the brother of our Technical Director Craig Gardner, and Scott Hogan, who has barely kicked a ball over the last couple of months, as players that have been at the club since before Gardner took up his current post and responsibility for incomings.
We also started quick in a number of matches. Not just Ipswich and Plymouth but Hull, Cardiff, Leicester, Rotherham and Stoke. It may not have lasted all that long but the players certainly came out of the blocks with an intent to do the right things. The issues often came either once the game settled down or we had conceded and belief was sapped.
What I’m saying is – the idea that these players just decided to down tools and get another manager the sack is folly. The players signed under previous ownership didn’t. The players signed under this ownership didn’t.
I don’t necessarily think Rooney is wrong about the mentality of the dressing room, however.
Every Birmingham City manager in recent years has identified the cultural problems at the club. The problem is that too many have failed to take responsibility for changing it and those that have were removed before they could make lasting change.
This is a cultural issue that involves the whole club and isn’t the type of thing you can rectify instantly by chucking money at it. The club have been in the doldrums for a long time. Players have signed with big reputations or from clubs on an upwards trajectory and struggled to change the narrative. The same goes for managers. The fans and staff feel it. We’re used to losing and used to being in a rut.
Blues’ survival last season and positive start this campaign came as a result of fast starts and a need to re-organise after. We had an excellent record in the first 15 minutes of matches but a dreadful one between 16 and 30 minutes. The win against West Brom prior to the managerial change was the first time we had come behind to win a football match in far too long.
To change the culture, you need an element of patience, guidance, communication and belief. Consistent messages. You do it once and then do it again and it slowly becomes a theme. Players stop panicking. Fans stop panicking. Everybody begins to believe and the club start to step forward, taking on each new challenge as it comes rather than reverting to type.
I can’t speak for on-goings behind the scenes.
The Athletic are reporting that Wayne Rooney largely observed training sessions with his trusted assistant Carl Robinson and ex-Man United team mate John O’Shea leading them while Ashley Cole took charge of set-pieces. There have been suggestions that Rooney had more involvement as the weeks went by.
Whatever was happening, it was confusing for fans and apparently players too.
We started against Middlesbrough in an open 2-3-5 shape with full-backs high up the pitch while central midfielders Gary Gardner and Ivan Sunjic showed in wider positions to take the ball. We swapped that up for Hull City with a lot of rotation going on, full-backs sometimes coming narrow and sometimes wide, Koji Miyoshi and Juninho Bacuna rotating between being high and central or deep and showing while the wingers would drift inside or stretch play depending on where the full-backs were.
Both games were interesting watches tactically but riddled with errors. Rather than back his plan and his principles, Rooney abandoned it in favour for something new.
We played a 4-5-1 against Southampton and were picked off time and again with the straight line midfield neither protective of the back four or supportive of the lone striker. Change followed for Ipswich and Sunderland where we played 4-4-2 and tried to press high up the pitch to mixed success.
We were tasked with having more of the ball against Sheffield Wednesday and Rotherham United but struggled, those games coming either side of being blitzed by Blackburn Rovers early in both halves as they showcased a lot of what we want to become.
Chopping and changing continued. We switched between 4-4-2 and 4-5-1. Stansfield played wide left in one game with Dembele up top. Bacuna and Dembele switched wings with Oli Burke dropped. The straight line midfield returned but was buried in brutal fashion more than once. Our manager tried to prove to everybody that the players could play on the deck but bemoaned his side trying to do it post-match after one game.
Blues’ style and plan of attack was changing all too regularly after conceding nine goals in three matches, Rooney moved to an overly defensive 4-4-2 shape vs Bristol City which later became 4-1-4-1 as we did what we could to hold onto a clean sheet, mustering just three touches in the opposition box in the second half.
And then came Leeds, a full summary of our problems. We changed shape, this time to a 5-2-1-2 shape and were sitting ducks for much of it, conceding another three goals. Erratic defending and comical mishaps were expected at this point but confidence and decision making with the ball had gone. Players were isolated or getting in each other’s way. Players seemed unsure of their next run or pass. We looked poorly coached. We looked fearful.
Our resident stats man @blues_breakdown provided a rundown of the numbers which showed that while we had won possession a few more times in the attacking third, our attacking and defensive output had decreased considerably – especially the latter. It was hard to find the positives beyond Jordan James getting regular game time and Romelle Donovan stepping into the fray.
Is it all Wayne Rooney’s fault? It can’t be.
There are definitely things he has to take responsibility on.
It felt like he was ill-equipped and/or ill-prepared for the job he had agreed to take on. He and his coaching staff appeared to lack conviction and clarity in what they expected. He was happy to play up to the buzzwords upon his announcement and come down on the style of his predecessor which only raised expectations. He caused splits in the fanbase akin to Lee Bowyer with his thoughts on the playing squad.
However, Rooney is still relatively new to the management game. Garry Cook has been involved at the top of football clubs and big businesses for a long time. He ought to have shown far better management of the situation and what ultimately unfolded. And you wonder how Craig Gardner reacted to all this having been part of or overseen such an unstable club for so long – did he foresee any of this happening?
There’s rarely a perfect moment to pull the plug on a manager in search of new ideas or a new way of playing but you hope that when it happens, the club is well set to push forward. Do we have the recruitment team in place to make it happen? The facilities? A squad showing signs that it’s ready for the next step? The right decision makers in all departments to help make it work on a structural level? The right manager/head coach to lead it?
The plan since the summer has always been to play a “better” brand of football and compete towards the higher end of the Championship so you have to question how we ended up with John Ruddy, Kevin Long and Dion Sanderson as our core defensive unit when their talents are better served in a more simplified version of the game. You also wonder what data is being used to make decisions to enhance our fortunes on the field when you consider we’ve given a four year deal to a player that has never played more than 2000 minutes in a season, signed Oliver Burke on loan and appointed Wayne Rooney.
This isn’t me suggesting people need to leave. I’m just having a hard time understanding how and why decisions were made with the betterment of the football club and its team in mind. It’s hard not to have a cynical view on some of the decisions made.
The club have otherwise got everything right so far and we have to put this down to a well publicised error of judgement and anticipate that the club learn and get the next appointment right.
So where do we go from here?
We’re now in the January transfer window while also looking to appoint a new manager. That’s a tricky balance.
As a modern day football club, we should be in a position to enhance the squad without requiring the say so of the manager or head coach. Gardner and Frank McParland ran recruitment in the summer and they should have a strong idea of what the squad needs to move forward with their vision regardless of who takes the job. Targets should already be in place and sought after.
And as a modern day football club, we should probably have a manager in mind that fits the identity and culture of what our CEO and directors want to see.
However, we’re not close to having all that formalised. We’re potentially having to sell Jordan James in order to raise funds against FFP. We could be losing our most talented striking option in Jay Stansfield. A lot of the business we have planned could depend on what we can offload.
That makes the managerial appointment all the more important.
Birmingham City aren’t bringing in a Head Coach that further enhances what we’ve already built. We’re bringing in somebody that needs to manage all the moving parts, find structure and give us a base from which to build upon as a team and as a club.
As well as that, we need to find somebody that can bring unity back around the place and get everybody pulling in the same direction, bringing some belief back to players and fans alike that we’ve made the right decision. And I think that can be done while also sticking the ideas that were put forward in the announcement of Rooney. The ideas weren’t the problem but the implementation of it.
I’m not going to pretend I know every out of work manager and how their strengths as people, as managers, as tacticians and everything else works in relation to the job at hand. That’s for the club to decide, ultimately, and you have to hope they don’t make the same mistake twice.
Excellent insightful article Ryan
Brilliant piece! Once again Ryan 👏