AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ROO
So farewell then, Wayne Rooney. After fewer than three months in the job, Birmingham City have bundled their big-name managerial hire through the Door Marked ‘Roo One’. He won just two of his 15 games in charge, and the writing was plastered across the wall in giant neon letters after the Blues were given a 3-0 chasing at Elland Road on Monday. When Rooney was brought in to replace John Eustace, Birmingham were above Leeds in the table and dreaming of promotion. Now, they are 20 points behind them, and just six above third-from-bottom Sheffield Wednesday. The Owls had two points when Rooney arrived at St Andrew’s on 11 October, but made the bold decision two days later to appoint Danny Röhl, a coach who seemingly knows a bit of what he’s doing.
From fifth place to 20th in 83 days? Someone should have told the former DC United head coach that you can’t tank for draft picks in the Championship. Amirite? No? Not to worry, there’s plenty more riffin’ material to be had – not least this quote from the Blues’ chief suit Garry Cook, when Rooney was hired. “When the opportunity presents itself to appoint a manager who is both a student and a great of the game, then you act,” he whooped. “[It’s] a defining moment for the football club.” When Cook finally levers his foot free from his mouth, he might try to claim he was actually talking about Steve Cooper. The former Forest manager is the early bookies’ favourite to replace Rooney, though whether he will fancy another stint under trigger-happy owners with unrealistic expectations is another matter. Football Daily is holding out hope that the popular Eustace is invited back, and then goes full Ray Patterson on Tom Brady and co at his return presser. The sad truth is he’d probably still be more popular among fans than Rooney, who was even outlasted in the St Andrew’s hot seat by Gianfranco Zola. Oh Wazza!
It’s hard not to feel a bit of sympathy for Rooney; he spent most of his brief tenure clad in baseball cap and giant puffer jacket, as if trying to physically disappear from the touchline. After working through near-impossible circumstances at Derby County and then muddling along in MLS with DC United, Rooney was effectively tasked with changing Birmingham’s playing style, not given the time or resources to do so, and then dumped 36 hours into the transfer window. “Time is the most precious commodity a manager requires, and I do not believe 13 weeks was sufficient to oversee the changes that were needed,” he parped in a statement shortly after his sacking. “I wish Birmingham City FC and its owners my best wishes in the pursuit of their ambitions.” Oooof!
Anyway, the biggest story in sport today is not Rooney’s sacking, but the exploits of Luke Littler, the 36- 16-year-old prodigy who could become world darts champion. It might seem an odd comparison, but there is something about Littler that brings to mind Rooney’s breakthrough. That swaggering giant-manchild confidence, the way he has strutted straight off the playground to fearlessly compete with the world’s best. Rooney is 38 now – still young, especially if you’re a darts player – but looks like a ghost at football’s feast, cap pulled down, never quite in the right spot at the right time. Joining Birmingham was a costly mistake for both parties, but we hope Rooney gets another chance to find his place.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I lost it once and I needed a professional diver because I lost it in the sea. From time to time [it happens] when I lose one or two kilos. I was too lively and I lost it and I had a massive shock. [He] annoyed me quite a few times this season, but now he has a lot of shots free because that was really important” – Jürgen Klopp clearly doesn’t have the same issues as Football Daily does with its post-break spread, after revealing a TV cameraman found the Liverpool manager’s wedding ring after he’d lost it in his post-Liverpool 4-2 Newcastle celebrations, which took the Reds three points clear of Aston Villa at the top.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
Sacking a perfectly competent manager to bring in a big name with a dubious track record who is then sacked mere months later? I doubted him, but Tom Brady has all the qualities essential to haphazard English football club boardrooms. Yours etc” – Darren Leathley.
Re: the Football Daily 2023 awards. Pleased to see how many involved Spurs in one way or another. And people say they never win anything” – Ron Stack.
Despite a couple of half-hearted efforts, 2023 was the first year in 12 that I didn’t have a letter published in Football Daily or its predecessor. I spent my Christmas holiday trying to figure out if it was more pathetic that I was upset about the streak ending or if it was more pathetic that the streak existed?” – R Reisman.
Send your letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … R Reisman.
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