Championship strugglers Birmingham City are 'considering' replacing Wayne Rooney and have already identified a potential replacement, according to reports.
Rooney was brought in to replace John Eustace at the start of October – a decision that was met with plenty of intrigue.
Eustace guided the Blues to sixth in the Championship after they recorded five wins from their opening 11 games, but his 15-month spell in charge came to an abrupt end.
Two days later, Rooney was named Birmingham's new manager on a three-and-a-half-year deal and he vowed to "elevate" the club following his much-talked-about appointment.
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“I have a clear way that I want the team to play, and my coaching staff and I will work hard to implement it,” Rooney said. “We will create a winning culture here with an identity that gets Blues fans on their feet."
He added: “My job is to elevate the club to the next level and I can’t wait to get started. I know what the expectations are and our job is to deliver.”
Despite his optimism, Rooney has won just two of his 13 games in charge. In fact, Birmingham currently sit 19th, just seven points above the Championship's relegation zone.
As a result of their poor form, the club have started looking for replacements for Rooney, according to The Mirror.
And another report from The Sun suggests Birmingham are planning an "audacious" swoop to bring in former Nottingham Forest manager Steve Cooper, who is also admired by Crystal Palace.
It must be noted that the Championship club are not expected to sack Rooney in the coming days but the club will act if poor results continue.
“The clock is ticking for Wayne Rooney at Birmingham," the above report says. "If results carry on as they are then a change may have to happen to ensure the club moves back in the right direction."
Rooney's comments after their recent defeat to Stoke City were met with raised eyebrows.
The former Manchester United and Everton forward admitted he could have replaced his whole team at half-time after the 3-1 loss at St Andrew’s.
“Ideally, you wish you could have 11 subs as I could have changed all 11 players at half-time,” he said.
“We just weren’t doing the right things – the basics. It wasn’t lack of effort, that would be unfair to say. It was lack of game knowledge.“
Rooney added: "It’s hard to put into words. I didn’t see that performance coming. I didn’t recognise the team out there on the pitch.“It’s frustrating because over the last few games we’d made some real strides, so this was difficult to take.
“It wasn’t the result, or the performance, or anything we wanted to be honest. It was unrecognisable in the way we played.
“I felt the players didn’t want to take the ball, they didn’t press the way we wanted them to. The goals we conceded were crazy and we didn’t deserve anything out of the game.”
Topics: Wayne Rooney, Birmingham City, EFL Championship
Jack Kenmare