Birmingham player reveals what Wayne Rooney is really like as a manager after nightmare spell at club

Birmingham goalkeeper John Ruddy has revealed what Wayne Rooney is really like as a manager after working under him at St Andrew's.

Rooney was appointed as the new manager of Championship side Plymouth Argyle last month.

He came up against the Devonshire club last season as manager of Birmingham, who sacked him in January after winning only two of his 15 matches in charge.

Rooney's attempts to introduce a new style of play at St Andrew's ultimately failed, and Blues fans chanted for him to leave the club during his final game in charge - a 3-0 away defeat at Leeds.

Birmingham subsequently had a brief revival under new boss Tony Mowbray, who then took formal medical leave and stepped back from his role in February.

The Blues' ownership then took a month to formally replace Mowbray after initially placing his assistant Mark Venus in temporary charge, eventually bringing back former manager Gary Rowett on an interim basis.

Rowett didn't have enough time to save the club from relegation to League One, despite winning three and drawing two of his eight games in charge.

For Rooney, his appointment at Argyle could herald a new dawn for the England legend, given the attacking style of play preferred by former boss Steven Schumacher.

Blues goalkeeper Ruddy, meanwhile, has now joined Ben Foster's Fozcast to look back on Birmingham's season - including Rooney's three-month spell in charge.

In doing so, he revealed exactly what Rooney is like as a manager from a dressing room perspective.

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He explained: "Wayne came in and tried to implement a style of play which was more possession-based, more building from the back, with the same players [as previous boss John Eustace had].

"He was always on the pitch - he was more of an overseer.

"I felt like I got on well with him, I had a couple of nice conversations with him. He made it clear he wants to be a manager, not a coach.

"He's not going to be the one setting up the sessions and delivering sessions all the time - he has his backroom staff for that. But he'd dip in and out during the sessions.

"You forget how good a player he was. We're on the training pitch and he's saying, 'No lads, I want you to do this'. And he'd take a touch and pick this ball over the top, inch-perfect. You're going, 'Yeah, that's the level you're used to. We're not quite there'.

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"His footballing brain is so advanced because of how he was as a player. It's trying to get that dynamic, when you're someone like Wayne Rooney, that you're not dealing with a team of Wayne Rooneys."

Ruddy continued: "When he stepped into management, he made sure he was more conscious and concise with the way he spoke to people, with the way he delivered information.

"There were a couple of times when I thought he could have, or should have, lost his head. But he tried to remain calm and stay true to that demeanour that he wants to stay true to as a manager."