Wayne Rooney is now the man in charge at Birmingham City, having become the club’s 11th manager in as many years last month.
The legendary former England and Manchester United striker replaced the well-liked John Eustace, but after five games at the helm, Rooney is winless.
His Blues side have lost four of those five and have sunk down into 18th place of the Championship table, with Rooney having took charge with the club in 6th.
It’s a testing time for Birmingham City fans who largely didn’t want to see Eustace replaced.
But how does Rooney’s tenure compare to some of his recent predecessors?
How does Rooney’s Birmingham City start compare?
It’s no secret that Blues have had a tough modern history.
They’re in their 13th consecutive season in the Championship now and only once have they achieved a top six finish.
They’ve not finished higher than 17th in any of the past seven seasons either, with Blues hiring and firing some very poor managers in that time.
But the manager with the lowest win percentage in that time is Aitor Karanka.
The Spaniard looked like a solid appointment but he inevitably failed, and miserably so. He won just eight of his 38 total games in charge, but in his first games in all competitions, Karanka won one and drew three more, losing just one.
Karanka’s woeful reign succeeded another unsuccessful Spaniard in Pep Clotet.
He too looked like a pretty exciting appointment, but he too eventually failed. But in his first five games in charge, Clotet took two wins, a draw, and two defeats.
And then Lee Bowyer who came in after Karanka; of all the modern Blues managers, he perhaps had the most immediate impact having won three and drawn one of his opening five games, though he too would eventually fail to drag Birmingham City up the Championship table.
Rooney’s opening five games then certainly rank among the lowest of most Birmingham City bosses.
Many have compared his appointment and his tenure so far to that of Gianfranco Zola who was manager from 2016 to 2017, overseeing 24 total games and winning just two.
But even he had a better record than Rooney after five games; the Italian drew two of his opening five, losing the other three.
Time running out for Rooney?
The Zola comparison is an interesting one.
Although it’s different ownership to then, Zola was given enough time, and fans may fear that Rooney is given the same amount of time and that Blues could go winless for a while yet.
It’s a big change in mentality from Eustace and so far, fans haven’t seen any improvements.
It was certainly a bold decision to replace Eustace with Rooney but the board have a clear idea of what they want the team to be like, so expect them to stick to their guns for a while longer.
The January transfer widow could be crucial in deciding Rooney’s fate; if he’s given resources to really put his print on the side, and it fails to work out, then he could be in hot water.
But it could work out and Rooney could go on to deliver what the board wants.
Up next is a home game vs bottom club Sheffield Wednesday.