Journalist Alex Dicken has revealed who he thinks would be the ‘dream’ appointment for Birmingham City.
Birmingham City sacked Wayne Rooney earlier this week, and have since been linked with a number of potential new bosses.
Ralph Hasenhuttl and Lee Carsley are among the names being linked, along with the likes of former Premier League bosses Jesse Marsch and Paul Heckingbottom.
Another name doing the rounds is former Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cooper.
The 44-year-old Welshman was sacked by Nottingham Forest last month, after guiding them to promotion from the Championship in 2022 and then to Premier League safety last season.
Alex Dicken says Steve Cooper is the ‘dream’ for Blues
Speaking in a recent episode of the KRO podcast, Birmingham Live journalist Alex Dicken said of Cooper’s Birmingham City links:
“He is the absolute dream, isn’t he? But the fear there is that he’s probably a Premier League manager in waiting. He’s been heavily linked with Crystal Palace. Blues would really have a job to tempt him back down to the Championship.”
Roy Hodgson is currently in charge of Crystal Palace but recent reports have revealed that the Eagles are trying to close in on a deal for Cooper to become their next boss in the summer.
Cooper to Birmingham City is ambitious, but overly so
We can’t deny that the Birmingham City owners aren’t ambitious.
They sacked John Eustace and hired Rooney to bring about a new culture and a new philosophy, and whilst Rooney made definite changes to the style and whatnot, his changes proved ineffective.
Expect the club to continue their quest for that ‘no fear’ football that we’ve heard so much in the past few months, and expect the club to want to hire another big name coach, like Cooper for example.
But the board will hopefully have learned their lesson; big name players doesn’t necessarily mean big name coaches.
Cooper is a big name coach after his miraculous promotion with Nottingham Forest a couple of seasons ago, but like Dicken says, he may be a step up from the Championship.
Still, it’s an ambitious link and it would be an amazing appointment if Blues pulled it off, though it certainly seems unlikely at this moment in time, especially given Cooper’s Palace links.
Hasenhuttl may also be in the same category here, making the likes of Carsley, Heckingbottom, and maybe Marsh more realistic candidates right now.
Blues are back in action this weekend when they face Hull City in the FA Cup.