Former Birmingham City boss Wayne Rooney is eyeing up a shock next move following his disastrous spell in charge of Birmingham City.
It’s been a whirlwind season for Birmingham City so far.
The club went into this current season with a newfound optimism after a busy summer transfer window under new owner Tom Wagner, and they started the season strongly.
John Eustace had Blues looking like dark horses in the race for top six before he was replace by Rooney; Birmingham City were in 6th at the time of Eustace’s sacking.
The decision shocked the footballing community and many expected the 38-year-old Rooney to struggle after uninspiring management spells with Derby County and D.C. United beforehand.
And he did struggle; in 15 games at the helm Rooney won just twice, with Blues now stranded in 20th place of the table, but looking much more confident under new boss Tony Mowbray.
Rooney though isn’t dwelling on his poor spell with Birmingham City. The Sun report that he now wants to take a management job in Saudi Arabia, following in the footsteps of former England teammate Steven Gerrard.
As per The Sun, an unnamed source close to Rooney had this to say:
“Wayne’s time in charge at Birmingham hasn’t put him off the idea of management. In fact, he believes he learned a lot of skills which he thinks will hold him in good stead in the future.
“Wayne realises he still has a lot to prove, but he believes he has what it takes to be a manager and would love the chance to manage a team in Saudi Arabia.
“He loved his time managing in America and thinks he could transfer a lot of those skills to the Arabian league.”
Roney recently posted pictures of him holidaying in UAE.
Birmingham City spell the last chance for Wayne Rooney
Rooney was very fortunate to land the Birmingham City job.
The club owners may now realise that they made a bold and ultimately very poor decision in handing them the job, although they’ve somewhat redeemed themselves with the Mowbray hire.
Rooney was brought in to bring about that new and exciting style of play and perhaps his only credit from Blues is that he instantly got the team playing higher up the pitch and pressing much more.
But it’s a results business and the results weren’t there for Rooney.
He has a clear philosophy and some clubs might find that philosophy attractive, and some clubs may yet be willing to give Rooney a bit more time and funding to get his ideas across.
Moving out to Saudi Arabia where the league may be a bit less frantic could suit him and if he can impress out there, he might yet start to work his way back to the English game, if not the European game.
But after his spell with Birmingham City, it’s very difficult to see any English club take a chance on Wayne Rooney, at least in the near future.