Former Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney is back in England.
Birmingham City announced the appointment of Rooney as their new head coach on their official website on Monday (Nov. 11). He has signed a three-and-a-half-year contract.
Rooney is an England and Manchester United legend who played for the club for 13 years after donning the shirt in August 2004, and was a key attacker in the Alex Ferguson regime. He scored 253 goals and provided 145 assists in 559 games across all competitions for United during his 13-year career. Rooney won a total of 21 trophies with United.
He also left his mark on the English national team. The England ace scored 53 goals in 120 international matches. That’s more than any other player for England before Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane. Rooney has played in three FIFA World Cups for England.
Rooney, who spent his final years as a player-coach at Derby County in the English second division, became the club’s official manager in January 2021. Despite the sudden start to his managerial career, Rooney did not get off to a good start. Derby were relegated to the Third Division for the 2021/22 season due to financial problems. Rooney parted ways with Derby in June of last year.
Rooney went on to manage DC United in the US Major League Soccer (MLS). DC United was Rooney’s former club from July 2018 to January 2020. Rooney was hired in the middle of the season and the team finished 13th in the Eastern Conference last season. This season, they finished ninth in the league but missed the playoffs in the Final Series.
Rooney parted ways with DC United. Since leaving DC United, Rooney has been linked to the Birmingham job. Transfer market journalist Fabrizio Romano broke the news on social media on Tuesday that Rooney will be Birmingham’s new head coach. Rooney, who left England for the United States last year, has returned to his homeland after more than a year away.
Rooney’s main task as Birmingham’s new manager is to get the team promoted. Birmingham currently sits in sixth place in the Championship. The Championship is a two-tiered division, with the first and second place teams going straight to the EPL, and the 안전놀이터 third through sixth place teams going through a playoff to determine the last team promoted. Birmingham is in 6th place, so they are in a good position to be promoted.
Should Birmingham win promotion, Rooney could become the first manager to end the club’s long run in the second tier. Birmingham spent 12 years in the second tier after being relegated to 18th in the EPL in 2010/11. A promotion this season would be a huge accomplishment for Rooney. It remains to be seen if Rooney is up to the task.