Wayne Rooney opens up on 'car crash' Birmingham City spell after Tom Brady comments

Wayne Rooney has admitted that his time at Birmingham City was an 'absolute car crash', pinpointing the exact moment he knew that it would not work out at St Andrews. Following the culmination of his playing career, Rooney went into management but found it difficult to replicate his playing successes in the dugout.

Derby County, DC United and Plymouth Argyle all employed Rooney. But it was the former Manchester United, Everton and England striker spell at Birmingham under their American ownership which ended in the worst possible manner.

In just shy of three months, Rooney managed to win only two matches and he was quickly sacked at the beginning of January having not been given the opportunity to sign a single player of his own. In a sit-down interview with former United teammate Rio Ferdinand on his YouTube channel, the 39-year-old admitted that the spell in the West Midlands was particularly bad

"I think I took very difficult jobs," Rooney said. "Obviously, I was at Derby [as a player] and then I went in as manager and then they went in administration.

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"Then I went out to the US and managed DC United, which people actually think and talk about that as if it was a big failure. DC United finished bottom the three seasons before I went in, and then we missed out on playoffs by a point, and then when I left, they went back to the bottom and people don't talk about that.

"Then I went to Birmingham, which was an absolute car crash from day one, to be honest. The fans never said that.

"I remember we played Middlesbrough away in the first game, we lost 1-0 in the 90th minute. Then we played Hull at home.

"I remember I walked out and my first game at home, and I'm stood there, and the players are shaking hands and I'm over there. And there was a Birmingham fan behind me: 'Get back to America, you fat c***.'

"I turned around, I was laughing. I turned around, I was like, 'give me a chance'.

"And so that was just never right at the time of when I went in. It was just never... It weren't a good fit."

Rooney's comments come after Birmingham co-owner Tom Brady questioned his work ethic in the dugout. Speaking on the Amazon Prime documentary Brady & The Blues: Birmingham City which released last month, the NFL icon was filmed saying to business manager Ben Rawitz: “I’m a little worried about our head coach’s work ethic."

After being sacked from his most recent role at Plymouth on New Year's Eve, Rooney's attention has been drawn away from management. The former striker now appears to be focusing on a career in punditry after joining the freshly revamped Match of the Day.

He also features in a BBC podcast - The Wayne Rooney Show - alongside Kelly Somers and Kae Kurd. He has also appeared on the Stick to Football podcast alongside his ex-United teammates Gary Neville and Roy Keane while also joining Amazon Prime's coverage of the Champions League.

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