Darragh MacAnthony has attacked Birmingham City’s decision to hire Wayne Rooney as manager once more.
The outspoken Peterborough United chairman and co-owner also advised minority stakeholder and seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady to ‘calm down on social media’ by claiming he has no idea what he’s doing ‘football-wise’.
The Irishman, who had previously criticized Rooney’s St Andrew’s appointment, was speaking on the latest episode of his The Hard Truth Podcast.
The topic of Birmingham came up after Saturday’s goalless draw at St Andrew’s with second-from-bottom Rotherham, who remain managerless. When the decision was made to relieve previous manager John Eustace of his managerial duties, the Blues were sixth in the table. Birmingham are currently 15th in the table, seven points off the play-off places, with one win, two draws, and five defeats in Rooney’s eight games in charge.
Without a doubt, that record falls short of the impact that owners Knighthead Capitol Management anticipated when they decided to change managers in the autumn. And McAnthony is curious how long the club will give the former Manchester United and England forward to turn things around.
‘I love Tom Brady and everything else, but he needs to calm down on social media, the GOAT, because it’s like, seriously, you don’t know what you’re doing football-wise,’ he said on The Hard Truth Podcast.
‘I get he’s trying to bring a lot of kudos to the club but that decision now (to appoint Rooney) is like, yeah! I mean, everyone said it, I said it early on, obviously I said it on talkSPORT. You know, I’m sick of talking about him.
‘I felt they made a bad decision and nothing’s changed to (change my mind). It will be interesting if they continue like this until January. Do the owners have to write a big cheque and say we made a mistake or what happens?
‘So far Wayne’s managerial career isn’t exactly on an upward trajectory, is it?’
Rooney was appointed Birmingham boss on a three-and-a-half-year deal following his decision to quit DC United. He managed the MLS side for just 15 months and left after failing to guide them to the play-offs for a second successive season.
‘I hope it works out for him (Rooney), he’s done nothing yet to prove to me why he should be paid what he’s paid as a manager in the Football League,’ MacAnthony said in October.
‘What irritates me is that there are a lot of great managers in League One and League Two who would never get the chance to manage Birmingham. However, if their name was Rooney, they’d be at the top of the list.’
Brady, 46, is the chairman of a new advisory board at St Andrew’s, after becoming a minority owner of the Championship club in August.
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