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Is Wayne Rooney a capable manager? The answer seems clear based on his three stints as a head coach, each lasting only three years and ending abruptly. His most recent 15-game stint at Birmingham City was especially disastrous. So it’s safe to say the answer is no. Let’s move on.
However, evaluating Rooney’s abilities as a manager has a significant issue, known as the “Wayne-22” scenario. This refers to the fact that Rooney has only been hired as a manager by a board that believes it is wise to have him in that role.
This situation presents a fundamental paradox, similar to the Wayne-as-Groucho scenario. Any organization that evaluates all the information and still believes that Rooney is the solution is precisely the type of group that Rooney should steer clear of.
Wayne has not yet accepted this self-imposed restriction. It was evident from the beginning that there were many signs in Birmingham’s case. For the fans of the club, this is the true impact of a second firing of a manager in three months since the new ownership took over. Wayne may be gone, but those who enabled him are still present.
Football loves a circular morality tale, and the story of Rooney and the Blues is at least one of these. His final act as manager was a bruising 3-0 defeat at Elland Road on New Year’s Day. Rewind to 12 August and the first home game under the ownership of Knighthead Capital was also against Leeds, a high-energy occasion gingered up by a razzmatazz of music and fireworks.
The crowd at the home game cheered and chanted “USA”. Tom Wagner, co-founder of Knighthead and a charismatic, bald, middle-aged financier known for discussing “dynamic scenarios”, was seen enthusiastically celebrating in the directors’ box when Lukas Jutkiewicz scored the winning goal in the 91st minute.
On 9 October, John Eustace was terminated from his position as manager. The reasoning behind this decision was explained with vague statements about the importance of having an ambitious culture and fearless playing style. However, these qualities seemed to be embodied by Rooney, even though he had no prior experience as a manager to prove them.
As a bystander, it was difficult not to hope for its success. Rooney is a well-liked individual, fully dedicated to achieving success as a coach. His hiring was also clearly in line with the flashy culture that has been emphasized. However, having someone flashy in the manager’s position often leads to issues.
Skipping ahead to Monday afternoon, Rooney found himself discussing chants about Jimmy Savile and begging his board (a common occurrence for managers on the brink) for new players, knowing the inevitable evaluation would come on Tuesday morning.
Those 15 games in charge were desperate stuff. Rooney’s Blues won two of them, failed to score on six occasions and went from sixth to 20th in the table. It is rare to have such an instant impact on any team, and even rarer for that impact to be so profoundly negative, to the extent it is hard to think of many more obvious acts of mid-season self-harm by any club board.
Can you clarify what occurred here? Some journalists associated with the club have proposed that there is a disconnect between the approach and the actual situation, and that players are struggling with an overload of information and tactical strategies. While Eustace was skilled at managing a smaller team (with only £1m spent on transfers in the past three years), Rooney lacks experience in achieving success with limited resources.
There will likely be a sense of satisfaction in the predicted result, even if it is oddly comforting. The flashy superficiality, business jargon, and Tom Brady being portrayed as a mere glitzy celebrity to impress the adoring locals. English football still has the power to reject this type of behavior.
The break with Rooney adds a new dimension to the Championship, highlighting its reputation as a tough and competitive sporting league. However, this culture is even stronger, as evidenced by hedge-fund traders who have struggled in the more elite Premier League.
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English soccer should not become too confident about this situation. Despite still being hired as a head coach, Rooney’s lack of success in the role is indicative of a cultural attitude of entitlement and excessive admiration for celebrities. This is especially evident in the continued failure of the Golden Generation players to excel as managers.
It is likely that this is an exaggerated phenomenon. Many managers are unsuccessful. The group of famous football players known as the Goldens was relatively small. However, it is a fact that Gareth Southgate is the only member of England’s World Cup squads from 1998 to 2006 who has achieved continued success in high-level management. Just last week, Steven Gerrard urged the owners of Al-Ettifaq to invest more money or risk hindering his own managerial abilities. Gary Neville has admitted that he was not prepared for the Valencia job, which is now clear in hindsight. Phil Neville is still involved in activities typical of Phil Neville.
Frank Lampard has twice been appointed as a Premier League manager on a whim, and in the process successfully combined generous offers of employment with an ability to whinge about insufficient grace, favour, patience and/or the weakness of his players; basically everything other than his own capacity to do the job.
If there is a tendency to dwell on these mistakes, it may be because this group of players was the first to successfully rise to fame and fortune without relying on the traditional structures of the game. It is natural to view their failure to constantly win everything as a result of overconfidence (although they were still quite talented). This same arrogance and lack of strategic prowess can now be seen in their coaching failures, along with their fixation on fame during their time as players for England.
However, there is a modern fusion of cultures present. The decision to hire Rooney at Birmingham by American owners focused on commercial potential is indicative of the current and upcoming trends.
Although the manager may have left, the “vision” is still intact, along with the CEO who hired them. This CEO, Garry Cook, gained recognition for his successful brand-building efforts at Nike and once praised Thaksin Shinawatra as a golf partner and overall good person. Since his time at Manchester City, Cook has been involved with UFC and the Saudi Pro League. Upon joining Birmingham, he declared their goal to be world-class in all aspects.
How has that been working out thus far? It may be wise for City to consider rehiring Eustace, who appears to be in the perfect position to resolve the chaos caused by his own departure. In reality, Gary Rowett, who was dismissed by the previous administration to make room for Gianfranco Zola’s celebrity meltdown, is rumored to be a strong contender. As for Rooney, who is not naive and is determined to succeed, it is difficult to dismiss him as a manager or declare him a definitive failure; mainly because every role he has taken on has essentially been a Wayne Rooney role.
Source: theguardian.com
