The style council

Bitter turns to sugar . . ?

The post-match exchange between Wayne Rooney and journalists after his first game in charge at St. Andrew’s was telling.

On the back of a demoralising 2-0 defeat by Hull City, which ended the unbeaten home record in the Championship this season, Rooney was pressed on altering Blues approach. The whole ‘no fear’ thing again, while we’re at it, I guess.

Neil Moxley, the chief sports writer of the Sunday Mirror, asked: ‘Could you understand why the supporters were frustrated? Two weeks ago, there was a tub-thumping victory over West Brom. To use the vernacular, it was full of snot and guts which is what they like here. Today, and I appreciate you’re trying to change things but how long do you think it will take?’

Rooney responded: ‘Well, it’s been two weeks.’

Moxley: ‘Ok, but the judges are out there and they didn’t seem happy . . .’

Rooney responded by picking up on the earlier phrase.

According to the Birmingham Mail’s Alex Dicken, he commented: ‘They have had snot and guts for the last 10 years and it has been difficult. There is a clear way we want to move forward as a club, and a clear way of moving the club forward – and that’s not going to happen overnight.

‘There’s been expectations put on myself, within a timeframe, which I accept and understand. I am happy to face that. But it’s not going to change within two weeks, especially when the players have been used to a completely different way.

‘I can get players up the pitch and boot the ball forward, and look to pick up second balls, that’s fine. That’s not an issue, but I think we need to get the balance right.

‘This is on me. Maybe I have asked them to do too much, that’s fine, I will take that responsibility. As I’m getting to know the players more, I’m getting to know strengths and weaknesses. We will find that balance and make sure we get that right.’

Rooney asked players for their views on the past two games in the dressing room afterwards. The feedback was that, yes, they were uncomfortable with what was being demanded of them.

That is no bad thing, Rooney taking on board what those he is sending out into the thick of things are thinking and feeling.

Now, finding the happy medium is going to be key. Rooney will have to adapt the more radical components of how he wants Blues to play, meshing them with what the core strengths have been previously this season.

That won’t be easy. I doubt he will be so bloody-minded to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

But there is a bigger picture at play here and, without question, the owners and Rooney want to transform Blues from plucky, underdog artisans to more refined artists. And the process will be seen through.

We have been here before, of course.

Under Gianfranco Zola, the demand was for sexy football yesterday, moving on from the effective, organised and low block style of Gary Rowett.

There were fleeting glimpses – a vibrant spell across the halves at home to Leeds United was as good as it got – but his reign ended ignominiously.

We came back to it when Pep Clotet took over from Garry Monk. That breathtaking opening at Cardiff City, anyone? (Blues lost that game, incidentally, and also the aforementioned Leeds one).

Again, the commitment to change was not persisted with.

Aitor Karanka and Lee Bowyer were next in line and it was back to more defensively-minded, counter-attacking formats.

Tumultuous off the field circumstances and ill-judged decision-making, lack of resources, ever changing managers and squad, annual relegation battles – needs must football – a frustrated and unhappy supporter base, player resistance: a few of many factors halting any kind of lasting stylistic conversion.

As recruitment under Craig Gardner and his staff finally became compos mentis after years of a scattergun approach, John Eustace hoped to use the personnel as he best saw fit to initially stabilise Blues and then try to compete at the right end of the table, loosening the strings along the way.

He didn’t get the chance to carry on and here we are now.

What we have is an ownership that is strong, stable, not distant or opaque and has the courage of their convictions. They are ambitious, aggressive strategists and have already done many good things to make us feel optimistic again.

I have no evidence to suggest they aren’t in it for anything but the long term. Garry Cook interestingly talked about ‘three, five, seven-year plans’ off the cuff at Rooney’s formal unveiling press conference.

Let me tell you a little story here, a snapshot of what has been happening. After inspecting Wast Hills and talking with ground staff at the training ground, they discovered at least seven pieces of machinery were either kaput or about to be consigned to the scrap heap in the sky. Sign-off for replacements was immediate – to the tune of £150,000. Once, this exasperated ground staff had been syphoning diesel from one tractor to another due to being put on stop for resources and fuel.

Knighthead, Shelby Companies Limited, Tom Wagner, Cook et al believe Blues have to evolve their style of play in order to become successful and also more marketable to help growth; imagine moving into a shiny new stadium, trying to attract a bigger audience and investment with a team that sticks everyone behind the ball . . .

Rooney is their chosen fit for their vision, or he’s aligned if you want. And whereas unlike in the past decade or so, the ideology won’t be ripped up every now and again so the team returns to square one.

The support structure to what we see on the pitch is being invested in and improved as well, which is another differential to what has happened previously and designed to help with the intended transition. Whether that’s training ground, performance and medical, analytics, scouting and recruitment, the academy. Blues are not at the Brighton & Hove Albion kind of model yet – they’re many, many miles off, in fact – but that’s the aspiration.

You may agree with this approach, that Blues need to become a more ‘modern’, progressive attacking side, retaining the ball. You’d rather want them to play like Brentford, instead of how Blues did when winning at Griffin Park with that Kristian Pedersen header.

You may not; you may think Blues traditional identity as ‘Brummie Bashers’ of old is fine, and that kind of smash and grab away win in 2019 is the template.

But this is the reality, this is going to be happening and there could be a fair bit of immediate pain for (hopefully) longer term gain.

Rooney doubled down on his post-match words 24 hours later in an interview with Sky Sports, saying if a club wants promotion, the team has a better chance playing a certain way.

"I want to move the club forward. I want to change the culture and identity of the club" 🔵

Wayne Rooney has asked the Birmingham City fans to 'be patient' after booing at full-time in their defeat to Hull City 👇 pic.twitter.com/FFaN7R3bl3

— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) October 26, 2023

Hull’s Liam Rosenior, a key assistant of Rooney’s at Derby County, is further down the line implementing the kind of football the former England legend prefers.

After Wednesday’s win for the Tigers he said: ‘I would be excited if I was a Birmingham fan and Wayne Rooney walked in.

‘Why? Because I worked with him for a long period of time and I know his qualities as a manager and a coach. It takes time.

‘It’s interesting. I’ve been really fortunate, I’ve had a year in the job so my players understand the positions they take up. I played against Kieran McKenna’s Ipswich, he’s now two years into the job.

‘I was told a stat, I’m the 12th longest serving [Championship manager] and I’ve not even been here a year. It takes time and I know that this football club is trying to build something and trying to build a way of playing.

‘And when you want to be brave and take the ball, which is what I believe in, once you iron out the mistakes, which happened in my first period here at Hull, you see the benefits.

‘I would ask, because I know Wayne, that you need to give him time and I’m sure if you give Wayne time, then he will get things completely right.’

It wasn’t ideal for Rooney to come in a quarter of the way through a campaign to try to elicit major tactical change, effectively on the hoof as the games in the Championship come thick and fast. And the use of the ‘no fear’ phrase in the Eustace sacking statement hasn’t done anyone any favours.

I guess winning is the bottom line and what matters most. It can mask a lot of sins and dictates mood, always. But the owners, executive and Rooney want victory to be achieved in a certain way. 

The next two transfer windows are going to be crucial should the club and Rooney feel they need a significant number of players with different qualities and a level of aptitude, technical and mental, to make the methodology jump they are convinced is required.

And those six to seven weeks of pre-season will be critical to bed in players, the approach, patterns of play and organisational structure.

In the summer, Lukas Jutkiewicz, Gary Gardner, Scott Hogan, John Ruddy, Neil Etheridge, Kevin Long, Marc Roberts, Ivan Sunjic and Keshi Anderson are all out of contract – plus Blues currently have four loan players – and P&S concerns will ease a little.

Snot and guts. The club, Rooney, want to move on from that. And as he says, it’s unlikely to happen overnight. There should still be some runny noses apparent during the remainder of this season, but the eventual ethos is going to be different. Supporters’ patience, understanding and faith in ‘The Project’ is going to be required even if at present that is being tested and emotions are running high.

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