The latest Birmingham City opinion as Tom Ross has his say on reaction to Wayne Rooney
I have always been proud to be a Blues fan win lose or draw, through the good times and bad times and boy have we had a few of those. I was going to say through thick and thin, however, under the previous owners it was mostly through thin and thinner.
Blues fans have had to suffer some dreadful times under various owners including Ken Weldon, the Kumar Brothers, (after their business went bust) Carson Yeung (after he was arrested, charged and imprisoned for money laundering) and Trillian Trophy Asia.
To be honest times that would test the loyalty and faith of supporters of any club. However, the hard core of Blues fans have always been resilient even when they have been “tired and weary” and searching for the “end of the road”.
The beginning of the “end of the road” started with Tom Wagner and Tom Brady buying the club. There has been an air of positiveness around St Andrews that you could almost taste until the change of manager from John Eustace to Wayne Rooney.
However, was it just the change of manager or the immediate change in the way they played that has upset some supporters?
It has been made clear that Wayne Rooney has been appointed to create a new playing identity and to play front foot football without fear. That is a tough ask at any time, but to do it on the fly in mid-season is even tougher.
No one can really argue with the plan to play front foot fearless football we would all love to see that, but players need time to adapt and to be honest there is a lot of sense and truth in the old saying “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”.
Blues fans have never been too shy to show their displeasure and anger at results and performances and have always made their views clear to the owners, manager, and or players.
However, the abuse some fans gave Wayne Rooney and the new owner Tom Wagner after just two games following the defeat to Hull was inexcusable and simply wrong in my opinion.
Of course, they pay their money and, therefore, have the right to show their displeasure at any result or performance. However, that does not mean vile abuse is acceptable.
The performance against the Tigers was nowhere near good enough and I would imagine that the manager has made the players fully aware of that.
However, it was not Wayne Rooney that passed the ball to the opponents for the first goal or failed to mark opponents for other goals. I am certain he and his coaches clearly reminded them about the importance of being aware of danger in your own box and to ensure you were first to the ball. After all that is basic defending at any level.
At Southampton Blues looked far more comfortable with the system and were better especially in the second half. However, a goal that was shown to be offside plus a scandalous refereeing decision not to award Blues a penalty after the Saints goalkeeper wiped out Oli Burke meant a third loss for Wayne Rooney.
Everyone in the ground including the Southampton manager knew it was a penalty as did ex-referee Mike Dean who made it clear on Sky Sports that it was so obvious there was no decision to make. As we all know goals don’t only win games, they change games.
Players are human beings and react to cheering or jeering like any of us would. The negativity we saw during and after the game v Hull can make them nervous and scared to make a mistake and that falls right into the hands of opponents.
Abuse, even though it was from a minority, will have got to Tom Wagner who will not have had to deal with this before. Do those fans really want him thinking he made the wrong decision when he bought the club?
Up next is another tough game as Ipswich are in great form second in the table with just one defeat this season. They have yet to lose on the road having won five and drawn one.
Any negativity from the St Andrew’s crowd will only help Ipswich. I guarantee their manager will have had one of his scouts watching Blues in the last two home games and will be saying to his team ‘turn the crowd’, in other words get Blues supporters booing their own team.
Many teams have tried that and come unstuck when facing the hostile positive atmosphere that Blues fans can and often have created thus making a massive difference to the team’s individual and collective performance.
Fans are a powerful weapon so whether you were for or against the appointment of Wayne Rooney getting behind the team like the majority already do is absolutely vital.
Despite being a big fan of John Eustace I want Wayne Rooney to be successful
I am not defending him or arguing for or against his appointment as manager. I stand by what I said here last week, I do not know if he will be a good manager or not for Blues, but he is the owner/board’s appointment and, as he told the me at last week’s media conference, he was appointed with a 3-year plan. He needs the support of everyone.
The owners/board will give him time and transfer windows to transform the team into one that will get them, in Tom Wagner’s words, to the Premier League.
One thing is for certain they have not invested multi-millions into buying Blues to not be successful. As I said they will give Wayne Rooney the time he needs, however, he will know that within their time-frame he has to turn Blues into a Premier League team.
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