Like several people on here I've followed blues since the very early 70's, and I continue to torture myself and go home and away every week..blah blah. Right now it's hard being a blues fan (when isn't it tbh?) but I really think that we must not try and over analyse it and dig individual players out for varying reasons - we all have our favourites, and equally we all have those who we are less well disposed toward - that's football.
The Rooney experiment is not going to work unfortunately, he's shown himself to be tactically naïve and lacking in inspiration and 'devil' - which, given his playing persona is a surprise, but it's there for all to see and he offers nothing post match other than to criticize the players for not doing what he asked of them. As a result they're (understandably) not putting that little bit extra in for him that is the difference at this level.
This group are no world beaters, and deep down we all know that, but they are most definitely capable of comfortably finishing mid-table this year and I would argue that they do have a togetherness that we have seen many times, but teams with far less resources and squad strength than us continue to outperform us on virtually any metric you care to apply, and they simply look lost to me with no real natural leader's evident. I can only think of JJ as someone who's improved under WR, pretty much every other player has regressed for whatever reason, and that is an indictment of the coaching staff and methods/prep.
Cook might swallow his pride and do the kind thing, or he might double down, we'll find out very very soon. In the meantime we must carry on supporting the owners who have delivered pretty much everything they said they would in terms of the stadium and facilities etc, and we are so much better for it.
However, its what happens on the pitch that matters and Cook and co have got to sort that out. In the meantime we must continue to support the team and try and be positive (and yes that's going to be hard).
It's not all doom and gloom, trust me.
KRO and keep the faith
You mention Rooney's playing persona do you mean his own play style or the style he is trying to get Blues to play?
If the first one - look at the players who were feeding him balls both at Man Utd and England - world class players all across the pitch.
If Rooney pulled on the number 9 shirt for us I believe he would have massive difficulty in getting goals.
A precision through ball from Ronaldo or a lump it from Mark Roberts...
When will it be acceptable to panic, Captain Mainwaring?
I was simply referring to his streetwise, nasty, moaning, winning mentality/persona that he constantly displayed for Utd and Eng. Nothing whatsoever to do with the quality of players he played with....simply that I would have expected to see some of that out there for us in some form, but we are (oddly) ultra passive on the pitch and bench
coffindodgerLike several people on here I've followed blues since the very early 70's, and I continue to torture myself and go home and away every week..blah blah. Right now it's hard being a blues fan (when isn't it tbh?) but I really think that we must not try and over analyse it and dig individual players out for varying reasons - we all have our favourites, and equally we all have those who we are less well disposed toward - that's football.
The Rooney experiment is not going to work unfortunately, he's shown himself to be tactically naïve and lacking in inspiration and 'devil' - which, given his playing persona is a surprise, but it's there for all to see and he offers nothing post match other than to criticize the players for not doing what he asked of them. As a result they're (understandably) not putting that little bit extra in for him that is the difference at this level.
This group are no world beaters, and deep down we all know that, but they are most definitely capable of comfortably finishing mid-table this year and I would argue that they do have a togetherness that we have seen many times, but teams with far less resources and squad strength than us continue to outperform us on virtually any metric you care to apply, and they simply look lost to me with no real natural leader's evident. I can only think of JJ as someone who's improved under WR, pretty much every other player has regressed for whatever reason, and that is an indictment of the coaching staff and methods/prep.
Cook might swallow his pride and do the kind thing, or he might double down, we'll find out very very soon. In the meantime we must carry on supporting the owners who have delivered pretty much everything they said they would in terms of the stadium and facilities etc, and we are so much better for it.
However, its what happens on the pitch that matters and Cook and co have got to sort that out. In the meantime we must continue to support the team and try and be positive (and yes that's going to be hard).
It's not all doom and gloom, trust me.
KRO and keep the faith
Good post – agree with all this.
I do hope we can keep a fair amount of the squad together for the post-Rooney period, whenever we get there, because I do think we've got quite a lot of decent players.
coffindodgerI was simply referring to his streetwise, nasty, moaning, winning mentality/persona that he constantly displayed for Utd and Eng. Nothing whatsoever to do with the quality of players he played with....simply that I would have expected to see some of that out there for us in some form, but we are (oddly) ultra passive on the pitch and bench
Stansfield has it to an extent, but it's quite obvious why he has fire in his belly. I can't think of any others.
Tha Project OBEStopped reading at “tactically naive”
Fair enough, he's clearly a genius and we're just being stubborn.
coffindodgerLike several people on here I've followed blues since the very early 70's, and I continue to torture myself and go home and away every week..blah blah. Right now it's hard being a blues fan (when isn't it tbh?) but I really think that we must not try and over analyse it and dig individual players out for varying reasons - we all have our favourites, and equally we all have those who we are less well disposed toward - that's football.
The Rooney experiment is not going to work unfortunately, he's shown himself to be tactically naïve and lacking in inspiration and 'devil' - which, given his playing persona is a surprise, but it's there for all to see and he offers nothing post match other than to criticize the players for not doing what he asked of them. As a result they're (understandably) not putting that little bit extra in for him that is the difference at this level.
This group are no world beaters, and deep down we all know that, but they are most definitely capable of comfortably finishing mid-table this year and I would argue that they do have a togetherness that we have seen many times, but teams with far less resources and squad strength than us continue to outperform us on virtually any metric you care to apply, and they simply look lost to me with no real natural leader's evident. I can only think of JJ as someone who's improved under WR, pretty much every other player has regressed for whatever reason, and that is an indictment of the coaching staff and methods/prep.
Cook might swallow his pride and do the kind thing, or he might double down, we'll find out very very soon. In the meantime we must carry on supporting the owners who have delivered pretty much everything they said they would in terms of the stadium and facilities etc, and we are so much better for it.
However, its what happens on the pitch that matters and Cook and co have got to sort that out. In the meantime we must continue to support the team and try and be positive (and yes that's going to be hard).
It's not all doom and gloom, trust me.
KRO and keep the faith
Very well put and very sensible 👍
Unfortunately Cook isn't going to change manager anytime soon imo
Brilliant post, summed up our situation up perfectly.
Like yourself, I've supported Blues from the late 60's, and will continue to do so, DESPITE Wayne Mark Rooney,
But be carefull C D, many on here believe anyone who calls Mr Rooney or his ''tactics'' out, ARE NOT TRUE SUPPORTERS OF BIRMINGHAM CITY, you're NOT allowed to voice your oppinion, without, either being ignored, or facing a sarcastic backlash.
Well done Coffin Dodger, I agree with all you wrote, nice one.
KRO
Good post. Relegation certainties under Rooney is pretty doom and gloom to me though. Because we are the worst team in this division right now.
The no need for doom and gloom can only come with a significant change.