Birmingham City warned against making Chelsea mistakes | OneFootball

Don Goodman has issued a warning to the new Birmingham City owners.

Blues supporters were happy to see the club change hands earlier this year, with Tom Wagner taking control of the Championship side.

A minority stake of Wagner’s ownership was later sold to Tom Brady to bring the former NFL star on board his project.

However, supporter sentiment turned against the US businessman in October when John Eustace was dismissed in favour of Wayne Rooney.

Eustace was a popular figure among the fans, with Rooney failing to maintain the same level of competitiveness as under the previous manager.

A warning to Birmingham City’s owners

Goodman believes Wagner must learn from the mistakes Todd Boehly has made since taking over at Chelsea in 2022.

The 57-year-old has advised the Birmingham owners to bring in football people that better understand the game to run the club on a day-to-day basis.

Don Goodman, speaking to BoyleSports who offer the latest EFL Betting, said: “The owners probably got a bit excited.

“They’ve got the involvement of Tom Brady.

“They’ve thought, ‘who’s the biggest name out there in a football sense?’ I’m not sure they’ve taken advice from football people.

“They’ve got Craig Gardner there in some capacity, but if the owners said ‘we want Wayne Rooney’, how much resistance is Craig Gardner going to put up?

“So the investment in owners like these ones are welcome, but I do think they need to try and involve football people and understand the game.

“I thought there was a little bit of naivety with how they acted in relieving John Eustace and replacing him instantly with Wayne Rooney.

“When you look at Wrexham, because that’s what people compare American owners to, Wrexham have Shaun Harvey and Les Reed in the background.

“These are football people who have been in football for decades and will be there to give them guidance and advice.

“I’m not sure how much of that the Birmingham owners have had.

“Even when you look at Chelsea with Todd Boehly - he breezed in there and he became sporting director and started buying all these players, it was a little bit scattergun.

“I’m not sure how much football advice he was getting at the time, but it seems to have settled down now.

“Birmingham need some footballing intelligence in the background.”

Birmingham City league position

Birmingham have slipped to 15th in the Championship table under Rooney, having previously been inside the top six prior to Eustace’s departure.

Next up for the Midlands outfit is a clash with Coventry City on Friday night at the CBS Arena.

A big January ahead for Birmingham City

Rooney is under pressure to get results, with supporters expressing their discontent at the moment.

The owners will feel the need to back him given the nature of his arrival, which will likely result in some January spending.

But Birmingham needs to be careful, as the previous owners showed how precarious things can be when money is wasted.