Pressure mounts on Wayne Rooney as winless Birmingham face acid test 🧪 | OneFootball

Whilst the club’s greatest ever youth product was lighting up the biggest game in world football at the weekend, Birmingham City were suffering their third-straight defeat under new manager Wayne Rooney.

It was 20 years ago that a teenage Rooney announced himself on the global stage with his late winner for Everton over Arsène Wenger’s imperious Arsenal side.

Now it’s Jude Bellingham’s turn to take over the mantle of ‘England’s saviour’, with the 20-year-old starring for Real Madrid in Saturday’s El Clàsico victory over Barcelona.

Birmingham City is the link that binds these two generational talents together, but their current standing couldn’t be more different.

Rooney was controversially hired by Birmingham’s American owners just over three weeks ago, having performed at about par during his 14-month MLS stint with DC United.

But what was galling to Blues fans was the unceremonious sacking of former boss John Eustace.

Eustace had seemingly turned things around after a poor first season, with the midlands club sitting sixth in the division at the end of September.

No one had predicted Birmingham to be near the play-off places at the start of the campaign, but here they were beating Leeds, Huddersfield and West Brom in the opening weeks.

Despite the board’s insistence to the contrary, it was hard to shake the feeling that the club were getting rid of an unfashionable coach who was having an effect on the squad, and replacing him with a star name.

The statement that accompanied Rooney’s appointment on 11 October insisted that the Blues would have been foolish not to appoint such a storied named, saying: “[When an] opportunity presents itself to appoint a manager who shares your ambition and is both a student and a great of the game, then you act. This is what we have done.

“We are confident that his appointment, supported by his hand-picked coaching staff, will culminate in a young, attack-minded team that will excite our fans.”

It has been just under a month since that statement and the only thing that might “excite” the fans now is Rooney’s departure.

In three games the St Andrews’ side have lost three times, but it’s the manner of the defeats that are most telling.

In Rooney’s opening trio of games, Birmingham have had just nine shots on target, scoring one, and completed an average of 353 passes per game – the third-lowest in the Championship.

Fans let their feelings be known in their second game against Hull – Rooney’s home debut – when they booed the side off after a particularly turgid 2-0 defeat.

“My message to the fans would be to be patient,” Rooney told Sky that day.

“I get it, they parted ways with a very popular manager, who did a good job in stabilising the club. I understand there’s a bit of frustration, of course I do.

“We need to realise where we’re trying to go, not where we are now. That’s our aim, that’s our ambition and it’s what we’re hoping to achieve.”

It means the club have gone from sixth under Eustace to 14th in the space of a few weeks and are just four points off the final relegation places.

Only QPR and Coventry boast a worse record than Rooney’s Birmingham but things may have to get worse before they can get better.

Up next are high-flying Ipswich Town, with the Tractor Boys coming to St Andrews this Saturday.

Ipswich have been, alongside Leicester, the most impressive side in the division so far this season, scoring a league high of 29 goals in 13 games and losing only once.

And in coach Kieran McKenna, they have one of the most exciting young tacticians in the game.

There will be some added spice to the occasion as well, with McKenna and Rooney briefly sharing some time together at Manchester United.

A defeat seems likely for Rooney again, with a trip to Sunderland coming the week after.

That could very well mean five losses in a row for the former striker and his side before an absolutely must-win game at home to basement dwellers Sheffield Wednesday on 25 November.

How they must wish Jude Bellingham had stuck around for a few more years.