WAYNE ROONEY has been backed to succeed at Birmingham City by his former assistant – who says he can read a play just by how they eat breakfast.
The 39-year-old Liam Rosenoir worked with the Manchester United legend after he took charge of Derby County.
After keeping the Rams up in his first season, a huge points deduction proved too much to overcome as they suffered relegation to League One in 2022.
That November Rosenoir was appointed manager of Hull City after an interim spell as replacement for Rooney, who departed Derby to become head coach of MLS outfit DC United.
But the ex-England striker, 38, returned to the Championship with Birmingham City three weeks ago, despite two underwhelming campaigns in the US, after John Eustace’s controversial departure.
Eustace, 43, was sacked despite back-to-back wins, which had seen Birmingham climb to sixth, but Rooney has since overseen two losses out of two, with Blues falling to 12th.
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The second of those setbacks came at St Andrew’s on Wednesday against his old assistant’s Hull.
A Birmingham fan told Rooney to “f*** off back to America” as Brum’s players were booed off at full time.
But ahead of their upcoming trip to Southampton tomorrow, Rosenior is backing his friend to succeed despite his tricky start in his new job.
And he revealed some of the amazing reasons why he feels Rooney will make a great manager.
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Rosenoir told The Times: “Wayne’s one of the most emotionally intelligent people I’ve ever met.
“We were sat in the canteen at Derby and he always used to eat his lunch or breakfast sitting watching the players.
“There was a certain player who was eating breakfast and Wayne looks across and said, ‘He’s not eating his breakfast the same as he normally does, he’s having a different breakfast and he’s eating a different way, I need to speak to him.’
“Wayne pulled him aside, speaks to him and something really bad happened in his family the day before.”
Rosenior added: “People don’t give Wayne the credit that he deserves for his intelligence.
“He’s so street-smart, he understands people straight away.
“Wayne saw that I was outstanding at what I did in certain areas of football and he allowed me to do that, and that is top management.
“We created a trust that still goes on to this day. He knows if he ever needed anything from me I’d be there for him and I know the same the other way around. He will prove himself as a manager over time.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
