‘Can’t continue’ – Wayne Rooney responds to Birmingham boos as Tom Brady & the Blues board see ambitious project suffer another blow

The West Midlands-based outfit drew up ambitious plans after welcoming NFL legend Brady on board as an investor – with Manchester United and England icon Rooney drafted in to take the managerial reins. He took over with the club sat inside the Championship play-off places, but has suffered six defeats through nine games – winning only one – to slump to 17th spot.

A 2-0 defeat at Coventry was met by jeers from the travelling support, with Rooney saying of that reaction and what needs to be done in order to deliver a reversal in fortune: “We’re in a difficult place, we know that, with the run of results and the points we’re losing. The big thing is the goals we’re conceding are very poor goals. We have to figure it out and make sure we don’t give easy goals away. The run of form can’t continue. Of course I understand the fans’ frustration. That’s normal when you go through a run of results like this and we have to change this as quickly as possible. If I was a fan in the stands there tonight I would be exactly the same. But what I can tell you is we’re working really hard to fix it, to improve results and performances.”

Birmingham have been leaking goals an alarming rate, with Rooney adding on a team that has collected just one clean sheet during his tenure: “We are getting punished when we’re making mistakes and we need to cut that out. Throughout the 90 minutes Coventry were the better team, so they deserved to win the game. We let ourselves down with the goals we conceded. That’s my responsibility, it’s on me to get the players to perform better and pick up more points than we have done. It’s disappointing when you concede goals that are avoidable.”

Birmingham will be back in action on Wednesday when taking in a trip to Cardiff – with the Bluebirds currently pushing for a play-off spot – and it remains to be seen how much Brady and the Blues board will be able to make available for reinforcements at St Andrew’s during the January transfer window.