By Kieran Maguire

17th Oct, 2023 | 10:21am

Kieran Maguire slams 'showbiz' Birmingham City board as Wayne Rooney salary revealed

Birmingham City made the ‘strange’ decision to sack John Eustace and hire Wayne Rooney because they wanted a ‘showbiz’ manager in charge.

That is the view of finance expert Kieran Maguire, who exclusively told Football Insider that hiring Rooney at St Andrew’s makes no financial sense for Birmingham City.

The Blues sacked Eustace last Monday (9 October) despite the club sitting sixth in the Championship table with successive wins.

Rooney has since been appointed to replace Eustace, and The Sun reports that the former Manchester United star is set to earn triple the salary of his predecessor.

The new Blues boss is reportedly set to earn £1.5million per year in his new job.

Maguire believes the new owners at Birmingham City are more concerned with the entertainment side of football as opposed to getting results on the pitch.

“I’m disappointed but not surprised by the news,” Maguire told Football Insider’s Sean Fisher.

“I think it’s indicative of owners who are unfamiliar with football but are more concerned about the entertainment view of professional sport.

“They see this as an extension of showbiz, and they therefore want a showbiz manager.

“I wish Wayne Rooney all the best at Birmingham City, but hiring somebody who’s got an overall win rate of around 26 percent seems a strange decision to make from a footballing point of view.

“It also seems a strange decision to make from a financial point of view if they’re going to be paying him triple the salary.”

In other news, Birmingham City now set sights on ex-Man City transfer chief Mike Rigg