Cooper, Marsch, Eustace: Assessing the runners and riders to become Birmingham City’s next manager
Birmingham City reporter Alex Dicken analyses the names in the frame to become Birmingham City's next manager
Birmingham City reporter for BirminghamLive and the Birmingham Mail
Birmingham City won’t be short on applicants for their vacant manager’s job after Wayne Rooney was sacked on Tuesday morning.
The club might have slipped down the Championship table on Rooney’s watch, but the opening 11 games of the season showed the squad’s capabilities. With a bit of investment in January and a safer pair of hands, Blues should be able to steer clear of danger.
The Blues job is a more attractive proposition than it has been in a while following the summer takeover by American investment firm Knighthead. Tom Wagner, Garry Cook and Co need to ensure their next managerial appointment works out better than the last.
Blues reporter Alex Dicken has taken a look at some of the runners and riders…
READ: John Eustace open to Blues return after Wayne Rooney sacking
READ: Rooney made Blues the worst team in Championship - he had to go
Steve Cooper
Recently sacked Nottingham Forest manager Steve Cooper is the favourite with the bookies and most supporters. The Welshman has proven himself in the Championship before with Forest and Swansea City.
In his first year at Forest, Cooper transformed a side heading for League One into promotion winners. They won the play-off final after narrowly missing out on automatic promotion following a remarkable run of 22 wins from 38 matches under Cooper.
Cooper kept Forest in the Premier League in trying circumstances last season and led them to the Carabao Cup semi-finals. When Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis was sharpening his axe in December, their fans were still chanting Cooper’s name.
Cooper has the promotion-winning credentials Championship clubs crave, but he also has the ability to deliver the type of football Knighthead believe will get Blues into the Premier League.
Jesse Marsch
Marsch would tick a Knighthead box that most others on this list can’t. He can be sold to an American audience.
The former Leeds United and RB Salzburg boss has spent 12 months out of work recharging his batteries. His Salzburg side earned plaudits in Europe a few years back for their high-octane brand of football. “I don't want to ever play boring football,” Marsch said in a recent interview with the Daily Mail.
Maybe he will appeal to Blues’ American ownership group. The question mark over Marsch and Cooper is whether Blues could tempt them down to the Championship.
Tony Mowbray
Ex-Sunderland boss Mowbray ticks lots of boxes, too. He guided an unfancied Sunderland side into the play-offs last season before being ruthlessly sacked a month ago.
Now 60, Mowbray is the most experienced candidate on this list, but he has moved with the times. Mowbray has always favoured possession-based football and a number of his teams have been successful in the Championship.
West Brom won promotion and in recent years Blackburn and Sunderland have challenged at the right end of the table. Mowbray might not be a big enough name for Knighthead - but they don’t come any bigger than Rooney, and that worked out terribly.
Will Still
Belgium-born Still gained worldwide attention in 2022 when he was appointed manager of French Ligue 1 side Reims. Reims finished 11th in Ligue 1 last term and sit eighth in the current standings.
Still seems destined to wind up in the Championship soon and was linked with the Sunderland job prior to Michael Beale’s appointment last month. Playing Football Manager inspired the 31-year-old to switch focus from playing to coaching at an early age.
He would undoubtedly be an unorthodox appointment, but Blues are making data-led decisions these days and Still’s record at Reims stacks up.
Outside bets
Four Brummies feature in the unlikely pile. BirminghamLive understands ex-Blues bosses John Eustace and Gary Rowett would both be interested in the job, but Knighthead probably have other ideas.
Lee Carsley’s name is always connected to the Blues job and he would have become the club’s manager by now if he wanted to. For whatever reason, England under-21s boss Carsley has never turned a promising coaching career into management.
Finally, it is hard to envisage Graham Potter returning to St Andrew’s after tasting the Champions League last season with Chelsea. Potter will surely wait for a high-profile job to get back into management.