Wayne Rooney's departure was cheered by some Birmingham City players… who would welcome former manager John Eustace to St Andrew's
- Wayne Rooney was sacked after winning just two of his 15 games
- John Eustace is said to be open to reprising the role he lost in October
- Mail Sport's chief football reporter Sami Mokbel gives the latest on Ivan Toney, Conor Gallagher and more It all starts
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Wayne Rooney's departure from Birmingham has been greeted with relief by a group of senior players who are keen to welcome former boss John Eustace to the club.
Eustace would be open to resuming the role he lost in October to make way for Rooney, but that would require a huge climb down the ladder from Knighthead's American owners, including NFL great Tom Brady.
CEO Garry Cook and technical director Craig Gardner are said to have a longlist of up to twenty contenders, including Nathan Jones and Tony Mowbray.
Jones performed wonders during two spells at Luton but struggled in his last job: three months at Southampton in the Premier League last season. Mowbray has now proven himself at Championship level and was surprisingly fired by Sunderland last month.
Frank Lampard is available and will certainly be interesting. He led Derby to the play-off final in 2019, but it is unclear whether the former Chelsea and England midfielder would want to resume his managerial career in the Championship's bottom five.
Wayne Rooney was sacked by Birmingham City after taking just 10 points from 15 games
Birmingham City players are set to welcome former manager John Eustace to St Andrew's
The same goes for former Blues midfielder Lee Carsley, who led England Under-21s to European Championship glory last summer and is highly regarded within the FA.
Ashley Cole and John O'Shea remain at Blues along with Pete Shuttleworth, although it is unclear whether they would continue under a new regime.
Cole is part of Carsley's staff at England Under-21s and has worked with Lampard at Chelsea and Everton.
Rooney's dismissal was greeted with relief by a group of Birmingham City's senior players
Knighthead replaced Eustace with Rooney in October and promised a bold attacking style, but Blues fell from the play-off places to 20th during Rooney's 83-day tenure.
Mail Sport revealed on Monday that when Rooney took the job he believed he would get at least one transfer window and had lined up reinforcements for this month. Although 10 points from 15 games was a form of relegation, he was shocked to be shown the door so early.