TOM COLLOMOSSE: Failing to bring ‘no fear’ football, relying on inexperienced coaching staff and publicly criticising his players… where it all went wrong for Wayne Rooney at Birmingham City

Wayne Rooney thought about training as a lawyer during his wife Coleen's 'Wagatha Christie' courtroom duel with former England striker Jamie's partner Rebekah Vardy.

Yet even the very best lawyers would have struggled to make a case for Rooney to stay on as Birmingham manager after his sacking on Tuesday.

Rooney left just 83 days after replacing John Eustace at the club sixth in the Championship. During his 15 games, Blues have had the worst record in the division and are now just six points clear of the relegation zone.

Rooney claimed he was not given time to put his stamp on the club, but the reality is that Birmingham made the only decision possible. The appointment of the former England captain has been a disaster from start to finish and Knighthead, the club's American owners, are to blame as much as the former England captain.

Because this appointment was based on Rooney's stellar playing career and not his unremarkable record as a manager. With CEO Garry Cook at the forefront, Knighthead pounced on this and paid the price.

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During his opening press conference on October 12, Rooney talked about taking Birmingham into the Premier League, but nine defeats and just two wins during his tenure looked like a quick ticket to League One.

Here Mailsport looks at how it unraveled for Rooney and examines where Birmingham goes from here.

Time of day

Bringing in Rooney after Eustace's four-day wins over Huddersfield and West Bromwich Albion was strange, but even stranger in the context of the matches that followed.

Rooney's first five games were against Middlesbrough, Hull, Southampton, Ipswich and Sunderland – all teams vying for promotion. Birmingham could easily have struggled in those games under Eustace and if Birmingham had made a change then they could have called poor form.

But by firing a manager who was producing good results, Cook had to justify it and he did so by promising football without fear. Its meaning remains unclear and unless Blues turns a corner quickly, the label will likely continue to haunt him.

Coaching staff

Rooney's CV included 17 months at crisis-torn Derby and 14 at DC United in Major League Soccer.

With Liam Rosenior – now in charge at Hull – leading many of the Rams' training sessions, Rooney should have brought in a more experienced assistant. John O'Shea and Ashley Cole's experience is limited, while Carl Robinson has never held a senior coaching job in the Championship.

There was little expertise there for Rooney to consult and Robinson left with Rooney on Tuesday, with the futures of O'Shea, Cole and Pete Shuttleworth still to be resolved. Goalkeeping coach Maik Taylor was the only survivor of the Eustace era.

Why not stick with coaches Keith Downing and Matt Gardiner, who were loved and respected by the squad?

November international break

With Birmingham collecting just one point from their opening five matches, the November international break was certainly the ideal time for Rooney to practice his players in his preferred style.

Instead, the squad was given eight days away from the training pitch and asked to follow individual fitness programmes. Blues weren't the only Championship club to give their players a breather at the end of the autumn and it's a long battle from November to March.

But as the team struggled to adapt to the ideas of a new manager, it felt like an odd tactic. Considering the results and disjointed performances that followed, things looked even stranger.

Public comments

After the 0-0 draw against Rotherham at St Andrew's on December 2, Rooney said: “I think some of the players there actually need to grow a few boys.” And after the loss to Stoke on Boxing Day he fumed: 'Ideally you'd wish you had 11 substitutions because I could have substituted all 11 players at half-time.'

While such anger is understandable after poor displays and results, these words do not endear a manager to his players.

The days of 'sending a message' to the team with public criticism are largely over. The modern player is a different beast from his predecessors, and under these circumstances he is more likely to withdraw from managers than to decide to prove him wrong.

Speak with Mailsportsaid one veteran boss that Rooney's words showed “a lack of emotional control.”

What now?

Surprisingly, Eustace is open to a return to Birmingham, less than three months after he was so mercilessly dumped.

Knowing the squad well, Eustace could hit the ground running and would be a financially smart option – but now that he has made the U-turn by sacking Rooney, it would be quite an uphill climb for Knighthead to re-hire Eustace .

Former Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray would be interesting, along with England Under-21 coach Lee Carsley, but former Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cooper is admired by at least two Premier League clubs and is unlikely to make a return to the Championship considering.

It is also unclear whether Blues would consider a left-field appointment such as highly rated German Matthias Kohler, with the 32-year-old available after leaving Dutch club Volendam in December.

Chairman Tom Wagner will certainly have to adjust his view. This is a team of regular champion players, not a group of stars capable of delivering Pep Guardiola-style football.

The sooner the board – which also includes NFL great Tom Brady – finds out about this, the faster Birmingham can climb the rankings.