The Wayne Rooney paradox: he should avoid any club that wants him

After being sacked by Birmingham, the former England captain may need to bear Groucho Marx’s famous declaration in mind.

FAREWELL: Birmingham City sack Rooney after only 15 games.

Is Wayne Rooney a good manager? There is an obvious answer to this, three jobs, three years and three abrupt departures into his career as a head coach, the latest that unremittingly disastrous 15-game spell at Birmingham City. And that answer is quite clearly: no. Nothing to see here. Move along please.

On the other hand, any assessment of Rooney’s capacity as a manager has one key flaw, what we might call a Wayne-22 situation, which states that Wayne Rooney has only ever been employed as a manager by the kind of board that thinks it’s a good idea to employ Wayne Rooney as a manager.