Birmingham might sign the dream Mowbray’s successor considered “one of the best”

Birmingham City fans would hope that this hiring will result in an immediate return to the Championship.

Birmingham City fans will just want a familiar face in the St. Andrew’s dugout next season, with another new manager expected to arrive soon after Tony Mowbray’s departure.

Whoever takes over following the ex-Sunderland manager will have their work cut out, trying to breathe life back into the Blues, who have been relegated to League One for the first time in 29 years, despite the presence of ambitious new American owners.

In an alternative scenario, Birmingham would have stuck by John Eustace earlier in the season – who won survival for his new club Blackburn Rovers at the expense of his former employers – rather than appointing Wayne Rooney, but there isn’t much use in dwelling on the past right now.

Surprisingly, the new third-tier club might demonstrate their seriousness by pursuing Rooney’s former assistant manager, who is also being pursued by Championship clubs.

Birmingham going after ambitious swoop

Football Insider originally revealed last week that Birmingham were interested in bringing ex-Hull City manager Liam Rosenior to St. Andrew’s, hoping to stave off a slew of clubs from the league above vying for the in-demand 39-year-old.

With Sunderland and Plymouth Argyle both adamant that Rosenior should be their next manager, speculations have circulated that the former Tigers manager isn’t interested in the League One position, according to football journalist Alan Nixon via his Patreon page.

Holding out for a job in the league above, presumably after being controversially fired from his position at the MKM Stadium after securing a respectable seventh-place finish for Hull, Birmingham’s powers-that-be will have to hope they can sell Rosenior on a vision and project in order to pull off the coup.

The Championship Manager of the Season nominee may welcome the prospect of returning the Blues to their former glory if he is eventually convinced to take over as Mowbray’s successor, having previously succeeded in League One alongside Rooney and as interim manager at Derby.

Liam Rosenior’s record at Derby

Going about his work in an unassuming manner following Rooney’s departure, Rosenior calmed the Rams ship when there was still upheaval in Derbyshire at the start of the 2022/23 season before Paul Warne’s arrival from Rotherham United.

That short stint seemingly made a sizeable impact, with Sky Sports pundit Clinton Morrison notably stating: “I actually think he’s a top manager. I spoke to a few people at Derby. He was unlucky to lose his job, the players respected him. He’s one of the best coaches ever.”

He could be the ideal manager to calm things down at Birmingham right now, given the club’s ups and downs in recent years and a revolving door of bosses moving in and out of the building at a rapid rate.

Birmingham have gone through nine managers in the last five years, and with Rowett expected to leave after taking over from Mowbray on an interim basis, the club will be hoping that Rosenior’s appointment pays off.

Winning seven of the 12 games he took over as interim manager of the Rams, with only three losses in League One, he managed to achieve a 58.3% win ratio. The 39-year-old’s record at Hull would also serve him well in Birmingham.

Described as doing a “superb” job with the Tigers before his dismissal by Arsenal legend Ray Parlour, with the former Rams face a success in initially securing survival for Hull in his first season before nearly making the playoffs, Birmingham would certainly make a statement by bringing Rosenior in.