“Madness”: Wayne Rooney’s appreciation from Kieran McKenna before Birmingham City vs. Ipswich Town

A win for the Tractor Boys would see them sit just two points behind league leaders Leicester City with a game in hand.

Birmingham meanwhile need a win to rekindle their early season play-off hunt.

The Blues have lost three consecutive games since appointing Wayne Rooney as boss.

Under former manager John Eustace, Birmingham were sitting pretty in the play-off spots.

Kieran McKenna’s praise for Wayne Rooney

Speaking to the Mirror ahead of today’s game, Kieran McKenna reflected on Rooney’s career and praised him for embracing the “madness” by stepping into management.

He said: “My pathway is very different, missing out on some of those experiences as a player, but I’ve had so many more years to build up different types of knowledge and understanding,” McKenna said.

“There are different ways into the profession and each of them bring challenges and pressures. I don’t think one way is easier than the other or has fewer demands.

“Full credit to anyone who decides in their madness to fully commit to the profession, whether that’s me without a long playing career or a player who had a fantastic career but still has the desire and passion to stay in the game and impact it in a meaningful way.”

McKenna was a youth footballer at Tottenham whilst Wayne Rooney was in Everton’s academy so he knew who the England ace was prior to his Premier League debut.

He noted: “From very, very early the players who were coming back from the England set-up were raving about this phenomenon coming through.”

Today’s clash with Ipswich will be the toughest fixture of Rooney’s reign at Birmingham so far.

But having lost three on the spin already, he will have geared up his players in an effort to avoid a fourth consecutive defeat.

Wayne Rooney at Birmingham City

A win over second-placed Ipswich could be just what the Blues need to kickstart the Wayne Rooney era after three losses on the bounce.

The games don’t get much easier for Rooney and co either.

Following today’s match, they face a trip to Sunderland next weekend who could be back in the top six by then.

A win for Sunderland at Swansea today would see them back in the play-offs if other results fall in the Black Cats’ favour.

Ipswich meanwhile, are aiming to win their fifth Championship match in a row.

The Tractor Boys are currently enjoying a run of nine Championship games without defeat.

During this run, they have won an impressive eight games.

Their only defeat of late came against Premier League outfit Fulham in the League Cup on Tuesday after McKenna changed his entire starting XI.

Today’s match is likely to be a thoroughly entertaining affair as both managers encourage their sides to play attractive football.

The sides will battle hard to control possession although both can also be dangerous on the counter-attack.

Ipswich saw less of the ball than their opponents in September’s victories over Southampton and Blackburn.

A loss for Birmingham today has the potential to continue their unwanted downward spiral.

They are already five points behind the top six so it is imperative they manage to avoid defeat today.

Things change quickly in the Championship though.

Should the Blues pick up a win today in a match where they are rightly viewed as underdogs, then the momentum and confidence they gain from that could be enormous.