Wayne Rooney points out ‘significant’ Birmingham City signings that slipped by

Pete Shuttleworth and Carl Robinson are crucial members of Wayne Rooney’s revamped Birmingham City coaching staff, he has emphasized.

Shuttleworth and Robinson have accompanied Rooney from DC United to Blues in order to establish a backroom team that also includes John O’Shea and Ashley Cole. At St. Andrew’s, Rooney will continue to serve as goalkeeping coach.

Cole and O’Shea, who have won the Premier League often, are just beginning their coaching careers, but Shuttleworth and Robinson add expertise to the team. Shuttleworth, who never played professionally, worked his way up from non-league coach to spend five years at Blues in scouting and analysis roles before joining Rooney at Derby County in 2020.

Rooney was sufficiently pleased with Shuttleworth at Derby to give him his faith, and the 44-year-old accompanied him to Washington last year.

Robinson, a former Wales international who began his career in this region with Wolverhampton Wanderers, and Rooney first collaborated in Washington. Before joining forces with Rooney, Robinson had nine years of managing experience under his belt.

Rooney remarked, “Carl Robinson has a lot of experience.” He oversaw operations in Australia and Vancouver, and he worked alongside me at DC United. He is very comfortable on the practice field and is a great asset to the coaching staff and I.

Rooney stated of his second assistant coach: “Pete Shuttleworth has worked with me at both Derby County and DC United. He is an excellent coach. He performs admirably in both group and one-on-one meetings. He is a key member of my coaching staff and plays a pretty vital function.”

In order to learn more about Rooney, BirminghamLive spoke with Washington Post reporter Steven Goff earlier this week. Additionally, Goff was able to shed light on the Blues’ new, less well-known coaches.

“Pete Shuttleworth is a great guy,” Goff stated. He is fiercely devoted to Wayne. He would occasionally give a press conference in the middle of the week to address the media. He is a very intelligent and well-spoken man.

“Carl played in the Major League Soccer and coached Vancouver for the longest period of time (five years). He frequently made it to the play-offs. Wayne had little MLS knowledge and experience, and Pete had obviously just arrived, so DC brought him in for his MLS expertise.

Carl was hired because they needed someone with some institutional knowledge. I had considered him as a potential replacement for Wayne early on, but it was evident that Wayne liked him and wanted to take him to Birmingham.

Although Rooney has five Premier League championship medals to his name, Cole and O’Shea both have a sizable collection of trophies. Cole won seven FA Cups, the Champions League, and three Premier League championships over his playing career. O’Shea won five league championships in addition to the Champions League. Over 100 international appearances were accrued by Rooney, Cole, and O’Shea combined.

Rooney said of Cole and O’Shea: “I haven’t worked with them as coaches, but I have played with both of them. The careers they have both had clearly demonstrate what we mean when we talk about having a winning mentality.

“For the club’s younger players, walking in and seeing players like Ashley Cole… learning how they may help the team’s players develop as well as themselves.

They play a crucial role on the coaching staff. Although each coach will play a distinct function, ultimately we are all on the same team.