Rooney rejected Saudi offer to lead Birmingham

Wayne Rooney shared he rejected an offer to manage in Saudi Arabia before accepting the head coaching position at Birmingham City in the Championship.

New Birmingham City boss Wayne Rooney poses with the shirt. 📸 pic.twitter.com/KLSV15uhNg

— Football Daily (@footballdaily) October 13, 2023

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Rooney returns as Plymouth’s head coach

The ex-Manchester United and England forward, who worked until recently as boss of DC United and in the past of Derby County, became Birmingham head coach on Wednesday with the team 6^th in the standings of the English 2^nd tier championship.

Birmingham’s chief executive Garry Cook admitted he tried to recruit Rooney to the Saudi Pro League while he was working as CEO of the championship in the Middle Eastern country.

“We talked about Saudi Arabia. He didn’t want that,” Cook shared at a joint news conference with Wayne.

Rooney shared that his choice was “no disrespect” to head coaches who had decided to move to the Arabic country, clarifying: “For me, I felt my development, my preference, was not there.”