John O’Shea has linked up with former teammate Wayne Rooney at Birmingham City.
The Championship have confirmed Rooney has been appointed their new manager, with O’Shea named on his coaching staff.
The 42-year-old ended an extremely successful career in 2019, a year after he was released by Sunderland. O’Shea won five Premier League titles, the FA Cup, Champions League and two League Cups during his 12 year spell with Manchester United before moving to Wearside.
The defender was a regular alongside Wes Brown in Sunderland’s defence, making over 250 appearances across seven years before he left the club following back-to-back relegations to the Championship.
Following a season with Reading, O’Shea went into coaching with the Royals before spending time with the Republic of Ireland U21s and Stoke City. The former international was named Republic of Ireland’s assistant manager in February 2023 and has now earned himself another role with Birmingham City.
Wayne Rooney arrives back in the Championship after leaving DC United and will reunite with O’Shea and Ashley Cole, as well as bringing back his former Derby County coaches Carl Robinson and Pete Shuttleworth.
The Blues confirmed that O’Shea and Cole, who works with England U21s, will retain their roles with the international teams.
Rooney’s arrival at St Andrew’s comes under heavy criticism, with sacked manager John Eustace having guided them to sixth place in the Championship.
Sunderland will be reunited with O’Shea when they host Birmingham City next month. Though the likes of Dan Neil and Anthony Patterson will be the only familiar faces still at the Stadium of Light.
What are Birmingham City doing?
John O’Shea’s return to the Championship is actually the least surprising part of Birmingham City’s situation, with their decision to get rid of Eustace a huge shock to everyone.
The Blues currently sit a point inside the play-offs and had scored seven goals in their last two games before Eustace’s dismissal.
Bringing Rooney in – on a reported triple salary – is a huge risk and one that seems unlikely to pay off the Midlands club. However, this can only be a good thing for Sunderland, who looked set to battle the Blues for a place in the top six come the end of the season.