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New Birmingham City manager Wayne Rooney has said he is not concerned after his side were booed off in his first home game in charge following a 2-0 defeat to Hull City on Wednesday.
Rooney left his role at MLS side D.C. United to join Birmingham earlier this month but they have lost both games since he became the new boss.
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Birmingham sat in sixth position in the Championship before Rooney’s arrival and following consecutive defeats, they have slipped down to 12th place.
Rooney acknowledged the angry reaction from the supporters and said the team must improve in the upcoming matches.
“That’s part of football,” Rooney told a postmatch news conference. “You need to win football games to change that. As I said yesterday, the former manager was very popular here and did a good job.
“It’s what you want, what you want in terms of, do you want to be where the club has been for 10 years or do you want to move forward? And sometimes there’s a bedding in period while we are asking the players to do different things. I can deal with that. That’s part of the game. That’s part of my job. It’s not an issue for me.”
A section of Birmingham supporters were unhappy after Rooney replaced former manager John Eustace.
Eustace helped Birmingham avoid relegation last season in trying circumstances caused by two failed takeover bids and the looming threat of a points deduction due to a breach of EFL regulations.
Rooney revealed that he had a frank discussion with the squad after the game and said some players were taking time to adjust to his style of play.
When asked if any players told him they are uncomfortable with his playing style, Rooney replied: “Yes. That’s my job now to deal with that and fix that.
“I have to come up with a way that they are comfortable with playing whilst trying to implement how I want to play.”