Cynical Birmingham chiefs knew they were going to sack local lad John Eustace WEEKS AGO with Wayne Rooney taking over

WAYNE ROONEY will take charge of his first training session with his new Birmingham City squad on Thursday.

The Manchester United and England legend flew into London to finalise details on his £1.5million-a-year contract yesterday.

PABirmingham City axed manager John Eustace earlier this week[/caption]

PAWayne Rooney is on the brink of becoming the Blues’ new manager[/caption]

RUTERSThe Blues brass had their sights set on Wazza for several weeks[/caption]

And he informed club chiefs he intends to hit the ground running with his first training session scheduled for Thursday.

Rooney will be assisted by new first-team coaches Ashley Cole and John O’Shea but has yet to confirm who his No2 will be.

However, the new Blues boss was yesterday left in no doubt what will be expected of him at St Andrew’s.

In an open letter to Birmingham City supporters – many of whom were disgusted by the decision to axe John Eustace – Blues CEO Garry Cook made it clear Rooney’s arrival heralds an ambitious push for Premier League football.

“The Owners and Board Members are ambitious,” Cook wrote. 

“They are driven to help make Birmingham City a football powerhouse.

“Creating a winning culture in an organisation that has been on its back foot for a number of years is not easy. 

“My executive team are aware that we are aspiring to be world-class, but it takes more than words. 

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GETTYJohn Eustace was axed – despite the Blues’ decent start to the season[/caption]

“Birmingham City Football Club needs world-class professionals across every department, to enhance our performance on and off the pitch. 

“Experienced people who know how to be successful and are driven by winning. 

“We are not going to stop identifying and adding such talent to help us realise our ambition.”

SunSport understands Blues chiefs have known they would be parting company with Eustace for several weeks and Rooney was the only target they had in mind.

However, they cynically kept Solihull-born Eustace in charge until Rooney’s contract with DC United came to an end because they did not want to pay out compensation to the MLS club.

That would have affected the Blues’ tight FFP restrictions, so they kept Eustace on until Rooney parted ways with DC United, once they failed to qualify for the MLS Cup play-offs.

That hard-nosed business plan did not stop Cook from praising Eustace, 24 hours after axing him.

He even had the nerve to claim Birmingham owed the 43-year-old a debt of gratitude because Tom Wagner’s Knighthead Group would never have bought the club if Eustace hadn’t kept them up!

Explaining the logic behind sacking the man who had taken Blues to sixth in the table, Cook wrote: “Yesterday morning I met with John Eustace in Birmingham and shared the reasons for the decision to part company. 

“I thanked John for his hard work. I also told him that every Blues fan will be forever grateful for keeping the Club in the Sky Bet Championship last year. 

“Tom Wagner expressed to him when they spoke later in the day that if we had been relegated, Knighthead would not have invested in Birmingham. 

“John will be forever remembered for this fact.

“I speak for all at the Club when wishing him the very best for the future.”

GETTYWayne Rooney left DC United after they failed to make it to the MLS play-offs[/caption]