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Adam Rooney
In all the furore of Carson-gate last week, the Bosman free signing of Adam Rooney from Scottish Premier League outfit Inverness Caledonian Thistle almost passed by unnoticed. Whilst it’s not his namesake Wayne, I have a suspicion that this could be a very shrewd first signing by new Blues manager Chris Hughton.
When you look at Rooney’s scoring record for Inverness, it has to be said it’s pretty good; fifteen in thirty seven in the SPL when playing for one of the more unfancied sides points to a striker who knows where the goal is. Indeed, his goalscoring record north of the border is a good one and from reading fansites of his first English club Stoke City there is a consistent theme amongst the fans that this is a kid who can put the ball in the onion bag.
However, one chief complaint I can see coming from fans is that Rooney isn’t the quickest; the Stokies are convinced that will be his downfall and why his goals haven’t got him a move to one of the big two in Scotland. As Blues have been a pedestrian team recently, lack of pace could be a worry. However, his age combined with the fact that Rooney counts as a “homegrown” player should mean that if he has any kind of decent season with us he will attain a decent price tag, and sell-on value is a big thing with the board having had their fingers burnt a bit with some of the older players we’ve seen come and go last season.
I’m also wary of the fact that it would appear quite a few of his goals are penalties; as much as scoring (and winning) penalties is an important facet to a striker’s game, I do think that they are something that can artificially inflate a striker’s tally and make him appear better than he is. Look at Andrew Johnson, ex of Blues. At Crystal Palace he had a phenomenal goalscoring record one season but many were pens and I don’t think he has ever replicated it. It’s going to be interesting to see if Rooney can replicate his scoring record with more goals from open play.
Yes, people will have seen the incredible miss of Rooney’s on youtube and then looked at his price tag and the club we have signed him from, and dismiss the young Irishman as a “crap signing”. Unfortunately, due to our relegation we’re no longer shopping in Waitrose any more – if we ever were – and if we can see a lad with potential like Rooney on offer for nothing, then I think we should take that chance. Blues are short on bodies at the moment and with a minimum fifty games in our campaign next season we’re going to need to ensure we’ve got the players to keep going.
Overall, I’m pleased with this signing. I’ll accept it might not seem the most exciting player for to us be picking up, but I’m of the belief that Blues need to be looking at more younger players with potential, especially at cheap prices as it’s a low-risk investment. If Rooney doesn’t work out, it’s not going to cost us the Earth. However, if he does, we’ll make a decent amount of money on him. I’m also a believer that young and hungry will suit us better than old and experienced at the moment, and with a new management team in place we’re in a position to shrug off our tags as exponents of drab football. Let’s hope our new Irishman can give the sort of positive impact that our last freebie Irishman (Stephen Carr) did.
Tags: Adam Rooney, Chris Hughton
12 Responses to “Adam Rooney”
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Whilst he’s not electric, I’ve watched Rooney before and he is no slouch.
The new Matt Derbyshire
I hope Rooney scores a few more than Derbyshire did
I hope he gets a bit better service than Derbyshire did.
What have we got to lose with this signing? He’s a player, unlike many of the others, who is desperate to play for our club and prove himself at this level. That’s the kind of desire we need throughout the squad next season.
I also think he has the ability to play for Blues. It’s rare for a non-Rangers/Celtic player to consistently reach 15-20 goals every season, so we know the lad can finish. He’s not the quickest, but he’s got strength and a good first touch. Look at Grant Holt at Norwich, Jon Parkin at Cardiff, Steve Morison formerly of Millwall – they’re all bigger, not quite so mobile lads, but have all scored shed loads of goals in the Championship.
Here’s to hoping our Rooney can be added to that list!
He’s nothing like Derbyshire he’s more like Zigic than Derbyshire. He’s nothing more than a body we’ll sell him at the end of the season to a League 1 club or something.
Funny how pessimistic some are.
I think he is a good signing and actually exactly that kind of signing I was hoping for. The lad is quite young, has proven a bit of quality and Blues got nothing to lose.
He signed for free and his wage will be considerably less then the wage we are saving by not having to pay Garner. So, already we made a bit of a “theoretical” plus money-wise.
Two possible outcomes of this:
1.) The kid scores one after another, proving valuable to the club. This is positive even if we have to sell him to a bigger club. Any transfer fee received for him would be positive.
2.) The kid shows a mediocre display and after a few years disappears from the squad. In that case we would only have lost the wages.
There is of course the possibility of him not playing at all, but quite frankly I don’t see this coming.
I’d actually like a few more Hughton-signings like that.
Decent player better then jerome better then derbyshire better then zigic ,, tbh i think he will be brilliant at Blues and then will see team coming in for him and then we can make a profit on him in the near future :)
I like that we have signed a lad like this hes quite young and know were the back of the net…..
But as this guy said most are from penalties, lets see if this lad can score a few goals in open play i hope he does because this lad could be the future hes not the quickest but surely he knows were the net is as you can see his goal record.
All the best Rooney hope u do as good as wayne ;)
reading some of these pessimistic comments is really frustrating, Rooney is a quality striker. Rooney always played as a long striker so he had a lot of responsibility and did a brilliant job at inverness. Bet you didnt know he scored a hat trick on his second for stoke, holding there record for the youngest hat trick previously held by stanley matthews. in my eyes this is a brilliant signing for birmingham, the only reason other clubs didnt make a move is because they must not of done there homework on him.
Its annoying that some fans are already criticising Rooney before he has kicked a ball for us. We really should be getting behind the lads ‘cos this season they are going to need us. KRO & stop moaning!
While I sincerely hope he does well for Blues, appears to have great potential and has scored a load of goals, could I remind you all of a certain player who admitted was not a “freebie” but cost a lot, was supposed to be the best thing since sliced bread, very fast and totally useless in front of goal,, Rooney is coming to us with great reports so far,our hopes are up but they were with Jeromes as well