Former Birmingham City boss Wayne Rooney make coaching claim that may infuriate Man Utd fans

Former Birmingham City manager Wayne Rooney has revealed that he would be happy to work for Premier League champions Manchester City if Pep Guardiola ever asked him to be assistant coach.

The ex-Derby County and DC United boss lasted just 83 days in the St Andrews dugout this season in a disastrous tenure which saw him win just two of his 15 games in charge as the Blues fell from sixth to 20th in the Championship table.

Although there has been talk of Rooney potentially starting a boxing career, the ex-Manchester United captain remains adamant that he will remain in football management and is actively seeking out his next opportunity within the game.

Rooney, like many of the Golden Generation, has struggled to make his mark in management, but claims he would be open to the chance of learning from one of the best in Pep Guardiola, despite his connections to the Red Devils.

Speaking on The Overlap, he told the panel: 'It depends [on whether I’d ever be an assistant] – if Pep Guardiola comes in and asks me to be his assistant, you’d walk there! You see what [Mikel] Arteta is doing now and I strongly believe a lot of that is from learning what Guardiola was doing and so it depends on what the situation is.”

Rooney, who lifted five Premier League titles and one Champions League as a player, went on to describe Guardiola as a trailblazer and pointed out some of the key differences he had seen in the game.

Rooney explained: “I watched one of our games back, against Liverpool from about 15 years ago, and the difference to how the game was played then to how it is now is massive.

 “For me, the best manager is Pep [Guardiola], and you look at how he adapts – how they [Manchester City] are playing now is not the same as how they were playing four years ago. He keeps making these subtle changes, and then you see everyone else trying to do the same.

“It’s important to have your own principles and ideas of what you want to do and that’s what I’ve tried to do at Derby, DC [United] and at Birmingham, but unfortunately it didn’t work.”