Wayne Rooney is close to an agreement with Birmingham to become their new manager. Talks are progressing well and there is no expectation of any hold-ups, the PA news agency understands. The former England skipper will replace John Eustace at St Andrew’s after leaving DC United last week. Rooney, who was Derby boss between November 2020 and June 2022, is expected to be joined by Ashley Cole and John O’Shea as part of his backroom staff. US-based Shelby Companies Limited completed a takeover of Birmingham in July and owner Tom Wagner has been reportedly seeking to make a change of management, with Rooney’s name linked with the club in September. In August seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady became a minority owner in the club. Eustace was sacked despite guiding Birmingham to sixth place in the Championship this season. He replaced Lee Bowyer in July 2022 and helped Birmingham finish nine points above the drop zone in the second tier amid off-field issues surrounding the ownership of the club. The former Coventry and Watford midfielder was axed on Monday and chief executive Garry Cook vowed to take Blues to the next level. He said: “The owners and board members are ambitious. They are driven to help make Birmingham City a football powerhouse. It will not happen overnight. It is a step-by-step approach. “We are well aware of what has happened at Blues over the past decade. We believe we have moved on from those dark days giving hope and aspiration to existing and new fans. “Our intent is to be judged over what we do in the years to come and be ambitious with the new story that we are writing.” Read More James Maddison admits timing of international break is ‘annoying’ for Tottenham Danny Sapsford keen to keep growing his bright idea and put smiles on more faces Howard Webb disappointed by VAR failure to correct ‘clear error’ on offside goal

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James Maddison is aiming to impress on England duty this week – but admits the international break has come at an “annoying” time with Tottenham sat atop the Premier League. The summer signing from relegated Leicester has hit the ground running in north London, scoring twice and assisting five times in the opening eight league games of the new season. Maddison’s form has played a key part in Ange Postecoglou’s men setting the pace heading into the second international window of the campaign, with Spurs edging out neighbours Arsenal at the top of the division by virtue of goals scored. Asked if he was in the form of his life, the 26-year-old told BBC Radio 5Live: “Potentially, I feel really good to be honest. “I feel at the top of my game, and that is contributing to wins at the minute, and we have started the season really well, and we have got a good momentum. “The international break has probably come at a bit of an annoying time in a way. “You would never, ever not want to represent your country, because I always say it is the pinnacle when I am away with England, but if I’ve got my club head on, we’re in good form, we’re in good momentum, we are unbeaten in the league in eight. “We came back after the last international break and hit the ground running again and won late against Sheffield United in brilliant circumstances. Hopefully we can do the same off the back of this one and continue the form.” I feel at the top of my game, and that is contributing to wins at the minute, and we have started the season really well James Maddison Maddison was part of the England squad that reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Qatar last winter but, due to a niggling knee injury, failed to make an appearance. Having made his senior England debut in November 2019, the former Coventry and Norwich man would have to wait until the Euro 2024 qualifier against Ukraine earlier this year to pick up a second cap. Since then, Maddison has started two out of three qualifying fixtures and will be keen to play a large part in the upcoming Wembley double-header which sees England face Australia in a friendly on Friday before welcoming Italy for a key European Championship qualifier on Tuesday. “So much can happen in a year,” added Maddison. “Over the past year I have worked really hard and played some good stuff, I think. Obviously, I have moved to Tottenham. I feel as though I could potentially be in the best form I have ever been in really. “And now I feel at home here (with England). I would be happy to play anywhere, when you are wearing the Three Lions there is no feeling like it to be honest. “If that means I am playing slightly out of position, then so be it. I couldn’t care less as long as I am out there. “I will try to do my best and bring the qualities that I have to any position that I play in, whether that is in the middle or left wing or right wing, wherever.” Read More Danny Sapsford keen to keep growing his bright idea and put smiles on more faces Howard Webb disappointed by VAR failure to correct ‘clear error’ on offside goal Harry Maguire cannot wait for Euro 2028 and is ‘hopeful’ to be in the squad On this day in 2019: England lose long unbeaten qualifying record in Prague LIV Golf fails in bid to be eligible for world ranking points Harry Kane dreaming of leading England to Euro 2028 glory on home soil

PGMOL chief Howard Webb reveals how Premier League referees will avoid blunders similar to Luis Diaz's disallowed goal at Tottenham in the future.

Harry Kane doesn’t drink. He enjoyed Bayern Munich’s annual trip to Oktoberfest in full lederhosen and ate a giant pretzel, but his jug of beer was barely touched. At the hotel where he lives, meals are carefully planned by his chef: breakfast is an omelette or yoghurt and granola; lunch and dinner consists of salad and vegetables topped off by a rotating carousel of white fish, chicken or beef. Sometimes he has salmon as a treat. He lives away from his wife and children, in a country where he does not speak the language after only a handful of lessons, in a city he cannot enjoy without being mobbed. His family will move over but for now it is a solitary, unremitting existence: eat, sleep, play, recover, repeat. It is not quite the life of a monk, but when children dream of becoming England captain, they probably don’t dream of this. This, though, is sometimes the life of an elite footballer. He has climbed to the top of the game; he loves it here and he wants to stay. Kane is the sort of person who has it all mapped out, from his ambition to play in the NFL to his retirement in Surrey, where he is building a new family home. So when he says his career is only at half-time, aged 30, you know it is not just bluster but part of a considered masterplan. “The perception in sport is you hit 30 and people start to think that’s the end,” he says. “But the way I’m looking at it is that I almost have the second half of my career [to come]. I’ve had nine or 10 years at the highest level and I’m hoping for another eight or nine years at the highest level again.” His best years, Kane says, might still be ahead of him. “There is definitely room for improvement. When you look at a lot of the top-level players – Ronaldo, Messi, Lewandowski, Ibrahimovic – they have almost got better as they hit 30. In a lot of sports that happens. Everything is maybe settled in your personal life, you are comfortable with your body, you are comfortable mentally and that just allows you to focus on football.” Kane is sitting in a colourful side room at St George’s Park, where he is on England duty ahead of Friday’s friendly with Australia and a Euros qualifier against Italy next week. England teammates have been asking about life at Bayern, where Kane has made a fast start: nine goals and four assists in nine games. The manager Thomas Tuchel has come under scrutiny after one or two disjointed performances, with Bayern third in the table – Tottenham, ironically, are top of the Premier League. But Kane has impressed in these early weeks. “There’s a lot of other stuff that goes into a transfer – the personal stuff, trying to find houses, living in hotels, not having my family with me,” he says. “It’s all stuff I’m not used to. So to be able to have started the way I have, I’m really proud. I could have scored a few more goals, I’ve had quite a few chances. But if you’d have told me before the transfer this is what I’d be on, the amount of goals and assists and wins, I’d have taken that.” Football in Germany is well suited to longevity, with a winter break each season and one less cup competition to contend with than English football. Many players consider retirement from international duty to prolong their club careers, but in that sense it is almost the opposite with Kane. His workload has lightened, and he has no intention of ever turning down his country. “I will probably keep [playing for England] until I’m not picked anymore, and then accept that and take it on the chin,” he says. Might he lead England into a home Euros in 2028? “Who knows? Hopefully, I’m aiming to still be around by then. I feel as good as I’ve ever felt before and I’d like to think my career will go to my late thirties, at least.” Kane is a friend and admirer of Tom Brady, the oldest player to win the NFL’s MVP award, aged 40. As a teenager struggling on loan at Leicester City, Kane sat alone in a rented flat wondering how he was ever going to make it at Spurs when he couldn’t even get a game in the Championship. There he came across a documentary about Brady on YouTube, charting the quarterback’s rise from obscurity, and he felt inspired to chase his own dream. A decade on, Kane is back where it all started, spending plenty of time alone again, albeit in slightly smarter accommodation. It is a symptom of his determination to stay at the top of the game and to prove he belongs at one of the biggest clubs in the world. And perhaps what captures Kane’s unique mindset, what marks him out as one of England’s greatest ever footballers, is that he is never finished. “I definitely think there are levels [to reach],” he says. “Being at Bayern Munich now, I can keep pushing myself to see how good I can get.” To Kane, the second half has only just begun. Read More On this day in 2019: England lose long unbeaten qualifying record in Prague Harry Kane dreaming of leading England to Euro 2028 glory on home soil I am a Tottenham fan – Harry Kane wants Spurs to win Premier League Football rumours: Wayne Rooney in the running for Birmingham job ‘Role model’ David Beckham reached out after Hampden Park hounding, says Maguire Maguire reveals Beckham reached out during difficult England moment