According to a former Manchester United teammate, Wayne Rooney’s aspirations of one day managing the club are not over.

Rooney, 38, was fired by Birmingham City on Tuesday after a terrible 15-game run in which the ex-England and United captain won just two games. Rooney made it plain that his objective was to eventually manage the Red Devils after impressing in his first job at Derby County before a term in charge of MLS strugglers D.C. United last year.

Even with potentially decades left in the game, his chances appear bleak after Birmingham released him. But Dimitar Berbatov, one of his attack partners at United for four years during which the Red Devils won two Premier League titles, believes the Premier League legend will eventually take over at Old Trafford.

“It’s a pity,” Berbatov said of his friend’s dismissal, which was exclusively revealed by Mirror Football. “I sympathize with him because I know he wants to be a manager, and one day he might be the manager of Manchester United – I still believe that.”

“His time at Birmingham shows every footballer who’d like to go into management that even if you’re a big name, it can’t save you from the sack.”

Rooney’s appointment in October was met with swift criticism, as the newly-taken-over Blues fired fan favorite leader John Eustace to bring in the 38-year-old great, who had done little to better his CV in North America. Berbatov concedes that it is “difficult to defend” Rooney’s attempts and confesses, “It’s a very tricky situation.”

Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov were teammates at Manchester United for four years.

“When Wazza took over, Birmingham was sixth in the table; now they’re 20th.” Going from sixth to twentieth place is a tremendous letdown, and the facts speak for themselves: he only won twice in 15 matches. That is tough to defend.

“On the other hand, he lacked the time to prove himself.” However, in today’s football, the most crucial factor is the outcome. You must first obtain the outcomes in order to give yourself time to build on your goal. You can’t build on your vision while experiencing negative outcomes.

“Unfortunately, you don’t get as much time in football.” Perhaps if he had been given more time, he could have turned things around, but results are what matter in modern sport. If the other league outcomes were different, and even if you’re losing games, you don’t plummet down the league and stay in mid-table, it might be a different image.”