Wayne Rooney’s ambitions to one day manage Manchester United, according to a former teammate, are not dead.

Rooney, 38, was dismissed by Birmingham City on Tuesday after a disastrous 15-game run in which he won only two games for England and Manchester United. After impressing in his first job at Derby County before taking over MLS strugglers D.C. United last year, Rooney made it clear that his goal was to someday manage the Red Devils.

Even with potentially decades left in the game, his prospects appear grim with Birmingham’s release. However, Dimitar Berbatov, who was one of his attack partners at United for four years and helped the Red Devils win two Premier League titles, believes the Premier League veteran will eventually take over at Old Trafford.

“It’s a pity,” Berbatov remarked of his friend’s dismissal, which Mirror Football exclusively disclosed. “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 sparked outrage, as the newly-taken-over Blues ousted fan favorite leader John Eustace to bring in the 38-year-old great, who had done little to improve his CV in North America. Berbatov admits it is “difficult to defend” Rooney’s efforts and admits, “It’s a very tricky situation.”

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

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

“On the other hand, he lacked the time to prove himself.” However, in today’s football, the outcome is the most important component. To give oneself time to work on your goal, you must first acquire the results. You can’t build on your vision if you’re having bad luck.

“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 in modern athletics, results are what important. If the other league results were different, and even if you’re losing games, you don’t go down the league and stay in the middle, it might be a different picture.”