The former Exeter City striker found the net in an intense Championship match at Home Park. Given his family ties to Exeter – with his father, Adam, also being a former player there – Stansfield made his Devon allegiance clear by revealing a T-shirt reading ‘Once a red, always a red’. This action didn’t sit well with Plymouth supporters and led to objects being thrown onto the field.
Birmingham manager Rooney, no stranger to controversy during his playing career, has promised to confront the issue. The Manchester United and England icon stated, “Sometimes you’re better focusing on your job on the pitch, but ultimately he’s a young player learning his trade in the game and he felt this game was very emotional for him and his family and he’s reacted after his goal the way he did, and the referee rightly gave him a yellow card. I knew he went behind the goal to the fans, I didn’t know he had a T-shirt.”
Rooney mentioned, “I’ll speak to Jay on it. When you get involved with fans you never know what the reaction is going to be. I’ve been there myself, I’ve made mistakes like that myself on the pitch and it’s something which I’m sure he’ll learn from.”
Stansfield is currently on loan at Birmingham from Fulham, and Rooney has already apologized to Plymouth for his 21-year-old forward’s actions. Neil Dewsnip, a director at Plymouth, said, “He [Rooney] came straight up to me and he said ‘Neil, I apologise, I know about the Exeter Plymouth thing, I will speak to him in the dressing room’. Maybe that was why he took him off later on, I don’t know.”
Despite Birmingham leading 2-0 and 3-1 against Plymouth, they settled for a draw. Another disappointing result for the Blues means they’ve only managed two wins in Rooney’s 12 games in charge, falling short of the aspirations of NFL legend Tom Brady and other investors at St Andrew’s.
Jay Stansfield
Jay Stansfield
This season he played in total 20 times for 1518 minutes for Championship.
Jay Stansfield scored 5 goals for Birmingham City. He procured two assists. He received 5 yellow cards and no red cards.
His team is currently 18th in Championship. In the last match Birmingham City drew 3-3 against Plymouth Argyle. The next match in Championship will be against Stoke City.
Birmingham City performance and stats
Birmingham City is currently 18th in the Championship with 27 points.
In the last 23 games, it has won 6 times, drawn 7 times, and lost 10 times. In its last match, Birmingham City drawn 3-3 against Plymouth Argyle.
It has a negative goal difference after scoring 29 goals and conceding 35.
Birmingham City will play the next match in Championship against Stoke City on Tuesday 26th of December in Birmingham. The prediction is Birmingham City winning the match.