Wayne Rooney rages at ‘disgraceful’ penalty decision as legend loses third straight game as Birmingham boss

Wayne Rooney was left fuming with a ‘disgraceful’ referee decision as the England legend’s winless start as Birmingham manager stretched to three games — and even Mike Dean agreed.

Rooney’s side were beaten 3-1 by Southampton on Saturday to make it three defeats in three games as Blues boss.

Fortunately for the coach, there were more positive scenes from supporters compared to their last outing, when an angry supporter told the former DC United manager to ‘f*** off back to America’ after a 2-0 defeat to Hull.

Against the Saints there was a more positive atmosphere, despite the result, due to Birmingham’s spirited second-half display at St Mary’s.

And Rooney feels his side might have come away with at least a share of the points had the officials done their job properly, with the visitors denied a clear penalty just before half-time.

Southampton struck early with Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Carlos Alcaraz putting the hosts 2-0 up inside 25 minutes — sparking chants of ‘sacked in the morning’ directed at Rooney from the Saints fans.

But the Birmingham support got behind their new boss with their own chants of ‘Rooney, Rooney, Rooney’, and ‘Rooney’s blue army’, and they and the manager were soon up in arms over a clear penalty shout.

Oliver Burke won a header in the box but was then flattened by goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu — but it was not given by the on-pitch officials.

Birmingham rallied after the break and pulled one back with a fine strike from Jay Stansfield — an inspired substitute from Rooney, finding the net just a minute after coming on the pitch — only for Adam Armstrong to wreck their chances of a comeback by scoring his eighth goal of the season in the 86th minute, sealing a 3-1 Southampton win.

Rooney was not happy with the