Grass Shroots: It's all about Sunday morning soccer for new Birmingham City signing

Jan 10 2009 By Andy Walker

BUDDING manager Robin Shroot plans to swap Championship stadiums for the sidelines of park pitches on a Sunday morning when the current season finishes.

The Blues new boy is only just starting out on a career in professional football having been snapped up from non-League Harrow Borough at the start of the January transfer window.

But the ambitious 20-year-old already has one eye on a career in football management having already taken charge of a kids team in London.

Ex-Wimbledon trainee Shroot has been in charge of Balham Blazers Under-13s for the last two years and his managerial record already includes one promotion.

Obviously Blazers will now be forced to miss out on Shroot’s tactical nous as he concentrates on his commitments with Alex McLeish’s promotion-chasing Blues.

But the Northern Ireland Under-21 international plans to return to the sidelines of Balham when the current Championship campaign finishes in May.

“I managed an under-13s team when I was down in London and my record was phenomenal,” said Shroot with a smile on his face.

“I’ve been with them for two years, we got promoted the first season I did it and that got them into the A division where they are second now, so I did pretty well. I liked to coach in the evenings, I believe strongly in good football and obviously the younger you can get them and work with them the better that will develop.

“I’ll go back to them when the season is over because they go to tournaments in