What a difference a manager can make I thought to myself as Birmingham held out to beat high flying Watford. In 10 days Gary Rowett has recorded as many home wins as Lee Clark had this season. With seemingly no change other than staff at the club how has Rowett brought a seemingly dying club back to life with a bang?
The 27th of October following a 0 – 8 demolishing the Rowett revolution began at blues. With the appointment bringing a sense of freshness to the dressing room and a new perspective on the team and the rest of the league fans began to feel a sense of hope that something may change for the better. Well at least on the pitch. With a smile for the media the new manager made it clear the past was behind the players and they all had a chance to impress him and begin afresh and they sure did not disappoint the new boss.
The first game for Rowett as manager was a trip to Wolves who if they got a point would go top at least for a few hours anyway. As the 12:15 kick off began something became evident from the off. There was a shape and a game plan. When was the last time fans was could see what the manager had wanted to put across to the pitch that clearly? With a formation that was for all purposes a 4 – 5 – 1 whilst wolves were in possession before flowing into a 4 – 3 – 3 when countering attacking the hosts defence. The game finished 0 – 0 and was a well-earned point for the visitors who played like a completely new side from the team who was humbled at home by Bournmouth exactly 7 days previous.
Rowett seems to have a much greater knowledge of the game then Clark did and this was never more evident in the substitutions used against Wolves. The midfield began to tire and get breached dangerously. Bang a quick reaction on bringing fresh legs to the middle of the park and it soon solved the issue before it escalated. Then as the game was approaching its closing stages enter the man mountain Bakary Sako who in one of the first plays since his introduction destroyed the young winger Koby Arthur with his body size Rowett brought the tall Brek Shea on for Arthur to help negate the Wolves winger and his size as well as talents on the ball. Gary Rowett just seemed to be a man with a plan at the start but was also able to adapt and react quickly to anything Kenny Jacket and his team could put against Birmingham.
I can`t comment on the Watford match due to not being able to attend however from what I have heard it was a similar story of planning to stop the oppositions best players from playing their natural game However what I do know for a fact it the club offered reduced tickets for just £10 and used the social media trend of #RowettReturns to promote the game. This simple promotion and the sense of hope Gary Rowett created for fans lead to a crowd of 18,309 which has not been seen since the Europa League matches it also created this after the game had finished:
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