Opinion: Rowett Is Pivotal To Our Success

The debris of the Lee Clark era seems to have been pushed to the side and it seems almost like a distant memory due to how well Rowett has picked us up and dusted us down. But was this down to Rowett? Or can we afford to let him go to another club amidst plenty of speculation.

The reason this has flared up in recent times is that our neighbours, Aston Villa are looking for a long term replacement to the axed manager, Di Matteo. The media have speculated that they would be interested in Gary Rowett to replace him and let us be honest, who wouldn’t be? The main issue when he came to manage Birmingham City was that he may not be experienced enough at this level of football having had managerial experience in the league below with Burton Albion; whom later were promoted.

I can see why Gary is a wanted man now. He has gained a lot of knowledge in his first couple of years in the Championship and in turn this makes him more appealing to other clubs. But he also has changed the set up of the whole club which shows just how much of an influence he has been since joining Birmingham City. As a lover of youth football, there has been a remarkable and noticeable change within the whole set up.

All of the youth teams now play the same style. Literally, sometimes the age groups cannot be identified purely from their playing style and this means that the transition from being a young kid, all the way to the first team is easy with the right attitude. It means that they can focus more on personal development because the style of play is almost second nature to these lads. Now, this kind of method is a tried and tested way of producing youth talent and it is used at Manchester United; most noticeably payed off for the ‘Class Of 92.’ Therefore, Rowett has come in with a plan, implemented it, and hopefully we will see the benefits in the future.

He also has the first team playing a more attractive style rather than the long ball that we had become familiar with in previous seasons. Yes it still happens, but we play a more passing game now and this is testament not only to the training regime but also to the new players that have been scouted and brought in.

Our club is bigger than any player or manager and I will stick by that as long as I live. But if Rowett does leave, it will be hard to get someone who knows the set up inside out and someone who is able to just slot in straight away. It will take a while to get the players to adapt and to buy in new players to fit a new style. So I am really hoping that he stays and it sure will be a kick in the teeth if he goes to Villa. I can’t see it happening but football is a funny old game.