Why Gary Rowett and Derby are the perfect blend of ambitious pragmatism
When Gary Rowett arrived at St Andrews on October 27th 2014 he inherited a group of players depleted of all confidence. Two days earlier a sorry Birmingham City had been humiliated 8-0 at home to Bournemouth and with the club languishing second from bottom of the Championship it was difficult to see where sufficient improvements could be made to turn things around. The squad was bloated in quantity yet notably lacked in quality and with just two wins from fourteen were becoming accustomed to accepting their fate. Brum looked doomed for the drop.
With no time nor opportunity to overhaul personnel Rowett did what he had previously done on taking charge at Burton and what he would later do at Derby: he applied a great big dollop of common sense.
First the shape of the team changed, to a solid and disciplined 4-2-3-1 with players actually employed in their best positions. That was hardly radical. Next up an experienced centre-half in the form of Michael Morrison was loaned in from Charlton. Again, not exactly innovative. Lastly the 39-year-old coach worked his players hard on the training pitch, concentrating on defensive shape and game structure.
The following weekend, in Rowett’s first game in command and indeed his first experience of managing in the second tier his reorganised, rebooted new side drew away to Wolves and from there they never looked back. Seven wins from their next ten games revealed the full extent of Birmingham’s transformation and after securing a mid-table berth by the season’s end the unassuming Rowett went on to make the club a profit in the summer transfer window by selling Demarai Gray to Leicester and bringing in a raft of shrewd recruits on frees. The wins meanwhile just kept on coming.
When Gary Rowett was sacked on December 14th 2016 the Blues were three points off third spot and chasing promotion.
His highly surprising dismissal appalled the football world with condemnation flaring up on social media regardless of fan’s allegiances. The club’s new owners the casino giants Trillion Trophy Asia were clearly not content to challenge against the odds for the Premier League; what they wanted also was a ‘name’, a sprinkling of stardust in the dug-out and for that they turned to former Chelsea ace Gianfranco Zola. Rowett may have been forging a path as a pragmatic and talented coach but did he ever execute a breath-taking back-heeled goal from a corner? Did he have face recognition abroad? Sadly not.
In a depressingly predictable turn of events Zola lasted barely four months and Birmingham turned to Harry Redknapp, promising cash aplenty to afford him a chance to halt the club’s disastrous freefall.
Rowett, for his part, kept a dignified silence throughout and nobody would have blamed him one iota for taking time out from a game that admired him dispassionately before dumping on him from a great height. Instead though, for the third successive time, he took up the reins at a club where he had previously played during his long career as a defender of merit.
With Derby County’s play-off hopes extinguished Steve McClaren took the dreaded call from the chairman and in his place Rowett immediately set about reviving the Rams’ fortunes with three wins and a draw in his opening four games. Once again there was very little evidence of alchemy afoot, just plain old common sense and self-belief instilled into a team that was starting to doubt itself. And with an ultimately respectable ninth place secured Rowett undertook a summer overhaul the likes of which he has never been bestowed with before.
There is a widely held insistence that bargain buys are now a thing of the past in an industry overflowing with unimaginable wealth but bringing in the top flight experience of Curtis Davies, Cameron Jerome, Joe Ledley, and Tom Huddlestone for a combined sum of £4m represents a collective steal. Add to that the criminally underrated Tom Lawrence and two players in Andre Wisdom and Sam Winnall with something to prove and the losses of Tom Ince and Will Hughes have barely been felt this term.
Barely been felt? Hell, Derby are flying. Last week Rowett returned to St Andrew’s with his side leaving shortly after with the three points after a comprehensive 3-0 win and goodness knows how sweet that felt. This Friday evening they host Bristol City in a top six clash that could see the Rams further consolidate their automatic promotion placing.
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This past week also saw Rowett in the news when Stoke City came calling, the Premier League finally recognising there is a coach a level below who creates winning sides built on solid foundations and does do without making a fuss. True to type, the in-demand gaffer extended his contract with his present employers instead.
The virtues Gary Rowett has displayed both in his coaching and in all the other commitments that come with his job may be considered old fashioned by some. Indeed they have already unfairly cost him a position in favour of a perceived burst of glitz and glamour lacking in substance. That won’t happen again. Rowett and Derby are going places and they both intend to do it the right way.
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