Gary Rowett

[Claudio Fannieri]

Just now, whoareyaaa said:

Any decent manager would take one look at our squad and finances and have a massive laugh.

 

We could have got Coberan instead of Cooper that's when it all went Jeffery Schlupp.

We also could have got Rohl or Muslic instead of Cifuentes but we always go for cheap out of work options and then pay out more in pay offs than what we would have paid to release a half decent manager 

[whoareyaaa]

Just now, Claudio Fannieri said:

We also could have got Rohl or Muslic instead of Cifuentes but we always go for cheap out of work options and then pay out more in pay offs than what we would have paid to release a half decent manager 

Exactly even Rohl was a massive mistake.

 

All hail the board.

[accessory]

54 minutes ago, HankMarvin said:

The point being they have improved since he was sacked. Obviously went over your head 

But have they?

 

They failed to beat a Pompey side who were down to 10 men for over 70 minutes today.

 

Without the Rudkin tax and the donation of 3 points in Cifuentes' farewell game, they'd already be terminally adrift of us.

[CrazyKopCorner]

Clearly inherited a bag of shite but **** me he’s not very bright. 
 

Id sack him and get someone else in for the last 5.

 

We literally have nothing to lose as he’s taking us down without a whimper 
 

 

 

[Corky]

1 minute ago, CrazyKopCorner said:

Clearly inherited a bag of shite but **** me he’s not very bright. 
 

Id sack him and get someone else in for the last 5.

 

We literally have nothing to lose as he’s taking us down without a whimper 
 

 

 

It takes them about four months to notice anything is wrong then another month to get round to appointing somebody.

[lfu]

Think it's silly that some are placing all the blame on the players (they do deserve plenty of it mind) and none on the manager. This isn't pub league where talent wins out, at this level it's structure, positioning, exploiting spaces, coaching players to make moves that pit their own strengths against the oppo player's weaknesses.

Rowett's coaching evidently doesn't go any further than "kept it tight at the back lads 👍" and he's failing at that. When we concede he has no idea what to do next, and neither do the players. When we have the ball and are facing a parked bus it all falls apart because the players aren't being coached on how to break that bus down, hence they're losing the ball dribbling into dead ends or shooting from 40 yards out.

 

It took 69 minutes before he made a sub today because for god knows why he thought carrying on as we were would magically start working. On Friday it was 75 minutes before a sub – and in both games we were more dangerous after he abandoned the 4-2-3-1 and went to "fuch it we need a goal, put two up top", because the extra body/aerial presence to get the ball to in the box is (at least with this embarrassment of a squad) an effective way to overcome that parked bus rather than trying to naïvely outplay the opponent. A manager who was wise to his players not playing to their own strengths would have made the change at 30 minutes, let alone half time, or lined up with a 4-4-2 to begin with.

 

Cooper and Van Nistelrooy had just as little of a clue as Rowett, as did Cifuentes despite his skin-deep "Three Ps" philosophy waffle.

[OX4ORD]

Oxford fan here in peace,

 

If someone could save me going through 100+ pages in this thread, could you tell me how you guys are finding Gary Rowett?

 

I hope both of our clubs can stay up with Pompey and West Brom to go down.

[lookwhaticando]

5 minutes ago, OX4ORD said:

Oxford fan here in peace,

 

If someone could save me going through 100+ pages in this thread, could you tell me how you guys are finding Gary Rowett?

 

I hope both of our clubs can stay up with Pompey and West Brom to go down.

He’s gone for “experience”, unfortunately he doesn’t seem to realize it’s our “experienced” players that got us into this mess and keep letting us down. 
 

Fair to say he wasn’t universally popular to begin with, and he’s not helped himself persisting with the same formation and relying on the same useless tossers that have done nothing all season. We just failed to beat Sheffield Wednesday, too, so that’s going to count against him. 

[Langston]

33 minutes ago, OX4ORD said:

Oxford fan here in peace,

 

If someone could save me going through 100+ pages in this thread, could you tell me how you guys are finding Gary Rowett?

 

I hope both of our clubs can stay up with Pompey and West Brom to go down.

 

He's absolute shite.. Expectations were that he'd be a steady hand and probably make us just about solid enough to stay up, and he's falling short of those already pretty low expectations.. 2 points from the last 9 and three very winnable games is absolutely atrocious, I'd fancy most posters on here to get a better return that that from those fixtures..

[OX4ORD]

57 minutes ago, Langston said:

 

He's absolute shite.. Expectations were that he'd be a steady hand and probably make us just about solid enough to stay up, and he's falling short of those already pretty low expectations.. 2 points from the last 9 and three very winnable games is absolutely atrocious, I'd fancy most posters on here to get a better return that that from those fixtures..

 

Sounds just like Rowett.

 

He's got a serious stubborness for someone that isn't very intelligent and has nothing to offer on the pitch other than some mediocre defensive tactics. To think that you went from the Premier League to being in a relegation battle with him in the Championship is as depressing as football nightmares go.

Edited 6 April by OX4ORD

[Headcase]

8 minutes ago, OX4ORD said:

 

Sounds just like Rowett.

 

He's got a serious stubborness for someone that isn't very intelligent and has nothing to offer on the pitch other than some mediocre defensive tactics. To think that you went from the Premier League to being in a relegation battle with him in the Championship is as depressing as football nightmares go.

Any Defensive tactics would be welcome right now, because we are shocking, theres been zero improvement, if anything i think we have become more vulnerable, especially set peices. Where everyone is playing musical statues, without any music.. hes so rigid its unreal he wont change the system thats failed miserably for 2 seasons, makes really strange subs, like constantly taking off the best player at 70mins, and its always like for like, he persists with players that have got us in this mess, and have no interest in getting us out of it... hes been dreadful

[OX4ORD]

6 minutes ago, Headcase said:

Any Defensive tactics would be welcome right now, because we are shocking, theres been zero improvement, if anything i think we have become more vulnerable, especially set peices. Where everyone is playing musical statues, without any music.. hes so rigid its unreal he wont change the system thats failed miserably for 2 seasons, makes really strange subs, like constantly taking off the best player at 70mins, and its always like for like, he persists with players that have got us in this mess, and have no interest in getting us out of it... hes been dreadful

 

He used to take our best players off around 70 minutes aswell. Unsurprised to hear he's as bad as he was for you as he was for us this season. It could be two relegations for Rowett this season.

[sm1]

I was expecting much more from him. He normally has a positive impact when he first goes to a new club, but here he's only had 1 win in 9. Looks completely clueless, like all our managers over the last 2 years.

[The Horse's Mouth]

2 hours ago, lfu said:

Think it's silly that some are placing all the blame on the players (they do deserve plenty of it mind) and none on the manager. This isn't pub league where talent wins out, at this level it's structure, positioning, exploiting spaces, coaching players to make moves that pit their own strengths against the oppo player's weaknesses.
 

Those players just played a team on negative points and you’re talking about the manager give you head a wobble 

[jim5000]

He's a poundshop manager. It's more a reflection on the club leadership than Gary that we appointed him to attempt to save us from League 1

Edited 7 April by jim5000

[Claudio Fannieri]

Just out of interest I wonder bow much we paid in settlements to sack Cooper, RVN and Cifuentes and their respective coaching teams, I bet it dwarfs any amount we would have had to pay out to secure a decent manager like Corberan, Rohl or Muslic and yet we shouldn’t say a word, we should just clap and be grateful for the good times. 

[Ric Flair]

Notoriously quick starter at clubs where his most effective spell is the opening few months, well if this is the best we are going to get from Gary it's a yes from me. Take us down boooiiiii.

[funkyrobot]

11 hours ago, CosbehFox said:

Because he’s not a high 8. He’s a 6. 
 

In Rowett’s only win, we played 4-1-4-1 and Skipp was in front of the defence. He was man of the match and as good as any individual, hardworking performance we’ve seen all season 

I’ve already stated that Skipp (and Winks) are not helped by the manager’s inability to change his formation. From a footballing perspective Skipp has shown us very little in his time here other than in one game. 

[Chrysalis]

On 04/04/2026 at 19:26, reynard said:

I don't think he has shown enough really to be appointed on a full time basis. We need a complete rebuild and a complete change in ethos through the whole club and I don't see him as the person to do it.

We're basically back at the stage where Brian Little came in all those years ago.

What manager do you think can change an ethos whilst Top and Rudkin are still at the club?

[funkyrobot]

9 hours ago, OX4ORD said:

Oxford fan here in peace,

 

If someone could save me going through 100+ pages in this thread, could you tell me how you guys are finding Gary Rowett?

 

I hope both of our clubs can stay up with Pompey and West Brom to go down.

Terrible appointment. Why the club thought a manager who had failed so recently at Oxford was going to inspire our players god knows. Same set up every match. Obsessed with certain players who clearly aren’t good enough. Same late substitutions. Same delusional post match chat. Ignores the youth. Averaging 1 point a game. 

[Sol thewall Bamba]

Roy Hodgson already has more wins than him.

[Pliskin]

I don’t think he’s been very good at all if I’m being honest….. 

 

He’s not brave enough, and is just doing exactly what Marti was doing, rinse and repeat. 
 

What’s the point in playing “experience” if they’re not contributing at all to the cause, just play the academy lads, at least they will put some effort in and fight for the club. 

[deep blue]

17 minutes ago, Chrysalis said:

What manager do you think can change an ethos whilst Top and Rudkin are still at the club?

Those who say that the players take all the blame and the manager none should consider that there are managers of strong character who would be able to take difficult decisions and to instill confidence, effort and standards into the players.  Rowett isn't of that ilk, whereas MON, Pearson, and more recently Maresca, would be able to do that.  So Rowett has failed in his time here.

 

I guess the problem is that Top won't appoint a manager who has the balls to take his own decisions; therein lies our dilemma.

[Number 6]

9 hours ago, OX4ORD said:

Oxford fan here in peace,

 

If someone could save me going through 100+ pages in this thread, could you tell me how you guys are finding Gary Rowett?

 

I hope both of our clubs can stay up with Pompey and West Brom to go down.

At the time I thought it was a sensible appointment that was a few weeks late. It at least seemed to recognise the situation we found ourselves in, and I thought if he could get our defence sorted we'd be fine.

 

In those early games I do think it looked night and day in terms of shape. Under Cifuentes we were constantly exposed at the back by teams. Rowett has generally made us a little more robust, though he is working with some absolute morons.

 

However, the results sort of speak for themselves. That early promise against teams higher up the division hasn't converted into wins against weaker opponents. This is despite often taking the lead in games, he hasn't been able to find a way for us to press home that advantage. Not losing is fine, but we'd have been better with a couple more losses and a couple more wins.

 

You can see this by comparison of our time with Rowett to Blackburn over the same(ish) period. Under O'Neill they've lost 4 of 10, compared to the 2 of 9 we've lost under Rowett. But they've also won 3 games to our 1. We're running at 1ppg compared to their 1.3. it's why they're safe and we're going down.

 

He's had multiple opportunities to find a way to see out a game and convert the win too. But he's not shown anywhere near enough for me to want him to stick around beyond the end of this season.

 

 

[Lad1966]

4 minutes ago, deep blue said:

Those who say that the players take all the blame and the manager none should consider that there are managers of strong character who would be able to take difficult decisions and to instill confidence, effort and standards into the players.  Rowett isn't of that ilk, whereas MON, Pearson, and more recently Maresca, would be able to do that.  So Rowett has failed in his time here.

 

I guess the problem is that Top won't appoint a manager who has the balls to take his own decisions; therein lies our dilemma.

The point here is that Rowatt wasn’t our 1st choice, at least 2/3 other managers rejected us before we appointed him!