Birmingham City's decision to bring in the experienced Gary Rowett to help them avoid relegation from the Championship has been backed by a former top-flight manager.
Blues' form has plummeted since Tony Mowbray took emergency medical leave last month, and are now outside of the drop zone on goal difference.
Rowett, who played previously for Blues and was appointed as Lee Clark's successor as manager in 2014 before being sacked a little over two years later, has returned to bridge the gap in order for Mowbray to recover at his own pace.
He has taken over from Mowbray's assistant, Mark Venus, and will oversee the remainder of this campaign and seek to steer the club away from the perilous position they find themselves in.
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The move has been endorsed a 'wise one' by former Hull City manager Phil Brown. Brown, who guided Hull to the Premier League in 2008 and is now working in the Midlands himself with non-league Kidderminster Harriers, thinks Rowett is the perfect man for the job.
Meanwhile, fellow pundit Sam Parkin can see similarities between Rowett's likely approach and what Blues were more accustomed to under predecessor John Eustace, the man sacked to being in Wayne Rooney earlier this season before the Manchester United legend was also shown the door after 15 largely disastrous games.
"It's a fairly wise move if you ask me," Brown told 72+. "I know Mark very well, he's been Tony's assistant all the way through. He's tried management himself, it's a tough gig there's no doubt about it, but you've got to be built for it. I'm not saying Mark doesn't know what he's doing by any stretch of the imagination, but they've always played that leadership role together, where Tony's been the main man and Mark's been behind the scenes.
"He's been his head of recruitment, on the coaching ground he's been advising people on the way to play, but it's not the management role. It's a wise move from Birmingham because they're facing a wicked couple of months to tell you the truth. Gary Rowett coming back, he knows the club. The word interim is key.
"Tony has shown that if he comes back fit and well - and we're all hoping for that - Gary will be the first to move to one side, say 'I've kept you in the division but the job's not mine'. It's a wise move from Birmingham, now is the time to bring someone in and for Gary Rowett, knowing the club already, knowing what the supporters want and what the players need, is the main thing."
Do Blues have the players to fit in with how Rowett traditionally tends to set his teams up? Parkin believes so.
"I would say yes, because they're just rewinding nine months to what John Eustace was trying to do, which sounds incredible. I know it's the circumstances which have led us here, but in John Eustace you have someone who in their young managerial career has shown they're good at setting up teams, defensively very strong.
"I think he had a lack of front players, flair players, hence they were picking up points playing the way they were. They've gone to Wayne Rooney with the hope of playing more expansive stuff, more attacking, more possession based. Then to Tony Mowbray, who I think is a brilliant in-between. He's vastly experienced, can coach with his eyes closed but, in the last year, has shown he can get the best out of young flair players.
"I thought that was a really good, balanced, decision. Now we're going to Gary Rowett, who I think in his managerial career is very much like John Eustace, more experienced, brilliant at setting teams up, defensively."
Brown reiterated, though, that, with eight matches left to play and with there being no buffer at all between the club and the bottom three aside from a precariously superior goal difference, it's all about results over performances at this stage. Points must take precedence.
"I don't think it's about style at the moment. It's about substance. How you're playing, how you're getting your points, is all about gumption and substance in your dressing room to squeeze every last drop out of the players to keep the club in the Championship. That's all that matters. I'm not too sure the supporters will want to be knowing what style we're playing. It's just about getting results now."
Parkin agrees.
"Where they've started the season, with a manager in situ who would've been comfortable with the squad of players and could keep them in the division...with Gary, he'll focus on the back-line, focus on the centre halves, keep them water tight, get them keeping clean sheets and then the forward players they've recruited will get the goals to keep them in the division - although that's a stumbling block as they haven't scored in their last three games.
"They're lucky Gary Rowett is available. Someone who has played for the club and managed the club, who is vastly experienced in the Championship. It's great to be able to call on him in their hour of need."
Rowett is the sixth separate man to stand in the Blues dug-out this season, although clearly not all of that instability is the blame of the board, who haven't been able to do anything about Mowbray's situation besides accommodate his time off and source a short-term replacement.
"There's misalignment," Brown concluded. "It's all over the place. Gary Rowett will be going on that training ground on a day to day basis - will he have the time to put his best team out? All these things will be going through his head.
"He'll have a way and a methodology to one, find out what his best team is, and two who have the gumption to represent Birmingham in this tight situation? It's not about flair, or creativity, it's not about the wonderful stuff in football. It's about grinding results out. Gary is perfect for it."
