The alarm bells have started ringing too loudly for Knighthead’s liking in recent weeks. Birmingham City have therefore whisked in Gary Rowett on an interim basis for eight games to save the club from relegation.
This isn’t Rowett’s first relegation rodeo. He turned Blues’ fortunes around in 2014 after replacing Lee Clark, guiding the club to consecutive 10th-placed finishes in the Championship before his controversial sacking in late 2016.
Rowett also dragged Millwall up the Championship table after succeeding Neil Harris in 2019 with the Lions 17th and looking over their shoulders. Blues’ plight since Tony Mowbray stepped down for medical treatment in mid-February means Rowett inherits a side lingering above the relegation zone only on goal difference.
With Mowbray recuperating until the summer, Blues have appointed another manager in Rowett who knows how to get results. Aside from a difficult spell in charge of Stoke City, Rowett has lived his managerial career inside the top half of the Championship in the last decade.
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He now has eight games to prevent Blues - a club he also represented as a player - from slipping into League One. It goes without saying that Rowett has a lot of work to do.
Miserable form
The glory days of early October feel like a lifetime ago now. Anyone with an ounce of football knowledge can easily pinpoint the root of Blues’ wretched season. The decision to sack John Eustace and replace him with Wayne Rooney derailed what could have been a different season to what Blues have become accustomed to since the days of Rowett.
Rooney arrived with a brief to deliver ‘no fear’ football and keep Blues on an upward trajectory. With nine defeats in 15 matches, fewer goals, more conceded and less possession than Blues managed under Eustace, Rooney failed miserably.
The appointment of Mowbray, whose CV suggests he is capable of delivering what Knighthead crave, inspired immediate improvement. Blues got an early win on the board, albeit in an FA Cup replay which clearly wasn’t a priority for Hull City, and followed it up with a rare away win at Stoke. A few defeats were tempered by back-to-back wins over Blackburn and Sunderland in front of a raucous, packed St Andrew’s.
Then came the bombshell news that Mowbray would be stepping aside on February 19. He left Blues six points clear of the relegation zone. However, without their charismatic leader to guide them, Blues faltered under his assistant Mark Venus. Five defeats in six games forced Knighthead to act with Mowbray’s blessing.
Rowett takes over a team which has statistically only bettered basement side Rotherham over the last 27 league games. Blues have earned just 21 points during that time, in contrast to the 18 points they collected from the first 11 matches this season.
Away day Blues
Part of Blues’ problem has been their awful record on the road. Even Eustace struggled to get a tune out of these players away from St Andrew’s, presiding over three successive defeats before Knighthead pulled the trigger on his tenure.
Blues have managed three wins from their 19 away matches - and each of them have come under a different manager. Only Rotherham have fared worse than Blues away from home in the Championship this season. A theme is developing here.
The way Blues have set up away from home at times hasn’t helped matters. They tried to play too expansively under Rooney and were often picked off by more wily Championship teams.
Rowett was able to get results away from home during his previous Blues tenure. In the 10 games Rowett managed away from St Andrew’s at the start of the 2016/17 season, Blues accumulated 13 points - one more than they have managed to date this season. Blues only lost six of their 23 away games in 2015/16 under Rowett and racked up 20 points from 16 matches on the road after he replaced Clark in October 2014.
It is crucial Rowett affects Blues’ away form because three of their remaining four away fixtures come against teams down at the bottom. Blues visit QPR (20th) on Friday before taking on Rotherham (24th) and Huddersfield (22nd) in April.
Dire defensive record
Amidst the damning statistics surrounding their slump, the fact Blues have only kept seven clean sheets this season is a major issue. Combine it with the fact Blues have only scored two goals or more twice in their last 10 games and it feels, looks and sounds a lot worse.
A team that can’t keep clean sheets rarely scores more than once in a match, if at all. The swiftest recipe to improve Blues’ results is to sort out the dire defensive record.
Rowett has a history of making his teams solid at the back and difficult to break through. It is easier to tighten up at the back than score three goals per game.
Set piece woes
Former Blues interim Venus lambasted the team’s defending of set pieces after Millwall profited from a corner in the 90th minute at The Den earlier this month. Blues conceded from corners against Hull and Southampton in the two games prior to that, too.
In truth, Blues aren’t among the worst teams in the Championship when it comes to defending dead ball situations. Ten of the 59 goals Blues have conceded in the Championship have come at set pieces. Blackburn have the worst record (15) and Hull (6) have the best, putting Blues middle of the pack.
Of greater frustration is the lack of goal threat on attacking set pieces. Blues have only scored seven from set pieces and two were direct free-kicks. Plymouth, QPR, Blackburn and Sheffield Wednesday are the only teams to have scored fewer.
Confidence crisis
The most precious commodity in football has been absent at Blues for large chunks of this season. There was a bubbliness and confidence to Blues in the early weeks of the season that has vanished during the arduous slog which has transpired.
There are some big personalities and characters within Blues’ dressing room, but it is also filled with a lot of young players who have struggled to cope with the constant chopping and changing. People rarely respond well to change, especially when it is so frequent and the messages are so different.
In his first interview since returning, Rowett said: “It’s very simple and clear for me. I will give the players clear direction and try to give them a way to play that builds their confidence and allows them to show what they are very good at.
“I said to the players this morning that I’ve been in this position three times before. I know what it takes to get out of it and I know how we’re going to try and do it. As long as everyone sacrifices to be the best they can be, I’m very confident we’re going to do that.”
