Derby look to have made a wise appointment in Gary Rowett

Gary Rowett has been appointed as the new boss of Championship Derby County

Championship Derby have appointed Gary Rowett as their new boss handing the highly rated coach a contract until 2019.

Rowett was formerly boss at Derby’s Championship rivals Birmingham, only to suffer the sack in surprising circumstances in December.

Rowett replaced the hapless Steve McClaren, who was in his second spell at the club and sacked last week.

Why did Derby reappoint McClaren?

I hate to say I told you so Derby but was it not obvious that reappointing Steve McClaren was not going to end well. I asked the above question at the time and I think we now have the definitive answer. He failed to guide the club to promotion in his first spell and he left the club in bad circumstances as well, so to reappoint him was madness.

Why the Derby hierarchy chose to reappoint him is beyond me. To say the guy’s managerial record is mixed would be kind on the former England boss. I am not sure I would let him run a bath for me, never mind my football team.

However, the nature of English football means that McClaren will probably be back in a job within a few months, or the summer at the latest. It is a shame that the English game just keeps recycling these bosses who have proven in the past that they are simply not very good at their jobs.

Rowett seems like a good appointment

I have to say I have been impressed by Rowett’s managerial career. The former Derby defender did a decent job at Burton Albion, before moving to Birmingham and providing stability. The highly-rated boss was sacked by Birmingham to the surprise of just about everybody in the football community.

The Blues sacked Rowett to appoint Italian boss Gianfranco Zola because the former West Ham and Watford boss had a higher profile. Well, his high profile has seen City plummet to 17^th place in the table, just six points away from the relegation zone. This was after Rowett had guided the team to challenging for a play-off spot.

In truth, Rowett has had very little to work with in his previous jobs. However, he has proven a success in terms of moving Burton and Birmingham forward. Both clubs were enjoying better fortunes when he left his position than when he arrived.

Gary Rowett at 43-years old is still relatively young for a boss and like anybody he is only human. He is not a managerial genius, well not yet anyway. However, he has shown a lot of promise so far in his previous gigs.

Derby have had a habit of chopping and changing their bosses in recent years. The club’s board have not had much patience with the men who have lead the team. I just hope that Rowett gets more time than another highly rated coach Paul Clement got in the Midlands. He did not even last a season before being sacked by the Rams.

Clement has since helped Welsh side Swansea escape the relegation zone, so maybe the former Real Madrid assistant should have been given slightly more time. For everybody’s sake, I hope it’s not a case of history repeating itself with Rowett.

Rowett’s appointment a long-term one

Rowett arrives at Derby with the Rams currently 10^th in the Championship table and ten points behind sixth-place, the last play-off place. County are currently major outsiders to make the play-offs at odds of 25/1.

It seems that it’s too late for the Rams to make a realistic promotion push this season. Ten points is a relatively big margin at this point of the season to claw back. Rowett’s appointment was probably with an eye on challenging for promotion next season.

It would be harsh to judge the former Birmingham boss on what happens for rest of the season. The next few months is for Rowett to assess his squad and prepare for next season and a promotion push.

For me, Derby have made what looks like a very a good appointment. I am pretty sure that Gary Rowett will be able to get more out of the Derby players than the hapless and bumbling McClaren.

Is Gary Rowett the man to help Derby to promotion?