Ex-Staff Gary Rowett

[Carpy]

1.Gary Rowett

Position: Head Coach

Nationality: England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Signed: 20th December 2024

Departed: 23rd December 2025 | Departed Posts: 1st Post

Previous Clubs: Birmingham City (Interim), Millwall, Stoke City, Derby County, Birmingham City, Burton Albion

Stats: TransferMarkt

Instagram: garyrowett1

 

[Yellowmania]

I don't know if it got mentioned but there was some heckling in the south stand early in the game today. Rowett turned round and yelled 'shut the f**k up' at the hecklers. And then we scored soon after.

Also the same ballboy that Rowett was cursing last game gave us one of the best moments at the end of the game, when an Ipswich player was screaming for the ball to take a quick throw, the ballboy just gently rolled it not even close to the player. I swear the south stand cheered him for that. Good work kid.

That was funny with that ball boy but he needs a bit more training, he dried the ball with his bib ready for an Ipswich long throw in the first half!
Seems a keen and enthusiastic lad so sure he’ll learn quickly!

 

[Village-Yellow]

GR got the timing of the subs better last night with Placheta & Lanshear coming on in the 60th minute instead of dilly dallying until past the 70th minute.

Definitely a momentum swing following those subs.

Good decision.

Lets hope we learned a lot from last night.

We are going to be way down on possession for the majority of the games this season, but the way we worked so hard out of possession and created some outstanding moments to cut through Ipswich was excellent.

Having endured the Norwich trip, this was a breath of fresh air. Although I would have been halfway home from Norwich by the time I exited the car park

 

[mooro]

Some bizarre comments about GR recently
Today the set up was spot on ( and he explained well why he picked Harris- not to try and get sacked ??)
The intensity throughout the game was amazing.
The substitutions were spot on.
Teriffic performance against a very good side.

Oh and the fans were brilliant and mainly behind GR

I think that if you recognise that Mark Harris's primary role in the side is not as the focal point of our attack - the others around him can do that - but as our forwardmost defender, then his selection in the side makes more sense, within the context of how rowett sees us being able to compete at this level.

Better an active disrupter, than a hotshot standing forelorn waiting for service that never comes ...

 

[Foley]

Some of the comments about Rowett this week were just pathetic. We got a fair few scrappy away points last season against teams around us who might have been there for the taking - Plymouth (bottom), Derby, Cardiff, Stoke, Luton, Preston, six absolutely vital points. Some of the performances were no better than Norwich in the week and some of them came in the middle of that 12 or 13 game winless run we went on. There was nothing like the fall out there’s been this week, more a gratefulness for a hard earned away point.

It’s without doubt misplaced complacency amongst some fans. Norwich in the week was a very decent point at the time and it looks an even better point now it’s sandwiched between four points from two teams in the top four. Rowett continues to do an outstanding job here and it’s years since I’ve seen an Oxford team as generally organised as we have been in the Rowett era. Very rarely battered and in with a chance of something in virtually every game.

I don’t think it’s exaggerating to say last night might have been one of Rowett’s finest in the Oxford dug out, all things considered. Rowett won’t be here forever, there will be a natural parting of the ways when our board feel we ‘belong’ in the Championship but there’s probably none better than the current incumbent to get us to that point.

Spot on

 

[Gregortheox]

I was critical this last week of GR but I heap praise on him this morning.

The main differences for me was how aggressive we were and how we went for the jugular on the break.
We were brave and got what we deserved!

 

[Swinny]

Think a lot of the comments this week were justified after Norwich - it wasn’t good enough and setting up to not lose against one of the worst teams in the league sends all the wrong messages.

But last night was clearly what was supposed to happen on Tuesday, and was effective against a much better team…taken a little time for the players to get it and find the right men perhaps.

If he can setup like that against one of the best teams in the league then it shows we are more than capable of competing if we play to our strengths…so I hope that maybe we get a little less of the negative vibes. Man.

 

[chuckbert]

That was funny with that ball boy but he needs a bit more training, he dried the ball with his bib ready for an Ipswich long throw in the first half!
Seems a keen and enthusiastic lad so sure he’ll learn quickly!

Maybe he was actually wiping bogeys on it or something

 

[dickwalton1964]

Think a lot of the comments this week were justified after Norwich - it wasn’t good enough and setting up to not lose against one of the worst teams in the league sends all the wrong messages.

But last night was clearly what was supposed to happen on Tuesday, and was effective against a much better team…taken a little time for the players to get it and find the right men perhaps.

If he can setup like that against one of the best teams in the league then it shows we are more than capable of competing if we play to our strengths…so I hope that maybe we get a little less of the negative vibes. Man.

I wish people would get over this bloody Norwich thing. FFS, we haven’t just been hammered 5-0 at Bolton in L1. We were good for 25-30 min and crap for 65-70, so what. I could reel of countless games last season when the ratio of good to bad was about the same, if not worse, yet people were lauding points at Luton (relegated), Plymouth (relegated) and Cardiff (relegated). Norwich might well be relegated, if so it’s another point at a relegated team - what the hell is the difference ? Are people really stupid enough to think Norwich are going to be relegated with a home record of P23 W0 D1 L22 ? Better teams than Oxford will go there this season and come away with less. Last night I encountered a few people whinging about Norwich - it’s like they’ve never seen a game of football in their lives or realise how football works. Perhaps they should do themselves a favour and take up watching basketball where they can watch end to end action until their little heart is content.

 

[OX14]

Think a lot of the comments this week were justified after Norwich - it wasn’t good enough and setting up to not lose against one of the worst teams in the league sends all the wrong messages.

But last night was clearly what was supposed to happen on Tuesday, and was effective against a much better team…taken a little time for the players to get it and find the right men perhaps.

If he can setup like that against one of the best teams in the league then it shows we are more than capable of competing if we play to our strengths…so I hope that maybe we get a little less of the negative vibes. Man.

I was very critical at Rowett on Tuesday night but they do say time is a healer and my opinion has changed.

I still believe he got the Ter Avist at RW wrong and if he had of started Mills or Placheta instead as well as bringing on the subs earlier it would have been a better performance, result probably would have still been the same mind as it's never easy playing an under performing team with quality players who have a new manager. Very similar to the Cardiff away game last season.

But here is where sleeping on it and a clearer head looking at the bigger picture comes in.

Apart from Coventry it seems alot of teams struggle with consistency in this league and the major factor causing this is the international breaks. Having a weekend off is good for recharging the batteries but it then becomes a hectic schedule with 3 games in 6 days and the bigger picture 6 games in 14 days.

We just lack the required quality in depth to do more than compete in this league in every game and players are needing to all perform at 90% or above to pull a performance and result off like last night.

Hopefully the board fully back Rowett in January, personally I think we need 4 or 5 through the door for us to really push on and get away from the threat of relegation. A left winger, a striker ( if Prelec is going back), 2 x midfielders ( 1 attacking the other 1 more defensive) and possibly a left back.

 

[Swinny]

I wish people would get over this bloody Norwich thing. FFS, we haven’t just been hammered 5-0 at Bolton in L1. We were good for 25-30 min and crap for 65-70, so what. I could reel of countless games last season when the ratio of good to bad was about the same, if not worse, yet people were lauding points at Luton (relegated), Plymouth (relegated) and Cardiff (relegated). Norwich might well be relegated, if so it’s another point at a relegated team - what the hell is the difference ? Are people really stupid enough to think Norwich are going to be relegated with a home record of P23 W0 D1 L22 ? Worst teams than Oxford will go there this season and come away with less. Last night I encountered a few people whinging about Norwich - it’s like they’ve never seen a game of football in their lives or realise how football works. Perhaps they should do themselves a favour and take up watching basketball where they can watch end to end action until their little heart is content.

I don’t want end-to-end football…I want what we had last night - solid and pragmatic but with a positive intent. Nothing but credit to GR for that and I’ll be happy if we stick with it until we get Cam back and reinforcements arrive in January.

I said after the Norwich game it will prove to be a good away point, but let’s not pretend it’s not frustrating to see us be negative/rubbish in games like that.

 

[holdsteady]

The results over the last week have justified Rowetts approach, 5 points from 3 games with two of those games up against the division’s better teams. It might not always be pretty, might have involved some head scratching over the players picked but he got what we needed from it.

 

[Gregortheox]

Newsflash : for Oxford United to stay in the championship, we are going to have to play well regularly.
That means pressing hard, competing for everything and asking physical questions of the opposition.
I understand we are going to fall short sometimes and that’s ok…as long as we leave it all out there.
I have felt multiple times this season we haven’t been brave enough or positive enough in games where we could have got something.
It’s a shame that we can’t accept criticism (alot of it very well articulated), as well as basking in the deserved praise of a performance like last night, which we are capable of producing regularly.

 

[dickwalton1964]

I don’t want end-to-end football…I want what we had last night - solid and pragmatic but with a positive intent. Nothing but credit to GR for that and I’ll be happy if we stick with it until we get Cam back and reinforcements arrive in January.

I said after the Norwich game it will prove to be a good away point, but let’s not pretend it’s not frustrating to see us be negative/rubbish in games like that.

But we aren’t a top side in this league, we aren’t going to turn it on game after game, the players aren’t good enough. What bit don’t you get ? We are absolutely incapable of producing displays like last night week in, week out - these players wouldn’t be here if they could do it game in, game out. Nothing wrong with that, it’s just where we are currently positioned in the Championship pecking order.

Norwich have a squad worth millions and on Tuesday we were only a place or two above them with a squad worth a fraction of theirs - who are we to get above our station and just think we can go there, pick them off and stroll away with the points. It just will not happen. Wait until we are back in L1 if you’re wanting to see us ease past teams 3 and 4 nil. I’m loving us in the Championship and watching us battle and scrapping for points. Give me this any day as opposed to scoring 6 or 7 at Lincoln or Gillingham in the lower leagues.

 

[maccydee]

Very well said. It’s ridiculous we aren’t allowed to debate our current manager (best we can hope for) who has got us no further than Des at this stage last season.

This has been said a lot. Half of those points were achieved in the first three home games when we had the momentum from the season before. We were also unlucky to lose the two away games to Coventry and Blackburn and desperately unlucky against Bristol City where we should have been two nil up and they wouldn’t have got back from that.

Des had a lot of bad luck. Mainly his wingers and Brannagan being injured. CB was especially important to the tactics.

 

[windmill]

This has been said a lot. Half of those points were achieved in the first three home games when we had the momentum from the season before. We were also unlucky to lose the two away games to Coventry and Blackburn and desperately unlucky against Bristol City where we should have been two nil up and they wouldn’t have got back from that.

Des had a lot of bad luck. Mainly his wingers and Brannagan being injured. CB was especially important to the tactics.

I think one win in sixteen says it all really. United were in freefall, there was no doubt about that. Rowett gets slated on Tuesday, this morning he gets all the plaudits. Very, very fine margins. "Only as good as the last match" as the saying goes. Enjoy the weekend.

 

[Swinny]

What bit don’t you get ?

The constant need to belittle and downplay the abilities of our players considering we’ve had most success against the better teams in the division this season, despite apparently being incapable of doing that regularly?

We all understand the limitations of our squad and the challenges of this league, but my point is simply that I feel GR is guilty of fuelling that negative mindset at times and I think we’re better than that - as shown by being able to beat Ipswich and Bristol City and taking points off of the likes of Coventry, Millwall and Boro.

 

[Big Ron]

I was very critical at Rowett on Tuesday night but they do say time is a healer and my opinion has changed.

I still believe he got the Ter Avist at RW wrong and if he had of started Mills or Placheta instead as well as bringing on the subs earlier it would have been a better performance, result probably would have still been the same mind as it's never easy playing an under performing team with quality players who have a new manager. Very similar to the Cardiff away game last season.

But here is where sleeping on it and a clearer head looking at the bigger picture comes in.

Apart from Coventry it seems alot of teams struggle with consistency in this league and the major factor causing this is the international breaks. Having a weekend off is good for recharging the batteries but it then becomes a hectic schedule with 3 games in 6 days and the bigger picture 6 games in 14 days.

We just lack the required quality in depth to do more than compete in this league in every game and players are needing to all perform at 90% or above to pull a performance and result off like last night.

Hopefully the board fully back Rowett in January, personally I think we need 4 or 5 through the door for us to really push on and get away from the threat of relegation. A left winger, a striker ( if Prelec is going back), 2 x midfielders ( 1 attacking the other 1 more defensive) and possibly a left back.

This is my absolute favourite here - they do indeed say ‘time is a healer’ - all three days of it!

 

[OX14]

This is my absolute favourite here - they do indeed say ‘time is a healer’ - all three days of it!

Three days where 2 games have been played is a long time in football.

 

[maccydee]

I think one win in sixteen says it all really. United were in freefall, there was no doubt about that. Rowett gets slated on Tuesday, this morning he gets all the plaudits. Very, very fine margins. "Only as good as the last match" as the saying goes. Enjoy the weekend.

Yeah very much so. We were plummeting and it didn’t seem like Des could change it.

 

[werthersoriginal]

That was an important week. I reckon we’ll stick with Gary now ahead of the transfer window, unless we lose five in a row or something.

 

[dickwalton1964]

The constant need to belittle and downplay the abilities of our players considering we’ve had most success against the better teams in the division this season, despite apparently being incapable of doing that regularly?

We all understand the limitations of our squad and the challenges of this league, but my point is simply that I feel GR is guilty of fuelling that negative mindset at times and I think we’re better than that - as shown by being able to beat Ipswich and Bristol City and taking points off of the likes of Coventry, Millwall and Boro.

In most games v the better sides we are way off them technically but hang onto their coat tails, scrap and snarl away in typical Gary Rowett fashion, stay in the game and with a bit of luck nick something late on. Nothing to be ashamed of, that’s just the reality of where we currently are. If we make that game last night a wide open free for all then, quite simply, we ain’t winning it - Ipswich’s superior players pick us off and win at will. Our players give it everything but they’re simply not good enough to go toe to toe with the best teams every single week - surely you can see that ? We had 27% possession last night, the reality is staring you right in the face.

 

[TobyDavis34]

The constant need to belittle and downplay the abilities of our players considering we’ve had most success against the better teams in the division this season, despite apparently being incapable of doing that regularly?

We all understand the limitations of our squad and the challenges of this league, but my point is simply that I feel GR is guilty of fuelling that negative mindset at times and I think we’re better than that - as shown by being able to beat Ipswich and Bristol City and taking points off of the likes of Coventry, Millwall and Boro.

The Bristol City game, whilst an excellent result, could easily have gone the other way on another day. They had several golden chances and Placheta plundering a 30 yarder does not a template for the season make.

However we were much more confident with some of our play in that game - something to be said for form in football: look at Liverpool rn for example. Or Derby. Or us last season.

 

[Swinny]

In most games v the better sides we are way off them technically but hang onto their coat tails, scrap and snarl away in typical Gary Rowett fashion, stay in the game and with a bit of luck nick something late on. Nothing to be ashamed of, that’s just the reality of where we currently are. If we make that game last night a wide open free for all then, quite simply, we ain’t winning it - Ipswich’s superior players pick us off and win at will. Our players give it everything but they’re simply not good enough to go toe to toe with the best teams every single week - surely you can see that ? We had 27% possession last night, the reality is staring you right in the face.

At no point have I advocated for a “free for all” or going “toe to toe” with other teams…I said I want us to carry on doing what we did last night and that was being sensible and playing to our strengths.

I just think the evidence is there that we’ve done it more than we often give ourselves credit for and maybe going into a game thinking “we’ve taken points off of 4 of the top 6 in this league, we’re good enough” rather than “we’re little Oxford and this is going to be tough” isn’t a bad thing - and Rowett has been guilty of that on a number of occasions.

That’s it - just a little change in approach/mindset. Understanding it’s a big challenge and the odds are stacked against most games, but we’re here on merit and capable of doing good things.

 

[OX14]

The Bristol City game, whilst an excellent result, could easily have gone the other way on another day. They had several golden chances and Placheta plundering a 30 yarder does not a template for the season make.

However we were much more confident with some of our play in that game - something to be said for form in football: look at Liverpool rn for example. Or Derby. Or us last season.

I'm sure that was the same game Brodie cleared one off the goal line? So you are correct that game could of went either way.

I believe if results were going our way and Rowett wasn't under so much pressure he would of tried to hold onto the 1-1 last night by getting us to sit back. Maybe it was the live on sky or erick being at the game but his subs was the opposite and it showed with the intent in our play before and after the goal. The play when De Keersmaeker back heeled to Romeny who nearly scored a screamer was a team playing with confidence and desire to increase the scoreline. Obviously Ipswich came back in and it was a nervous last few minutes but that happens in every game when scores are tight.

Playing on the counter with pace is how I want us to play.

 

[SteMerritt]

This may be me adding 2 and 2 and coming up with 68.

Did anyone notice the comment on the Dub about Mikaël Silvestre watching from the stands with Eric T? I thought Jerome was uncharacteristically cagey in his answer (possibly - to be fair to him - because he didn't know too much) saying that a win by Gary would have made things more secure. Does anyone have any inkling as to why Silvestre was there? It made me think about the @LeftSideBoy comment about the potential foreign manager coming in to replace Gary. Of course, we all could be getting this wrong and assuming he was there as a prospective replacement which is a massive assumption to make and is so disrespectful to Gary it cant be true. But if that isn't the case why was Silvestre there?

Sorry if this is adding to rumour meal and unhelpful. For what it's worth I think it would be madness to ditch Gary.

I believe he runs a talent agency for young sportsmen, so more likely to be something to do with that at a guess.

 

[SSO]

Maybe he was actually wiping bogeys on it or something

Bloody kids wasting good food.

 

[tim lane]

This may be me adding 2 and 2 and coming up with 68.

Did anyone notice the comment on the Dub about Mikaël Silvestre watching from the stands with Eric T? I thought Jerome was uncharacteristically cagey in his answer (possibly - to be fair to him - because he didn't know too much) saying that a win by Gary would have made things more secure. Does anyone have any inkling as to why Silvestre was there? It made me think about the @LeftSideBoy comment about the potential foreign manager coming in to replace Gary. Of course, we all could be getting this wrong and assuming he was there as a prospective replacement which is a massive assumption to make and is so disrespectful to Gary it cant be true. But if that isn't the case why was Silvestre there?

Sorry if this is adding to rumour meal and unhelpful. For what it's worth I think it would be madness to ditch Gary.

Adding to the rumour mill again, Eric. For goodness sake, why?

 

[OX14]

This may be me adding 2 and 2 and coming up with 68.

Did anyone notice the comment on the Dub about Mikaël Silvestre watching from the stands with Eric T? I thought Jerome was uncharacteristically cagey in his answer (possibly - to be fair to him - because he didn't know too much) saying that a win by Gary would have made things more secure. Does anyone have any inkling as to why Silvestre was there? It made me think about the @LeftSideBoy comment about the potential foreign manager coming in to replace Gary. Of course, we all could be getting this wrong and assuming he was there as a prospective replacement which is a massive assumption to make and is so disrespectful to Gary it cant be true. But if that isn't the case why was Silvestre there?

Sorry if this is adding to rumour meal and unhelpful. For what it's worth I think it would be madness to ditch Gary.

I don't believe Silvestre has any coaching badges to become a manager, as others have said Mikael runs an agency that represents young talent in sports.

No idea why he was at the game.

 

[Steve Gilbert]

This may be me adding 2 and 2 and coming up with 68.

Did anyone notice the comment on the Dub about Mikaël Silvestre watching from the stands with Eric T? I thought Jerome was uncharacteristically cagey in his answer (possibly - to be fair to him - because he didn't know too much) saying that a win by Gary would have made things more secure. Does anyone have any inkling as to why Silvestre was there? It made me think about the @LeftSideBoy comment about the potential foreign manager coming in to replace Gary. Of course, we all could be getting this wrong and assuming he was there as a prospective replacement which is a massive assumption to make and is so disrespectful to Gary it cant be true. But if that isn't the case why was Silvestre there?

Sorry if this is adding to rumor meal and unhelpful. For what it's worth I think it would be madness to ditch Gary.

Considering he isn't a manager then I would suggest you are closer to getting 127568. Also I think it is pretty obvious that Rowett isn't going anywhere just yet, even before the last few results.

 

[unification]

Indonesia head coach role is vacant. Thorir in attendance and Romeny getting minutes. A potential scouting opportunity?

Or more likely sports agency angle.