There is only one team in Birmingham worth supporting with true passion and Birmingham City is it. I have been supporting them since 1978 when Jim Smith was the manager. He is my favourite manager to date. I am a blue nose ’til I die.
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The following article is all about the return of Gary Rowett, Paul Robinson and Dave Carolan to Birmingham City following Tony Mowbray’s medical leave and Mark Venus’ leave of absence.
Mowbray And Venus Temporarily Leave And Rowett Steps In As Interim Manager
On the 19th of March, 2024, the club made an announcement to Blues fans regarding Tony Mowbray’s medical leave and Gary Rowett’s return as Interim Manager.
Mowbray will take a formal medical leave of absence until the start of pre-season 2024/25.
The Club appointed Rowett, with immediate effect for the remaining eight games of the season.
Assistant Manager, Mark Venus, will also take a leave of absence with immediate effect and rejoin the Club at the same time as Mowbray. First Team Coaches, Ashley Cole and Peter Shuttleworth, and Goalkeeper Coach, Maik Taylor, will remain at the Club as part of Rowett’s coaching staff.
Once again I say to Tony get well soon and here’s to a speedy recovery for him and thank you to Mark for his efforts in trying his best to get results for Blues to push them further up the table, unfortunately, that wasn’t too be with only one point out of six matches in charge.
Here is what I wrote regarding our recent form in the Championship. I said then it was a bad idea to get a manager in to replace Mowbray if he didn’t return for the Q.P.R. game. We now know that isn’t going to happen and, no disrespect to Venus, he wasn’t up to the task of managing the team. That wasn’t all his fault though and the players need to have a good hard stare at themselves in the mirror and see that most of them are not good enough for this club unless they give 100% every match. They only need to look at Lukas Jutkiewicz for inspiration. With all this in mind, hiring Rowett is a wise decision by Tom Wagner.
As a former Blues player and manager, Rowett knows the club well. He took over in October 2014 when we were struggling following an embarrassing defeat to Bournemouth at home when we lost 8-0. In just five games in charge under Rowett Blues looked like a completely different team gaining eleven points from fifteen. It would be amazing to have a similar outcome in the remaining eight games he is in charge. Will it happen? Time will tell.
Birmingham City fans are used to relegation scraps and always hope for a bit of luck that we will be safe when we are struggling at the bottom of the table. We certainly have ridden our luck a lot over the previous seasons but one day our luck will run out. There were certainly signs lately that it was already starting to happen but loyal Blues fans will never give up hope because that is part of our D.N.A. in supporting this great team.
I still believe we won’t go down, especially now with Rowett in charge. If we do finish on a high there will be a minority of “fans” who will inevitably shout to the rooftops for him to stay and Mowbray to go but they need to remember Rowett’s job is only temporary and Mowbray is our boss and he should not be disrespected. They need to have complete faith in what his plans are for the club in the 2024/25 season and get behind his decisions as the majority of true fans will.
In Tony Mowbray we trust.
Paul Robinson And Dave Carolan Join The Backroom Staff
On the 20th of March, 2024, the club made an announcement to Blues fans regarding Interim Manager Garry Rowett’s backroom staff.
Birmingham City confirmed two additions to Rowett’s staff which include First Team Coaches, Ashley Cole and Peter Shuttleworth, and Goalkeeper Coach, Maik Taylor.
Rowett will be joined by Paul Robinson and Dave Carolan for the eight remaining games of the 2023/24 season. Both assisted Rowett at Millwall and previously worked at Blues.
It is good to have them back, especially former Club Captain Robinson who gave everything in his time at Blues, much like Lukas Jutkiewicz does now. These are proper players who play with pride for the badge on their football tops, their club and its fans.
And Finally…
It has been almost seven and a half years since Rowett was sacked by Birmingham City and regardless of the reasons why he wanted to leave, or not (depending on who you believe and what you read in the “media”), that was then and this is now.
Thank you Gary for agreeing to help us in our time of need and welcome back. Also, welcome back to Paul and Dave. Thank you all for stepping in to steer our slowly sinking ship to hopefully steadier water come the 4th of May.
Blog Posts
Birmingham City: A New Era Begins.
Birmingham City: A Tribute To Trevor Francis.
Birmingham City: Blues Are Sadly Relegated To League One.
Birmingham City: Blues History.
Birmingham City: First Team Squad For The 2023/24 Season.
Birmingham City: Fixtures, Results And Goal Scorers For The 2023/24 Season.
Birmingham City: Keep Right On To The End Of The Road.
Birmingham City: Kits For The 2023/24 Season.
Birmingham City: My First Home Game Of The 2023/24 Season.
Birmingham City: Staff For The 2023/24 Season.
Notes And Links
The Birmingham City Club logo shown at the top of this page and photos of our players is the copyright of Birmingham City F.C. and has come from Blues social media pages and website, as has the subsequent information. The new summer signings for the 2023/24 season image came from The BCFC Project via Facebook. Anything else is from Wikipedia.
Wikipedia content is subject to change.
Birmingham City F.C. – Official website.
Birmingham City on Facebook – This is their official Facebook page.
Birmingham City on Twitter – This is their official Twitter page.
Birmingham City on YouTube – This is their official YouTube page.
Blues Store Online – Birmingham City’s official club store online.
BCFC The Project on Facebook – This is their official Facebook page.