Following the announcement this week of Gary Rowett’s return, Birmingham City has given fans a behind-the-scenes look at his first training session as the Blues temporary manager. Until Tony Mowbray returns from sick leave, Rowett, who managed Blues from 2014 to 2016, will assist in filling in. He will also be responsible for maintaining the team in the Championship.
While Rowett has been able to work with some of his players for a long amount of time without interruption due to the international break; nevertheless, things aren’t always easy when the team travels to Queens Park Rangers on Good Friday.; Blues have a host of key men away representing their respective countries and many won’t return until late next week.
Jay Stansfield, Paik Seung-ho, Jordan James and Juninho Bacun are among those who are away on international duty, while Krystian Bielik, Keshi Anderson, Marc Roberts and Siriki Dembele are all out injured, too. It’s clearly nowhere Blues at full strength, but there’s still plenty of ability for Rowett to oversee and for his coaches to work with this week.
In the video, Rowett is deep in conversation with Head of Physical Performance Sean Rush before being spotted with Joe Carnall, while he allows his coaches Paul Robinson and Dave Carolan, who have returned with him to Blues, to conduct the training session in the beginning. The cheerful, lively atmosphere of the camp is the first thing that strikes you right away. The players have had a challenging year as numerous managers have tried out different ideas.
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Here, though, they are taking on the instructions of Rowett and his lieutenants. The messages and training techniques are simple and clear, although there remain raised voices and plenty of encouragement to ensure that the drills are edgy and competitive. There were smiles aplenty, too – it was apparent that the players were enjoying their work. Blues have struggled to score in recent weeks but, albeit in a totally different environment, there were some nice finishes on display from Koji Miyoshi, George Hall and Junior Dixon at differing stages. Rowett has been able to take a good look at some of Blues’ most promising youngsters, Dixon and Romelle Donovan included, this week.
There is still the bulk of the squad here; Miyoshi and Hall were joined by the likes of Andre Dozzell, Ivan Sunjic, Cody Drameh, Emanuel Aiwu and Ethan Laird in being put through their paces. Rowett took the opportunity to oversee things from afar before then taking over and immersing himself in his coaching responsibilities.
The interim boss will look forward to the prospect of welcoming back his globetrotting personnel, but in the meantime, from the outside looking in, it would appear that Rowett and his staff have looked to improve morale and simplify training methods as they prepare for their eight crucial remaining games.
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