Danny Wright

Thu 13 October 2022 8:54, UK

Gary Rowett has brushed off talk that he’s in line to become the next West Brom manager, reaffirming his loyalty to Millwall and their owner John Berylson.

The Sun reported on Wednesday night (12 October) that Rowett, 48, is on West Brom’s radar as they aim to find a replacement for Steve Bruce and that the ex-Birmingham manager would be keen on a move to the West Midlands.

It is understood that Rowett’s family are still based in the Midlands and the Bromsgrove-born boss would be happy to move back to this part of the country to be with them.

It comes after ex-Birmingham Mail journalist Chris Lepkowski told The Liquidator podcast on 11 October that Rowett would be very interested in the vacancy at The Hawthorns.

But Rowett has played down the speculation surrounding his future, claiming that he is solely focused on his job at The Den with Millwall.

“As a manager there is always some speculation and a lot of the times that speculation is unfounded or usually there is not really anything in it,” Rowett told South London Press on Thursday morning (13 October).

“For me it is exactly the same, I’ve had three years where all I concentrated on is trying to get Millwall in the top six after finishing eighth, 11th and ninth. That’s all my focus is on now. It’s very, very simple.

“I’ve got a very, very good relationship with John [Berylson], the owner, and Steve [Kavanagh, chief executive]. That is my focus rather than listening to headlines or listening to speculation. It’s as simple as that.

“As far as I’m concerned I’m here. I’m here, concentrating on try to win games of football. As a manager you just have to focus on the things that are important, other things outside of that, with people speculating, 99 times out of 100 it is absolutely rubbish. That is it. If I speculated on every job or gave a direct answer on every job then that’s all I’d be talking about all week.

“My concentration isn’t going to change any time soon on the job in hand, which is trying to get this club in the top six.”

Typical response

Rowett definitely had a read through the managerial playbook before responding to the speculation linking him to West Brom.

Has he said he’s focused on his current job? Yes. Has he raved about his relationship with his current employers? Yes. Has he said that speculation if part and parcel of the game and that he doesn’t usually respond to it? Yes.

One thing Rowett didn’t do was rule out that he’s interested.

Sure, he said that reports about his future are usually wrong. He said ” 99 times out of 100 it is absolutely rubbish”.

But he didn’t say this news was rubbish.

Most Albion fans will take The Sun’s report with a pinch of salt but Lepkowski’s claim does carry a lot of weight and it makes sense that Rowett would be keen on managing West Brom.

We’re a step down from where Millwall currently are in the league but this would no doubt be the biggest job of his career – stopping a team that’s recently been established in the Premier League from dropping into League One.

It’s not quite a firefighting mission at West Brom (yet). But the first aim for the next manager will be to arrest this slump in form before trying to salvage a bid to finish in the top six.

In other West Brom news, one player complained regularly about Bruce before he was sacked.