Oxford United appoint Rowett as head coach

Oxford United have appointed Gary Rowett as their new head coach.

The former Millwall and Birmingham City boss takes over the struggling Championship side following the departure of Des Buckingham at the weekend.

Oxford chairman Grant Ferguson said: "Following a thorough and diligent recruitment process, I am delighted that Gary Rowett has agreed to join us as head coach.

"It was immediately clear from the discussions we had with him that Gary perfectly matched the vision and long-term objectives that we have for the club.

"Every decision taken is with the best interests of Oxford United in mind and we are confident that Gary will be instrumental in fulfilling our ambitions this season and beyond.

"We look forward to working alongside and supporting Gary to help us achieve our goals."

The U's sit a point and two places above the relegation zone and are without a win in their past six matches.

Buckingham led Oxford to the second tier via the League One play-offs last spring, however they find themselves in a fight for league survival approaching Christmas, with just four points picked up across their past eight matches.

Oxford travel to Leeds on Saturday (15:00 GMT) where Rowett will watch from the stands, in the first of their four games over the festive period.

Rowett has managed a range of sides across the Championship and League One, with his most recent job a return for the second time to Birmingham City on an interim basis in March following Tony Mowbray's illness.

However, his seven-week stint in charge ended with the Blues relegated to League One this summer, despite winning three and drawing two of their eight games.

The 50-year-old began his managerial career at Burton Albion in 2012 before moving to St Andrew's for the first time.

He oversaw more than 100 games at the Blues before being sacked just over two years later and then took over at Derby County, guiding the club to the Championship play-offs in 2018.

An eight-month stint at Stoke City followed, before Rowett became Millwall manager, where he stayed in the dugout for four years until October last year.

In Rowett's 19-year playing career as a right-back he made 444 appearances across the English Football League (EFL) before he retired in 2007.

He started at Cambridge and went on to play for Everton, Blackpool, Derby, Birmingham, Leicester, Charlton Athletic and Burton.

By Jerome Sale, BBC Radio Oxford's Oxford United commentator

What Gary Rowett is, is a Championship manager.

He has hundreds of games behind him in the second tier and he joins a club that has, in the last quarter of a century, been in just 20 matches at that level.

If the owners, executives, and most of the players don't have Championship know-how, he does.

Over all his games as a boss his teams have a points-per-game record of at least 1.3. Replicate his worst performance at any Championship club and he'll get Oxford to safety - and that is what he has been recruited for.

What Gary Rowett isn't, is Des Buckingham. And that is not his fault.

United have faced a backlash more brutal than they anticipated when they fired Buckingham, the local lad made good, the man who delivered promotion and a fairytale story.

At least with this appointment they haven't had their head turned by a star name or someone with no more experience of the level than Buckingham had.

I am not sure they would have been forgiven for that.

Many will see this as Oxford recruiting a firefighter. They think it is for the long-term - which in the Championship isn't usually that long.

Either way, rightly or wrongly, the fairytale is over, this now is about hard reality.

Five months of grinding out the results to ensure what Buckingham achieved in the warmth of last May isn't wasted when we get to the spring of 2025.