By Nat Peters

I think the appointment of Gary Rowett as our new manager is a pretty popular one. He was in a past life a (very good) defender who racked up over a century of appearances for the club, but moreover he’s done well at Burton Albion in recent seasons to cut his coaching and managerial teeth. There are those who say he’s too inexperienced for a job like this, but to be honest at Burton his first task was to keep a freefalling team in the Football League with little to manoeuvre in the way of a playing budget, and then take them onwards and upwards afterwards; that is exactly what we need him to repeat here, albeit at a higher level. Of all the realistic candidates for the job, for me he was by far and away the best.

In taking this job though, he has taken a job which is almost akin to taking the wheel of the Titanic after it hit the iceberg. Yes we haven’t even hit November yet, but we are in for one hell of a struggle this season to try and stay in this league. My instinct is that we may not be good enough in terms of the standard of our players to haul ourselves out of trouble, but I really hope I am proven wrong. Mr Rowett has a bigger task than simply making a few tactical adjustments and rejigging and reinvigorating a group of players mind; he’s got to try and lift a club that’s on its knees, a club that’s just suffered its worst ever defeat at home, is lying in the bottom three of the table, where morale is at rock bottom and where the fans are nearly in open revolt against those on high who have given him this job.

But even if we do sadly go down this season, I hope he remains at the club unless he turns out to be a complete bozo (and he doesn’t strike me as being the ‘complete bozo’ sort). Who better to take on the task of rebuilding the club in the lower leagues (if we do end up there) than a man who has spent years down there building one of the better teams to be found down there and a man who has a connection to the club and a real understanding of what this club is all about? If he keeps us up, then quite frankly he deserves the Freedom of the City.

People are saying it’s the beginning of a new era; to be honest I only think the beginning of a genuinely new era at Blues will only begin the day whichever pillocks actually control the club right now hand it over to custodians who actually have the club’s interests at heart. But I do think in Rowett we have a manager who could be a part of that new era when it comes; the Burton fans have appraised him as a shrewd, forward thinking, intelligent man – who wouldn’t want that kind of guy as a manager?

Whatever the weather though, now is the time to get behind Gary and his new backroom staff (all of whom also seem to have been at Blues as players at some point or other in their careers) as he embarks on what is an incredible task of turning this club around.

KRO! Gary Rowett’s Blue and White Army!!

You can read more of Nat’s thoughts on his blog: http://nattubes.wordpress.com/