Gary Rowett: Consistency key to Birmingham City promotion
Thursday 29 October 2015 13:16, UK
Birmingham City manager Gary Rowett has called on his players to maintain their good form as the club look to win promotion to the Premier League.
Rowett celebrated a year in charge at St Andrew's earlier this week, with the Blues currently sitting in sixth place in the Championship, just a point behind second-in-the-table Hull City.
However, Rowett - who played for Birmingham between 1998 and 2000 - says the team must keep their focus if they are to remain in the promotion hunt between now and the end of the season.
"It's been a hectic year, it's not felt like a year," Rowett told the FL72 podcast. "It's been very enjoyable, really good to come in with my staff and try to create something new and something the players enjoy. It's been a very enjoyable 12 months in charge.
"We have been consistent for 12 months now and people can't say it's a flash in the pan or just the first 10 games of the new manager. Our challenge is can we stay there? Consistency is crucial in this division.
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"We haven't surprised ourselves, we know what we have got and what we are good at. We are in and around where we hoped we might be. I'm not suggesting I thought we would be second at this stage, but the key for us now is how do we keep going? How do we maintain the form? That's the golden question.
"I'm not arrogant enough to say we deserve to be in the Premier League but in terms of heritage and history, and as a proud club in Birmingham, we want to keep pushing and feeling like we are on an upward curve. At the moment we are progressing and we want to keep doing that."
Birmingham host mid-table Wolverhamptom Wanderers on Saturday lunchtime - a match you can see live on Sky Sports 1 HD - Rowett's first opponents after being handed the managerial reins last October.
That match ended in a goalless draw, but Rowett feels his side have progressed greatly since that stalemate 12 months ago.
"We drew with them a year ago and you could see they were a much better side than us," he said.
"Later in the season we beat them 2-1 at St Andrew's and showed our progress. We have done well in front of the Sky cameras this season, so we want to continue that and show what a proud group we are. Hopefully the performance will be a good one."
Listen to the FL72 Podcast HERE, featuring interviews with Northampton coach Chris Wilder, while Richard Keogh faces 'Ten to Tackle'.
