Sky Bet Championship: Gary Rowett rejects chance to join Blackpool
Wednesday 10 September 2014 12:01, UK
Burton Albion boss Gary Rowett has turned down the chance to take over at Sky Bet Championship club Blackpool.
The Seasiders asked Burton for permission to speak to their manager despite still having Jose Riga at the helm.
But after talking with Blackpool owner Karl Oyston, Rowett has decided to stay with the club who are top of Sky Bet League 2 after five wins and a draw from their first six games.
Rowett said in a statement on his club's official website: "Following discussions with Blackpool, I have decided that I will remain at Burton Albion for the foreseeable future.
"I feel as though it is not the right job for me at the present time.
"We've made an excellent start to this season, winning seven out of eight games, and I feel we have an excellent group of players in the squad currently.
"I enjoy working with them immensely and this is a very exciting time to be involved at Burton Albion."
Riga's position at Bloomfield Road is precarious at best with Oyston having slammed his attitude and refused to rule out sacking him less than 100 days after he was hired.
Oyston is livid that after six successive defeats in all competitions, Riga returned to his native Belgium last week rather than focus on improving the fitness of a squad which played just two pre-season games over the summer.
In an interview with the Blackpool Gazette on Tuesday, Oyston remained coy on whether Riga would be shown the exit door, but the chairman did stress his fury at the manager's actions over the past week.
"Until I've spoken to Jose personally, I don't want to comment about the speculation or go into it in too much detail," said Oyston.
"However, I have to say I find myself slightly bemused yet again by the actions of our manager.
"He has said, on many occasions on the record, he would use the international break to get the players up to fitness and to work with the squad we now have.
"The first thing the manager does is hop on a plane and clear off to Belgium for a week without telling anyone.
"Let's face it we've lost every competitive game he's managed and these actions aren't the most professional way to get us out of this position.
"To hop on a plane without telling your employer or your colleagues isn't right. It's something I will be speaking to him about."
