Gary Rowett faces another Championship relegation battle with new job

The former Birmingham boss was the club's number one target to replace Des Buckingham, who was sacked last week.

The U's have been swayed by Rowett's experience of managing in the Championship, boasting spells in charge of Stoke, Derby and Millwall, as well as his double stint at St Andrews.

His longest spell in charge came at The Den where he spent four years in the dug out before leaving the club by mutual consent in October 2023.

Rowett has been out of full-time management since then but took interim charge of Birmingham last season after boss Tony Mowbray was forced to take a period of leave due to illness.

He could not save the Blues from relegation during his eight matches in charge.

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The 50-year-old has managed just shy of 400 Championship games with his highest league finish coming in the 2017/18 campaign when he led Derby to a sixth-place finish.

Rowett knows he has a job on his hands with the Yellows currently sat 20th in the table and on a poor run of form.

Oxford have won just one of their last 15 league games after making an encouraging start to the season.

They are now just a point ahead of the relegation zone but could find themselves bottom of the pile this weekend if they suffer defeat at promotion-chasing Leeds and other results go against them.

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Rowett will already have one eye on January's transfer window in hope of bolstering the squad ahead of what appears to be a relegation scrap.

The former defender will need to make an immediate impact to overthrow his predecessor's popularity at the club.

Fans were left stunned at the news that club chiefs had opted to terminate Buckingham's contract.

Although Oxford had suffered their struggles this season, many believed the club were still punching well above their weight and could not understand why Buckingham had been axed following his heroics in leading Oxford to the second tier.

An 84-word statement from the club read: "Oxford United can confirm that Des Buckingham has left his role as men's first team head coach.

"Des was appointed in November 2023 and led the club to promotion to the EFL Sky Bet Championship at the end of the 2023/24 season.

"The club would like to place on record its thanks to Des for everything he has done during his time with us and wish him well for the future.

"The appointment of a new head coach will be confirmed in due course."

Reacting to his dismissal, Buckingham said: "Managing my boyhood club was always a dream of mine and as such I want to thank the board for giving me an opportunity that was so close to my heart," he said.

"I was brought into the club to try to get it into the Championship and hopefully I've left it in a better place than when I arrived.

"I would have loved the opportunity to achieve this season's objective of staying up but I respect the club's decision to part ways and go in a different direction.

"I'd like to thank the fans for their support of both myself and the players, which was vital in getting us into the Championship for the first time in 25 years.

"I'll always be one of you. Yellows!"