Lukas tells new owners: Don’t get rid of Rowett

LUKAS Jutkiewicz believes it would be ‘very silly’ of Birmingham City’s new owners to consider a change of manager when their takeover is completed.

Trillion Trophy Asia are expected to finalise their buy-out of Carson Yeung in less than a month. That will make Blues the fourth West Midlands club this year to have new Chinese owners, two of whom have decided to bring in their own manager, while Tony Pulis’ future at West Brom is the subject of continued speculation.

However, Jutkiewicz’s first goal for Blues to defeat Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 last Saturday lifted the team Gary Rowett seems to have rebuilt over the summer back into the play-off places.

And Jutkiewicz had this advice for Paul Suen and his partners. “It would be bizarre, I can’t imagine that would even be in the thought process,” he said. “You can see a young manager that’s clearly doing something right, it would be very silly to tamper with that, I’d have thought.”

Jutkiewicz’s 92nd-minute headed winner marked the first time Blues had turned round a losing position in 11 months. He identified it as a sign of the spirit Rowett has engendered in his squad.

“It was a great comeback for the club. It’s important we instil that sort of attitude in the team – that we don’t know when we are beaten and we play on the front foot, no matter what the score is,’’ he said.

“It’s pretty evident that is something the manager is pretty big on and he’s brought together characters that are big on that themselves.

“I think that’s part of his recruitment process, bringing in the right type of people as well as the right types of players. I have been at a club before that has defied the odds in the way they have gone about their business – in Burnley. Particularly the first promotion wasn’t expected, there wasn’t a lot of money thrown at it but there was a real team unit. As there is here.”

Rowett was delighted with his side’s determination against Wednesday. He praised their brave performance.

He said: “I was really pleased for him. There have been a lot of things said about him and his goalscoring record over the last season-and-a-half.

“He has had a very bad injury and most of his appearances have been coming on as a substitute. He is a real team player. The players who came off the bench won us the game.”