GARY’S UP FOR RETURN

GARY ROWETT says he’s got nothing to prove on his return to St Andrew’s today.

The Derby boss is back at Birmingham for the first time since his shock sacking in December.

Rowett was challenging for the play-offs when he was axed and replaced by Gianfranco Zola.

Strange

Now he is doing the same thing with Derby while his former club have slumped, with Zola managing to win just twice since Rowett’s departure.

Rowett admits it will be strange to go back as the opposition manager.

But he insists he is still in the dark over why he was let go in the first place. Rowett said: “I’ve got no need ®Êby TIM GRAY to go back there and prove a point. We took the team from second from bottom to 10th, then challenging for the play-offs.

“It’ll be a strange game to be part of as the opposition manager. The owners had their own reasons and their own way of doing things.

“But I was never truly given a reason for it. I won’t tell you what I said to them when they told me the news.”

Birmingham have slid down the table under Zola and Rowett said: “I think we’ll prove that our way will be successful at Derby – we proved it was at Birmingham.

“We were three points off third when we left. It’s a far bigger gap now. I’m surprised they’ve fallen away so spectacularly.”