Burn fired up over defeats
GARY ROWETT is braced for an avalanche of hate from Birmingham fans on Boxing Day.
The Stoke boss has been back to his old club twice since 2016 when he was controversially sacked with the team in seventh place in the Championship – and won each time.
Rowett joked: “I have spoken to the club and said is there any way they can put a tunnel near the dugout! Listen, it’s water off a duck’s back.
“I’ve had games there when I’ve been abused coming off as Birmingham manager.
“Am I going to enjoy it? Probably not, with 95 minutes of abuse from the sidelines. If it’s the same as the last two games and I go away victorious, then I’m quite happy if they do that.”
Rowett took over a Birmingham side in relegation trouble and on the back of an 8-0 thrashing by Bournemouth, but was dismissed because the owners believed he was expressing interest in other DEFENDER Dan Burn is desperate for Wigan to plug the gaps after yet another defeat.
Burn, on loan from Brighton, said: “It just seems like every time teams get near our goal they’re scoring. We’ve got to stop that.
“We’re obviously frustrated. We’ve been trying to put right what’s been going wrong, but final balls have probably let us down again and we’re conceding too many.”
Defeat for the Latics was their third in a row in the Championship, having also now just won once in their last 10 league outings.
Burn’s loan spell is up at the DW Stadium in two more games – and he’s played his last home match for the club.
The 26-year-old added: “Football is frustrating like that, but it makes it worse because that was our last jobs. He added: “If you went back and everyone kind of appreciated the hard work you put in there, then it is slightly different.
“It’s modern-day football. Most managers get a little bit of stick, a little bit of abuse, and that’s the crowd’s way of trying to put you off your game.”
A fifth goal of the season from Saido Berahino put the Potters on to 34 points – the same as Birmingham. And the last time Stoke lost was at home to Garry Monk’s men in October before putting together a 10-game unbeaten run.
Meanwhile, Millwall boss Neil Harris believes he will have to turn master motivator to convince his players they are performing well despite not winning away this season.
Harris said: “It is my job to make sure the players realise when they play well and when they don’t. The next three games are going to make or break our season.” home game of the year and we wanted to end on a high.
“And with it being my last game at home, it’s definitely not the way I wanted to say goodbye.”
Che Adams fired the Blues into a 26th-minute lead after combining well with strike partner Lukas Jutkiewicz, before Michael Morrison netted in first-half stoppage time.
Jacques Maghoma headed Wes Harding’s cross home for a third to complete an impressive day at the office.
Blues skipper Morrison said: “It was a good professional performance from the team – and I was very happy to get on the scoresheet.
“We had to soak up some first-half pressure, but we’re strong on the counter and we hit them with a real sucker punch.”