Gary Rowett fires “simple” criticism at Birmingham City players ahead of vital Norwich City clash | OneFootball

Gary Rowett has fired criticism at his Birmingham City players ahead of their must-win match against Norwich City on the final day of the season.

The Blues' season all comes down to what happens on Saturday.

They missed a huge chance to keep the control of their destiny in their own hands, but a draw at the weekend against Huddersfield Town, who need a major miracle to occur to stay up, has meant that Birmingham are in a very vulnerable position.

Sheffield Wednesday pulled off a shock result by beating West Bromwich Albion 3-0. One point against Sunderland on the final day will confirm Danny Röhl's great escape as being completed.

Birmingham's best chance of survival relies on Plymouth Argyle not beating Hull City, who still have a chance to make the play-offs. Either way, the Blues absolutely have to win to give themselves any chance of survival.

Gary Rowett's criticism of Birmingham players

Like Plymouth, City, too, face a side that have play-off hopes on the final day of the 2023/24 campaign.

It's going to be a tough ask for them to pull off a result, and the former Millwall manager has said that the league table accurately reflects Birmingham's performance over the course of the season.

Speaking to Birmingham Live after the draw with the Terriers on Saturday, Rowett said: "At this stage of the season, they see other teams winning games of football and there’s an expectation when you’re playing the two teams around us that you go and win one of the games.

"We deserve to be where we are and that’s really simple at this stage of the season. Our away form has been incredibly poor all season. You have to show a much better mentality."

The interim boss did take the opportunity to encourage what will be a jam-packed St Andrew's stadium to make sure that the place is bouncing to give the players that extra energy and bounce against the Canaries.

"We often play with a little bit more energy and quality at home because of our fans," said Rowett. "We know it’s going to be a full house and it’s going to be a brilliant atmosphere. It’s going to need big character and us to handle the situation.

"We are going to see whether we are able to do that. If we don’t, we know the outcome. If we do, we give ourselves a chance. That’s all we need to do and that’s all we’ve wanted to do in these seven games that we’ve been here for.

"Whilst we have been competitive, and whilst there have been defensive improvements, we need to show more quality to win games of football."

23/24 season will be a massive what if for Birmingham City

If they manage to avoid relegation, then the following question will be pretty much redundant. But, if the worst does happen, how much different would things have been had City not sacked John Eustace and replaced him with Wayne Rooney?

Birmingham were sixth when Eustace got told that he was no longer needed by the club, and that is when everything started to go downhill.

Would they have maintained that play-off spot? Probably not. The evidence from the rest of the season certainly shows that this team isn't at that level because it has struggled under Rowett and Tony Mowbray too.

Evidence from League One this season, in the case of Port Vale, shows that you can start a season well and be near the top and then fall dramatically down the league and end up in the red zone.

There would have been no guarantee of safety/success with Eustace, but they were certainly tracking much better then than they are now.

Deciding to remove him in favour of Rooney just set in place a sour feeling about the club and those making the big decisions, and it's not really left since.

That choice to part ways with the now Blackburn Rovers manager could be one of the most costly that Knighthead ever made.