Gary Rowett has hinted that there will be significant changes to Birmingham City’s bench at Loftus Road on Friday.
The interim manager has appointed two coaches, ex-Blues captain Paul Robinson and Dave Carolan, and added the club’s chief scout Joe Carnall to his technical staff. Carnall worked alongside Rowett at Blues, Derby County, Stoke City and Millwall before returning to St Andrew’s as part of the recruitment team last year.
Carnall was pictured alongside Rowett in training last week and the boss confirmed that he will be swapping transfers for tactics. The 37-year-old largely worked as an analyst under Rowett previously before taking a coaching position at Millwall.
Rowett commented: “Joe is someone I have worked with closely for a while and the key is, because we want to hit the ground running and impact quickly, it’s about having people that understand how you want to play and how you work. That makes it a lot easier and Joe is someone I have worked with for a long time.
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“For my sins, he was also my flatmate for three years. I’m surprised I took the job with him being here! Joe is very good at his job. Dave is the same and we all get on well together. Robbo knows what Blues is all about, he knows what leading the team on the pitch is all about, and it’s up to us and the players to find that same mentality.
“There are some good people here as well, some I know and some I don’t know, but we’re all one team and we’re all trying to make sure we give the players the best possible opportunity with the work that we do behind the scenes.”
Rowett has inherited Ashley Cole and Pete Shuttleworth, whom he worked with previously during his first stint at Blues. The pair are the last remaining survivors of Wayne Rooney’s appointed coaching staff in October. However, Rowett has intimated that their roles could change for the remaining eight games.
He explained: “There might be some slight differences in the way we work because there’s no point having eight or nine people on the bench trying to do the same thing. One of the things that I think has been important is that we have tried to clarify those roles.
“Sometimes as a manager coming in you can tread carefully around that and then end up with people being confused so we have tried to be really clear. In some ways, the less voices at the moment, the better. Again, there are some really good people, it might mean they are not on the bench but their role will be just as important.”
