Gary Rowett breaks silence on future as Leicester City manager - "As far as I'm concerned" | OneFootball

Gary Rowett has a deal with Leicester City until the end of the season

Gary Rowett was appointed as Leicester City manager in February until the end of the Championship season.

The 52-year-old has been tasked with ensuring that the Foxes don’t suffer relegation to League One.

The club competed in the Premier League last season, and were hoping to fight for promotion back to the top flight.

However, they have struggled for form in the second division, and will now need a run of good results to ensure their survival at this level beyond the term.

Rowett has previous experience in the Championship with the likes of Birmingham City, Derby County, Stoke City, Millwall and Oxford United.

Leicester have not fallen as low as the third tier of English football since 2009, but they will need to stave off competition from the likes of Oxford, West Brom, Blackburn Rovers and Portsmouth to avoid the drop this campaign.

Gary Rowett opens up on Leicester future

Rowett has claimed that he is not thinking about his long-term future at Leicester at all, with his contract set to expire at the end of the current campaign.

He is just hoping for more nights like last Tuesday, where he won his first game as manager with a 2-0 victory at home to Bristol City.

“I haven’t looked at the long-term perspective,” said Rowett, via Leicestershire Live.

“My job is to achieve what we want to achieve, to feel proud of hopefully changing the direction of a season, hopefully making the fans feel proud of their team again, and allowing the players to be part of that as well.

“Tuesday night, everyone wants more of those evenings.

“That’s why we’re all in the game.

“I think we sometimes forget that, when we’re in the job and it feels like a grind.

“But I’ll never forget that privilege of standing on the side of a pitch.”

Rowett believes that he will be satisfied with his work if he can keep the club in the Championship, and that he would be happy to walk away from the job at that point, if that’s what Leicester decide.

“I’m not looking at anything selfishly, what it means for me in the long term,” he added.

“I’m here until the end of the season as far as I’m concerned.

“If I do the job and I’m sat on a beach somewhere two weeks after the season’s finished and I can feel good about it, with a nice glass of wine, then I’ll be a happy man.”

Leicester sacked Martí Cifuentes in February due to the team’s poor form, with the Spaniard only arriving in the summer.

The club were then docked six points for breaching profit and sustainability rules, which further plunged the side into a relegation battle.

The Foxes are set to appeal the points deduction penalty decision, with no update yet given on the status of the punishment.

This could have an impact on their relegation battle, with the final weeks of the season now approaching thick and fast.

Rowett’s side still have to play relegation rivals Portsmouth and Blackburn before the end of the campaign, with their own fate very much in their hands at this point.

Leicester will travel to Ewood Park on the final day of the term, which could be a huge final fixture of the year for both clubs.

Gary Rowett has been brought in as a firefighter for Leicester

Rowett signed his contract to the end of the campaign knowing that he’s been hired to be a firefighter coach for Leicester.

His immediate aim is to keep the club in the Championship, and there is no point in thinking about his future until their league status for next season is confirmed.

If he can string together a good run of form in the final weeks of the campaign, then perhaps he could keep the position longer-term.

But the likelier outcome is that the Foxes will use the summer to reset and bring in their desired long-term appointment as manager in Rowett’s place.