Gary Rowett blasts Birmingham City transfer policy, months after creating similar trend at Stoke City

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Ex-Birmingham City manager Gary Rowett lasted less than eight months at Stoke City.

Former Stoke City boss Gary Rowett has criticised Birmingham City’s transfer policy after the Midlands club were handed a nine-point deduction for breach of Financial Fair Play, Sky Sports report.

The Blues underwent heavy spending after deciding to sack Gary Rowett back in 2016 and the former boss felt they wasted a lot of money on poor recruitment – comments which may strike a nerve among Stoke City fans.

“Since we were there the playing budget trebled in a year which is incredible. Money doesn’t buy you a miles better player in the Championship if you don’t get your recruitment right,” Rowett explained.

“It shows how bad some of the recruitment has been over those 12 months. With Birmingham there are so many different players they’ve signed that they can’t have done that on a specific system around a specific value or type of player that they want.”

According to a recent report in The Telegraph, Birmingham spent over £30 million in 12 months following their decision to move Rowett on, yet they ultimately went backwards in the Championship table.

There is no doubt the Blues didn’t do their homework when it came to recruitment, but Rowett’s comments may be deemed somewhat ironic after his own spending spree upon becoming Stoke City boss last summer.

Following their relegation from the Premier League, Stoke opted to prize Rowett away from Championship rivals Derby County and the Midlands club then bolstered their squad with several new additions.

According to Transfermarkt, Stoke spent over £50 million in the summer with the arrivals of the likes of Benik Afobe, Tom Ince, Ryan Woods, Oghenekaro Etebo, Sam Clucas and James McClean.

Despite the Potters’ heavy investment, early-season performances weren’t great and although results did gradually improve, it wasn’t enough to save Rowett from the sack in January with the side well adrift of the playoff positions.