Gary Rowett speaks out over negative perception of his players

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Derby County’s squad have taken some slack over the last few weeks after the Rams parted company with Steve McClaren, their fifth managerial appointment in four years.

Derby County players

After his second tenure at the club came to an end, Steve McClaren became the sixth departure from the Derby County hot-seat since 2013. Curbing a list which has included managers such as Nigel Clough, Paul Clement, Darren Wassall, Nigel Pearson and two McClaren tenures, the Rams job has looked like a difficult one over the last few years.

Despite being a talented (and expensive) squad, Derby County’s players have struggled to achieve what they’re capable of over the last few seasons, and it’s been the managers that have been taking a lot of the slack. However, after the second departure of McClaren, it became the turn of some of the Rams players to take the hits, with many fans angry at a perceived lack of hunger, desire and fight for the shirt.

Since becoming manager, Gary Rowett has been given the task of getting the Rams heading in the right direction, and is believed to have been given a mandate to make major changes to the Rams squad over the summer if need be. Looking at where they need to buy and where they might need to sell, Gary Rowett will likely be making an assessment of the squad’s hunger and fight a top priority.

Derby manager Gary Rowett

And after over two weeks in charge, the Rams manager has spoken out about the negative perception of his group, branding reports of a lack of hunger as “not true.” Speaking to RamsTV, Rowett said:

“I think there’s a perception around, maybe from our fans and from other people, that maybe this group don’t have enough hunger to be successful or don’t want it enough, and I certainly haven’t seen that in the first two weeks of training.

“So we want to use that, and we want to show people that that’s not true.“

Derby County manager Gary Rowett

With eight games remaining, Gary Rowett will be hoping his group can prove to the Derby County fans that they do want to achieve things with this club, and are keen to stay on at a place which has all the facilities in place for Premier League football.

Derby County players