GARY Rowett has left Millwall by mutual consent after nearly four years in charge of the club.
His departure comes after having managed 196 games in all competitions and having 76 wins, 57 draws and 63 defeats in that time. Of those 76 wins, 23 of them have been by a scoreline of 1-0, making 30.26 percent of his victories.
Meanwhile out of the 57 draws, 22 have ended goalless, representing 38.5 percent of Millwall’s draws since October 21, 2019, when he was first appointed to the role.
The biggest win under Rowett was by a 4-1 scoreline, which has been achieved four times: against Huddersfield Town, Sheffield Wednesday, Bristol City and Barnsley.
The biggest defeat came in May 2021 when the Lions fell to a 6-1 defeat at Coventry City in a match Rowett labelled “quite an embarrassing game.”
The highest-scoring games during Rowett’s tenure featured seven goals which came in that Coventry defeat, a 4-3 loss at QPR in July 2020, and the 4-3 defeat against Blackburn on the final day of last season.
Tom Bradshaw’s 34 goals were the most under the former manager, although he took eight games to break his duck under his new boss. He had hit five goals in the four games that preceded Rowett’s arrival.
Matt Smith hit the first hat-trick of the 49-year-old’s reign against Nottingham Forest in March 2020. Fans would have to wait over two years for the next one but it was worth the wait with Tom Bradshaw twice and Zian Flemming once grabbing a treble of goals last season.
It was Ben Thompson, who now plays at Stevenage, who scored the first goal of the Rowett reign, sweeping home a brilliant finish from Jed Wallace’s cross in a 2-0 win over Stoke City.
Bartosz Bialkowski, Jake Cooper, Shaun Hutchinson, Murray Wallace and Bradshaw are the only players to have started that game to still be at The Den now.
Cooper unsurprisingly boasts the most appearances under the former manager with 187.
Cooper has not scored since February this year and Hutchinson is without a goal since March 2021 but both defenders were in and among the goals in Rowett’s first season in charge. They combined for eight strikes in the Championship from October 2019 to July 2020, an impressive tally for defenders.
While Millwall have enjoyed strong league finishes of late, they struggled to build up any real momentum in the cup competitions under Rowett.
They twice reached the third round of the Carabao Cup and twice reached the fourth round of the FA Cup but have failed to go further in either competition.
This is despite the draw being quite kind to the Lions in recent years in terms of location, with nine of their last 11 ties in the two competitions taking place at The Den.
Rowett has not faced a single competitive penalty shootout during his time in south-east London, with Millwall’s last being a 4-2 penalty defeat to Oxford United after a 2-2 draw in the League Cup in August 2019.
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Most appearances under Rowett
Jake Cooper – 187
Murray Wallace – 153
Tom Bradshaw – 148
Bartosz Bialkowski – 148
Shaun Hutchinson – 142
Most goals
Tom Bradshaw – 34
Jed Wallace – 23
Benik Afobe – 19
Matt Smith – 18
Zian Flemming – 17
Hat-tricks – 4
Matt Smith vs. Nottingham Forest (March 2020)
Tom Bradshaw vs. Watford (October 2022)
Zian Flemming vs. Preston North End (November 2022)
Tom Bradshaw vs. Sheffield United (February 2023)
Red Cards – 3
Shaun Williams vs. Stoke City (November 2020)
Murray Wallace vs. Coventry City (January 2021)
George Honeyman vs. Cambridge United (August 2022 – Carabao Cup)
Biggest win
Millwall 4-1 Huddersfield Town (July 2020)
Millwall 4-1 Sheffield Wednesday (February 2021)
Millwall 4-1 Bristol City (May 2021)
Millwall 4-1 Barnsley (April 2022)
Biggest defeat
Coventry City 6-1 Millwall (May 2021)