Former Millwall boss heads back to Lions’ Den on New Year’s Day

Gary Rowett will head back to The Den on New Year’s Day after being appointed Oxford United’s new head coach.

The former Millwall manager has replaced Des Buckingham with the U’s not specifying the contract length.

Rowett stepped down as Lions boss early in the previous campaign and did have a short spell in interim charge at Birmingham City but was unable to prevent them from losing their Championship status.

He told BBC Radio Oxford: “I’m really excited to be here We’re at the stage where I just want to get to work, get on the training ground and meet the players, I’ve had more or less a year recharging my batteries but I’m ready to go.

“I saw how well the team started this season.

“The Championship has this really uncanny way of dragging you back down. It’s such a competitive league but the team have shown their potential.

“I’m excited because it’s a really good group – most importantly to me it looks like a group that wants to work really hard to try and achieve success.

“Now it’s up to me to try to find the right balance and chemistry to give them the chance to show the quality they’ve got.

“It’s important that they get the opportunity to stamp their authority on Championship matches.”