Why Gary Rowett was once disappointed with Phil Parkinson amid ‘cheat’ claims from Wrexham manager
Phil Parkinson and Gary Rowett go head-to-head this week in the Championship, and we’re wondering whether the Oxford United boss will have forgiven his opposite number for comments made in 2012 yet.
Wrexham will be looking to bounce back from the 1-0 defeat against Stoke City at the weekend with Wednesday night’s clash against Oxford at the Racecourse Ground.
Oxford, meanwhile, go into the game on the back of a solid 1-0 win at home to Derby County and will be looking to leapfrog the Red Dragons in the Championship table.
With Wrexham now facing a relegation battle, Parkinson will be eager to get one over Rowett. That will be especially true if either of the managers remember the heated situation they were involved in back in 2012.
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13 years ago, when Phil Parkinson was in charge of Bradford City, his Bantams outfit lost 1-0 to Burton Albion, managed by Rowett at the time.
During the game, Burton’s Lee Bell was involved in an incident with Bradford’s Ricky Ravenhill, where the latter seemingly headbutted his opponent. Ravenhill was sent off, but after the game, Bell admitted he went down a little easily.
That prompted an angry response from Parkinson, who branded Bell a ‘cheat’ for his role in the sending off. Naturally, that didn’t go down too well with Rowett.
Speaking to BBC Radio Derby at the time, Rowett said: “I don’t think the comment needed to be made in quite that way. I think Phil called him a cheat and I’m not saying he’s not entitled to his opinion, but I was disappointed reading one or two comments after the game.”
Rowett and Parkinson buried the hatchet, seemingly, with the former praising his peer years later for his hard work in navigating the tricky financial situation at Bolton Wanderers. But, come Wednesday night, we’re sure they’ll be far from friends.
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Comparing Gary Rowett and Phil Parkinson’s managerial careers
Parkinson certainly has Rowett beat when it comes to experience in the game. The Wrexham manager has racked up over 1,000 games while Rowett has (a still rather respectable) 572 matches as a manager across a career spanning seven different clubs.
At the time of writing, Parkinson has a win rate of 40%, with 410 victories in 1,025 matches. Rowett is marginally higher, with a 40.2% win rate comprised of 230 wins in 572 games.
StatisticsParkinsonRowettGames1025572Wins410230Draws262162Losses763180Win %40.0%40.2%
Wrexham fans are unhappy with Parkinson’s approach to things at the moment, with calls for him to change his tactical style. However, he’s winning an average of 2.01 points-per-game with the Red Dragons and his win rate there stands at a massive 60.18% prior to the Oxford match.
Rowett’s win rate at Oxford is only 31.58%, but it’s safe to say he probably has a little more job security at the moment. Indeed, if Oxford do win on Wednesday, that pressure on Parkinson will only mount further.
