Former Everton, Charlton and Derby man who was proven right by Joe Royal leaves EFL role

Gary Rowett, a former Everton player, has left his role as Millwall manager.

Rowett spent four years in the hot seat at the Den and went close to guiding the club to the Championship play-offs on two occasions. But with Millwall sitting 15th in the table, a change of approach has been decided.

Rowett joined Everton in March 1994 from Cambridge United for a fee of £200,000. However, then a teenager, the defender struggled to make a first-team impact at Goodison Park and managed only four Premier League appearances.

Via a loan spell at Blackpool, he left for Derby County a year later before going on to represent Birmingham City, Leicester City, Charlton Athletic and Burton Albion. As a manager, he returned to Birmingham, Derby County and Stoke City before being appointed Wolves chief in 2019.

In an interview with Everton's match-day programme in April 2022, Rowett told how Goodison hero Joe Royal’s frank words motivated him for the rest of his career. He said: “I didn’t show that desperation to be a footballer. As annoyed as I was about what Joe said, he was probably right.

“Those words motivated me for the rest of my career. I had to find ways to summon that extra aggression, I wasn’t naturally that way inclined. I played against Joe many years later and he told me he’d tried to sign me for another club. It was nice he saw the change.”