JUST IN: The Blues have appointed a new boss until the end of the season

After leaving the Lions five months ago with mutual consent, the former Millwall manager is back in the Championship dugout to assist his former team in finishing in the division the following season.

With the resources at his disposal, the 50-year-old had undoubtedly overachieved during his four seasons in command at The Den, having almost missed out on a postseason spot in three of those years.

Blues were in a precarious position in the standings, so it was not surprising to see a familiar face return to St. Andrew’s. Under Mark Venus, Mowbray’s assistant, who took over for the 60-year-old last month after the club announced he needed medical attention and would have to step away from first-team duties, the team failed to win any of their six games.

Given Rowett’s performance in the second division, it is easy to understand why the West Midlands club’s hierarchy felt it was important to bring him back for the remaining eight games of the season, marking the third managerial change of the season.

Even though Rowett’s stint with Stoke City was significantly shorter than the rest of his Championship tenures, he has achieved an average of one point per game with four different clubs in the division.

The authorities at Vicarage Road and the Stadium of Light may be keeping an eye on things and may try to make a move for the 50-year-old in the summer in an attempt to get the Blues back into the Premier League, given that they have eight games left to get the team safe.

However, controlling Watford is not without its challenges. With 12 managers coming and going since the 2019–20 season, the managerial whirlwind in WD18 is scarcely an alluring offer considering the lack of job stability.

Like Wearside, they’ve had six different managers in that period, and because there’s such a narrow margin for success, it only takes a string of bad performance to have you let go.

With one fewer game than Paolo di Canio’s 13 in 2013, Beale’s tenure as Sunderland’s regular manager was the shortest in the team’s history.

But Rowett has demonstrated recently that he is capable of leading at this level, so Watford could want to give him some thought before the upcoming campaign.

Tom Cleverley has eight games to shine

Although it’s not ideal to be thrown into a managing role at this point in the season, Cleverley has the chance to demonstrate his managerial abilities and establish himself as a viable summer transfer target for the Hornets.

In their match against Birmingham, Watford displayed a clinical edge that had been absent in previous weeks, capitalizing on an error by Emmanuel Aiwu to allow Emmanuel Dennis to score the game’s lone goal.

Venus’s team outperformed the visitors in nearly every category during the match, therefore the scoreboard figure that counts when the referee sounds the final whistle is not the one that matters on the display.

Despite the fact that Cleverley is still relatively young in his management career, these eight games will provide valuable experience handling a variety of situations that come with the job. They might also make or break his career.

In recent years, the Hornets have frequently chosen to name an experienced coach to lead them, as shown with the hiring of Chris Wilder, Slaven Bilic, Roy Hodgson, and Claudio Ranieri at Vicarage Road. However, if Cleverley continues to show improvement through the conclusion of the season, the administration may be compelled to alter their strategy in an effort to achieve more reliable outcomes and a return to the top division.

Unfortunately for Dodds, things aren’t going to go as planned for him this time around, as his recent bad play at Sunderland has eliminated him from consideration as Beale’s long-term replacement. However, Rowett has an opportunity to compel his name to appear on that list.