Gianfranco Zola was appointed manager of Birmingham City last night, less than six hours after the Sky Bet Championship club stunned supporters by sacking Gary Rowett.
The Chelsea legend signed a two-and-a-half-year contract at St Andrew’s after Rowett was dismissed despite taking the club to seventh in the table. The former Italy striker is joined on the Birmingham coaching staff by ex-Chelsea team-mates Pierluigi Casiraghi and Kevin Hitchcock.
Panos Pavlakis, the club director, said: “His pedigree, philosophy and ambition fits with what we would like to achieve as we move in a new direction. Gianfranco has a wealth of top-level experience as both manager and player and we are extremely excited about his appointment.”
The former manager of West Ham United and Watford replaces Rowett, who spent more than two years in charge after moving from Burton Albion.
Rowett came under pressure after losing recent games 3-0 to Barnsley and 4-0 to Newcastle United but his team recovered to beat Ipswich Town 2-1 on Tuesday and there was no hint at the game of his impending departure.
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The announcement did, though, come a day after Trillion Trophy Asia, the Chinese company that completed a protracted takeover deal, appointed three new board members. Wenqing Zhao, Chun Kong Yiu and Zhu Kai appear to have played a significant role in the decision. Rowett was a former Birmingham player and popular with fans but it is thought that the new owners wanted their own man in place for next month’s window, when they are set to invest in players.
A statement confirmed that Rowett’s coaches, Kevin Summerfield, Mark Sale, Kevin Poole and Darren Robinson, had also left the club.