FORMER Millwall boss Gary Rowett has been sacked by Oxford United after their 1-0 Championship defeat to Charlton Athletic at The Valley on Saturday.
Charlie Kelman scored the only goal twelve minutes from time to extend the U’s run to ten games with only one win.
Rowett was appointed on December 20 last year to take over from Des Buckingham. They were a point above the relegation zone before Rowett guided them to seventeenth in their first season back in the second tier in 25 years.
Assistant head coach Mark Sale has also left.
Oxford have slipped into the relegation zone and have nineteen points from 22 games.
“Gary joined during a challenging period and deserves immense credit for the hard work and leadership that saw us retain our Championship status last season,” Oxford chairman Grant Ferguson said on the club’s website.
“However, following a disappointing run of results, we have had to take this difficult decision in the best interests of the club.
“On behalf of the board, I would like to place on record our thanks to Gary and Mark for their contribution to the football club and to wish them all the best for the future.”
It was Charlton’s first win in seven games and boss Nathan Jones identified the key to their success.
“We’ve been built on clean sheets, solidity and doing the basics very well, and we had to get back to that. We did that last week as well,” Jones said.
“We showed real character last week and I was proud of last week’s performance. We needed to back that up today and we did, and there was a lot of key ingredients in what we did today.
“We’re keeping one in three clean sheets on average, and that’s with three of our best defenders out injured. It shows the structure we have, and we have a real good group.
“We had game-changers that came on and affected the game – we played front-footed, we kept a clean sheet, and the crowd were magnificent.
“I’m proud of my relationship with the fans. We’ve asked them to be patient and stay with us and they have. We thank the fans for the trust they have with us – and I wish them all a Merry Christmas.”
