Oxford United’s Gary Rowett wants ‘underdog spirit’ for Boro game

Oxford United’s Gary Rowett wants ‘underdog spirit’ for Boro game

Oxford United head coach Gary Rowett has called on his team to return to the ‘underdog mentality’ that saw them survive in the Championship last season.

The U’s are winless in their last three games, their most recent result seeing them lose 2-1 away to a struggling West Bromwich Albion side.

With the final international break of 2025 being waved away, the pause in domestic action has provided a good opportunity for Rowett to refresh his players ahead of a chaotic Christmas and New Year.

“I think it’s trying to get back to a bit of what we need to do, what we’re good at,” the 51-year-old reflected before Saturday’s clash against high-flying Middlesbrough.

“Maybe a little bit more of an underdog mentality in some respects. It’s been a good period.

“When you look at last season, particularly towards the end but maybe when I came in as well, there’s that underdog battling spirit of, we’re trying to survive in this division which, of course, you try to change for different reasons. And maybe we sort of meandered into this season trying to play like a midtable team and getting caught in-between a bit.”

Being one of the smaller clubs in the Championship who are restricted to a tighter budget than most of their rivals, the Yellows have to be clever in their actions both on and off the pitch.

The ‘teams like Oxford’ trope that other clubs have directed towards the team currently in 21st was channelled for good last year and doing the same this campaign may be something to revisit going forward.

“I think a reset from a mentality point of view as well; we’ve got to get back to really fighting and competing and battling for every single ball and every single point that we can get. That’s something that we’ve probably come away from.



“You have to accept how you’re perceived by the outside world and you have to accept where you are size wise, budget wise, but it doesn’t mean to say that you can’t try to find, like we did last season, ways to negate some of those things.

“I think the way to negate that is to be very, very good at what you do. I think that’s the key; you have to have something that stands out from just trying to play the same way as everyone else.”

The U’s face a Middlesbrough side who, at the time of writing, are yet to appoint a new boss after Rob Edwards left for Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League.

Interim manager Adi Viveash will most likely take charge as he did in Boro’s last match, a 2-1 win over Birmingham City.

“Adi’s an experienced guy,” Rowett continued, “He did a fantastic job there as assistant manager, did a fantastic job last week when he took the reins and I don’t expect anything other than a really organised Middlesbrough side looking to come and get three points.”