In the frantic, high-stakes theatre of English football, we have reached a level of meta-irony that would make ingenious auteur Armando Iannucci blush. The news that Gary Rowett has been installed to steady the listing blue ship Leicester City is not just a tactical appointment: it is a masterclass in satirical optics of life in the public eye imitating high media art.
The prodigal firefighter: Gary Rowett's King Power chaos
Only weeks ago, ex-Fox Rowett sat in the sterile glow of television studios and intrusive interviews dissecting the structural decay at the King Power with the clinical detachment of an experienced coroner. He laid into Aiyawatt "Khun Top" Srivaddhanaprabha and 'his' director of football Jon Rudkin.
A comedic, Armando Iannucci-esque tragedy and the Del Boy paradox challenging a footballing paradigm: Critic to charged
Rowett's task for Sky Sports or Birmingham Live: outlining a litany of errors that led the Foxes into a truly existential mire. Subsequently, in a twist of The Thick of It proportions, he has been handed the keys to the very disaster he so eloquently deconstructed. What the 51-year-old said about LCFC is below. Maybe it'll be 10 Downing Street next!
"They haven't been in brilliant form. I think they've been very, very inconsistent this season, with the squad that they've got you'd expect more, so obviously nothing's perfect there in terms of the chemistry... you can't go from winning the Premier League to being in League One in a matter of a few seasons, that is very, very poor management"Gary Rowett - Birmingham Live
There is a distinct element of the Only Fools and Horses about the whole affair. It's the quintessential Peckham hustle: Rowett, (once a Millwall gaffer, to hammer the point home) playing the role of South Londoner Del Boy, spent his time on the touchline (and the sofa, and in the gantry) pointing at a Reliant Regal Supervan with no wheels and shouting, 'Look at this bloody mess, Rodney!'. Only to engineer his own appointment as 'chief mechanic' five minutes later.
The irony is mesmerising: there is a specific, devastating gravity to a former player returning as a pundit to torch the foundations of their old home. A betrayal aesthetic turned into a job application. By highlights-reel logic, the more savage the critique and evaluation - the more 'qualified' one becomes to fix it.
Good luck
Rowett now faces the daunting task of 'firefighting issues on Filbert Way he essentially amplified. To see a man criticise the LCFC board's vision one week and then shake hands with them for the cameras the next is an inexplicable piece of performance art. It's cynical. It's circular. It is peak modern football!
Good luck to Gary Rowett at Leicester City. He has a difficult job to focus on and could really do without today’s further distractions. Leicester and Premier League duelling with their appeals. Club has gone from fairy-tale in 2016 to soap opera in 2026. Whatever happens with…
— Henry Winter (@henrywinter) February 19, 2026
The optics are clear: Leicester aren't just hiring a manager, they are attempting to domesticate a familiar, capable detractor. Whether Rowett can turn his punditry prose into points once again remains to be seen. Yet for now, the satire writes itself. Someone get Ricky Tomlinson on the phone for a Mike Bassett sequel!