Lee Bowyer insists he was NOT disloyal to Charlton by leaving them for Birmingham.
The 44-year-old resigned from his manager’s role at Charlton after almost three years in charge to take over at Birmingham earlier this week.
Getty
Bowyer, who guided Charlton to the Championship in 2019, rejected multiple opportunities to leave SE7 during the dreadful ownerships of Roland Duchatelet and East Street Investments.
But speaking to talkSPORT’s Jim White, he feels it was the ‘right time’ to swap Charlton for Birmingham.
“It was the right time for me to go. I’d been at Charlton for three years and it had been really, really difficult for me,” Bowyer explained.
“Everyone knows all the circumstances behind the scenes and everything that came with the job at Charlton.
“Everyone knows I could have left on a number of occasions, but I stayed because I didn’t want to leave the club in a bad position.
“Now, they’ve got a very good owner who is ambitious and wants to take the club places.
“I felt it was the right thing for me – it’s a new challenge. I want to be successful and I thought this was the perfect fit for me.”
Charlton owner Thomas Sandgaard sent his best wishes to Bowyer, who was replaced by Nigel Adkins in the Addicks hot seat on Thursday as they look to make an immediate return to the Championship.
Getty
And Bowyer has admitted he did not want to ‘outstay’ his welcome at the Valley.
He added: “I don’t [feel like I’ve let the Charlton fans down]. From day one, I’ve always been honest with everyone since I’ve been at the club for three years.
“Not many people stay at clubs for three years now. The Charlton fans are all aware I could have left last season on a few occasions and I didn’t because the club was in a bad place.
“If I had walked away, it would have crumbled. I know that, 100 per cent. Now, that’s not the case with the club.
“They have a good man in charge. Now was the right time. When you get to a time and you feel you don’t want to outstay your welcome… does that make sense?
“I’ve been there for that long and I didn’t want to overstay. This opportunity came up and I jumped at it.
“So I’ve been loyal because I could have left before and I didn’t.”
Getty
Bowyer’s decision to leave League One promotion contenders Charlton for Championship strugglers Birmingham was questioned by talkSPORT host Simon Jordan.
After overseeing a 2-1 win against Reading in his first game in charge of Birmingham on Wednesday, the former Blues midfielder is adamant it was not a ‘difficult’ decision to return to St Andrew’s.
He said: “I’ve been here. I know how big the club is. I know what it is capable of being.
“I’ve played in the Premier League for this club. I know what the possibilities are with the fan base and I know there is an owner here that wants to improve the club.
“He’s put a lot of money into the club, so everything is there, waiting to move forward. It wasn’t really that difficult for me.”
from Football - news, transfers, fixtures, scores, pictures https://ift.tt/3cOfEKc
via IFTTT
No Comment