Rowett open to staying but 'lots will want Foxes job'

Manager Gary Rowett says he is open to staying at Leicester City when they drop to League One but expects there will be plenty of competition for the job of trying to rebuild the former Premier League champions in the third tier.

Rowett was given 14 games to try to steer the Foxes to Championship safety this season, but they were relegated in 12.

The 52-year-old, who has overseen just one win, eight draws and four defeats, will be out of contract after Saturday's season-ending trip to Blackburn Rovers.

After Leicester's final home match of the season on Friday, a 1-1 draw against automatic promotion-chasing Millwall at a half-empty King Power Stadium, Rowett spoke about a desire to stay with the Foxes.

Even though he conceded Leicester might want a "fresh" start in League One, his willingness to talk about his future at the Foxes beyond the next week marked a clear change in tone from a manager that had previously been evasive about it.

"When you take the job for 14 games, I knew what we had to try to achieve and we haven't achieved that," Rowett told BBC Sport.

"After the Bristol City game [his only win as boss] when people asked me if I'd stay, I said 'I'm here until the end of the season and that's my job'. I didn't want to focus on anything else.

"What I've said subsequently is when you've been part of this club, when you've seen this club, when you see the opportunity that I believe the club may have next season if they get some things right, of course you want to be part of that, of course you want to try and help and want to use your experience to be part of that."

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