ROY O’DONOVAN HAS criticised former manager Robbie Fowler after the ex-Liverpool striker decided not to return to his role as boss at Brisbane Roar.
Prior to the postponement of the season due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Brisbane were well in contention for success in the A-League finals as they sat in fourth place in the table.
Fowler, who took over in Brisbane on a two-year deal last summer, travelled back to the UK when the campaign was put on hold. It was then announced a fortnight ago that the 45-year-old former England international had stepped down ahead of the restart.
Football in Australia resumes this weekend, with eight fixtures in the regular season still to play for Brisbane Roar. The season will conclude with the Grand Final on 23 August.
Fowler made Roy O’Donovan his first signing during his tenure as Brisbane Roar manager, but the Irish striker returned to Newcastle Jets in January.
“Honestly, I thought he should have come back,” O’Donovan told the Fox Football Podcast when asked about Fowler’s departure. “I think it’s a bit selfish. I think [he should have] finished the season off, done it properly.
“He’s started something so he might as well finish – even if he only finished this season, that would have been the right thing to do, for me. They’re going to have to go a different way now for the rest of this season and I wish them well.”
O’Donovan left Newcastle Jets to join Brisbane Roar in June of last year. He scored seven goals in his first 10 appearances before falling out of favour, with the 34-year-old Corkman revealing that he and Fowler clashed over the team’s style of play.
The former Cork City and Sunderland player subsequently cut short his stint in Brisbane to embark on a second spell with Newcastle Jets earlier this year.
O’Donovan said: “I thought Robbie Fowler was going to be a really attacking style of football that was going to suit me, but it didn’t really in the end.
“With Robbie, I thought that he wanted to play short passing a lot in tight, and for someone like me who wants to run and be a nuisance to defenders in behind, it really wasn’t my cup of tea. So that became a little bit of a clash.
“We cut the cord there. I’m not getting any younger and I want to play as much football as possible and want to score some goals, so that’s why I came back to Newcastle and so far, so good.
“You learn along the way that you need to have a bit of give and take, but you can’t change who you are either.”
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