Tommy Rowe responds to Richie Wellens' comments and has message for teammates

Tommy Rowe and Aidan Barlow. Picture by Steve Flynn/AHPIX.com

Wellens questioned his own future in the aftermath of Tuesday night’s abysmal 6-0 defeat at Ipswich Town.

He also said he would walk away from the job if the players wanted him to go.

However, Rowe says the whole team is behind the man at the helm.

“I’m wholeheartedly behind him and that’s on us tonight,” said Rowe.

“This was not a reflection of the manager, Saturday was a reflection of the manager, going down fighting till the end playing good football.

“I won’t go into what’s been said behind closed doors, for me he is the right man and I have just reiterated that to the lads.

“What he has done for us to get us to this point, it’s been a very difficult time for us in terms of what we’ve gone through as a squad and I think he’s done amazing.”

Wellens stated in his post-match comments that he and the squad would refund the 165 travelling supporters who made their way to Suffolk to witness Rovers’ worst league defeat in over 10 years.

Like his manager, Rowe too was quick to apologise to the fans that had made the long journey, days after another long trip to Plymouth.

“We’ve let all of the fans down that have come here,” he said. “It was a totally embarrassing performance, it’s probably one of the worst defeats of my career.

“No one played well and we’re not kidding each other in there saying we have, we let each other down but more importantly we let the fans down.

“It’s a completely unacceptable performance from us, I can’t quite describe the feeling in the dressing room, but it doesn’t matter about that.”

Former Rovers skipper Rowe believes there will be a lot of work done to make sure the mentality is right heading into this weekend’s game with high-flying MK Dons.

Rowe said: “We can’t be like that for Saturday, we need to come back and show a response. We have to take ownership.

“I keep saying, it’s not a physical thing for me it’s a mental one, that’s something where we need to improve after tonight. We have to show leadership right now and come out on top. We’ll fight to get back into a position of strength and that starts right now.”