James Rowe (football manager)

Rowe, the son of former football manager Colwyn Rowe, was born and grew up in Ipswich, Suffolk,[2] where he attended St Joseph's College. In his youth he played for Luton Town and Charlton Athletic.[3]

After being released by Charlton at age 18, Rowe joined Southern Football League Premier Division club Ilkeston Town.[4] He subsequently joined Histon, where he scored 30 goals as an 18 year old, however, a serious knee injury interrupted Rowe's progress.[5] In 2004, he joined Heybridge Swifts.[6] Afterwards, he joined Stamford and Grantham Town for short spells, before signing with Rugby Town in July 2005.[7] However, he left Rugby Town after three games by mutual consent, following being fined by the club for dissent.[5] He subsequently returned to Histon, before joining Needham Market for the remainder of 2005-06.[8] He signed with AFC Sudbury in 2006, where his father Colwyn and uncles Gary and Paul Barker previously played, remaining with them until the end of 2008.[8][9] In January 2009, he joined Leiston, where he scored 20 goals in his first 12 games.[10] In July 2009, he joined Canvey Island.[11] In 2010, he began working for Birmingham City in a part-time academy coaching role, which allowed him to continue to play, where he joined Leamington in 2010.[12] He departed at the end of the season to work full-time with Birmingham.[13] In 2013, following a gap in his playing career due to his coaching commitments, he rejoined former club Canvey Island.[14]

He retired from playing at age 27, moving into coaching. He joined Birmingham City, as the Academy's head of education and coach for the U16 and U17 teams.[15] He stayed at Birmingham for three years,[4] before joining the Premier League as a coaching advisor or the Premier League, where he was responsible for providing technical reports on Academy teams across England and Europe.[16] Afterwards, he joined West Ham United as assistant academy manager.[17][18]

In 2015, Rowe left West Ham,[19] to attend the Johan Cruyff Institute in Amsterdam, where he earned a masters degree in coaching.[20][21]

In June 2016, Rowe was appointed assistant manager with National League club Aldershot Town under manager Gary Waddock.,[16] extending his contract a year later.[22] Despite interest from League Two clubs, Waddock and Rowe remained at Aldershot,[23][24] guiding the Shots to two successive play-off positions in 2016–17 and 2017-18.[25] Rowe left Aldershot in January 2019, by mutual consent.[26]

In November 2019, Rowe was appointed manager of National League North side Gloucester City.[27][28] having been approached while at Aldershot 12 months earlier.[29][30] They opened the 2020-21 season with four consecutive wins, equalling their best league start in 78 years.[31]

In November 2020, he left Gloucester to become manager of National League club Chesterfield,[32][33] signing a contract through the end of the 2022-23 season.[34]

Rowe also holds a UEFA A Licence, and a Masters of Research Degree in Sports Science from Nottingham Trent University.[20]