Gary Rowett has been confirmed as the new Derby County manager after the Championship club moved quickly to replace Steve McClaren, who was sacked on Sunday evening. Although other candidates have come forward, Rowett was always favourite for the position and ticks all the boxes in the eyes of the Derby board.

“We are delighted to welcome Gary Rowett back to Derby County as our new manager,” said the chairman Mel Morris. “Gary is being tasked with, and has the full responsibility for, leading our redevelopment programme. Gary, of course, played for us for three years during his playing career, lives in Derby and is passionate about our football club.

“He is an exemplar of the qualities and values we want in our team and has clearly demonstrated his abilities to get that from his players too. I am sure that all of our supporters, staff and players extend their unequivocal support and best wishes to Gary and his staff.”

Rowett has taken his backroom team of Kevin Summerfield, Mark Sale, Kevin Poole and Joe Carnall to Derby. First-team coach Kevin Phillips will stay on but goalkeeping coach Pascal Zuberbuhler has been replaced by Poole.

Sacked harshly by Birmingham City in December, Rowett has experience at Championship level and knows Derby well from his playing days, having made more than 100 appearances for the club between 1995 and 1998. He has signed a contract with Derby lasting until the end of the 2018-a9 season and will be given the chance to rebuild the squad in the summer, when a number of first-team players are expected to leave.

“I’m naturally thrilled to be appointed as the manager of Derby County and can’t wait to get started,” said Rowett. “I feel that I have a special bond with the club having been here as a player. During that time, we tasted success when we were promoted to the Premier League and moved to Pride Park Stadium under Jim Smith.

“Living in the local area, I understand the expectation of the fanbase and it goes without saying that Derby County has fantastic and committed supporters. I have coached in the academy in the past so I know the values of the club and I am looking forward to sharing my experience and knowledge of the league with the staff and players. I am fully aware of the playing squad here and I am looking forward to working with them all first hand.”

Rowett, who recently held talks with Rangers, will become Derby’s fifth permanent manager in the space of 22 months and inherits a team who are 10th in the Championship, 10 points adrift of a play‑off berth on the back of a damaging run during which the club won once in nine league games, culminating in McClaren’s dismissal.

Rowett’s first game as Derby manager will be at the City Ground against Nottingham Forest, their bitter rivals. Forest will also have a new manager in the dugout for that fixture, with the struggling Championship club on the verge of confirming the appointment of Mark Warburton, who left Rangers in acrimonious circumstances last month, with the 54-year-old adamant that he did not resign from his post.

Warburton seemed destined to end up at the City Ground from the moment that Frank McParland, whom he had worked alongside at Brentford and Rangers, was appointed as Forest’s director of football this month. Forest are 19th in the Championship, only two points above the relegation zone after losing five of their past seven matches.