What is the latest news with James Rowberry amid links to QPR job?

QPR managerial target James Rowberry has dismissed links as “speculation” and insisted his focus remains on his current club Newport County. 

The R’s face Swansea City in South Wales on the final day of the 2021/22 Championship campaign, in what is the last game of Mark Warburton’s tenure.

The growth has been clear to see during Warburton’s three-year tenure but the west London club have opted not to offer him a new contract and are instead looking elsewhere for a new manager to take them forward.

Plenty of names has been linked already and among those is Rowberry, the 37-year-old coach currently in charge at Newport.

He replaced Michael Flynn at the League Two club in October and has led them to a top-half finish with a poor final month and a half of the season meaning that they’ve missed out on the play-offs.

Earlier this week, Rowberry dismissed the links to the R’s job as “speculation” and reiterated his commitment to the Welsh club.

He said (via BBC Sport): “It shows where we are at, what we are trying to do and what we are trying to develop here.

“It brings a bit of attention to it, but there is nothing really for me to talk about. I am in a job, I want to finish this season strong.

“I want to finish on 72 points I want to get our home form back on track and that is my focus really – Newport County.”

Rowberry would be an inexperienced choice as the Newport job is the Welshman’s first as a manager and he has just 34 games under his belt so far.

The 37-year-old started as a youth coach at Newport in 2007 before moving to Cardiff City in 2013.

He would go on to serve as assistant manager to the likes of Neil Warnock, Russell Slade, and Neil Harris before leaving to take charge of the Exiles.

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