Fowler insists Roar have to thank him for their revival

However,

Robbie Fowler

, who was in charge of Roar from April 2019 to June 2020, says he sees plenty of his own influence in their recent success.

“If you look at the team now and I think the foundations are there albeit with some new players,”

Fowler

told The World Game.

“The foundations I was given were totally different to the foundations there now.

"People can say what they want about me in Australia but I put that club back to a position where everyone believes and I am delighted to see them where they are and they are a team that will live fondly in my mind for the experience and time I got.

“We were essentially a struggling team the year before. We got together a squad that was competitive, it was about laying foundations.”

In contrast to the

Roar’s

this season results,

Fowler

had a slow A-League start with just two wins from his first ten games.

“We had an unbelievably tough start and when you are new to a league and getting used to it yourself and trying to get the players used to the way you play, it is not an overnight thing,"

he said.

"We were essentially a new team with new players. We might not have had the right results but we were still developing and competing.

"In the first four months of the season, we had four home games which was ridiculous and we were travelling and putting in the hard yards that way.

"It was beneficial towards the end as people were saying ‘you’ll have all those home games at the end of the season’ but obviously, they never materialised as the games were halted.”

However, after the Covid outbreak, the

Liverpool

great was controversially sacked from his job despite bagging two successive ‘Manager of the Month’ awards.

“We were an incredibly good team and had the lads a good bunch of lads working well,"

he said.

"We created such a strong environment that we felt we could beat anyone and we went into the COVID window, if you like, then I felt as though we could beat any team.

"I had the players believing that we were much better than anyone else.

"Since Christmas, our form was far better than any other. I felt that no one could beat us and that was quite strange when you think about the start we had. It was a massive shame that we were not allowed to finish what we created and started.”