Busy summer ahead for Tony
ROVERS VIEW BY OLD BLACKBURNIAN
THIS is Bolton, is it ? No, it’s Ipswich…
The famous Monty Python Dead Parrot sketch references Ipswich, Bolton (Notlob) and of course conjures up any number of ways to describe euphemistically how death is handled in British culture.
Little did Cleese and Chapman realise when writing that they were in fact foretelling the final weeks of the 2018/19 Championship season.
Both Ipswich and Bolton are “pushing up the daisies” in a footballing context, their hopes of remaining alive in the Championship merely “pining for the fjords”.
Ipswich were Rovers opponents on opening day, Bolton the most recent and sandwiched between these two games, all manner of excitement, tedium, victories, defeats, despair and eventually salvation.
It’s been an odd season. One that will finish with Rovers comfortably off in mid-table safety, many points clear of relegation fears; but until very recently, I suspect a number of supporters were poring over the fixture lists of Rotherham, Wigan and Millwall and undertaking some mental arithmetic crossed with crystal ball gazing in the hope of gleaning some soothing comfort.
When Rovers have been good, they have been very good. The exciting home victory over Leeds rekindling memories of some of our feisty Premier League encounters, the silky-smooth despatch of Hull City at Ewood had us all believing…right up to and including the eighth minute at Brentford.
The extraordinary rearguard action at the Hawthorns gave us that perennial favourite of an outfield player going in goal. Ten men, more than ten minutes to go but somehow, Albion contrived to not fashion a single shot at goal thanks to the super-human efforts and work rate of all nine outfield players.
The point Rovers won that day was, to put it mildly, hard-fought, thoroughly well-deserved and felt significant. The spirit on display was exemplary and the legend of the “Ginger Ninja” was born as Harrison Reed celebrated his finest performance to date with a superb goal to round off events.
However, February and March demonstrated all too clearly, that a thin squad can soon be hit by loss of form, injuries and suspensions and there were occasions when Tony Mowbray was reduced to mimicking a Sunday morning pub team manager.
Ringing round to see who was fit, who could get to the ground for kick off and then selecting the first eleven to turn up; shoehorning players into roles to make sure we could start on time and avoid a fine. Well perhaps it just seemed like that.
It’s perfectly understandable that a manager has favourites, the “everready and willings”, the ones who always “try their best”, the loyal foot-soldiers.
What became abundantly clear during this rotten spell was that a number of our squad struggled to impose themselves in the Championship as they did in League 1. What Mowbray has to figure out over the summer is whether they can be improved sufficiently by coaching or whether to replace them with better.
He also has to recognise the inherent risks of continually playing players out of position because that undermines them as individuals but all too often, fatally weakens the side.
Smallwood in goal can be tolerated in extremis but looking back through the roster of players populating our back four this season, it is heavy with converted midfielders who too often revealed that weakness to opposition forwards.
It’s a big summer coming up and Mowbray will know as well as anyone that the squad needs some attention. The emergence of the excellent Lewis Travis may well smooth the path for other academy graduates. The sight of John Buckley and Danny Butterworth coming on against Bolton and showing some lovely touches really gladdens the heart. No more Danny Murphys or Dickson Etuhus thank you very much.
Mowbray’s best signing of the season in all probability though isn’t ours and almost certainly has worn the shirt for the last time already thanks to injury. Each time he did this season, it was with distinction; step forward Harrison Reed. Versatile, talented, energetic and with a happy knack of contributing goals, his place in the squad will be a very difficult one to fill. He is welcome back to Ewood at any time.
But what about Ben I hear you cry ? Well if anyone wondered what relief sounds like, the noise in Ewood on Monday in the 30th minute should provide the answer. That fee has weighed heavily but clearly is not his doing. Arguably he has been played out of position to his detriment though Mowbray claimed to the contrary. What was in no doubt against Bolton, was that when played centrally, provided with the ball to feet around the penalty area, he is a threat. In that respect, he’s perhaps more akin to Jordan Rhodes than Danny Graham. It was only Bolton, they’re already down, yes, that may be so; but there was a glimmer yesterday of genuine hope, some reciprocated warmth from the stands was nice to see and hear.
Another season draws inexorably to a close, my how quickly they seem to come and go. The trajectory is positive but once more next season, Rovers will have to compete with Fulham, Huddersfield and either Cardiff or Brighton buoyed with the parachute payments that Shebby Singh and co treated so casually. One of Leeds or Villa at least will be there. A resurrected Sheffield Wednesday, former double European champions plus perhaps Sunderland ?
The Championship is quite some division, quite the challenge and will soon be back in town. Enjoy the cricket whilst you can !