As Rovers geared up for their home clash against Peterborough United, which could potentially all but secure automatic promotion to the Sky Bet Championship, Tony Mowbray spoke with the clubs’ media team to discuss the league situation and Thursday’s opposition, Peterborough United, who come to Ewood Park along with the Sky Sports cameras.
“The assessment for the league situation, with 4 games left, in my opinion is a positive one. I’ve always been positive and believed in this team, I do look at our stats, despite not being a ‘stats man’, yet if you take the first dozen games out of the season, we’re miles ahead of everybody as we’ve taken 18 or 19 points off Shrewsbury – if you exclude the first 12 games. I talk about it, despite not being able to take the games away, because we were building a new team who were getting to grips and accustoming themselves to the league, and once they had done that, they showed their quality throughout the season. We’re looking forward to the last 4 games and we should continue to do what we’ve been doing throughout the season. I know that I can’t guarantee that we go into all 4 games, get some goals and come away with 3 points, but I am confident in the resilience of this team, in that, no matter how badly we play, we can always find a way to not lose a match.
“I think psychologically, if we get 3 points against Peterborough United on Thursday, Shrewsbury will find it hard to come back from 8 points down in order to catch us, because, if we end up losing the 3 after this one, then they have to win 3 of their remaining 4 and yet, they have the quality to do that, especially with them having 3 games at home. Despite Shrewsbury in the distance, we just have to concentrate on us and what we’re doing in order to edge closer to securing promotion. We need to keep our opposition in mind and study how we want to play to take that and execute the game-plan on the pitch. Generally, this season, that preparation has been enough to get results, so with 4 games to go, we need to keep the same spirit and continue in the same vein.
“I don’t think having a game on TV makes a difference to how we play. Although we’ve won all the games, we haven’t been beating teams convincingly, as they’ve always been tight games, which is what they all are in this league. Hopefully we can perform on the night and score a few goals against a team in Peterborough United, that carry a lot of threat. They have Marcus Maddison who’s good on the ball and can pick out a pass and ahead of him, they have Jack Marriott, who’s the league’s highest goalscorer. We must remain conscious of their threat, whilst also having the wits about us to stick to our game.
“I think the problem we had early in the season about playing at Ewood, was the fact we were building a new team, a team that hadn’t yet understood the expectations of the club and its fans. Now, however, that’s changed and the players are fully aware of the demand they are under. I think the expectation to win every game has been prevalent when we’ve been drawing 0-0 at half-time and the fans voice their displeasure, yet now, we understand, individually and collectively what the aims and expectations of the fan are, especially at home. In addition to the fans, there is a certain expectation that lies with me as I want them to play attacking football, in a certain set-up and style, so I now believe, that with the players understanding what’s expected of them, they’re ready to push on into the final 4 games, as they have been doing throughout the whole season.”
The manager was asked whether the goal of achieving promotion would satisfy the fans, despite their high levels of expectation.
“Some people will be very satisfied with promotion, and other people will have just expected it. What I do know, is that the players are aware of how much effort they’ve put in, whether that being on the training ground, in the video analysis room or on the pitch during a match. There are no easy leagues and we’ve had to adapt according to the environment we’ve found ourselves in. People may not want to hear it, but the owners deserve credit for supporting the fact that we didn’t have to sell some key assets following last year’s relegation, and saying that, I would believe that we still have salaries that are, traditionally, above average for League 1, so I believe that the owners deserve some credit for their support. The players, also deserve huge credit for understanding the demands for League 1 and together, hopefully we can be successful and achieve, which means getting the job done this season and building for the Championship.
“Every manager, who wants to get promoted, wants to secure it as soon as possible and some would prefer to secure it at home, in-front of their fans, but personally, I wouldn’t mind wherever we secured it, because ultimately, whilst we’d like to win the league, we need to put this division behind us by finishing in the top 2 and begin preparation for next season.
“This club is massive and that’s seen through the tremendous away support we get every away game. It’s been a great positive to be able to go to some of the smaller grounds in the division and ‘take over’, so to speak because it intensifies my message to the players and that they should satisfy the demand of the people who pay their hard-earned money to come and watch. The players can’t afford ‘off-days’ because the people who come in their thousands and pay their money to watch expect you to put in a performance that will return 3 points. Generally, however, this season, we’ve rewarded the fans with 3 points for their outstanding commitment and that’s also allowed them to generate a party atmosphere which will create memories and moments, especially for young kids who may be attending an away game for the first time. Hopefully we’ve done that and hopefully the young kids can remain Blackburn Rovers supporters for a very long time.”
