Following a successful January which saw Rovers win a quadruple of league fixtures, manager Tony Mowbray and his forward-turned-winger, Adam Armstrong have seen their fine work recognised with the Sky Bet Championship Manager and Player of the Month awards, respectively.
Mowbray picked up the award after 3 clean sheets in 4 victories saw his side gain all 12 points available to them in the month. On New Years’ Day, a 2-1 home victory over promotion chasing West Bromwich Albion kicked off the month brightly for Rovers, before their first clean sheet came during a 2-0 win away at Millwall. Ipswich Town, who were next up at Ewood Park, saw Rovers produce back-to-back 2-0 victories, whilst they rounded up the month by going a step further, after putting 3 past high-flying Hull City, again at home, to round the month off with a 3-0 victory.
The chief managed to fend off competition from Brentford’s Thomas Frank, Bristol City’s Lee Johnson and Swansea City’s Graham Potter, to earn the award.
Adam Armstrong, meanwhile, enjoyed his best spell of the season thus far, which saw him pick up 2 goals and 4 assists in the 4 games he participated in. Armstrong started his award-winning month with a fabulous assist for Bradley Dack’s winner against West Brom, as the, now, 22-year old, managed to use his electric pace to get beyond Kieran Gibbs, before laying Dack through to do the rest. His second involvement came off the bench away at Millwall, where his introduction on the 74th minute saw him grab a goal and an assist for Joe Nuttall, to help put the Lions to the sword. Whilst he did grab a home goal in the FA Cup 3rd round replay against his hometown team, Newcastle United, his league form continued against Ipswich Town, where he assisted both goals. Armstrong eventually rounded up the month with a fine goal against Hull City, which kicked off the scoring for the Blues in that game.
The forward’s path to picking up his award saw him beat the likes of Hull’s Polish international winger Kamil Grosicki, Chelsea loanee Tammy Abraham, currently at Aston Villa and Swansea City attacker, Oli McBurnie.
Soon after claiming the award, Mowbray, who was picking up his third Championship Manager of the Month award of his career, spoke to the club’s media team to reflect on the month that had just gone.
“Individual awards are nice, but ultimately they’re a reflection of the team’s performance over the course of the month, which is more important in my eyes. It shows how the players have come along and have punched above their weight throughout the course of the month and the season. I’m delighted for Adam (Armstrong) as well because it’s a reward for the hard effort and dedication he puts in, even when he doesn’t get on the scoresheet. I’ve been a manager a long time and the awards have come along at different stages of my career. I won a few at Hibernian, I might have got a few when I won the Championship with West Brom, I’ve also got a couple from my time at both Glasgow Celtic and Coventry. Although they’re nice when they come along, they’re more for the kids, really, because it gives me the opportunity to tell them the story behind each award.”
Once Mowbray had reflected on his award, the media team turned their attention to Armstrong, who discussed his delight at gaining his first individual award from the second tier, despite previously racking up a few in League 1, namely with Coventry in 2015 and Rovers, last February.
“It’s really nice to get the award, especially in the Championship, so hopefully I can keep them coming. January was a pretty good month which went by pretty quickly, but when you look back, you can see that it’s been a good month for me and for the team. I think as a winger now, I thrive on both the goals and the assists, but the gaffer (Tony Mowbray) has given me the freedom to express myself and thankfully it’s paid off. I think if you ask anyone in the dressing room, they’ll say that he’s allowed them to play with freedom, because everyone loves him and the stuff he and his backroom staff do is great, so hopefully we can repay them at the end of the season. I like to keep my awards on the mantelpiece in the living room at home because, when you get an award and are proud of it, you like to have it on show in order to show it off, so it’ll definitely be up in my living room!”
