Tony Mowbray has agreed to stay at Rovers after meetings with owners Venky’s. With 10 weeks to go until the new season. Rovers reporter RICHARD SHARPE looks at the big issues facing the Ewood boss.
KEEPING CORE OF THE SQUAD TOGETHER
TONY Mowbray has made all of the right noises about keeping hold of the core of the Rovers squad which remains post-relegation.
Six first-team players have been released, the five loanees back at their parent clubs, leaving Rovers with 15 players on the books for next season who have first-team experience.
David Raya, Charlie Mulgrew, Darragh Lenihan, Corry Evans and Anthony Stokes have two years left on their current deals, while the remaining 10 see their contracts expire next summer.
Convincing the likes of Evans, Mulgrew, Lenihan, and last season’s top scorer Danny Graham, to stay at the club will be key for Rovers’ hopes of making it a short stay in League One.
That quartet will see themselves playing at a higher level, indeed Mulgrew and Evans won’t want to see their international hopes jeopardised by playing in the third tier.
But now that Mowbray’s future is confirmed, that at least gives those players some clarity of which direction the club is looking to take.
Mowbray’s main assurance he wanted from Venky’s was that he wouldn’t be forced in to selling his star names.
That promise has been made, but that’s not to say there won’t still be some leaving. But at least if there are, it will be on Mowbray’s terms and in deals which are best for Rovers.
Departures could well be needed to fund new arrivals, with Mowbray likely to be keen on adding players who have experience, and knowhow, of what’s needed to prosper in League One.
Exits would also help ease a wage bill which was ranked the ninth highest in the Championship last season.
But if Mowbray can keep the core of the side which picked up 22 points from his 15 games in charge together, there will be hopes of a positive season.
GETTING THE RECRUITMENT RIGHT
IF ROVERS can keep the core of their squad together, then they go in to the summer with a strong base on which to build. But they will certainly need additions, and the right ones at that.
Areas in which they are currently strong are in the goalkeeping department, with Jason Steele and David Raya under contract, and central defence, with Mulgrew, Lenihan, Elliott Ward and Scott Wharton all retained.
They look light in the full-back area following the departure of Adam Henley, but Academy graduates Lewis Travis, offered a new deal, and Jack Doyle may be seen as back-up to the improving Ryan Nyambe and last year’s player of the season Derrick Williams.
Central midfield is likely to see the biggest overhaul. Jason Lowe, Hope Akpan and Danny Guthrie have all left the club, leaving the injured Corry Evans and Willem Tomlinson as the only two options in the centre of the park.
It’s an area that Mowbray will likely have wanted to improve even had Rovers stayed up, as he looks to play a more expansive brand of football in his second season.
Liam Feeney, Elliott Bennett and Craig Conway are the options out wide, but extra additions could well depend on whether Mowbray’s decision to stay will convince Connor Mahoney to do the same.
As it was last year, up front is an area of concern. There was no number nine at the club last summer and this time around only Graham and Stokes are under contract.
Mowbray’s Coventry team of 2015/16 was full of goals, and adding extra firepower to this squad will be essential.
CREATE SOME OPTIMISM
THERE was some scepticism among the Rovers fanbase when Venky’s pledged their support to Mowbray.
And who could blame them? After all, they have heard countless false promises down the years.
But it appears that one man the fans do trust is Mowbray.
And in turn, news from the man himself that he has received the necessary assurances he wanted has helped build optimism that this time around maybe it will be different.
Mowbray won’t allow for it to be any other way.
His words have been positive, but it will be actions, first in the transfer market, and then on the pitch, that will prove to the fans that there may be cause for cautious optimism.
Rovers were treading water as a Championship side, plummeting down the league before relegation.
In League One they will be the team to beat for many, but they must embrace the tags they will be branded with, and see this as an opportunity, a momentary setback on the path to recovery.
The fans deserve some hope to cling on - hopefully Mowbray being on board can provide that.
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