Before Birmingham City's match against Bristol Rovers, I interviewed 17-year-old Rovers fan James Allen, who has been a season ticket holder
for ten years. You can check out James’s blog, at http://thepiratestale.blogspot.co.uk/ and follow him on Twitter @JamesAllen_17. Here, James talks about the
progress of Will Packwood, tackles the issue of the lack of passion in the FA
Cup, and remains convinced his side will stay up.
After a couple of midtable
finishes, this season looks like it could be more of a struggle for your lot.
How do you assess things so far?
At the start of the season I was
quietly confident for a playoff push after a very strong middle and end to last
season, having made strong loan signings and retaining them for this season.
However we've been hugely unlucky with injuries (about 6 ACL's in the past
year) and this has crippled our squad such that for a lot of our games the
average age of the first 11 has been 21. We've picked up massively over the
past 10 games or so which you can see by our form and this is promising for the
second half of the season.
You’ve scored just twenty goals
this season, only Northampton have scored less. Do you need to bolster the
attack in the transfer window?
100%, this has been our issue all
season. We have a very solid defensive unit and a lot of central midfield
options but what we're desperately lacking is pace, notably in the central
forward and wide positions. If anything I'd say a fast, tricky winger is more
vital to supply our strikers with chances.
You’d briefly taken Will Packwood
on loan from Blues so he can build fitness, and he’s played eight games. How has
he looked?
Will Packwood came in to cover
for injuries for us and slotted straight into the solid defence I'd spoken
about, he looked classy and was surprisingly calm on the ball for a young pro
which helped our results immediately. He 100% improved our team and I know
nearly all Rovers fans were gutted when he was recalled.
There has been a lot of talk
lately about a lack of passion for the FA Cup in the modern game. What are your
thoughts?
As the years have gone on it
seems the FA Cup has become more and more important for lower league teams and
less important for the Premier League. As a Rovers fan the FA Cup is huge for
me and the team, it provides a welcome distraction from League 2 and a cup run
can hugely boost the club's finance which is becoming crucial in this day and
age. The FA Cup allows us to dream, dream that our club could line-up against
big Premier League teams like Man United or Arsenal, or even Birmingham away!!
You’ve got a number of youth team
graduates in your squad. Do you feel manager John Ward is building for the
future, and if so, is this the right approach?
Definitely, all clubs should
promote the youth academy as a sustainable way of improving English talent,
we've had to rely on youth as a result of so many first team injuries but
numerous youth players have risen to the occasion and now are starting every
game (Ollie Clarke, Tom Lockyer, Eliot Richards); I'm glad Ward has adopted
this approach as, if we can keep our youth and improve them whilst the team
improves, it makes for a bright future.
You’re only getting 6,000 fans in,
which seems small for one of two clubs in a place the size of
Bristol. Do you believe that the rise of football on TV over the last two
decades, has discouraged fans from supporting their local team?
I'm sure the rise of football on
TV has affected many gates but I'm not sure that’s the prime reason for our
6,000 gates. To be honest a gate of around 6,000 is large considering our
league status and recent league positions over the past 5-10 years, numbers
have continued to decline as the team has underperformed. However more football
on TV has definitely reduced crowds throughout the leagues as people would
rather watch Manchester United in their comforts of their home in the champions
league than Bristol Rovers against Dagenham on a wet Tuesday night (which I can
never understand!!!!)
I’ll let you choose between the
heart and the head for this one. Will you stay up?
100% stay up, we're very solid in
defence and are starting to score goals; our form over the last 10 games has
been very promising. This time last season I wouldn't have been so confident
but there's not a doubt in my mind about this question. If we add a pacey
winger and goalscorer and retain the rest of the squad I wouldn't be surprised
if we played promotion form for the second half of the season.
And your score prediction for
Tuesday night…
My head says Birmingham 2-0 but
I've got a feeling Bristol Rovers 2-1 away win. You never know!!!
My thanks again to James Allen for his answers.
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