Watching Jake go was hard to take for me, says Akins
LUCAS Akins says that Jake Buxton’s departure as Burton Albion manager was “hard to take” - but that he is sure Buxton will bounce back and succeed in football.
The long-serving Burton Albion forward was a team-mate of Buxton’s for three seasons before Buxton took over as manager.
During that playing period, the former Derby County centre-half was club captain, with Akins often deputising for him on the field.
He says Buxton’s sacking hit senior players harder.
“It’s never nice when a manager loses his job and I think the older you get, you become more aware of what’s at stake,” said Akins.
“When it’s someone you’ve played with, you’re friends with and you have a massive amount of respect for, you take it a bit more on your shoulders.
“When you’re younger you tend to be a bit more oblivious to it, you just come in and go home sometimes.
“I’m not saying all young players are like that, I just think you’re more aware of it when you’re older.”
Buxton departed at the end of the year with Burton rooted to the bottom of the League One table, having won only two League games.
But he also left wishing his squad well, according to Akins.
“It was incredibly hard and one thing he said when he did leave and talked to the players was that the best reflection on him would be to go out and show we are a decent team and get to where we felt we should be in the table,” he said.
“The best way to do him justice was to get ourselves out of it, basically.
“Being the person he is, he’s congratulated us and he really wants us to do well.
“It was really difficult to take at the time.
“On a professional and personal level, he’s a great guy and he’s young enough to come back from this and show he’s learned a lot from the experience.”
Buxton is currently looking after Derby County’s Under-23s until the end of the season while the Rams’ Under-23 manager, Gary Bowyer, is “on loan” as manager of Salford City in League Two.