Banks is now a vital
Alan Finn talks to Lewis Banks, who is looking forward to his third year as a key defender at The Showgrounds
CAN a footballer in his early 20s be defined as a ‘veteran’? The career of 24-year-old Regan Donelon certainly makes an argument for it after he recently signed up for his eighth season as a Rovers player.
Fellow full-back Lewis Banks is heading into his third season with the Bit O’Red and is the only remaining signing from manager Liam Buckley’s inaugural transfer window at the start of 2019 who has been a permanent fixture in the side.
The 23-year-old may not be here as long as Donelon, but as the fifth-longest serving member of the current first team squad he admits he can’t help but feel like one of the elder statesmen.
Banks being present since day one of the Liam Buckley project means he has seen it grow since contact was made – and he was delighted to confirm that his manager’s ambitions for the club have panned out as hoped so far.
“From the very first time I spoke to the gaffer, he talked about being able to compete for Europe and it’s nice that that’s come through within a couple of seasons.”
“It has been more than I expected really as someone who came from England as an unknown, looking to influx of players with a new manager, the first year wasn’t going to be easy but we played some nice football, we got some good results but we would have been disappointed finishing seventh.”
“The important thing was you could see there was something there to build on and eventually we did that last year with the top four finish.”
This time last year, Banks’ pre-season was curtailed by an injury. This time around he is prepping himself for a new year without any disruption. “Pre-season has been good – pretty hard to be honest – but everyone is putting in the work every day to be ready for the first game.”
“There has been a bit of an influx of players and it can be harder to gel without activities outside of football, but the new lads have settled in well so altogether it has been a positive start.” Banks is keen to start 2021 on the right foot as Rovers look to banish the ghosts of their abysmal showing in the first four games of 2020 – four defeats – which was particularly frustrating for the right-back who could do nothing to help his teammates from the sidelines. “When you’re missing games and your team is losing it is never nice. “To be honest, it was an awful feeling coming back after that break being bottom of the Premier Division.”
“But everyone dug in to get us up the table and we were in great form in those first few weeks back and thankfully we were able to do it again in the last few weeks to finish fourth.”