JFH: Why I had to start again with squad when I came in
BOSS EXPLAINS TURNOVER IN PLAYERS AT BREWERS
JIMMY Floyd Hasselbaink said he felt it was necessary to “start again” with Burton Albion’s playing squad when he came to the club in January.
Hasselbaink was explaining why he has brought in so many players in the two transfer windows available to him – 12 in the January window when he first arrived and 16 in the summer window which closed last week.
When the Football League Paper referred to 21 summer additions in an article at the weekend, they were adding the five scholars who have been given first professional contracts.
Four of those, Luke Redfern, Ben Mcclean, Thierry Latty-fairweather and Dan Moore, came in at the start of the season and Charlie Williams was added last week.
Meanwhile, 13 players left the club in the summer and a 14th, Josh Parker, last week.
The survivors from when Hasselbaink arrived are Kieran O’hara, John Brayford, Lucas Akins, Ben Garratt, Joe Powell, Ciaran Gilligan, Michael Bostwick and Kieran Wallace.
Altogether, the turnover is undoubtedly large and there are plenty of examples of clubs undertaking a similar revolution or evolution, take your pick, who have struggled to get a large squad to gel.
So far, that has not appeared to be a problem for Hasselbaink, who is known for picking players for their personal characteristics as well as their ability.
The manager accepts that it is a fair question to wonder about the sheer numbers involved.
“The question doesn’t offend me. I can see why it would be asked,” he said.
“But we felt that we had to start again, to start over.
“The players we have kept and the players we have brought in are all for the future. The majority of the players, it’s a strong, solid bunch of lads.
“With all due respect, and I really mean that, last season, in January, when we came in, we didn’t have the feeling that that was the
case. “In January we took the chance to bring players in and then, at the beginning of the season we had to do more. “It had to be done this year to have the core set in place.
“In the coming January, I don’t think we will do a lot, nor in the next summer.
“We have a good core and now it’s about building on it, keeping them hungry, humble and hard-working. Let’s make a team out of them. “I think we have brought some exciting players in, some really good young players who can only get better. I think we’ve put assets into the club with players like Tom Hamer, Jonny Smith, Conor Shaughnessy and now Charlie Lakin.” Hasselbaink only just completed a calendar year with Burton in his first spell before taking on the ill-fated Queens Park Rangers job but every
In the coming January I don’t think we will do a lot, nor in the next summer. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink
thing he talks about now seems to hint at a longer association with the Brewers this time.
“That’s the plan. I have no plan of going,” he said.
“If the time comes that I leave, I want to leave the club in a better place than I found it; then I have done my job.”
Although it was necessary to boost the squad’s numbers towards the end of the transfer window, given a long injury list, Hasselbaink says three of the four players he brought in had been targets for a good while; Charlie Lakin the exception.
“I think we should be happy and grateful with the business we have
done,” he said.
“It was a really tough few days, especially that last day and I don’t understand why the FA puts a match on that last day.
“It was quite overwhelming but now we can concentrate on the team, on how we want to play, what our DNA is, and try to get that into players as soon as possible.
“We needed a bit of help in certain areas because of the injuries and the bench will look a little stronger.
“The only one that was decided later on was Charlie Lakin. It came on our radar two weeks ago that we might be able to get him on a free transfer.
“It was one of those… the kind of player we want at the club. He has room for improvement in him, he comes from a bigger club, he’s hungry and he’s local. Solihull is not too far from us and he wanted to come.
“The other three were long targets.”
The squad numbers will give Hasselbaink a conundrum, though, especially when everyone is fit. Under current EFL rules, a club can have a squad of 22 senior (over 21) professional outfield players.
“We have one too many,” Hasselbaink confirmed.
“I will have to drop someone from the squad for now.”
That, he confirmed, would be one of the currently injured players and the situation will be reviewed again in January but the manager is not a fan of the rule.
“I think it’s a stupid rule. If you have a player 21 or under, they don’t count. But we have quite a lot of players who are 22 or 23 and that is really the age when they’re still learning stuff,” he said.
“The 27 and 28-year-olds have to make a living too and the window for them in the lower leagues becomes harder. But it’s a rule, you have to deal with it. It is what it is.”