Tony’s kids share Prem goal

JOHN RICHARDSON

By

TONY MOWBRAY and his Blackburn kids share one burning ambition – to continue their unlikely alliance in the Premier League.

Most seasoned campaigners, including the 58-year-old Rovers boss, wouldn’t risk their futures on filling their sides with academy graduates.

Especially after defeats against Swansea and Nottingham Forest.

But Mowbray (above) is not prepared the throw away the template which has transformed a club which, since May 2012 and relegation from the Premier League, has failed to really stir the Ewood Park emotions.

Often five or six homegrown players, including much-coveted captain Darragh Lenihan, Lewis Travis, Scott Wharton and John Buckley, regularly start games.

An average age of 23 for Mowbray’s sides is often recorded as the youngest in the Championship.

Last season’s 15th-placed finish posed questions over his future but the club’s owners, the Venky’s, held their nerve and the manager’s decision to put faith in the club’s locally raised talent has paid off.

“The young players are standing up as men,”added Mowbray, who will be without the suspended Lenihan.

“They have sensed the positivity which has been growing, and they all want to play in the Premier League.

“As long as they are mentally tough, demonstrate hard graft and organisation they have a chance of being successful. What we are experiencing now – a bit of suffering – will hopefully be character building.”