BREWERS’ BID
Burton’s John Mousinho looks ahead to taking on the Championship giants
IF BURTON’S survival chances in the Championship are being described by some as mission impossible, then it’s one that skipper John Mousinho and the gang have heard before.
Wind the clock back 12 months and the Brewers, a Non-League team for their entire 66-year history until 2009, had just been promoted to League One.
Free transfers were all Burton had to play with over the summer and, according to chairman Ben Robinson, they were up against teams that possessed up to threeand-a-half times their budget.
But somehow – despite successive seasons in which managers Gary Rowett and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink respectively left the club halfway through – Burton now find themselves in the Championship.
It’s the type of fairytale that has been spun by those Premier League Foxes 50 miles down the road, though perhaps even more improbable. It’s not as if Claudio Ranieri had to take over at the King Power in mid-winter.
Even though Burton’s Football League odyssey had been set in motion by Nigel Clough before his departure to Derby in 2009, Mousinho admits it was hardly smooth sailing when the returning hero replaced QPR-bound Hasselbaink in December.
“It was pretty difficult both times as managers come in with their own ideas and they want to change it here and there,” said utility man Mousinho.
Talented
“But for some reason, we’ve managed to pick up form, especially when Nigel came in. We didn’t suffer a dip until later on. So, to come away with the promotion, is just incredible.
“Nigel has had experience in the Championship with Derby and he has quite rightly said it’s a completely different level, everything about it. There are some very experienced players and talented ones, too. But those of us still here can use the experience of our promotions and step our game up again. After we were promoted the first time, the goal was to consolidate in League One for a season or two, but as the season goes on you become more and more confident.”
Mousinho – who has only known promotion in his two-year spell with the Brewers – would bite your hand off to avoid relegation, but there’s a small part of him that’s holding out for something more.
Interesting
“Right now, I think we’d be happy finishing 21st, but this time last season I’d have probably taken finishing fifth from bottom in League One!” added the 30-year-old.
“You just never know and we’ve proved that.
“It’s a massive bonus for us to look at some of the sides we’re going to be playing next season, like Newcastle and Aston Villa.We have to take that as another positive about the situation – but, at the same time, we can’t be overwhelmed by those clubs and their history. If we can do that, we have a big chance.It’s definitely going to be interesting whatever happens.”
It will likely take a cut-throat mentality for Burton to survive, and the management have already taken an axe to much of the promotion-winning team.
New deals have been offered to top-scoring winger Lucas Akins and full-back Damien McCrory, but only seven players at the club – including Mousinho – were contracted into 2016-17.
Midfielder Robbie Weir and defender Shane Cansdell-Sherriff are the two highest-profile casualties. Mousinho said: “I’m sure the manager and coaching staff have been working hard on recruitment for quite a while now and that’ll reflect in the league we are in.
“There are some players not on the retained list who have been hugely important for us. It’s not a surprise as that’s the way football is, but it will be for the best for the club and it’ll be exciting to see how the squad shapes up next year.”