THE PIE’S THE LIMIT WITH MIGHTY MOUS AT U’S

IN 20th place in last year’s Championship table, sat between Birmingham and Nottingham Forest, and just above Rotherham, Wigan and Blackburn were tiny Burton Albion with 52 points from 46 games.

It really was a quite remarkable achievement by Nigel Clough and his troops. With the resources they’ve got, the Brewers do not naturally belong so high.

Between 2014-17, during their rise, a man that I know very well made 121 appearances for Burton.

He scored a play-off final winner for me at Stevenage and he captained my team at Preston. John Mousinho was a phenomenally gifted person whose ability to gel a team was a huge asset to me as a manager.

I will never forget a tailored rendition of Don McLean’s American Pie which Mous played on his guitar and sang to the team as we prepared to win our way into League One at Old Trafford. Hearing the group come together around his words was a moment to behold.

Following his transfer to Oxford United, Burton have slipped and are currently fighting in the bottom three. That may just be co-incidence although there is no question that you sometimes don’t know what you have got until it is gone. Meanwhile, following injury to the Oxford skipper Curtis Nelson, he has taken on the captain’s armband at the Kassam and is focused and ready to win his next promotion. He understands the vital role of a captain in supporting his manager’s voice in this new era for football. He believes that he has the job of driving ambition into his team-mates, inspiring them to be the best they can be on a daily basis, creating a dressing room where winning ways are embraced, and sustaining a fun working environment in which people enjoy being together.

Mous has no doubt that Oxford will follow Burton into the Championship. He is a man I wouldn’t bet against in this year’s play-offs.