Initially, it appeared Birmingham would have the tougher fixtures, until Huddersfield qualified for the playoffs, and could afford to take their foot off the gas and rest a few players after a long season, before going into the playoffs, looking to get into the Premier League. Huddersfield made ten changes to their lineup for the Birmingham game, leading many to accuse them of not playing their strongest squad. I know nothing about Huddersfield's squad, so cannot judge whether it was a strong lineup or not. Many others have a similar knowledge of Huddersfield to me, yet feel qualified to judge.
The Football League are investigating Huddersfield's team selection and are considering a fine. Apparently all teams have to play their strongest side available, as per league rules. What we struggle with here is who determines that? Perhaps if they had fielded their U9s, I could see a problem, but I'm struggling. All the players who played that day were professional footballers, signed by Huddersfield, with the intent to play football for Huddersfield. A lot of Rovers fans think Jason Lowe is useless, yet he keeps getting played. He's the captain. Does this mean that Rovers are not fielding their strongest team with him in it? It's entirely subjective. What if the manager has decided to play with only one striker instead of two or three? That means leaving a good player on the bench. Is that illegal? It's something that is hard to determine and hard to set a precedent for.
The stats from the game showed that Huddersfield clearly did give it a good go.
Before we move any further, it must be noted that Blackburn were at home to Aston Villa, Birmingham's biggest rivals. Villa beat Birmingham the week before in a hotly contested derby. The fans saw it as Villa's mission to relegate their city rivals. They wanted to beat Birmingham and then, the following week, lose to Rovers. They took thousands of fans to Ewood Park, who were urging their team to lose, because it would hopefully put Birmingham in a bad situation. Villa played like they were already on the beach. Two games remaining, no chance of relegation or promotion, and fans chanting, cheering, and singing for their own team to lose, in order to hurt their rivals.
Tony Mowbray understands. Rovers have to look after themselves.
The situation is very similar to something which occurs in the top European leagues quite frequently, and has done for many years. Your team is a side struggling at the bottom of the table. You're out of the cups and you don't play in Europe. The team you're playing against on Saturday is doing very well, competing near the top of the table. They have done well in the cups and in Europe. You will only be playing forty games this season, whereas your opponents are approaching sixty. Before your game against them on Saturday, they have a Champions League semi-final on the Wednesday, three days after playing on a Sunday. Inevitably there will be tired players. There will be rotation due to fatigue, and there will be injuries. A big side like Bayern, Barca, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Juventus, Man City etc. should be able to beat Ingolstadt, Granada, Sunderland etc. even with quite a few second string players on the field. If you could select five players to have in your team, and your choice was between the Sunderland starting lineup, and the Chelsea bench, from which place will you be recruiting your players? It's obvious. Huddersfield at the top should have enough quality to beat Birmingham at the bottom. Some will cite the effect the new manager at Birmingham will have, good old 'Arry Rednkapp. Some will say that although it was Huddersfield's second string, there will be players in there looking to impress in order to gain a place in the playoff starting eleven, with a chance to play at Wembley.
We accept it. We sometimes hope for it. There are injuries, fatigue, suspensions, losses of form, and even rotation due to congested fixture lists, and shuffling of teams as managers juggle priorities. We love it when we find out the opposition's top scorer is injured, their captain suspended, or their first choice keeper is being given a rest. Birmingham were given an advantage, but I don't think it was an unfair one, just a lucky one. Look at the idea of suspensions, and how it doesn't hurt the current opponent, but the next one. If a player receives a red card late in the game, or a yellow card that accumulates to a suspension, the opponent of that game doesn't see to much benefit from it, but the next one, two, or three, will. That's football, and every team understands the rules, and the chances of benefiting or being punished by those rules.
Huddersfield Town have had a great season, and deserve to be in the position they're in. They deserve the right to not have to care so much about their last few games. They deserve to be able to rest or rotate players. They have been a credit to themselves and the league, and they have the points tally and table position that truly reflects their output. It's not their fault that Rovers, Forest, and Birmingham are in the situation they're in. It's not their problem, and it's not their priority. Those three teams are near the bottom because they deserve to be. It is self-inflicted.
In the case of Rovers, it has been down to poor players, Owen Coyle, but overwhelmingly, it is the owners that have caused this situation. The decline of Blackburn Rovers has been steady and disappointing since 2011. If Rovers are relegated, it's because of what Venky's have done to the club, and not because of Huddersfield or anyone else. The fact that the team is in this position; going into the final game in pole position for relegation to the league below, should be a wake-up call to Venky's. Steve Kean's results, the PL relegation, and the years of terrible football and results to match, should be enough. If Rovers do pull off a miracle and manage to stay in the division, it doesn't paper over the cracks. The club is not suddenly fixed. The squad is still awful, the football still terrible, and the owners still the worst ever. It changes nothing other than whether Rovers are in the second or third division next August.
Put yourself in the position of Huddersfield fans. If your team was to put out a perceived strong team against Birmingham, win the game, but maybe pick up an injury or two, or jade a couple players who are close to exhaustion, and that then jeopardises your playoff chances, at no point will you be consoled by that warm glowing feeling of "We may have lost the playoffs due to fatigue, but at least we were fair to Blackburn and Forest by making sure we gave Birmingham a good game!" You would be annoyed and questioning the priorities of the manager.
One of the problems with football fans is that we judge, and form heavily weighted opinions, on just one decisive issue that is often on a knife-edge. Aldershot just lost 3-0 at home to Tranmere in the first leg of the Conference playoffs. Does that mean they are a terrible team? Does that mean Tranmere are better? If you only base it on that, then you could make that argument. But consider that Aldershot recently drew 2-2 away at Tranmere in the league, and beat them 3-1 at home, and also that Aldershot have obtained the second most points in the league since the start of the year, clearly tonight's result was uncharacteristic. Yet it is decisive. Out of all those facts, 3-0 to Tranmere is the most important.
So if Rovers do dramatically stay up, or go down, and it is by one goal, does that mean that it was Huddersfield's fault? Or who else is there to blame? Blackburn have conceded plenty of stupid late goals. Shane Duffy scored three own goals in two games before leaving for Brighton. Some fans are far more annoyed at that than they are Huddersfield. In reality, if Rovers had got themselves in order, it wouldn't matter what Huddersfield do. If you want to be successful, you don't rely on others. You can benefit from their actions, but your success is entirely down to your own talent, hard work, and perseverance. There's been little of that from Blackburn.
The fixture list and the circumstances surrounding each individual game are often luck of the draw. That's just the way the cookie crumbles. But if after forty games, you find yourself in a relegation dogfight, it's your own fault, and definitely not the result of a game between two teams that are not your own.
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