Everything Tony Mowbray said on Jarrad Branthwaite as Blackburn Rovers boss defends loan ace Jarrad Branthwaite [Lancs live]

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Everything Tony Mowbray said on Jarrad Branthwaite as Blackburn Rovers boss defends loan ace

Jarrad Branthwaite was involved in a first-half incident that prompted a vitriolic response from Middlesbrough boss Neil Warnock

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The incident involving Dael Fry of Middlesbrough and Jarrad Branthwaite
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Tony Mowbray hailed the maturity of Blackburn Rovers defender Jarrad Branthwaite after Neil Warnock launched a verbal attack on the Everton loanee in the aftermath of the game.

Branthwaite was fortunate to have played the duration of Rovers' contest with Middlesbrough after the 18-year-old launched his right boot high and into the face of Dael Fry, an incident that gave the defender a nasty wound underneath his eye and was subsequently forced to come off prematurely in order to receive necessary treatment.

The action of Branthwaite inside the penalty area went unpunished by referee Dean Whitestone, much to the disbelief of Warnock.

As a result, the Middlesbrough boss launched a foul-mouthed tirade on the officials during the first-half for their failure to spot the incident and Warnock then proceeded to express his anger at the final whistle, walking over to condemn Branthwaite before suggesting he should be ashamed of himself.


Mowbray was not caught up in the post-match incident but leapt to the defence of his teenage starlet. Here's what the Rovers boss had to say.

Jarrad showed great maturity following the incident by not letting the situation affect him. Have you said anything to him after the game?

I haven't seen it and I can't get to the urgency for you to say 'ooh, that's a horrible challenge and it's bad what's happened to the kid'.

I don't know. Jarrad is doing well. Jarrad is a young boy and as a centre-half I can sit there and see where we can help him. I can see the flaws in his game where has to learn. I had a good chat with him there.

I'm a bit apprehensive because we're trying to improve other clubs players but they're here to help us and I think Jarrad helps us at the moment. He's 6ft 4 or 6ft 5, he's a beanpole really but he's pretty calm, he stands his ground and has a nice left foot that can play it forward for us. He can win headers, he has to learn the fine details of when to wrap his leg round, when to step in front and when not to not when you've got a big strong centre-forward against you.

He's got all those little things as he develops and Everton will benefit somewhere down the line I am sure.

And the post-match melee, what did you make of it?

I didn't see it, to be honest. Listen, football is an emotional game and nobody is more emotional than me. You try to keep your emotions in and Neil is an extraordinarily emotional manager.

I've managed a lot of times against Neil and as I'm sure you will know, he is a wonderful guy off the pitch, away from all the emotion and passion of football.

He's an amazing human being who has done amazing things in football. I'm sure he will reflect. I'm not sure he should be facing an 18-year-old boy up who is just starting his career.

I know the boy, after working with him for over a week, 10 days, he's a shy kid from the Carlisle area or Cockermouth, wherever he is from. He's just a boy who is on a journey who can't believe that he's played in the Premier League for Everton, played five times in the Premier League and now he's at Blackburn learning his trade.

He's just a kid. He has no edged to him. He's not an angry kid and he's a skinny boy. I have just seen him with his top off; he's a skinny, scrawny kid who you could blow over. I don't think I'd be confronting him really.

Neil's emotional. He probably should have thought they deserved a sending off, it never happened and they lost 1-0 in their last home game. He's probably really hurting and that's reflected in his emotional and his passion for his football team.

 
To be fair to Mogga thats a pretty rational, calm response. I love Warnock's passion and, as we know only too well, Mogga is probably the antithesis of that.
To be fair to Mogga he should be a politician with that ability to spin the harsh truth that one of his players committed thuggery on the field of play.
 
I genuinely don't know what I'd have realistically expected Mogga to say. Its true that the 'skinny kid' stuff is irrelevant when talking about a high boot, but other than that he's going to defend his players even if they're playing us.

Bernie, I know you're reading this, you know Mogga well, what's your take on it? Looking forward to the podcast later.
 
What the kid did was wrong, but does anyone honestly believe he set out to injure Fry. Yes, he will know that having your foot up that high is dangerous and I am sure he will hold his hand up to it. Your anger is aimed at the wrong person for me, it is the referee who should be hauled over the coals and not Branthwaite. He (Branthwaite) made a very bad tackle, but the referee made a terrible error of judgement, that he had time to put right and chose not to. He could have used the injury time to chat to his officials, but again chose not to. Incompetent beyond belief.
 
What the kid did was wrong, but does anyone honestly believe he set out to injure Fry. Yes, he will know that having your foot up that high is dangerous and I am sure he will hold his hand up to it. Your anger is aimed at the wrong person for me, it is the referee who should be hauled over the coals and not Branthwaite. He (Branthwaite) made a very bad tackle, but the referee made a terrible error of judgement, that he had time to put right and chose not to. He could have used the injury time to chat to his officials, but again chose not to. Incompetent beyond belief.
Everyone knows Whitestone and his 3 officials are the villains here. The criticism of Mogga is not for his defence of Branthwaite, it is for his manner and words in doing so.

He claimed he did not see it, you can bet your last pound he would have seen it were the boot on the other face!!!
He attempted to belittle Warnock in the interview and for me that is disrespectful.
All he had to do was to say that it was a nasty injury, the lad is an honest pro and meant no harm. It wasn’t his finest challenge and he wont do that again, as a club we got away with one there. Or words to that effect. If he had been professional in doing that, it diffuses the anger and upset and turns the attention back on the ref. Instead he chose the path he did and compounded it today.
 
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