Kevin Gallacher column: Dunn still has plenty to offer Rovers but may move on (From This Is Lancashire)

Kevin Gallacher column: Dunn still has plenty to offer Rovers but may move on

4:00pm Wednesday 21st May 2014 in Sport

DAVID Dunn’s new contract comes down to two things for me.

The first is financial and can he accept the terms that are going to be offered to him as we all know the club has to continue knocking the wage bill down.

And the second is from a playing point of view as it seems Gary Bowyer has now decided that playing two strikers up front, in Jordan Rhodes and Rudy Gestede, is the way to go.

Plan B may be to drop a player behind one of the frontmen but is coming off the bench going to be enough for Dunny?

It’s clear he still wants to play and still can play.

Rovers may not be able to offer that but can they afford to let him go as he such a good player to have around the dressing room?

There are loads of factors you have to consider when you’re thinking about what a player brings to a football club, it’s not just about what they do on the field.

I had it myself when I left Blackburn Rovers to sign for Newcastle United.

They took me up there because of the way I played football but also to lift the spirits in the dressing room.

I helped do that and after they had two years use out of me I was on my way.

Players always have a time span at a club. Maybe this is Dunny’s.

If he wants one last swansong at a club where he will play regularly maybe now is that time.

But whatever happens Blackburn do have to look to replace him eventually.

If you look at Tom Cairney, my player of the season, he is more like the Dunny of old in that he can play in midfield and break from the middle of the park.

He can play in a two in there or as part of a three and the more experience he gets the better he will become.

He played most of the season out wide and, as an experiment and as an experience, it will have served him well.

But next season is the time to play him in the middle as it’s from there that he gets more involved in a game rather than floating in and out of one like he does when played out wide.