Sam Finley just gets it. He typifies the Bristol Rovers fighting spirit, with heaps of quality to boot. Over the course of a turbulent season, the midfielder has been close to a constant source of technical and physical inspiration for Joey Barton's side.
Fan-favourite status has been earned by the scouser as a result. He is a player who had to fight his way into the Football League in his mid-20s and his performances never lack sheer endeavour. With six goals and a smattering of match-winning contributions thrown in, Finley has been a driving force behind Rovers' ascent into the promotion race with two games to play.
The 29-year-old has never known any other way. He told BBC Radio Bristol: "I’m a Liverpool fan, and where we come from the hard work and nitty-gritty stuff is just the norm for us.
"The gaffer was saying we all love the game and we’d all play the game for free because we’ve played since we’ve been in school and I’ve always loved football. That’s what I was brought up doing, so to not give it 100 per cent, it just baffles me that people could not give 100 per cent on a football pitch.
"I’ve bought into the football club because I think the football club has bought into me and the way I play. I’m loving it down here, the whole city and the whole place."
Finley first joined up with Joey Barton at Fleetwood Town after leaving Accrington Stanley. The Gas boss made the Everton academy product one of his first signings for the Gas. Pre-season injuries meant Finley had to wait to make his first impression, but when he took to the field he stood out in an overhauled team that lacked cohesion, desperately vying to spark a revival for a club he joined after relegation from League One.
His performance levels have only improved since then, cementing his standing in the eyes of the fanbase, and the feeling is mutual; Finley has only good things to say about the Gas.
"It feels like the first proper football club I’ve been at," he said. "That’s no disrespect to any football clubs I’ve played for before, but even the training ground, that’s a credit to the gaffer behind the scenes and, obviously, Tom Gorringe, Eddy (Jennings) and the chairman with the implements he’s putting in and what he wants it to be.
"There is no stone left unturned and I think the gaffer’s been brilliant with that. Obviously, I didn’t see it, but the football club went they went down last season, there were a lot of things going on off the pitch and at the training ground.
"What the fans won’t realise is the training ground we’ve got there is Championship standard, for me, and that’s all due to the chairman with his funds and the gaffer and what he’s trying to put in place for this wonderful football club to get it where we all think it potentially can get to, and that’s minimum Championship for me."
Both Liverpudlians, Barton and Finley have a lot in common. The manager may have played at a higher level, but they both are/were aggressive midfielders capable of also affecting the game in possession.
Finley values the mentoring role his manager can play. "He’s never really on my case," he explained. "He’s only ever on my case because he wants me to get better with certain things.
"I had a good chat with him this morning about the Forest Green game. I was massively disappointed with my own performance against Forest Green and I think he knew that. We had a few texts in the night and he said ‘One in 40 is not too bad a ratio for you’. I’ll take that on board. That’s a good confidence booster coming from the player that he was.
"I had a good chat with him in regards to decision making on the pitch. He’s always said he thinks I can play at a higher level and that I should have played at a higher level than I have played at. It’s interesting to get his point of view as someone who has played at the top level. To be saying that to you as a player is brilliant for me from where I’ve come from. He’s massively helpful.
"It’s just little certain tweaks, he’s never really on my case. His football knowledge is brilliant."
Barton and Finley are no strangers to the referee's book either, with Finley on 13 yellow cards for the season and two more in the final two games will trigger a three-match suspension.
Finley was also sent off against Port Vale in December and he accepts his disciplinary record has not been good enough, but he believes he will manage himself accordingly to ensure he is available for his manager, having already navigated multiple games on nine yellow cards earlier in the season to avoid a suspension then.
"I’ve always been a player that has played on the edge," he said. "I always get frustrated with myself. I was speaking to the gaffer about that and he said ‘I can relate to you on that, you get frustrated with yourself or other people because you think you or they should be doing better and it boils over’.
"I’m experienced enough to know that now and that’s not good enough on the discipline side, 13 yellow cards this season. I won’t go into the referees and this league and the decisions that they make, but that’s certainly not good enough.
"I had to do it with the 10 yellow cards. I can do it, but especially in these final games, these nitty gritty games, I’m just the type of player who will do everything to win.
"It’s not that other players get into my head. It’s my own frustration. People can say whatever they want to me and it doesn’t bother me, it’s like water off a duck’s back on the pitch. I’ve been in the game long enough and where I’ve come from, you can say what you want to me and it doesn’t matter.
"It’s my own frustration. The gaffer can relate from his career and the things he did wrong in the game and it’s your own frustrations of you not performing or the team not performing. It just boils down to a will to win, doing anything to win. That’s just the type of person I am."
The Gas are sixth in League Two with games at Rochdale and at home to Scunthorpe to play. As it stands, four points will be required to book a place in the play-offs, but Rovers also remain in contention for automatic promotion, sitting just two points back from third-placed Northampton Town.
That quest for a place in the top three is out of Rovers' hands, though, and Finley admitted it has been hard not to invest a bit of time in studying the league table and the permutations as the finish line nears.
"I’d be lying if I was saying we aren’t looking at other results and fixtures and who teams have got to play," he said. "I think that’s the norm and you’d be lying if you said you weren’t interested.
"The old cliché of focusing on ourselves is right, we are going to be focusing on ourselves because we’ve got two tough games in Rochdale and Scunthorpe, but I just wish it wasn’t out of our hands. I just wish we didn’t leave it this late to leave it out of our hands with the finish we’ve had, but it is what it is and hopefully we get a bit of luck with the results.
"Make no bones about it, we won’t be underestimating Rochdale or Scunthorpe on the last day of the season. We know what we need to do, we need two wins and to get a bit of luck with other results."
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