Very true. And also what we are lacking. We might have 9 (?) bodies once we get a winger in, but where are the goals? Where is the pace? The squad might look ok if fully fit, come winter when injuries start to pile up, could easily end up with subs benches not far off the Tomasson second season.

he might have been aware but that does`nt mean he`s not going to get fed up with the regime,especially if this complete gamble of a transfer model starts badly and gets worse,it might be success but i see us as being toothless up front and short of numbers and leadership at the back,as ever with rovers,it matters not who our manager is,he won`t be allowed to succeed

At the end of the day, he was offered a 3 and a half year deal at a Championship club in a league where he was probably going to struggle to get a job otherwise having failed in his last 2 jobs at this level. He wont have followed the club over numerous years like we all have. His first contact will have been with people who will have put a positive spin on it all. He may genuinely have some naivety that things will change too. Mistakes of the past? No evidence of them being left in the past. Tomasson for example was happy for a season when we bought 3 players. It was the summer after when the shit started to hit the fan.

Surprised he’s not interested in loans Chaddy. I have no reason to doubt what you say on that but it seems a strange decision as im sure other championship teams will be strengthened by some quality loan signings. We’ve historically (less so recently) done pretty well in that market.

How can you welcome people back to somewhere you’ve not been yourself for a decade?

I dont see 25 goals between them 2, but focusing on your 20-25 goals between our attacking midfielders. Thats what I am asking, where are they from? De Neve has never scored more than 2 in a season. Hedges never scores, youve even said hes "not that type of player," he got 1 last season. Cantwell got 1 from open play.

But he's giving it the spiel about "transition periods" and how they wanted players to extend contracts etc..... none have! If the penny hasnt dropped with him yet he's either not as bright as he appears or he's simply here to collect his pay check as long as possible.

Ismael always said he was fully aware of what had happened before he took the job yet he took the job

Agreed 100% were a stepping stone a free hit for any manager succeed at exceeding club expectations on a shoe string budget and get a move fail and itl be because we haven’t been sufficiently backed it’s near a win win - obviously if you go on a massive run of losses etc they likely lose there job but still a chance worth taking whilst getting paid

I completely forgot we even signed Mafoumbi.

Eustace didn't want to use Buckley and I think Ismael will rotate abit more than Eustace did.

I don’t see it with him his interviews already have spoke about transition periods and losing key players and mistakes of the past etc Iv always maintained this stance…..any manager taking the rovers job SHOULD know what they are getting in to. I get the impression Val does more so that JDT or JE

🤮🤮🤮🤮

Well.. thats all to do with his success. If he bumps along like Mowbray did then he could just live with it for a few seasons. But if he does well and gets noticed like JDT and Eustace he will be off as frankly he will get better offers like JDT with Sweden it Eustace at Derby. We're in a situation now where if the manager succeeds he will leave in very short order as what is the point in staying?

Number of bodies isn't necessarily an issue, more the quality of those bodies to come in. Have to hope Henriksson and Tavares are any good if we don't want a repeat of last year when Trav and Tron were ran into the ground.

Lets wait and see how the season panned out, some players we don't know alot about but I am looking for Ohashi to get 15 goals plus this season and Gueye around 10 goals, Then you are looking for your wide players/attacking midfielders to score between 20-25 players.

They all speak like this at the start. Eventually he will be run down by not getting what he needs to succeed like the rest of them. Eustace and Tomasson both weren't hos they were towards the end at the beginning.

Very tangled web indeed !

Agree - Ohashi and Gueye can both player as either number 9s or 10s (Gueye is counter intuitively very good with his feet when he drops off, think I prefer him at 10 to up top on his own) so we could just play them together. But Ismael has explicitly called out Henricksson as being match fit so expecting him to get the nod at 10 and Ohashi up top with Gueye on the bench.

For me at least he’s acknowledged he’s aware of his restrictions the same restrictions JDT and Eustace knew about but constantly complained about (I liked both btw but they knew or should have knew the role they were taking) it’s obviously brutal from the owners/pasha but for me I’d rather a manager acknowledge the job ahead because it now means if things don’t go our way he can’t complain about it (or shouldn’t)

I think no squad number would suggest he’s on his way

Looking at the squad, we have depth in every area and 2 deep in every position apart from the right wing position and 3 keeper, 5 centre midfielders and if he is going to use Leonard and Tyjon we have 6 players for those 2 roles. Bringing in a new Right sided attacking midfielder is a must now great and interesting question there Mark

I pledge £100 too so let it be known if this is the path we are going down, as we need to get the gloves off once and for all.

I think something like that too, depending on shipping out Mafoumbi of course.