Both managers overdelivered and then were lied to. Both said "sod this for a game of soldiers".

Because, (according to one or two accounts on here) they went back on promises made to Eustace after he kept us up and he even had to be talked out of leaving and sweetened up with some last minute transfer activity as early as last summer. The fault does not lie with either manager although I would say JDT threw the towel in in very disappointing fashion towards the end of his tenure.

garrett to be loaned out next shirley

duncan mcguire🙂the non signing american

Bit like whatever that lad from Orlando was called.

How on earth will it develop and grow the game? If might well a few more Sky subscriptions in Philadelphia but it adds absolutely nothing to the game. I want to watch a game of football not feel closer to the players. It achieves nothing in my view. VAR gets a lot right too but I agree with your wider point.

That's a really odd signing for Derby if they get him, presume they've done considerable homework on him to shell that out for him but the bulk of his career is university level 😕

This applies on Dolans future

For public face a lot say in the public eye they do but just look at eustace and the recruitment team once he left - not overly relevant just that we don’t know

Interviewing players after being subbed and footage inside the dressing room. How is that allowing the game to develop and grow? I dont get why anyone would want that, who gives a shit what a player thinks after being subbed? And why would anyone want to see inside the changing room? At least VAR has a clear reason, to make decisions more accurate, which it objectively does.

How about letting the game develop and grow? Making fans feel closer to the players and game? I dont like VAR for plenty of reasons including slower of decisions, get them wrong, no communication to fans within Stadium and TV audiences. This doesn't slow the game down does it?

How is saying that we dont know for sure either way "negative?" As a side note. Did they not say they were aligned before any players were signed and before the window had opened? In which case, everyone is aligned.

O'Riordan showed some good form in the latter part of the season for Crewe and chipped in with a few goals. The odd thing about the loan to Doncaster is that Ismael hasn't seen him play in any game for Rovers so what is the thinking behind loaning him out less than a week into pre season. If it's paving the way for a new arrival then surely it would make sense to let him go once another player has actually signed. Still at least our Head of Loan Players will have something to do. Strange.

True it does but what's the trying to look for something that we don't actually know. They both said they align so we have to take their word surely? So what's the point looking for negative in the situation every time? Gestede and Ismael have said they are align In the view which positions needs signings and who we sign.. But you have different people with different opinions on players just like in the normal workplace where you favour one candidate over another for different reasons. Football recruitment is the exactly the same problem.

the lack of ambition filters down to the players and the manager.ismael will do a jdt/eustace.especially when it`s looking highly likely his best players are going to be sold

Dennis - hadn't played for nearly a year (and never got fit for us) Woodrow - awful Forshaw - CM who Plymouth couldn't get rid of quickly enough No new contracts for Travis / Brittain / Tronstad Significant investment.

I remember us being regularly linked with Ryo Germain last season after he had a bit of a purple patch for the first time in his career. Unleaded seemed to be his biggest fan and the suggestion was that Eustace wasnt as keen as those above him pushing a deal and it never happened. Well, he replaced Ohashi and his brief goal spell fell away. Hes also now 30 so probably one we did well to avoid

If Eustace hawking his services round to any club which would listen isn't a problem, I don't know what is. I'm not blaming him or the club, I think they just were at loggerheads because the transfer situation was never clarified from the start, or one side tried to change it. Just to clarify, I think Eustace got virtually every position covered that he'd have wanted. The problem looks like he got what he wanted, but didn't get to choose who he wanted. I'm not saying it is or isn't the right way to go, but if the club chooses the players and the coach coaches them, then both parties have to be happy with the situation.

OK, so looks like Derby are spending big and backing Eustace. As the tweet says, you can see why he left, Derby showing some actual ambition, whereas Rovers are the polar opposite.

So do we (or rather the club) think we're close to signing another CB? Or are we going into the season expecting one of the Academy players to step up and fill that 4th CB option? Currently we've gone from: Batth - Hyam - Carter - Sanderson to Hyam - Carter - S. Wharton That's a downgrade however you spin it.

It's signings like this we actually should be making - young, talented players from L1 and L2. Ones that have a few games under their belts and stand out at that level, but aren't quite yet of interest to Premier League teams. The £40m or so from Wharton, Szmodics, Raya et al has been completely spaffed on running costs now, so our owners don't have to put their hands in their pockets, but realistically half of that should have been spent on the best young players from Crewe, Charlton, Reading etc. If you want to run a model where you develop players and sell them on, you have to actually invest in the players first. The Academy will bring some through - but as we're seeing the most promising ones get pinched before they can sign professional contracts. I've no idea what to make of O'Riordan - I've barely seen him play. I hope this loan works for him. It seems he played well when he went back to Crewe, so there's still a player in there somewhere, but he quickly needs to push on as he's 21 now.

There was no problem with the last 2 coaches, quite the reverse. Either the powers that be didn't realise what they had or doing too well didn't fit their agenda for some still unexplained and unfathomable reason and they refused to back them.

The forum has the ability to let you ignore people you don’t want to see, I heartily recommend using it and your enjoyment of the board will improve!

So we have no money for transfers and our most promising youngsters get picked off for pennies. Don't you just love football?

So you think all is sweetness and light then? Interesting. I personally think it's an absolute shambles and it will take a monumental effort from Vi just to keep our heads above water. The jury is still very much out on whether he'll be another JDT or JE or an absolute dud for me. We'll soon see whether any pessimism was warranted or massively over done I suppose.