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[Archived] The Championship 2013/14

Stuart

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Rovers-94 Conference

Rovers-94

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They've signed Javi Guerra from Valldolid as well. He's been banging them in in La Liga despite playing for a relegation threatened team all year. He's quite a physical striker so I think he'll do well in England.

It's hard to tell now but Cardiff and Norwich could be extremely dangerous next season.

I agree with Norwich considering they players they have, they reallshouldn't have gone down. Hughton was lucky to stay in the job for as long as he did.

Cardiff on the other hand, I'm not too sure about. I agree their squad is strong (although I can see Caulker, Campbell, Medel, Mutch all leaving), but I'm not sure on their manager OGS. They do have the players to go straight back up, though. It'll definately be interesting

On a side note, I can see Wolves being particularly strong next season. Good manager, some decent players and a big club at this level. I can see them pushing for play-offs/automatic next season, similar to Southampton/Norwich when they went up straight away.

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47er

47er

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i think we have to consider that though we did miss numerous opportunities to force ourselves into the play-offs - did you ever consider that this was because other teams were messing it up, much in the same way we did ? Teams like Ipswich with a far more experienced manager - even HR at QPR you could argue he messed up getting second place (taking nothing away from Burnley's achievement).

Except for the top two nobody showed consistency - which was shown by our end of season run being one of the longest unbeaten runs in the Championship (even though it included draws that messed it up for us).

What was refreshing for me - is out of a 46 match season there was only a few were we were comprehensively beaten - most matches swung on the odd defensive mistake, or missed opportunity. Overall the level of performance was night and day to the previous season - still concerned about overall fitness - but looking forward to next season more than I have for a while.

There weren't too many matches we dominated either and we either lost or drew to some of the worst teams in the Championship.

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den

den

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Your welcome to you opinion of course, and there some aspects that of what you say which certainly hold some fact- For example I don't think he isn't the best interview giver. I wouldn't say this about his motivational skills though, because (on a number of occasions) we have had a team playing and motivated properly. Leon Best is an example of not scouting properly and overpaying. Always had an attitude, not worth his wages- what do you expect? Another example of the idiocy GB followed.

The main part of your post I categorically disagree with. When summing up his work in the 12/13 season, did you forget the set of results between November and March? We were heading for the trap door to league 1 and despite the over paid under performers, GB managed to steady a ship which had spent 3 years without a rudder. The away win at Millwall was a big day for BRFC and I'm not sure many people appreciate that as much as me.

When looking at a whole season- again I find it difficult to acknowledge your view that we would have been promoted under a better manager. It's a difficult thing to argue - in hindsight. I could not see anyone having the tactical nous and motivational effect to make that team consistent. Key player had to be replaced, and we've seen umpteen times what mass changes does to the performance of a team.

I also thing lots of more proven managers would have not been able to get the players we needed. Gary saw the chaos first hand, and it's turned out that he knew the type of characters and players we needed to improve. Looking forward this is a huge positive because if he repeats the formula over this and the next window we will surely have a team challenging for the top.

Obviously things can change and there is definitely ways GB can improve- we may lose some better players- is Gary equipped with the skills to spend bigger amounts or replace Rhodes, Hanley? etc. Will Gary improve his tactical response in games? I'm not sure as some managers don't have it.

One thing that cannot be argued- compared to twelve months ago,we are in a better place in all walks football right now. Better tactics, better players, more fans in the ground, better results, a semi coherent structure behind the scenes, no negative press stories or players wanting out etc.

I agree that financially we are standing on the end of the cliff- but at least the value of the playing squad had improved to the level where there is light at the end of the tunnel. To sum up; The overall feeling around the club has improved drastically and that can only be attributed to improvement on the pitch, and silent work in the corridors.

13/14 was a season where BRFC became a football team again, and not a circus. I personally would like to thank GB for this.

Just a quick reply to a long post JB.

Of course I remember the results from the 12/13 season, don't you think I thought about that when I mentioned them? Basically we beat the poorest sides well enough, while there were still numerous poor displays and thrashings against the better teams. As much as it was made to be a great turnaround in the clubs performances, I don't think it was.

I haven't said that another manager "would" have got us promoted. What I've argued since day one is that rather than appoint Bowyer who was basically an academy coach who's spell as caretaker was overblown - which I standby - the owners should have looked far and wide to see if anyone with better credentials than he had, was available. The financial situation demanded that they do that, but (in my opinion) because they had no contacts in the game that they trust, they stuck with Bowyer. I don't blame Bowyer for not getting us out of this league, but I do blame the owners for not having the drive to go for better. And if they had gone for better, I believe we "could" (because no one knows) have gone up this season. He'd better get us up next season because the situation can only be deteriorating.

Of course this all fairly academic because it's all out of our control. I just hope that in the next couple of seasons were not debating this in the past tense and the argument hasn't reverted to the "well Venky's wouldn't have appointed better than Bowyer anyway" kind of rubbish.

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Baz World Cup

Baz

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Cant say i feel sorry for them, but it does remind me of the heartbreak in the 80's.

Shows me next seasons aim should be automatic promotion, not a play-off position.

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Tom World Cup

Tom

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Watching the play offs is a reminder of how pointless and painful they are if you don't win them, look how Brighton celebrated on the last day and how meekly they went out.

Automatic promotion has to be the only aim next season!

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patrickvalery Champions League

patrickvalery

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I imagine this will draw criticism from most quarters but.....

Haven't most people really enjoyed the championship experience? If you can put aside the financial musts which haunt us, this league is bloody brilliant. I love the twice weekly matches. I love the fact nobody is beyond a beating. Its good stuff. Im not saying promotion would be unwelcome but I do enjot the championship. The PL is the only viable place for us. But I'm not ashamed to admit I quite like the championship.

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roversfan99 World Cup

roversfan99

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No, the quality of football at Ewood in general for 2 years has been dire. The only reason it is so even is because of a lack of quality.

I know that I enjoyed watching us give United, Liverpool and Arsenal a good game rather than a game v Charlton, Huddersfield or Yeovil that bores you senseless. In the Prem every win feels like a real achievement.

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