Transfer Window - COMPLETE. Where’s Gregg?

[LeftWinger]

2 minutes ago, tomphil said:

Best month of his entire career.

It does add to the theory that they don't actually want us promoted 😂

"We won't go up with that clown in charge"

"He's actually won a few games"

"Get rid of him"

[LeftWinger]

Just now, rigger said:

I have seen him a couple of times for the U23s. To me he is a vast improvement on Pears, and better than Eastham. 

Perhaps it's just a case of Mowbray picking his mates again then.

[rigger]

4 minutes ago, LeftWinger said:

Perhaps it's just a case of Mowbray picking his mates again then.

The only other thing I can think of, is that it may be better getting actual game-time for the U23s than being sat on the bench for the first team. After the Wigan debacle I don't think Pears will get a Rovers start at any level.

Edited May 18, 2022 by rigger

[riverholmes]

1 hour ago, bluebruce said:

Not a clue really. His highlights reel (I know) had some very impressive saves, we paid something like 2-300k for him, and at a young age he had already played 75 pro games, plus a few for Greece u21s, turned down Roma and Olympiakos in favour of regular football and been nominated for the Golden Boy (best young player in Europe) so I think a lot of us thought he was going to be our number 2.

Then 10 days later, Mowbray signed his mate's son, who we know is piss poor (though tbf, had played at this level for Boro) and the lad hasn't had a look in. He doesn't seem to have consistently impressed onlookers in the u23s and gets rotated with the other young keepers. I can imagine it being a bit dispiriting for a lad who has turned down big moves before to play regularly, that we almost immediately brought in another number 2. Needs to pick himself up and fulfil his potential or unlikely to make it here.

LancsLive reported that he was signed for around £100k, though, I believe, officially, it was undisclosed. I think he was shaky early on but seems to have received some positive reviews more recently.

However, he was recently on the U23 bench behind Felix Goddard, an 18 year old in what is the bizarre game of goalie musical chairs in the U23s, where the management alternate between Eastham, Dowling, Stergiakis and now Goddard every game, with each rarely playing two consecutive games lately. 

Eastham was ahead of him on the bench for the last game of the season vs. Birmingham, which casts doubt on Stergiakis' future and whether the management rate him. There's also Joe Hilton who is with the club but is almost always out on loan, who has another year left on his deal.

 

Edited May 18, 2022 by riverholmes

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, riverholmes said:

LancsLive reported that he was signed for around £100k, though, I believe, officially, it was undisclosed. I think he was shaky early on but seems to have received some positive reviews more recently.

However, he was recently on the U23 bench behind Felix Goddard, an 18 year old in what is the bizarre game of goalie musical chairs in the U23s, where the management alternate between Eastham, Dowling, Stergiakis and now Goddard every game, with each rarely playing two consecutive games lately.

Eastham was ahead of him on the bench for the last game of the season vs. Birmingham, which casts doubt on Stergiakis' future and whether the management rate him. There's also Joe Hilton who is with the club but is almost always out on loan, who has another year left on his deal.

 

Hilton by far the best of the pack for me.

6ft 6" tall. Great shot stopper. Loads of senior experience compared to the others. Commanding. 7 clean sheets in 23 this season up in the Scottish Champ.

Edited May 18, 2022 by JoeH

[rigger]

3 minutes ago, JoeH said:

Hilton by far the best of the pack for me.

6ft 6" tall. Great shot stopper. Loads of senior experience compared to the others. Commanding. 7 clean sheets in 23 this season up in the Scottish Champ.

I've never seen Hilton play, so I can't comment.

[chaddyrovers]

15 minutes ago, JoeH said:

Hilton by far the best of the pack for me.

6ft 6" tall. Great shot stopper. Loads of senior experience compared to the others. Commanding. 7 clean sheets in 23 this season up in the Scottish Champ.

I think you are right there and hopefully our new head coach and sporting director will see this

[tomphil]

Seen Pears for the U23s and he was quite decent in terms of shot stopping and commanding the back 4, constantly barking out orders.  You could tell though from a couple he let in his positioning wasn't as good as it should be so there are obvious flaws you don't want in the first team.

Needs loaning out for games lower down and someone else for no 2 this season.

[iSeeRed]

I'm hoping we'll get a new goalkeeping coach with the new manager. An ex-professional instead of someone who couldn't make it at Carlisle. Even back in the days of Raya he would make the same sort of mistakes like kicking it into touch five times a game and being noticeably weak against shots that came across him and it never seemed to be coached out of him whilst he was here. 

[Butty]

1 minute ago, iSeeRed said:

I'm hoping we'll get a new goalkeeping coach with the new manager. An ex-professional instead of someone who couldn't make it at Carlisle. Even back in the days of Raya he would make the same sort of mistakes like kicking it into touch five times a game and being noticeably weak against shots that came across him and it never seemed to be coached out of him whilst he was here. 

Lowe Benson and Venus are all hopefully moving on. Johnson I’m not bothered about if he fancies going back to the under 23s maybe. We need a new manager and his own choice of backroom staff. 

[iSeeRed]

19 minutes ago, Butty said:

Lowe Benson and Venus are all hopefully moving on. Johnson I’m not bothered about if he fancies going back to the under 23s maybe. We need a new manager and his own choice of backroom staff. 

Aye, can't see Venus staying since he's Mowbray's but Lowe and Benson are Pre-Mowbray I believe and the fact that there has been no announcement about any of there futures worries me a bit.

[bluebruce]

5 hours ago, LeftWinger said:

It does add to the theory that they don't actually want us promoted 😂

"We won't go up with that clown in charge"

"He's actually won a few games"

"Get rid of him"

Steve Kean resigned because of fan pressure, Venkys didn't even can him.

[bluebruce]

5 hours ago, riverholmes said:

LancsLive reported that he was signed for around £100k, though, I believe, officially, it was undisclosed. I think he was shaky early on but seems to have received some positive reviews more recently.

However, he was recently on the U23 bench behind Felix Goddard, an 18 year old in what is the bizarre game of goalie musical chairs in the U23s, where the management alternate between Eastham, Dowling, Stergiakis and now Goddard every game, with each rarely playing two consecutive games lately. 

Eastham was ahead of him on the bench for the last game of the season vs. Birmingham, which casts doubt on Stergiakis' future and whether the management rate him. There's also Joe Hilton who is with the club but is almost always out on loan, who has another year left on his deal.

 

Fair enough, I could have been thinking of Pears' fee. Now you've said this, 150k is in my head. Undisclosed transfers annoy me. I feel like the stakeholders deserve to know what's spent, but that's a whole other discussion.

Tbf, Goddard was highly rated when we snapped him up from Man City. I haven't heard about him having shite games, and that in itself isn't bad for an 18 year old in the u23s who doesn't even get to play regularly enough to find the rhythm. I agree the rotation is daft though, at least one of them should have been found a non-league loan if at all possible. Did Raya no harm.

We have Pears, Stergiakis, Eastham, Dowling, Hilton and Goddard all on the books and 18 or older. Surely that's very excessive for young keepers and there really isn't room in the first and second teams for all of them. I think they're all under contract anyway, I'm sure someone will correct me if not.

[chaddyrovers]

7 hours ago, Butty said:

Lowe Benson and Venus are all hopefully moving on. Johnson I’m not bothered about if he fancies going back to the under 23s maybe. We need a new manager and his own choice of backroom staff. 

Damien Johnson should remain in his current role. 

Venus, Lowe and Benson should be sack allowing the new head coach to bring in his own number 2, fitness coach and GK coach. 

[LeftWinger]

10 hours ago, bluebruce said:

Steve Kean resigned because of fan pressure, Venkys didn't even can him.

Didn't even remember he resigned. His contract suggested that if he resigned - he would have to pay the club 12 months salary. Wasn't he kicking up a fuss suggesting he'd been forced to resign by the fans, presumably trying to avoid paying that.

 

[tomphil]

Didn't he end up in legal action with the club the same as Berg and Shaw after him ?

Either way he got his pay off.

[RoverDom]

Wonder if that's why mowbray never walked? 

[Oldgregg86]

37 minutes ago, RoverDom said:

Wonder if that's why mowbray never walked? 

Stop wondering 😉

[LeftWinger]

1 hour ago, RoverDom said:

Wonder if that's why mowbray never walked? 

It'll be exactly that. Most managers leave via 'mutual consent' these days - presumably they agree somewhere in the middle.

[tomphil]

I think at some point in the past year or so hes been expecting the sack and they've been waiting for him to say i'm going.

But they'd no intention of paying off his full whack, considering his stock was high when he got his contract extension it was probably watertight.  He was never going to just walk away knowing this and was waiting for some offer of pay off.

Result was a stalemate then they cut his budget again in summer and told him kids, frees and loans only.  To be fair he rolled his sleeves up and got on with it and probably thought he'd then get a new deal.

So we go from stalemate to disillusion, sulking then full on toys out the pram. I'm not saying its right but after he played them along for a few seasons they've played him like a fiddle at the end.

So no new contract despite a few opinions he earned the right but he can walk away unsacked, the victim and unscathed.  They've saved any pay off and now get to indulge in being really confused again.

[islander200]

Portsmouth CEO reckons Rovers have big plans for Carter and a permanent deal to Pompey won't be happening

[Exiled_Rover]

14 hours ago, bluebruce said:

Fair enough, I could have been thinking of Pears' fee. Now you've said this, 150k is in my head. Undisclosed transfers annoy me. I feel like the stakeholders deserve to know what's spent, but that's a whole other discussion.

Tbf, Goddard was highly rated when we snapped him up from Man City. I haven't heard about him having shite games, and that in itself isn't bad for an 18 year old in the u23s who doesn't even get to play regularly enough to find the rhythm. I agree the rotation is daft though, at least one of them should have been found a non-league loan if at all possible. Did Raya no harm.

We have Pears, Stergiakis, Eastham, Dowling, Hilton and Goddard all on the books and 18 or older. Surely that's very excessive for young keepers and there really isn't room in the first and second teams for all of them. I think they're all under contract anyway, I'm sure someone will correct me if not.

Ah, I see you've made the fundamental mistake of listing Pears as a GK. Easily done.

[tomphil]

10 minutes ago, islander200 said:

Portsmouth CEO reckons Rovers have big plans for Carter and a permanent deal to Pompey won't be happening

It would be great if he could slot in Van Heckes position now although i wouldn't expect him to be as good.  If he can defend though and has a bit of strength he should be ok.

I feel our luck will run out at some point getting in these quality defensive loanees.

[LeftWinger]

2 minutes ago, tomphil said:

It would be great if he could slot in Van Heckes position now although i wouldn't expect him to be as good.  If he can defend though and has a bit of strength he should be ok.

I feel our luck will run out at some point getting in these quality defensive loanees.

Definite downgrade on Van Hecke, but if we could persuade Lenihan and Nyambe to stay, it would be excellent having four defenders that have come through the youth ranks competing for spots (Lenihan, Nyambe, Wharton and Carter) - then you've got the likes of Phillips coming through as well. We do produce some decent defenders. I think Carter can play at right back as well?

[islander200]

12 minutes ago, tomphil said:

It would be great if he could slot in Van Heckes position now although i wouldn't expect him to be as good.  If he can defend though and has a bit of strength he should be ok.

I feel our luck will run out at some point getting in these quality defensive loanees.

Carter looks to have a knack of scoring a few goals aswell.Hopefully that  will continue at championship level