Championship Season 25-26

[AndyB]

If Tony 'Death spiral' Mowbray is the answer, then I'd hate to see what the question is.

[roversfan99]

To be fair, those death spirals seem common at Rovers regardless of manager. Thin squads unable to cope with a 46 game season.

[chaddyrovers]

2 hours ago, philipl said:

First non-Rovers Championship football I have seen this season.

Watched from my sick bed and now feel worse.

Couldn't believe how bad it was.

Of course both will be inspired playing against us but that was abysmal.

hope you get better soon Phillipl, hope it nothing serious

[Mercer]

6 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

Does it matter? Still on his managerial CV isn't it? 

As is Coyle's promotion to the PL!!!

[Mercer]

Wouldn't have sacked Wilder in first place and secondly wouldn't have appointed Selles.

Mowbray would want a 5 year project to sort SU and I wouldn't touch him with the proverbial shitty stick - think he's a legend in his own mind only and now a washed-up managerial dinosaur.

Wilder is an obvious choice - big difference is they've lost 3 key players in Ahmed, Souza and Moore and signed some dross since Wilder was sacked.  Success for them this season would be to hit 60 points.

 

.

[davulsukur]

22 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

For Wrexham in particular, it almost feels like a totally new team.

With Parkinson's track record at this level, I do wonder considering that they have built a team of good Championship players, whether you just would be ruthless not based on what Parkinson deserves as it would feel unjust, but you make a tough managerial decision with similar ambition that they have shown signing players to try and get the best from them.

If you arent convinced now but wait and see, you could be wasting time and leaving it too late to have a real push higher up.

Im unsure if their owners will do that. They are seemingly incredibly ambitious and invested but they also seem really loyal.

That was more my angle, both teams have invested a lot or money. There isn't good backing without the expectations that they will do something. How long do you leave it? 10/12 games is a quarter of a season, which is a lot of ground to make up if you leave it that long.

Wrexham might be looking at establishing themselves in the division this season but I have no doubts the Birmingham owners have an eye on the PL.

[roversfan99]

11 minutes ago, davulsukur said:

That was more my angle, both teams have invested a lot or money. There isn't good backing without the expectations that they will do something. How long do you leave it? 10/12 games is a quarter of a season, which is a lot of ground to make up if you leave it that long.

Wrexham might be looking at establishing themselves in the division this season but I have no doubts the Birmingham owners have an eye on the PL.

Yeah if they have big doubts that the manager is right for where they are now, theres not much point allowing loyalty and perceptions about what they "deserve" to overrule that for a randomly chosen period of time.

Its a poor example and there will be more obvious ones, but I remember the outrage when Southampton sacked Nigel Adkins and appointed Pochettino. Adkins had done a good job and didnt "deserve" to be sacked, but the choice was still a good one.

[davulsukur]

2 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Yeah if they have big doubts that the manager is right for where they are now, theres not much point allowing loyalty and perceptions about what they "deserve" to overrule that for a randomly chosen period of time.

Its a poor example and there will be more obvious ones, but I remember the outrage when Southampton sacked Nigel Adkins and appointed Pochettino. Adkins had done a good job and didnt "deserve" to be sacked, but the choice was still a good one.

No, it's a great example, that was the first thing I thought of when I read your previous post.

Sentiment can't stand in the way of progress in football

[DE.]

It'll be interesting to see how long Wrexham's owners give Parkinson if results don't improve. He could quite rightly say he needs time to adjust to so many new players, as the squad themselves have to gel, but one imagines if they're struggling towards the lower end by mid-November there may be some movement. 

[47er]

10 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

We are not as bad as we think and look to be on course for a mid table finish. 

A cause for celebration?

[Upside Down]

11 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

Mowbray rebuilt Rovers and did an excellent job, I think Wilder is crazy for going back again but its his club so that's probably why

What an absolute load of bollocks.

[Upside Down]

1 hour ago, DE. said:

It'll be interesting to see how long Wrexham's owners give Parkinson if results don't improve. He could quite rightly say he needs time to adjust to so many new players, as the squad themselves have to gel, but one imagines if they're struggling towards the lower end by mid-November there may be some movement. 

The smart move for them would be to just make sure they're stable this season. Avoid getting dragged into the relegation scrap and that'd be a great success for them. 

[JHRover]

So Wilder's return to Sheffield Utd confirmed. Has there been a more pointless and ridiculous series of events than what we've seen there since the play-off final? Sack a bloke who got 90 odd points and a play-off final, appoint a young coach with minimal experience of the Championship/promotions, it's a disaster and then go back to the bloke you sacked a few months later?

At least the owners there have had the courage to admit defeat and go back to a safe pair of hands and sensible appointment. Would have been easier for them to turn to someone totally new rather than swallow their pride and go back to Wilder but his record there speaks for itself. Expect them to climb the table quickly and I'll be having a little bet on them making the top 6 again. 

[Tom]

Bet that was a fun contract negotiation, you’d have to think he got himself a nice pay increase out of it 

[windymiller7]

14 hours ago, Tom said:

Bet that was a fun contract negotiation, you’d have to think he got himself a nice pay increase out of it 

I said to my stepson yesterday that he probably still had his boxes in the boot of the car just waiting on the phonecall to go back again.

[B16Rover]

Chicarito ex united wants a championship club ahead of the world cup. 

 

Let's stick him and Rhodes up top together for the last 30 of every game 

[KentExile]

1 hour ago, B16Rover said:

Chicarito ex united wants a championship club ahead of the world cup. 

 

Let's stick him and Rhodes up top together for the last 30 of every game 

He has scored 4 goals since 2022

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/chicharito/leistungsdatendetails/spieler/50935/plus/0?saison=&verein=&liga=&wettbewerb=&pos=&trainer_id=

& Rhodes got 4 last season in over 40 games (and is now retired)

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/jordan-rhodes/leistungsdatendetails/spieler/48950

 

Edited Wednesday at 15:37 by KentExile

[davulsukur]

I didn't realise that Eustace had already made Trav captain.

[chaddyrovers]

2 hours ago, davulsukur said:

I didn't realise that Eustace had already made Trav captain.

Another lost to PNE

[DE.]

Six defeats in a row for Sheff Utd, losing today at home to Charlton and failing to score. They are in real trouble. 

[chaddyrovers]

37 minutes ago, DE. said:

Six defeats in a row for Sheff Utd, losing today at home to Charlton and failing to score. They are in real trouble. 

All on their new owners 

[philipl]

Reaching the point in my recovery at which I can tolerate watching some Championship football. Just a bit..

None of the relegated trio look impressive- all seem to have recruited badly but nobody else as badly as Sheffield United have done. 🤑

None of the promoted trio should struggle. Charlton look the best balanced and are good enough for JRC to be absent. Wrexham and Birmingham look good enough to beat anyone but not (yet) gelled into the sort of outfits that grind out promotion winning results week in, week out. 

Coventry should have won at Leicester and they alongside Bristol City, Preston and Swansea have impressed me the most as carrying a forward line that can really cut through the opposition.

Stoke look to be able to ride their luck (except at QPR) while Boro are efficient and competent rather than frightening - a team full of Callum Brittains if that makes any sense!

Wide open this year.

Interesting to hear what others think now we are 6 (5 for us) games into the season.

[DE.]

The first six games suggests an extremely unpredictable league this year. QPR went from losing 7-1 to Coventry to winning three in a row. Sheffield United have collapsed. Sheffield Wednesday have shown you can compete even with negative support from your owner and a bare bones team (although this will likely bite hard for them as the season goes on). Derby would have expected to build on last season but look poor so far. Looking precarious for Oxford, but they've had some good draws lately which show signs of progress. 

As you say, promoted clubs this year look solid and Brum/Wrexham in particular shouldn't have to worry about going down. Leicester have immense quality but aren't playing particularly well. Same for Ipswich. Southampton less so in terms of quality, but you'd still expect better from them. Total gamble appointing a 32 year old as manager mind. 

Boro look very impressive under Rob Edwards. Stoke started well under Mark Robins, despite a disappointing result for them yesterday. Two very shrewd appointments by clubs who have underachieved for a number of years. 

Still early days of course, but from what I've seen so far the league is going to be less predictable than ever this season. 

Edited 6 hours ago by DE.