Championship Season 25-26

[JHRover]

Wouldn't be surprised if Steve McClaren got it. Ex Oxford player and coach, just come available after leaving Jamaica. 

[DE.]

Oxford's form has been pretty terrible as of late, that random win against Ipswich aside, and there have not been any signs the situation is going to improve. If the club have ambitions to stay in the division, and believe they have a squad that can achieve this, I can understand them rolling the dice - if they've identified someone sensible and pragmatic to give the team a bit of a boost. 

Whilst I do think Rowett is a decent manager at this level, it's possible he'd just run out of steam at Oxford. Sometimes a change is best for both parties. 

[StHelensRover]

I'm not too surprised, they were complete rubbish at Ewood (both teams were). If they play like that most weeks they will join Sheffield Wednesday in L1 next season.

[chaddyrovers]

James Bord is supposedly the preferred bidder for Sheffield Wednesday. 

Also owns Dunfermline and ex professional poker player. Owns consultancy firm Short Circuit Science, which specialises in data analytics and AI. 

[Rogerb]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cewj9051y11o

Piece on Sheffield Wednesday bidder David Storch.

[London blue]

Pompey vying for second place in the end of season useless cunts category.

 

 

[Upside Down]

5 minutes ago, London blue said:

Pompey vying for second place in the end of season useless cunts category.

 

 

I dream of a day when the people who run this club are only that useless.

[DE.]

27 minutes ago, London blue said:

Pompey vying for second place in the end of season useless cunts category.

 

 

Bloody hell lads, just take the hit. How much can they realistically be talking about here? Would it even be £10k? 

[Rogerb]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cp9jr79m4v2o

Piece on Derby under Eustace. A club making progress.

[JHRover]

Remember....without Venkys we'd 'Do a Derby'.

Sounds good to me.

[chaddyrovers]

 

 

 

[roversfan99]

Was the Millwall clean sheet our first at home?

[chaddyrovers]

Yes

[Tom]

2 hours ago, Rogerb said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cp9jr79m4v2o

Piece on Derby under Eustace. A club making progress.

Wonder what Derby fans make of him, he was on the ropes before they winning run and he did well to keep them up last season but given what they spent they may be slightly under performing.

Having said that they are only 6 points off 6th with some pretty average teams above.

It’s a weird league as ever where it feels there’s a couple of standout teams then a whole host of teams that can put a run together but can be beaten by anyone else 

[JHRover]

Preston lost £17.8 million in the last year. 

Strange, I thought that Rovers were an outlier and Venkys the only owners in the world willing/able to fund such losses.

[GHR]

JRC with the equaliser for Charlton at home to Frank Lampard's Coventry City.

[Tom]

Seems Coventry and Boro have had mini implosions but the former has such a cushion they are still 8 points clear at the top 

[DutchRover]

With the window open, it's the perfect chance for us to sign cheaper alternatives for our better players, but I figured I would try and give an objective assessment of the squad as I did in the summer.

GK: Toth, Pears, Michalski

Toth is a good no.1 at Championship level, and now for Hungary, was having a decent year before the injury. Pears is Pears, usual horror mistakes but otherwise solid, and proving that the plan to offload him without a replacement in the summer was a bad one, surprise surprise. Michalski talented but not yet ready for Champ, could do with a loan.

I would happily swap Pears for a new back-up to Toth, but don't trust Gestede to bring in someone with Champ experience which is what the back-up needs.

RB: Alebiosu

Best signing by far, now a Nigerian international; shame about leg gash but doesn't sound too serious thankfully. We will no doubt sell him in the summer...

Need a back-up desperately; Litherland and Miller aren't wing-backs.

CB: McLoughlan, Pratt, Miller, Atcheson, O'Riordan, Litherland, Wharton, Carter

Really missing Hyam, absurd decision to sell him. McLoughlan and Miller are meh but not as bad as some think. I think both are back-ups rather than starters in an ideal world. Younger guys have been impressive, especially Pratt. Hopefully O'Riordan can finally break into team. Wharton and Carter injuries hurt.

Lower on list given needs elsewhere, I would try to offload Carter and bring in an actual replacement for Hyam in a world where we have competent owners.

LB: Hedges, De Neve, Pickering, Ribeiro

Two wingers trying to play wing back, and two full-backs with no position in our formation. Hedges has been one of our better players but that means little. I would happily sell all three of the others if we would actually replace them. De Neve in particular has looked utterly unsuited for Championship, no attacking nous and an awful defender; terrible signing.

CM: Tronstad, TGH, Baradji, Montgomery, Garrett, Forshaw, Tavares

Tronstad looks checked out, TGH is back-up standard, Garrett and Forshaw injured. Montgomery I don't think looks anything special sadly. 

Tavares I thought looked good his first couple of games, but since then he has completely flopped. Clearly has attitude issues too, at least with how Ismael wants to play, and offers no energy in midfield. Another bad signing.

Baradji is interesting, clearly more skillful than the rest but need him to get up to speed of English football rest of season.

Need a starter, someone like Travis, oh wait...

AM: Cantwell, Morishita, Henriksson, Tyjon

Tyjon leaving, Cantwell flatters to deceive, not good enough for his salary but also clearly too good for the rest of our team. Not sure 3-4-1-2 suits him, would be better in a 4-2-3-1 with wingers and runners beside him.

Morishita I like, good energy and looks more talented than others, still needs to find best position for us, but a decent signing.

Henriksson I was excited for but looks a complete dud, would offload if we can.

ST: Ohashi, Gudjohnson, Gueye

I like Ohashi a lot, works so hard with no support most games, and lest people forget his finishing is better than many of our recent strikers (remember Bristol goals last season). Clearly suffering from having to play every single game and run after lost causes, could do with a rest every now and then. Gudjohnson second best signing after Alebiosu, great poaching instinct but I would like him to press harder with Ohashi.

Gueye clearly going, and we already needed another striker, so two strikers needed in January, especially with Gudjohnson injury.

 

By my reckoning, we made three good signings in summer: Alebiosu, Gidjohnson and Morishita.

Baradji looks like he might make it into this category.

Miller, McLoughlan, TGH are mediocre, nothing special but back-up standard.

De Neve, Tavares, Henriksson are disasters, complete wastes of our limited money.

 

I said in transfer thread we need 6 players and I stand by that: ST, ST, CM, RWB, LWB, CB and if we offload Pears a GK.

Gueye, Pickering, De Neve, Henriksson, Tavares I would happily offload, even Ribeiro if we plan to keep the wing-backs.

So much work to do, and clowns like Gestede in charge. Relegation here we come...

[KentExile]

57 minutes ago, GHR said:

JRC with the equaliser for Charlton at home to Frank Lampard's Coventry City.

man of the match according to Charlton fans

Rankin-Costello, take a bow—fantastic performance; everything good came through him

[alcd]

On 23/12/2025 at 12:40, StHelensRover said:

I'm not too surprised, they were complete rubbish at Ewood (both teams were). If they play like that most weeks they will join Sheffield Wednesday in L1 next season.

Along with us.