2025-26 Relegation thread

[G Somerset Rover]

One thing is for sure, this thread is gonna be on fire come 5pm on Saturday 13th September.

[alcd]

Relegation is nailed on. We can now see just how so many of the signings this year are utterly useless. Tavares, Kargbo, Baradji, Toth. 

[Tom]

Sheffield Wednesday will go down, likely with a points deduction; Oxford are no great shakes so we need another team to stink it up.

May just be fine I think we’ll scrape enough wins.

[StHelensRover]

4 minutes ago, alcd said:

Relegation is nailed on. We can now see just how so many of the signings this year are utterly useless. Tavares, Kargbo, Baradji, Toth. 

I don't think Toth is useless every week, but he did have a stinker today. I slagged him off for the second Charlotn goal in particular, he should have saved it. But others then correctly pointed out that the defending was just as bad before the shot.

Tavares stinking the place out so far and the Baradji signing has baffled me. When is he going to be fit? Because we're already playing ourselves into trouble so early in the season, he will basically have to hit the ground running when he is ready for selection. We're already carrying too many passengers in the current squad.

Kargbo is so frustrating. Pace of Usain Bolt and the footballing ability of.. Usain Bolt.

Edited Saturday at 16:19 by StHelensRover

[JCRovers]

I would say relegation is definitely on now for several reasons:

- We have a thin squad and are starting to pick up some injuries (Alebiosu, Carter). Our cover for centre back, right back and central midfield is looking really bad right now.

- Our schedule after International break looks tough (Coventry, Sheffield Utd, Leicester, Southampton). We'll probably have to play Ipswich being sandwiched between any of the weekend matches before the end of year as well. If we're sitting at the bottom end of table come December, then the chances for relegation will be fairly high given our lack of investment during previous winter transfer windows.

- We lost against Charlton making it 13 consecutive away defeats in a row against newly promoted sides which will probably put a dent in their confidence. Chances are it will extend to 15 when we play Wrexham and Birmingham later this season.

- They are banning local press for basically exercising freedom of speech, meaning they're not likely to cope well with any type of pressure or scrutiny from the outside.

- Self-inflicted negativity is surrounding the club at the moment given how poorly they've handled the aftermath of the Ipswich game as well as the banning of LT from Ewood Park. 

Weak mentality traits: susceptible to pressure, overreacting and shifting blame onto others. Don't think it will take much more negativity/ poor results before it completely collapses to be honest. 

Edited Saturday at 16:46 by JCRovers

[DE.]

I think our first eleven, if they played every week, would stay up. With injuries and suspensions, I think we're vulnerable. 

[RTM08]

1 hour ago, StHelensRover said:

Kargbo is so frustrating. Pace of Usain Bolt and the footballing ability of.. Usain Bolt.

Does he have pace? He looked like he was running through treacle today and offered nothing when he came on. 

[Hasta]

We are lacking two things needed to avoid relegation at the moment - quality and luck.

[Ghost7]

The reality is we don't even have enough leadership to even attempt to fix or improve our drainage.

Structurally off the field the club is arguably in the worst position it's been in since Venky's took over.

There is no one with the clubs best interests at heart, who knows what they're doing, in any position of power .... typically that leads to relegation.

[Hasta]

Do we have a boardroom who will act if we look in danger?

Do we have a manager capable of organising and rallying the troops?

Do we have a team of ‘leaders’?

It looks a clean sweep of “no’s” to me.

 

Edited Saturday at 19:11 by Hasta

[roverblue]

Be amazed if Ismael keeps a lid on his thoughts now we have a few injuries in defence. The squad is paper thin and selling Hyam was suicide. Unless we keep the first 11 fit relegation is a possibility.

[Ghost7]

2 hours ago, roverblue said:

Be amazed if Ismael keeps a lid on his thoughts now we have a few injuries in defence. The squad is paper thin and selling Hyam was suicide. Unless we keep the first 11 fit relegation is a possibility.

Looks to already be drinking the kool aid to me. 

Not many managers would have played down Hyam leaving so nonchalantly. It made me question his motives and ambition for the club.

[CambridgeRover]

Ismael knows that if he keeps Gestede and Suhail onside that gives him far more job stability then the actual results part.

[Tom]

On 27/09/2025 at 17:17, Tom said:

Sheffield Wednesday will go down, likely with a points deduction; Oxford are no great shakes so we need another team to stink it up.

May just be fine I think we’ll scrape enough wins.

I’m not so sure all of a sudden 

[DE.]

On 27/09/2025 at 17:45, DE. said:

I think our first eleven, if they played every week, would stay up. With injuries and suspensions, I think we're vulnerable. 

I also no longer agree with myself. Not convinced our first 11 are up to it, let alone when injuries and suspensions hit. 

[alcd]

Another nail in the coffin this evening. Get ready for the Bamber Bridge funeral march.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

If this side becomes rooted in the bottom three I dont think they have the Arte et Labore to fight their way out of it sadly...the body language tonight told a sorry tale.

[Hasta]

This is going to be a long season.

For a start we have a failed manager who doesn’t appear to be good enough. The first problem is that under Coyle you felt we had players who should be doing better. However this squad is so poor there is no guarantee a new manager would do much better. The second problem is the person who would remove Val is his mate Rudy who comes across as even more arrogant. He is backed by Suhail, who has stuck around through all incarnations of Venkys rovers, so he is not going anywhere.  They’ve devised this low budget policy. And Venkys simply don’t care.

Our PPG is currently on course to get us to 39 points. You’ve got to be at least looking to get 47+ to have a chance of staying up, and that seems a hell of a long way away.

Edited 14 hours ago by Hasta

[Waggy76]

7 hours ago, Hasta said:

This is going to be a long season.

For a start we have a failed manager who doesn’t appear to be good enough. The first problem is that under Coyle you felt we had players who should be doing better. However this squad is so poor there is no guarantee a new manager would do much better. The second problem is the person who would remove Val is his mate Rudy who comes across as even more arrogant. He is backed by Suhail, who has stuck around through all incarnations of Venkys rovers, so he is not going anywhere.  They’ve devised this low budget policy. And Venkys simply don’t care.

Our PPG is currently on course to get us to 39 points. You’ve got to be at least looking to get 47+ to have a chance of staying up, and that seems a hell of a long way away.

I said at the start of the season, we won't get more than 30 points. 

I have seen nothing to change my mind! 

[John]

Too soft with conceding goals - needs to stop - then again, spine of the team has changed. Our best centre back partnership not clear yet?

[KentExile]

55 minutes ago, John said:

Too soft with conceding goals - needs to stop - then again, spine of the team has changed. Our best centre back partnership not clear yet?

It could be argued that our best centre back partnership both left the club this summer 😉 

[joey_big_nose]

9 hours ago, Hasta said:

This is going to be a long season.

For a start we have a failed manager who doesn’t appear to be good enough. The first problem is that under Coyle you felt we had players who should be doing better. However this squad is so poor there is no guarantee a new manager would do much better. The second problem is the person who would remove Val is his mate Rudy who comes across as even more arrogant. He is backed by Suhail, who has stuck around through all incarnations of Venkys rovers, so he is not going anywhere.  They’ve devised this low budget policy. And Venkys simply don’t care.

Our PPG is currently on course to get us to 39 points. You’ve got to be at least looking to get 47+ to have a chance of staying up, and that seems a hell of a long way away.

In terms of technical quality we probably have a better set of players than when we were last relegated, that was a really awful team. But its a different game when you're low on confidence and scrapping three games a week.

Then you need players who are physical, motivated, bonded as a team and dig out results.

I cant see any sign of that.

[metalrover]

By end of November, my prediction is we will be firmly rock bottom and we won't be able to get out of it. Relegation is staring at us in the face. If we goes down this time round, we'll be down there for a very long time.

[roverblue]

Must win against Stoke on Saturday to stop the rot, the run of games after that is really tough.

Ismael appears untouchable regardless of results so we just have to hope he gets it all to click together before its too late.

[Hasta]

59 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

In terms of technical quality we probably have a better set of players than when we were last relegated, that was a really awful team. But its a different game when you're low on confidence and scrapping three games a week.

Then you need players who are physical, motivated, bonded as a team and dig out results.

I cant see any sign of that.

I'm not so sure going forwards.

Graham, Marshall, Conway and Joao are better forward options than we appear to have, and were technically better. That seasons younger Gallagher was better than the one we ended up with as well. Far more mobile.

Mulgrew and Lenihan against whoever we put at the back now ? Both were better on the ball than any option we have.

Todays full backs appear better, but not by a wide margin. Williams was player of the year that season V Ribero? Not a lot in that. And Nyambe wasn't perceived a weak link, albeit Abeliosu is clearly much better going forward and wins that one on what we have seen.

In midfield you have Tronstad & Whoever against Lowe & Evans. However I always said it was in centre midfield where we failed that season. Smallwood coming in was a breath of fresh air. Tronstadt & Travis was clearly better, but we are scrapping around for a decent partner for him.

Then you have a poor morale level and a manager I'm not sure they will respond to. We were 9/2 to go down at the start of the season and 7/1 to go down now, which is simply huge.

 

 

 

Edited 4 hours ago by Hasta