Souness must go ?

[SAS]

he shouldnt go because, we played very well today.

[ptholt]

i've been a firm believer of Souness for quite some time, but there are some things that are just starting to get on my bristols and im starting to wonder if its time to part company (though havent a clue what a better option would be.... curbishley??? like he'd want to come NOT).

anyway, im getting a little tired of -

'thats the worst they have played since ive been here'

thats coming out almost once a month now, and its starting to sound like the boy who cried wolf and im getting a little tired of it tbh. Granted our performances are poor, but saying its the worst youve seen them play every few weeks is getting a little boring, or is the press just digging it out every time...

Also the 'let parkes handle the press as im brassed off' routine is also getting a little tire-some.

If this is the best souey can come up with in this our hour of need (and lets not kid ourselves here) i think it might be time to go.

[Clive]

I suppose a 2-2 draw isn't that bad, although I'm disappointed. Last I heard it was 2-1 at around 4.50, so it could have been worse. Sometimes the same bunch of players play better under a new manager. But then who'd be both available and better than Souness right now ?. We could end up with another Brian Kidd.

If we do go down, or scrape past on the last day of the season, Graeme should leave.

[Simon Says]

I've been supporting Souness so far, but now Ive had enough!! MORE THAN  ENOUGH....!!

Really?

And I thought you were a fully paid up member of the anti-Souness camp.

[rover6]

I think Charlton's thumping of Chelsea gives everyone a taste of how badly Souness is failing.

Curbishley has moulded a useful team on a very little money and has them more than coping in the Premier League.

Souness has had millions to spend, with very good players coming through the youth set-up and we face the prospect of relegation.

He better have some impact signings ready in January or our season could end messily.

[Flopsy]

yeah or then it could end fantastically, thats the wonder of the football, good to see that the teams not doing its best again and your back on the board spouting your usual crap.

BTW thought Mahon was shocking today, Johansson was better, and that says something

[Ozz]

Why on earth would Rovers sack Souness

That is absolutely, mind -numbingly the most stupid thing to do right now. Anyone who suggests this is a complete dunce.

Stop even talking about.

[rover6]

yeah or then it could end fantastically, thats the wonder of the football, good to see that the teams not doing its best again and your back on the board spouting your usual crap.

The season could end fantastically. Yes, absolutely right, maybe we will finish 4th from bottom. Graeme Souness will deserve manager of the season for such an achievement.

So Flops, you're happy with 5th from bottom, one point from the bottom three? You're happy with staring relegation and ruin in the face? You're fine with administration when we go down?

Stop being so proud and blinkered in equal measure. Admit that Souness isn't doing a good job at the moment. I understand if you want him to stay in the job.

But still have the balls to point out that he isn't earning his wage at this current moment.

[American]

yeah or then it could end fantastically, thats the wonder of the football, good to see that the teams not doing its best again and your back on the board spouting your usual crap.

The season could end fantastically. Yes, absolutely right, maybe we will finish 4th from bottom. Graeme Souness will deserve manager of the season for such an achievement.

So Flops, you're happy with 5th from bottom, one point from the bottom three? You're happy with staring relegation and ruin in the face? You're fine with administration when we go down?

Stop being so proud and blinkered in equal measure. Admit that Souness isn't doing a good job at the moment. I understand if you want him to stay in the job.

But still have the balls to point out that he isn't earning his wage at this current moment.

Souness might not be currently earning his wage, but neither are some of the players. After all he's done, he at least deserves the rest of the season to either right the ship or let it sink. Yes, we are one win away from relegation, but also one win away from mid-table (11th). Things were looking pretty bad as far as the quality of play, etc. etc. last season at a point, but turned out pretty darn good. It's funny how this thread goes quiet when a couple good results are put together, then heats back up when a bad spell happens.

Face it, we want great things game after game, but bad spells will happen, especially when dealing with a club like Rovers, who won't always be able to go out and get the top players in the world when they lose a Duff (that being said, the money people say we should have left over from the Duff sale is what will make administration not even a consideration IF the unthinkable happens).

There was a lot of reloading this past summer, and reshuffling of the lineup throughout the season. Time has to be allowed to find the right formula to make this a team of the future, not just a team that panics everytime things aren't going great. Consistency will make sure that we don't go down and end up a force in the future, not panic. Part of that consistency is keeping the management team, especially a manager as good as Souness.

[greggyk]

he shouldnt go because, we played very well today.

erm.....didnt you just say in another thread that rovers will get relegated???

[roversWASmylife]

I`ve said this before and I`ll repeat it again.

Souness has not done anything wrong whilst he has been at Rovers. He may have made over priced transfers, but he has taken the club to a new level.

When he took over in 2000, we were a team full of players "there for the money."  He got rid of "Dead wood" and brought in the younger players, kept us up in the League and got promoted during his FIRST full season.

Once promoted in our first league back with the big boys, we reached the Millennium Stadium, won a trophy which qualified for UEFA. From there we finished tenth. The following season we finihsed 6th and qualified for UEFA again.

Ok, this season has been a major dissapointment so far, but you can`t blame Souness for the players` performance.

The players play, and most of the matched they have underperformed?

So whoever thinks Souness should go, I don`t know what you`re on. Can you think of anyone else who could have done a better job in which Souness has done?

[greggyk]

I say give him till the end of february and then look at the position that we are in.By that time ,the new players that he'll sign in January should have settled in.

[Ricky]

Kelly ,Flitcroft ,Duff ,Peacock ,Dunn ,Short ,Harkness ,Frandsen ,Grayson ( Jansen ,80 ) ,Gillespie ,Ostenstad

Subs not used Miller, Johnson, Davidson, Dailly,

This is the team from Souness's first game in charge. Compare this to our team from this season.

Kelly         Friedel

Peacock   Todd

Short       Short

Grayson    Babbel

Harkness    Gresko

Gillespie     Emerton

Dunn         Ferguson

Flitty         Flitty

Duff          Neill / Mahon / Nissa / Thommo

Ostenstad  Cole

Frandson    Tugay

Look at the bench, Davidson, Dailly, Johnson. Today we had Cole and Jansen on the bench. I think we have to look how far things have come on since Souness took over.

[chris]

Kelly ,Flitcroft ,Duff ,Peacock ,Dunn ,Short ,Harkness ,Frandsen ,Grayson ( Jansen ,80 ) ,Gillespie ,Ostenstad

Subs not used Miller, Johnson, Davidson, Dailly,

This is the team from Souness's first game in charge. Compare this to our team from this season.

Kelly         Friedel

Peacock   Todd

Short       Short

Grayson    Babbel

Harkness    Gresko

Gillespie     Emerton

Dunn         Ferguson

Flitty         Flitty

Duff          Neill / Mahon / Nissa / Thommo

Ostenstad  Cole

Frandson    Tugay

Look at the bench, Davidson, Dailly, Johnson. Today we had Cole and Jansen on the bench. I think we have to look how far things have come on since Souness took over.

not too much to shout about, Cole (cost 7million) has not scored in about 20 games and Jansen (4 million) has about 3 league goals in 18 months, not to forget the players starting, Yorke (2.5million) has around 9 league goals in 3 years and Gallacher only ever scored once, and then theres Grabbi (cost7 million) 2 league goals in 2 years.

Blackburn has not exactly got the greatest strike force with over 20 million spent

[jim mk2]

Kelly ,Flitcroft ,Duff ,Peacock ,Dunn ,Short ,Harkness ,Frandsen ,Grayson ( Jansen ,80 ) ,Gillespie ,Ostenstad

Subs not used Miller, Johnson, Davidson, Dailly,

This is the team from Souness's first game in charge. Compare this to our team from this season.

Kelly         Friedel

Peacock   Todd

Short       Short

Grayson    Babbel

Harkness    Gresko

Gillespie     Emerton

Dunn         Ferguson

Flitty         Flitty

Duff          Neill / Mahon / Nissa / Thommo

Ostenstad  Cole

Frandson    Tugay

Look at the bench, Davidson, Dailly, Johnson. Today we had Cole and Jansen on the bench. I think we have to look how far things have come on since Souness took over.

The past is irrelevant.

The here and now is that Souness's mismanagement has got us into an unnecessary relegation battle.

The present squad clearly is not good enough in terms of ability and is being badly managed.

Poor results over the next 10 days and we could be second bottom with only Wolves below us.

[roversWASmylife]

I seriously think that if are position isn`t any better than it is now than say at the end of January then i think he might consider resigning. This type of form can`t go on.

And the though of losing to Wa**y Wanderers, I dread to think the stick we`ll all get.

[chris]

i don't think souness needs to be sack before we find out where do we go from here, Babbels needs to be signed, the left sorted and Gresko totally dropped like today, but the problem is the strike force as i noted above, Cole Yorke 33yrs old next year, Jansen couild never recover and Gallacher light wieght not proven and Grabbi 10million gone, strikers normally win games, i just don't see how we can sort it out.

i can hope Cole and Jansen regain form but can't keep hoping forever

[RevidgeBlue]

The squad is clearly far more talented than the Ward/Frandsen type squad that took us down but the results are scarcely any better. How does that work?

The squad tried for the manager today, they didn't v Villa. I just want to see 110% effort every week like today.

[BRFC4EVA]

Despite the fact we aint doing that well at the moment, i think sacking Souness wouldn't really achieve anything, espesially at this time in the season. Perhaps 1 or 2 loan signings during the transfer period might change our season.

          We must try and stay positive and get behing the lads. It could be worse, we could have just lost away at Crewe like our East Lancashire neighbours and be 2 places above the div 1 relegation zone.

[American]

Poor results over the next 10 days and we could be second bottom with only Wolves below us.

Yeah, and good results over the next 10 days and we could be top half, what's your point?

[LeChuck]

Poor results over the next 10 days and we could be second bottom with only Wolves below us.

Yeah, and good results over the next 10 days and we could be top half, what's your point?

Do we really look like we're capable of that though?  No, we don't.

I would say only Wolves are worse than us, the other teams on a par with us ability wise (Leeds, Leicester, Portsmouth etc) are battling in every game and we are not matching those teams for effort.

[Paul]

Poor results over the next 10 days and we could be second bottom with only Wolves below us.

Yeah, and good results over the next 10 days and we could be top half, what's your point?

I think jim's point is this. Over the next two league programmes:

Spurs - 2 home - Charlton + Birmingham

Wolves - 2 home - us + Leeds

Leicester - 2 away - Soton + Bolton

Leeds - 2 away - Wolves + Newcastle

Rovers - 2 away - Wolves + Newcastle

Portsmouth - 2 away - Chelsea + Villa

It doesn't take a surprising or unexpected set of results to put us in 19th spot and just one point ahead of Wolves.

Of those teams Wolves have the greatest incentive to put together 2 wins and put themselves back in the race. Should that happen Rovers will be in even more trouble, if that's possible.

I fully understand that TWO wins for Rovers could do a great deal for our league position. Regretably two consecutive wins for Rovers has proved possible just once this season.

[Crunching Tackler]

Poor results over the next 10 days and we could be second bottom with only Wolves below us.

Yeah, and good results over the next 10 days and we could be top half, what's your point?

I think jim's point is this. Over the next two league programmes:

Spurs - 2 home - Charlton + Birmingham

Wolves - 2 home - us + Leeds

Leicester - 2 away - Soton + Bolton

Leeds - 2 away - Wolves + Newcastle

Rovers - 2 away - Wolves + Newcastle

Portsmouth - 2 away - Chelsea + Villa

It doesn't take a surprising or unexpected set of results to put us in 19th spot and just one point ahead of Wolves.

Of those teams Wolves have the greatest incentive to put together 2 wins and put themselves back in the race. Should that happen Rovers will be in even more trouble, if that's possible.

I fully understand that TWO wins for Rovers could do a great deal for our league position. Regretably two consecutive wins for Rovers has proved possible just once this season.

I think thats an indication of how crap and tight the league is now. Leeds could qualify for Europe this season, a prospect that would seem absolutely impossible a couple years ago. The league is now the head (Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelski) and the tail.

Which comes back to my previous point - if Rovers pick up form and string a couple of wins together we'd probably be all praising Souness.

[rover6]

Disgusted with the latest cup exit.

Souness has wasted transfer funds, cannot motivate the team to perform regularly and should resign.

In the summer, Souness had approx £12 million to find replacements for Berg, Duff and Dunn.

He has screwed up big time.

Before that he had a grandiose plan of rekindling the Yorke, Cole partnership - that failed big time.

How many more failures are the Rovers fans prepared to accept from Mr SOuness?

[Parasyte]

Souness... the failure that took a mid table Div 1 side two two consecutive European ventures.

I know how you feel, I had my heart on winning the title last year.