5 minutes ago, Hasta said:

 

Re Wagner. This is the man who once Huddersfield had secured a top 6 finish rested his players against Birmingham in 2017 to make sure his team as in the best possible form for the play offs. Which they duly won and made millions by getting to the Premier League. Top club management and job done. It wasn't his fault Coyle had been so shite.

When Mowbray rested half of his team at Charlton after we had been promoted, which potentially cost Plymouth a play off place, I don't recall Rovers fans slating him for on behalf of Plymouth. (More so on behalf of us winning the league).

 

I went to that game with a Plymouth fan and we both fumed about it, albeit not via social media. 

24 minutes ago, TimmyJimmy said:

Re Wagner ...

This is the barsteward who fielded a team of youth team kids against Birmingham in the 2017 season in order to strengthen Huddersfield's play off chances.

They were so BAD that despite going down to 10 men Birmingham still won!

For those with short memories Birmingham under Rednapp were relegation candidates along with us and they finished 2 points clear of us because of that match. We go down on goal difference despite tubbing Brentford away.

Scandalous for Wagner to do that on the penultimate game of the season and he deserved shooting for that. The authorities let him get away with it of course.

If his lousy cheating body ever gets within 100 miles of the managers desk at Rovers I'll be blazing.

I'm still very bitter about this and wouldn't welcome Wagner to Ewood, despite his relative success. Would much prefer Farke or Carvalhal from the early foreign candidates. 

The only positives I can see of one of their sons getting involved is the direct communication lines they'll have & the hope that it becomes a passion project for the lad & he's given relatively free reign with their funds. 

4 minutes ago, Mellor Rover said:

Further to my post above, I’ll try find the tweet. But when Jordan Rhodes was here I tried to prove a point on a Facebook group of how easy the odds are to manipulate. I put a fake tweet out on deadline day one year that Rhodes was on his way to Benfica on loan. Completely made up. Got my mates to retweet it and get some attention, an hour later SkyBet had Benfica as second favourites for his next club and it was mentioned on the transfer centre that ‘sky sources’ understood Benfica were weighing up a late move. 

If you’re watching the odds for an inclination of our next boss you’re gonna be in for a long 4 weeks.

That's actually brilliant. But fully expect more betting odds posts to be made in the next few weeks. 

2 minutes ago, WacoRover said:

I know anything can be proved/disproved by statistics, and there is always a bias/prejudice. However, looking at the numbers of Mowbray, and possible successors (I hope these stats are recent): 

Mowbray, 58 years old; 793 games managed; 41.4 win%.

Jackett, 60, years old; 922 games; 44.1%;

Davidson, 45 yrs; 95 games; 30.53%;

S. Reid (sentimental long shot), 41 yrs, 1 game, 100%;

Warne, age 49; 282 games; 38.3%;

Ryan Lowe, age 43; 235 games; 42.13%;

Ainsworth, 49 yrs; 523 games; 39.2%. 
 

Kenny Jackett has PL experience, 3 promotions, & a better win% than Tony. He checks several boxes.

Ryan Lowe is young, did an admirable job until Bury was buried, & has a decent win%. He also is currently employed. 

Ainsworth has done well within restrictive budgets, is passionate, popular, homeboy, & has a great deal of managerial experience. He has promotion on his resume, and is currently employed, again in promotion fight. 

Those are three fairly decent candidates, imo. 

All smell of L1 appointments to me. We should be aiming higher. 

You could easily repurpose this tweet...

20 minutes ago, Dan said:

If you look on Twitter you will find many Mowbray fans. It’s like a different dimension. 
 

This smug looking bastard for example idolises him and he’s not alone. Finish the job? Couldn’t make it up  

 

Finish what job? The watering down of fan expectations... Couldn't make it up.

Just now, joey_big_nose said:

Linked to the above - who can move up from the development squad to challenge for a squad place? 

From what I've seen probably just :

• James Brown - RB
• Jake Garrett - CDM
• Adam Wharton - CM
• Hayden Carter - CB

Anyone else? 

If he's as good as he's being made out to be, I'd like to see Ash Phillips given a look in during pre season. 

53 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

Time to start planning for next season. Obviously we will need a new manager (barring a very unexpected Mowbray turn around) but whoever come in will start with the same squad. And it is - without a shadow of doubt in my mind - the most significant squad turnover and rebuilding job I have ever seen at Rovers. Absolutely huge. 11 players leaving, over half of them critical to our team.

On the leaving list the only one we might be able to keep if we offered a contract is Davenport. I've been a bit generous with the ratings as well. I am sure a lot might not have Gallagher or Dolan as key players. But they've played a lot for us so put them in that category. 

So to tread water we need to sign 6 key players and 5 squad players equivalent to the quality we lose. Seems an impossibly huge ask to me no matter who the manager is.

What's everyones views? What are the areas to focus on?

Cracking post mate. I'd imagine we might need to look deeper in to our squad and youth teams to find some more players for the first team squad. Would be surprised if we had any sort of meaningful budget to work with.

Could see the following given plenty of time in pre season to stake a claim as part of the squad. Carter (Centre Back), Brown (Right Back), Garrett (Centre Midfield), Vale (Centre Forward). I'm sure I'll have missed some. 

12 minutes ago, CambridgeRover said:

Travis with another anonymous game. 

Couldn't disagree more. Thought he was our best player tonight. Crazy how people view the game that differently. Each to their own though. Can't be arsed arguing in this mood.

19 hours ago, Southside Rover said:

You did quote my post though???

My opinion of the signing isn't based on one game, it's based on the type of player and what I've seen prior to him signing. He's been linked for over 6 months so like most, I've paid some attention to Aberdeen over that period and I'm not saying he's not a good player with capability but he certainly isn't Premier League, only likely to start losing his pace in the near future and doesn't have a great record for goals and assists. I just don't see what he adds other than another number. I would have like to have seen us bring in another option to affect the game personally.

Whilst Saturday night did nothing to change my mind, I wouldn't make a comment on one cameo in a patched together squad.

My bad. Long day. I'd have quoted your post as the latest one in the line of comments about Hedges. Wasn't picking yours out as being especially harsh. 

We need to get to the Premier League before we start using that benchmark to be fair.

3 hours ago, Southside Rover said:

I said jury was out and I just don't get the signing. Is that harsh criticism?

Not to mention it was in a post where I played down any expectation from the game???

It wasn't aimed directly at you, otherwise I'd have quoted your post. But after one game, yeah probably.

32 minutes ago, Southside Rover said:

We all knew yesterday was going to be tough based on the injuries and lack of activity in the window. It's odd reading so many people were shocked or disappointed in what was inevitable yesterday. At best against a poor Swansea team I thought the defence would see us through for a nil nil, with the optimist in me thinking maybe someone could nick a goal from a set play.

Buying a striker for one game when we know Khadra and Brereton are back for Forest is a waste of money, especially when signing up Gallagher and he too won't be far behind plus Dolan.

Unless it was going to be a 20 goal a season player, I just don't see the point in adding more of what we have.

Yesterday was always one to take it on the chin. We know what this group can do as they've shown all season. Adding Giles makes is stronger I'm sure. Jury is still out on Hedges for me, just not getting it.

As always we are left underwhelmed which sets it up perfectly for Forest mid week. Always when we least expect a performance, bang it comes and hopefully Forest will be over confident from today.

Feel like there's been some harsh criticism of Hedges after that game. Obviously early days, but in a game where we didn't get the ball down and play much, I thought his pressing out of possession was good and he made plenty of positive runs.

7 minutes ago, davulsukur said:

Also, Dack will have that false 9 spot off Buckley as soon as he's back. 

He was awful in that position last time we tried it. But I agree, that's probably where he'll have to slot in. 

18 minutes ago, islander200 said:

We can't afford to carry a squad that has multiple players of similar quality fighting for each position.

Do we already know Hedges won't be any good?

What has Forss or Maja done to make you think they are better bets than what we have now?

 

Pedigree/Potential

2 minutes ago, Scoobydo said:

You don’t drop a player for a miss. 

You do when there are options behind them that would bury those chances. However we don't have those options at our disposal unfortunately. 

If you don't deliver the numbers, why would you be expecting to start?

2 minutes ago, islander200 said:

My point being with those 2 well certainly Forrs they are moving on loan to play regularly.We can't guarantee that.

Would you start Forss ahead of Khedra?Because unless an injury to Brererton, that's the only position up for grabs.

The style we are playing needs a Buckley or a Dack in the middle.

He'd certainly get regular game time, yes. Although the system is working well, we've had games where we've struggled to unlock teams and made a few changes to personnel and changed our shape. To do that effectively, you need options. We simply don't have the right depth or quality in reserve in forward areas to do that. 

As for Khadra, I've been impressed by him but by no means do I think he's undroppable. For example after his miss against Huddersfield I'd have been dropping him for the next game. A bit more composure in that brilliant position and he wins us the game. Small margins make all the difference.

5 minutes ago, islander200 said:

Loans like Forss and Maja guarantee nothing 

That's the same with any signing. There are no guarantees that they'll work out. However not making a signing in that area of the pitch guarantees that we're more at risk of failure in that area. 

After the Markanday injury we were crying out for another forward (in addition to Hedges). Without his injury the transfer activity would've been just about right. Instead we're left short. 

What pains me isn't the Bournemouth spending spree (I echo other comments that they might struggle to find a consistent side now) but that teams like Stoke & Hull have picked up Maja & Forss.

I get the need to control our spending so I never expected us to splash millions on players but a decent loan signing like that could've really added to our options and eased concerns over where our goals will come from if Diaz reverts to type.

42 minutes ago, CambridgeRover said:

You cannot underestimate how much Rothell simply dislikes Mowbray. All the mismanagement, being dropped, weird interview comments have undoubtedly added up to this point. 

Likewise with Nyambe I'd suspect. Main surprise of the three is Lenihan, as he's routinely been backed by the manager. However he seems to harbour ambitions of the Premier League. Of the three I'd take a guess that he'd be the most likely to sign on, especially if we're promoted. 

Can't wait to see the goal in the highlights package tonight...

13 minutes ago, Ricky said:

Sky mentioning that Neco Williams may need to go out on loan to get some match time. He’d be a full back I’d be happy to see here for the rest of the season.

He's truly awful and was resoundly slated when he was last mentioned. He's worse than Nyambe and presumably the incoming Dutch lad.

26 minutes ago, Herbie6590 said:

Oh that’s really sad. I played the day after *that* night at Deepdale…remains to this day one of the happiest memories of my life…best £150 I ever spent…

Graeme Souness lurked around waiting to be interviewed by TV & my sister grabbed this photo of him with my nephew…!

Amazing. What a time to play as well.

I've just noticed that Football Aid (the charity that organised games at Ewood Park) has just ceased trading. https://www.footballaid.com/

Always been a dream of mine to play at Ewood and I'd saved up the money to play when I turned 30, but I snapped my ACL returning to Saturday league (after 52 minutes) and couldn't sign up. Been hoping they'd get the postponed game rearranged at some point so I could get involved. Absolutely gutted.

Did anyone have the chance to play in one of these games or were due to play in the covid-postponed game?

Would be nice to hear of anyone's experiences of it.

2 minutes ago, RoversClitheroe said:

Mate have you not seen his YouTube highlights looks like messi

😆