2 hours ago, rovers11 said:

 

Overall I'd give our window a 1 out of 10 at the moment. Not good enough at all.

Agree

2 hours ago, rovers11 said:

Look at Plymouth, Boro, and Millwall. All sold their best player but have heavily re-invested that money back into the squad. Where is the Sammie and Wharton money? 

Even Wrexham and Huddersfield in league one are outspending us. 

Worryingly we are getting outspeed by the weakest teams in the division. Plymouth are one of relegation favourites and yet are spending more than us. Interesting to see how much Derby spend from their big name sale. Granted how wisely you spend is as important as how much, but there's only so much that can be wisely done when you spend the change down the back of your sofa only. 

Getting outspeed by the likes of Hiddersfoeld and Plymouth is a sign we are going to be overtaken again and sink even further. 

The good news for this season is we won't go down. We've too many points and we'll grind out or get the rub of the green (like Boro FA Cup and Portsmouth respectively) to make sure we limp over the finish line. 

Mind you had the injuries come a bit earlier in the season we'd have been well and truly skunked. 

I'm beginning to think that Eustace might be another Souness for Rovers. Not a great manager, but a decent one who is an excellent fit for Rovers. Like Souness I was underwhelmed by the appointment and very sceptical at the start. (And neither had good starts for Rovers.) 

The difference is that Souness was adequately backed and we were a normal club then. Sure he had some crown jewels so had an easier job, it's not an exact comparison! But my main point is that it was a great fit. Rather than either being a top manager they were the right fit for us at the time. This time though I think we'll sabotage the connection though. 

1 minute ago, RevidgeBlue said:

He (and his agent) must be weighing up in their own minds whether or not he can afford to give Waghail the benefit of the doubt and leave it until the end of the window.

If he does and it's the usual predictable damp squib or disaster the WBA will probably have been filled by then and it may be a while before a job of similar stature arises again. 

If he's able to repeat what he's done with Rovers at WBA then he'd get them promoted. A much better base from which to build from. 

Just now, K-Hod said:

Oh I know that as well as anyone, believe me. 

I'm sure you do. Feel it always needs mentioning though as it's surprisingly overlooked by a significant amount of our fan base. 

Forgetting hyperbole and football fan speak for example, I genuinely think I could do better in the role than Waggot, especially with engaging the fanbase. 

2 hours ago, Cherry Blue said:

Southampton having a shite time with two ex rovers stars on the bench. 

6 points but will be a championship force next season. 

Yeah. Although Martin's philosophy was pure football suicide for a promoted team. And I dare say it will take a while to get out of that mindset. 

8 minutes ago, K-Hod said:

Their owners care, so they try.

And they employ competence and the best quality that they can. 

8 minutes ago, K-Hod said:

Ours and those they employ, don’t.

And are all as far from competent as is humanly possible. 

Whilst I appreciate the championship is very competitive with any team able to beat any other, looking at the championship table it's pretty much exactly what you would expect. 

Sheff Utd, Leeds, Burnley at the top. The likes of Weat Brom and Boro in playoffs. The teams neear the bottom of the league to be the ones you'd expect to be there. 

As I see it there's only a couple or surprises. Luton to be as low as they are and struggling and us to be near the playoffs. Perhaps Sunderland are surprisingly high too but it's few and far between where teams aren't where expected. 

What makes it even more frustrating is I don't think the top 3 teams are all that good. All three I feel have been unconvincing and marginally less poor than the rest.  Makes it  all the more frustrating that we aren't investing that bit more needed to enable us to take the next step. 

51 minutes ago, TheRovers1994 said:

It’s not they aren’t willing it’s cause they can’t , ffp is the biggest issue yet shit relegated sides get free reign, no funded the league has lost its edge as has the PL cause of these shit teams bouncing up and down 

I struggle to see how someone can genuinely believe this. 

For starters ther hasn't been investment in any exempt areas of the club - the pitch, the ground. And my word that is evident to see. 

Secondly it's well documented how many costs have been cut which would suggest we are well within the bounds of FFP.

Couple this with the lack of expenditure and the huge outlay in fees - Wharton and Raya and Sammi -you'd struggle to see how we aren't well within the rules. 

Smaller clubs than us seem to invest a lot more in fees. Preston and Millwall seem to yet more than us. How is this possible? They are similar size to where Venkys have us. 

Or what  about the likes of  Boro and Stoke who spend a decent wedge without having been promoted in ages? Neither have huge fan bases yet can spend more. Does it not seem odd these teams can do so? 

So where does FFP restricting solely us come from? How does it hot affect any other club to the same event? How does our cost cutting and outlay not change anything? 

Genuinely would like to know why FFP is still seen as an issue. 

27 minutes ago, superniko said:

5 of our next 6 are against 14th or lower. Should make or break our season - just unfortunately it usually breaks in Jan/Feb

Problem.is the most winnable games are the ones we struggle with. 

No surprise that a tired squad of late has got good results vs Leeds and Sunderland but fluffed easier games vs Hull and Millwall. Think we are one of the few teams to lose to Plymouth too. 

Disappointed to lose to that lot again. Their team seems a lot weaker than previous years, but then so do ours. Feel like if we had spent even a semi respectablr proportion of our income on the team we'd have smashed them. 

Stoke is an odd one really as others have said. The definition of a poisoned chalice. 

Imo they are rotten, as in broken, to the core. No manager - and they have had some decent ones - has managed to get anything out of them. And that to me speaks volumes. Some of the managers have decent to good pedigree in this division so for them all to fail suggests the problems are much deeper. 

Mind you putting Walters in charge of the football.side of things to me sounds like an utter disaster. 

The last 2 games have given me massive hope that we will stay up combined with the dross of the championship. Having seen a quarter of the season play out I think there are a few teams worse than us. 

2 of the promoted teams look poor. Cardiff are a mess. 2 teams have big name players who are crap at management and Preston look to be on a downwards trajectory. QPR don't look great and Stoke and Sheff Weds haven't kicked on. 

By my reckoning if we beat the worst 6 teams home and away we are virtually there safety wise. Granted we haven't and won't do that but I'd suspect we'd get a strong return off the worst 6 and surprise wins like Boro and Leeds would make up for any deficit. After that it's not too many points extra to survive. So looks like another season in the championship. 

Great win. It's a crazy league. A couple of wins and you shoot up the table, a few without winning and you're looking down nervously. Reading about other teams it seems that most go on runs of good and poor form, you hope there's enough lengthy runs to get something. 

The something in our case will be survival. Wins vs Boro and Leeds are unexpected and whilst both games suit Eustace's backs to the wall approach, the quality in both teams makes the results very impressive. 

Still worried we aren't scoring many. That'll be a challenge long term but teams are built from the back which is something positive. Also don't like not having a penalty taker. Don't think that will end well for us. 

Overall though a good win. 2 clean sheets and I think it's enough to keep relegation worries firmly at bay. 

5 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

 

The mind boggles. 

I guess the two of them are similar in that they both got a team to the play off final. Mind you Lamps had a much better squad, bigger budget and favourable Chelsea loans so it's not a like for like comparison. 

Factor in the Wembly semi final and being unlucky not to be in the final. The fact that he took the club which was a mess to two promotions. And you see straight off Robins is much better manager. Only an idiot would say otherwise. Seems like there's a lot of idiots in football. 

5 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

Don't they have a ridiculous amount of injuries?

They also ha e a ridiculous amount of money and talent. I'm not that sympathetic. 

Remember a game vs Boro years ago when the pitch was spectacularly waterlogged and yet we still played. I think we won and Woodgate was rubbish? 

I'm sure our cost cutting would have not helped the situation. Not sure whether it tipped the balance or was immaterial but it's pretty crap our motto is every little hinders. 

On 18/11/2024 at 17:00, Paul Mellelieu said:

You're no economist.

Lol, quick! 

You're right though, it doesn't need you to be an economist it's plain common sense. 

Are you really suggesting that halving our supporter base is good for the long term viability for the club or the town businesses? Are you really saying an extra 12k match day supporters wouldn't benefit the town or club? 

You may say it's peanuts compared to who works for the club but what happens at the next round of downsizing or when we inevitably fall into league 1? What happens in 20 years time when we have a further reduced fanbase? Bar Wharton all the players sold to keep the lights on or get the goals to keep us up cost money - Armstrong, Sami, Brereton. What's going to happen now the production line is slowing? 

If you can't see the downward trend of the club and the impact that has on people and businesses I'm not going to convince you. But it seems pretty plain to see. 

4 minutes ago, den said:

Thank you 🙂
 

It is true though. Without the quality of players you have no chance. The base line is that’s its really down to them.

You are welcome. Give it another few years and the paraphrase will be altered again, and not for the better. 

On 08/11/2024 at 21:33, Wing Wizard Windy Miller said:

That's it in a nut shell. Cantwell, Beck, Carter (at CB)  and maybe Tronstadt a apart, there isn't one other player that you could call first team standard.  The rest you'd accept as squad fillers.  Pears, Pickering, Hyam, Baath, Brittain, Travis, Buckley, Hedges, Dolan, Sigurdsson, JRC  Weiman, Ohashi, Gueye and Leonard are all in that category.  You can carry 2 or 3 in the first team but our first team has 8/9.  The squad is absolutely bereft of quality. 

And it won't improve in the January window.  

Good post. Agree with the gist of this but not sure all of those are of squad filler standard. Britain, Pears, Gueye and Hedges definitely aren't! Leonard I don't think we've seen enough of to know either way, likewise Baath. Siggy and Buckley I think have the talent to be squad players but need to show more consistency to warrant a wage here. 

You are spot on though that so many players are being asked to do a role which is too much for them. 

To paraphrase a famous quote from here "buy league one players, get league oen football."

. 

I don't think a full season prior to this can be helping him at all either! Players need a break. 

Nor is it our fault we've a) not brought in enough strikers and b) those we have are not good enough.  

Cardiff are pretty naff too so I expect at least a point. New manager bounce won't last forever for them. Their squad isn't any better than ours, and given Cardiff will see it as winnable I reckon that suits our sit back and grind out a win "plan". 

25 minutes ago, Forever Blue said:

Exactly. For the money wasted on Gueye, Ennis, Telalovic and Wahlsted they could have bought a good striker. 

I also thought that wage wise with our 2 aging centre backs this year. Surely one of better quality would have been more logical. I know you need 4 but having 3 decent (ha ha) is better than having 2 duds as cover. 

28 minutes ago, neophox said:

We need Sigurdsson in ... he can score goals. May be the best striker at the club at the moment.

I'd forgotten he was on the books which says it all really. 

Stupid, stupid decision by Coventry. First off when you look at what he has done over seven years - he's had them performing really well, and transformed the club's position,  with a couple of very near misses on big success. 

Even looking in the short term,recently they have beaten Boro and Luton, two decent sides, so the signs of recovery this year were there. It's an appalling decision.