LeftWinger

So it’s June 1995 – Kenny Dalglish has lead Rovers to the Premier League title, but then decided to step down as first team manager. Jack Walker has entrusted you with the job and given you £15m to make signings – who are you buying? In real life Rovers added just Adam Reed from Darlington and Matty Holmes from West Ham (with Robbie Slater going in the other direction) before the season started. We were strongly linked with a double move for Alan Stubbs and Jason McAteer from Bolton, but that fell through when McAteer decided he wanted to move to Liverpool. Looking back on it, how much different would history have been had Rovers invested that summer and pushed forward? With the budget of £15m (thanks to hindsight), who should we have bought that would have realistically come to Rovers. As regards to European competitions, it might be worth remembering that you could only have 3 non-English players in your match day squad at that time. I’ve done a list below of some possible targets that moved around the mid-90’s – or potential signings that we could have gone for: Gareth Southgate £2.5m Les Ferdinand £6.0m Marc Overmars £6.0m Paul Ince £7.5m Ruel Fox £4.25m Stan Collymore £8.5m Nick Barmby £5.25m Ruud Gullit Free Denis Bergkamp £7.5m Georgi Kinkladze £2.0m Chris Armstrong £4.5m Zinedine Zidane £1.2m Personally I’d have let some of the fringe players like Talia, Gale, Makel and Harford go. I’d have kept the likes of Slater and Atkins for squad players (ones that we let go at the time). I’d have strengthened at the back with an English centre-half – either Southgate at £2.5m or gone for a 20-year-old Sol Campbell from Spurs. I reckon £7m would have done the trick for Sol. In the end, I went for both as the budget allowed it. I’d have been tempted to go for either Overmars or Bergkamp at the prices above, but the English player rule in the Champions League would put me off them. I always quite liked Ruel Fox as a winger who could provide cover on either flank – so I’d have gone for him at £4.25m. Probably the ultimate hindsight, but we were interested in him in the mid-90’s, but Zidane was reportedly available for £1.2m – so he’s my foreign signing. In (£14.95m) Sol Campbell (20) - £7m Gareth Southgate (24) - £2.5m Ruel Fox (27) - £4.25m Zinedine Zidane (22) - £1.2m Out: Frank Talia Tony Gale Lee Makel Paul Harford

Unfortunately at the moment we aren't conceding many, but aren't scoring any!

British record - not world record.

I'd have certainly taken that swap at the start of the season and I'd probably even take it now (despite the fact Mowbray has definitely done a better job this season). The job he did at Barnsley was incredible. Last 5 permanent managers at Barnsley and their win percentage: Stendel - 47% Struber - 35.9% Ismael - 56.8% Schopp - 6.3% Asbaghi - 8.3%

He did also take us into League One though - I know Coyle was mainly to blame, but he had more than enough time to keep us up (even though Coyle did leave us with a pretty horrible team).

He didn't cost them anywhere near that.

I still play CM01/02 now 😂

Did not know that. When was he offered a trial? Football Manager legend.

You were more upset with Rovers getting relegated than England winning the World Cup? Obviously* 😂 *Unless you're Scottish.

Steve Kean once got some 'monumental' results at Rovers. I remember him using that word to describe us getting 'back to back clean sheets'. Then I wondered when the last time Rovers won 5 games on the bounce without conceding a goal. As far as I can see, it was in 1980!!! Excellent work from the current team.

The rat is at it again.

Awful day 2 by England I feel this could be a recurring theme

Ryan Lowe finished last season in a style Tony Mowbray would have been proud of. Fingers crossed he ends this season in a similar way.

Exactly. https://www.nottinghamforest.news/2021/09/05/president-stunned-as-nottingham-forest-josh-maja-deal-collapses/

What's Gav done to deserve a new contract?

By 'near' 17 - he means 5.

Just on Lenihan - it's also worth noting that we've only won 6 games in the last 3.5 years when he's not started (out of 30 games)

I always find these fascinating - a real good effort. I've not actually seen the game - but I had heard reports that Travis had played well (contrary to the above score). I'd be interested to see what people who did see the game thought about Travis compared to the rating above. As for Lenihan always getting a high score - he's one of those players that is very good 95% of the time, but prone to a major lapse or error. I suggest this scoring system could have getting a high score but still giving away a couple of penalties. Ie. if he gave away two penalties on Saturday, he'd have got -8 on the above system, and still been our second best player, yet people would only remember the fact he gave away two penalties.

When was Bale the worst left back in the country?

I don't know if it's normal or not - I've not seen any other managers contractual details. Without those clauses written into his contract - he'd have legally been entitled to the same wages in league one as he was in the Premier League - unless the club did sack him and pay him 12 months wages. To me it makes perfect sense to have these clauses written into his contract - as reducing his salary after relegation also means he's cheaper to sack. Contracts are as detailed as possible to avoid any doubt.

It is referred to as a 'bonus' in his contract - but it's not a bonus for getting relegated. Do you think his contract was incentivising him for getting relegated? By paying him less money? Makes sense.

You're suggesting he was incentivised to get the club relegated. His overall package was less if the club were relegated - negating the fact it's a 'bonus'. There was absolutely no incentive for Kean for Rovers to get relegated - as much as I dislike both him and Venkys. He was financially worse off for the fact we got relegated - fact. He was never going to resign either - with the fact he had to pay the club 12 months of his salary to do so.

If he took the club down two divisions - he would earn less than he did if he kept the club in the Premier League. That's not a bonus.

We've been crying out for a Craig Short for years

I've not seen other Premier League managers contracts - but I wouldn't be surprised to see similar things in them. It's pretty common for players to have clauses built into their contracts that reduce their wages if the club is relegated - and presumably their bonus offerings change as well. I can't see why it wouldn't be in place for a manager.