1 hour ago, roversfan99 said:

Theres a moving of the goal posts by some.

The discussion was about what happens now. Talk about his arrogance, him being agent led, comparisons to Nyambe, talk about why he hadnt gone anywhere yet etc, all surrounding where he would go now and whether he should have stayed. 

He has already justified running his contract down and waiting by getting a very good move. That he could do so clearly wasnt fuelled by misplaced arrogance as it has come to fruition.

Havent seen any suggestions that people think he will thrive in La Liga, thats a totally seperate argument.

You need to remember your attitude in situations like this when it comes to those calling you out, to be fair

You cry wolf when it comes to bringing up your shocking claims around Szmodics or JRC. Alas, here you are, ready for a pound of Mani’s flesh

As good a move as Dolan could make. Espanyol are no great shakes, but at least it is a top league. He wouldn't have cut the mustard in the Premier League so La Liga is a good alternative

12 minutes ago, Emerald Isle Rover said:

Gueye - 6 goals this season

4 of them he has started 

2 from the bench 

6 assists

4 from starts

2 from bench

individually he probably excels better starting but the team probably are better with Ohashi starting 

Some really big points saved with those goals. That's what I remember

The Sheffield Wednesday goal was a highlight for me. That was a game Rovers lose. We were made of sterner stuff last year

1 hour ago, roversfan99 said:

What has happened since is irrelevant to replacing what Dolan provided last season. But I very much doubt that Dolan is just sat around with absolutely no offers or interest.

If we signed a winger that had done what Dolan did from another Championship club. Or even one with a fancy exotic name who has provided a similar number of goals and assists in a lesser league. We would be excited.

You almost had me. I thought you were serious.

Then you mentioned you’d be excited by a signing….

Nearly 

Just now, Emerald Isle Rover said:

Derrick Williams was better and then converted to left sided centre back. Not sure how a player who played less than 25 games can be called the clubs greatest left back in decades very bizarre take 

Being fit is just as important as other attributes 

beck has the potential to go on and be very very good but your statement is a massive overreach 

Blimey mate

Is there a bit of patriotism going on? I assume Emerald Isle is a homage to Ireland. It can be the only reason you’re saying Williams was better than Beck!

Owen Beck wouldn’t have left the side if he stayed fit. He is the best left back we’ve had since this rotten lot came. Before that the fan base was accepting Pickering as “solid” enough. How our expectations fell. When Beck came, he showed us what a proper full back can do. 

3 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

The point is that we have over a considerable period of time failed to recruit successfully to fill the wide positions. So I dont think it will be this easy task that Paul Mani suggested. Dolan is a loss.

If Dolan goes above us, he may well come up short. Better players than him have, Brereton, Armstrong etc. But it doesnt mean that their move was the wrong one. They were right to try and better themselves, they experienced football at a higher level, and in a worst case scenario, you fall back down to the same level you were at (with more money in your pocket) having experienced somethig better than just an indefinite stay at a club with no ambition of pushing on and not paying players to a competitive level.

Replacing Dolan will be one of the easier tasks we have faced

He still sits as that free agent. Is he demanding that much in wages? JE is signing anyone who is available who wore a Rovers shirt last year. Dolan though, despite his deep and meaningful connection….still nothing

The signs are there that Dolan isn’t fancied much. I don’t blame them. He’s had his purple patch….and it was more mauve than it was purple 

1 hour ago, roversfan99 said:

Cozier Duberry. Kargbo. Dennis. Khadra. Giles. Sigurdsson.

Point being, we havent find it easy to recruit in that position and it wont be so easy as he suggests to sign a winger at Dolan's level.

Not impossible either 

This list is a bit wild

Khadra was better than Dolan but unfortunately he’s gone the Dack route. Two ACLs

Kargbo we have barely seen.

 Giles is a full back and Denis is a centre forward

You did well to try and pad it out but the only person who belongs on the list is Sigurdson. For all intents and purposes he looked better than Dolan - could certainly finish better - but for whatever reason didn’t cut the mustard in other ways. Maybe fitness.

But what a low bar set. It will be interesting to see how Dolan does. I am in the camp of this will be his peak. If he moves above us and sustains it I would be surprised. He may get a decent move here on a free but his overall game is too poor for the top leagues, and he isn’t good enough for a top table championship club either. Derby seems the obvious choice. 

2 hours ago, Mercer said:

Really?

Our incidence of injuries and recovery times suggests otherwise.

Are you somehow suggesting we sit outside of the curve here? I'd take some convincing

Your anecdotes won't do. You'll have to back this up with something 

1 hour ago, RevidgeBlue said:

You manage his minutes if he looks like he's struggling.

Should be able to play every day at that age.

This isn't a kick about up the park to be fair Rev.

Even in the paltry 'kids football' as it is coined around here, the miles and high intensity sprints that footballers are expected to do these days are incredible.

A lot of league 2/1 players survive because of their physicality; you'll find some magnificent technical players in the National League and below but they won't have that natural fitness to survive professional football.

It has moved on from being able to play every day at whatever age you play at now. 

1 hour ago, Gav said:

Brilliant last 30 minutes, this side doesn’t know when it’s beaten.

Lords sold out tomorrow, £25 an adult, £5 kids, 30k tickets snapped up, can’t wait. 

Come on England 🏏

Have you got tickets for it Gav?

I was looking on Stubhub for tickets. Cheapest going is around £140. Can’t justify it

Saw two excellent days at Edgbaston - Brook and Smiths centuries and then it was the India show but an excellent watch nonetheless. It has been a great watch throughout 

Is Abelousi seemingly incompetent yet?

Tony Mowbray would have loved him 😀

Fair play to the lad. Probably the biggest day of his life so far and wanted to be dressed to the nines. Lovely attitude 

55 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

But equally, should we be grateful just because we arent one of 2 clubs not to be under embargo and restrictions? That is a low bar.

Its obviously down to personal opinion but I dont understand fully trusting this current (an ever changing part of our club) recruitment set up. Im not saying that a strong distrust is necessary, but at best the jury is out for me. Last seasons higher than expected position was built on a very talented (and now departed manager) getting the best out of a core of predominantly pre existing players signed under other regimes, Brittain/Hyam/Tronstad by Broughton, Dolan by Mowbray, Travis obviously as an academy graduate and then Batth who to be fair was part of last seasons recruitment, albeit had Eustace's prints all over it.

There are a lot of signings made under Gestede that at best are yet to prove themselves. 3 cost £1m or at least close to, Kargbo only signed mid way through and got injured so we dont really know either way. Toth only played a few games and didnt have much to do in them so again we dont really know. Gueye we have the most evidence on, only 6 goals and not looking up to it most of the time does not bode well. Cantwell was a high profile signing and he struggled. Ohashi is nothing remarkable but he certainly is a very useful player and more than value for money to be fair. Batth was very good, Beck was good, Ribieiro ok and the rest, best not to say.

I dont see how that body of evidence leans to having total trust in this recruitment setup personally. Some of them may go on to prove to be really shrewd signings, but at this stage I personally cant understand having full faith.

Of course you don’t. That’s your vibe. Some are glass half full, you smash the glass on the floor.

You can reply back to me to say that criticising you of negativity is stifling debate but I don’t care. Your posts are certainly slanted to the negative - like it or not. It must be your mindset. Some people are like that. I work with blokes who the moment something out of the ordinary happens they panic and they think everything is going to shit. It’s part of life’s rich tapestry.

I think both Gueye and Ohashi have improved our squad. The year before we were solely relying on Szmodics. This year the goals spread. It would be wonderful if we found another Sammie but they are few and far between for the money we spend.

In general, the proof is in the pudding. Consistently we have been in the bottom 6 for spending but we are challenging for the top 6. That has to be down to the recruitment. You don’t need to understand it because as you say, it is personal opinion. You were talking very positively about other teams’ business this season. Apart from Birmingham City this season - I don’t understand it. It seems, the players we miss are good ens, the players we get, we have “rightful doubts”

I have never said we have to be grateful. It is just a forewarning to those that big up others’ business - spending money doesn’t equate to success

I was reading about Hulls financial penalties the other day. It reminded me of the few posters on here who waxed lyrical about their excellent business a few years ago

It’s very easy to look further afield and think it is all sunshine and rainbows. Just because they have spent money, does not mean they are doing it correctly 

Whilst we have the worst possible owners, we do have a shrewd and massively undervalued recruitment team. I will continue to trust them - that isn’t based on being a happy clapper or “supporting the club no matter what” (whatever that means - being a fan?) - but is based on recent history. A minuscule budget, but regular play off challengers. I’m prepared to wait and see what squad they put together this year before exclaiming others are doing better business than us 

On 04/07/2025 at 19:33, oldjamfan1 said:

I can see England chasing 500 to win this 

This is the mindset we have at the moment. It may also be the reason why we still make a draw here

I was there on day 3. Some beautiful batting by Brook and Smith but you could tell there was nothing in it. 6 ducks in an innings is unforgivable on that pitch 

India knew that as well. They would know that for all his bluster, Crawley has it in him to take the game away early when him and Duckett are purring

Hence they batted too long to make it impossible to win. Now they may draw the game. Bazball could win once more 

40 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

I was posting after pick32 said that there is "zero evidence" that Dolan is better than Kargbo.

The benchmark of the Dolan of the season just gone is quite strong. Hard to know too much about Kargbo, hopefully can cut out diving in the box, giving away silly fouls and running off the pitch.

“Hard to know much about Kargbo” 

>proceeds to post everything bad Kargbo has done 

You don’t think this poster trolls?

In the same amount of time Kargbo has also beat two men and drove the ball into the box - three silly errors, three good pieces of play. Which do you focus on? 
Looks a decent player to me. Another decent spot for our recruitment team, who again play this game with their hands tied behind their backs 

3 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Oh do give over - George Hirst, Telalovic, Ennis, O Riordan, Wahlsted, Forshaw, Dennis, Woodrow,  to name but a few?

The only time I'd argue we excelled on a limited budget was last summer when John Park was here.

Not every signing is a success

Yet, despite all of that, we consider anything less than play offs a disappointment whilst also operating with a budget that is within the bottom 5. That is down to our good recruitment, even despite some not working out

Out of that list, I’d say Dennis and O’Riordan are the two which deserve to be there. Both poor signings and O’Riordan only so because it was with a fee at a time we needed bodies elsewhere
Wahlstedt we moved on; Hirst was not good enough for us but no harm lost;  Ennis we got a fee for; Forshaw came ok at the end and is an experienced player and Woodrow was a stop gap for depth and not the worst player I’ve seen either.

Again, we have a tiny budget but have become accustomed to top half finishes. That’s down to recruitment. Mixed in there we have had: Dack, Szmodics, Tronstad, Brittain, Pickering, Hyam, Armstrong, BBD, Kaminski, van Hecke, Ayala, Rothwell, Tosin, 

We have had some players who didn’t turn out the best for us but went on to do well elsewhere - Ayari, Amarii Bell spring to mind immediately. Walton now Ipswich keeper.

Overall our recruitment team gets it right more than they get it wrong and with such constraints they deserve a lot of praise for that

1 hour ago, RevidgeBlue said:

As I've said many times over the years, it makes it look as though we're doing something.

I've also (only half )oked the MO of the recruitment department goes something like this:

1) Lodge a derisory bid/bids for one or more players early in the window which have no chance whatsoever of being accepted. Leak to the press we have several bids for players in. ( It seems now the identities of said non targets are also being leaked)

2) Pick fluff out of your navel for a month or so.

3) After a while leak another mini story saying we still have several active irons in the fire.

4) When we eventually get gazumped by a Club willing to meet the asking price leak a sob story about how we did our best but couldn't compete with the financial might of whichever Club it is.

5) Job done! Go back to picking fluff out of your navel until the next transfer window.

As critical as I am of the Club and its senior management this just appears to be critique for the sake of it

Our recruitment team has continued to mould a squad that is far better than the pot of money they are given to work with. With a budget that is way down in the bottom 5, we have challenged for play offs more often than not

We do not have the wage or transfer budgets to gazump other teams in our league. Teams in the league below us could offer higher wages - Wrexham and Blues. That is not the fault of the scouting team, data analysts or other members of the recruitment department, it is the fault of Venkys.

Our recruitment team has to be one of the best in the league

20 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

 

Question for you both.

I get the fact he's experienced and can do a job as a late sub if we are leading. But a squad player can be needed for a period of time to start games should the first choices get middle.

If like for a spell this season, Forshaw was needed as 3rd/4th choice to play 5/6 games or more from the start, would you be comfortable that the overall quality of the team wouldn't dip too much?

So do you want us to store 4 players of the same quality as Travis and Tronstad? 

Experience and know how. Could do a lot worse

Looked more like the Forshaw we knew about towards the end of the season. Usual crew in hysterics - in effect, it’s another part of what was a good squad staying. Can’t complain 

2 hours ago, Hasta said:

The last Euros was a bit out of the ordinary based on who we played by seedings. No pot 1 or 2 teams until the final. First time it’s happened since the euros were expanded. Remember those seedings are based on results / merit.

The other argument is based on what you define as lucky. Just because the ties in later rounds are based on results in that tournament, it doesn’t mean you can’t get ‘softer’ ties. Take a random cup upset. In 2011 Stevenage (4th tier) beat Premier League Newcastle. You could have played that tie 10 times and 9 times Newcastle would probably have gone through. In the next round Reading drew Stevenage and Reading won comfortably. Reading definitely got a softer tie against Stevenage than they would have had against Newcastle. Were they “lucky” they benefited from the earlier upset?

Domestic competitions are much different. Each round is a lottery. In international football, you can form your own destiny with your qualifying and seeding. Naturally, it is an easier route the better you are seeded and if you win the group

I think where me and you differ is where we draw the line on the concept of “luck”. Softer ties - yes. For me, not luck.  We could have came second in our group and been drawn against the harder sides; we could have been second seed and been drawn against a top seed side within our group stage

The expanded tournaments will bring about a lot of runs like we had. I think Switzerland and Holland was a tough run in really. The Slovakia game needs disregarding as a lot of fixtures were “winnable” - but I’d have played Germany and Turkey over Switzerland so it was kind of middle of the road. Would agree out of Holland, France or Spain I would have took Holland. But again we put ourselves there by winning our group. That’s the way the cookie crumbles in international football and every team plays by the same rules 

15 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

Im talking about from the quarters onwards. Before that, winning your group is a big factor that is in your control.

A quarter final against Sweden and a semi final against Croatia.

A quarter final of Ukraine, a semi final against Denmark and a final against Italy.

A quarter final against Switzerland and a semi final against Holland.

The exception was a quarter final against France. Overall, they are runs to the final through no control of our own that we would have absolutely taken before the draw was made.

One thing I keep saying is you can be fortunate with the uncontrollables ie the fixtures but also still consider it an achievement. I said that Southgate did well and has a good tournament record, consistently beating decent/good but not great teams in knockout football is still impressive. But as soon as you mention the word luck, it seems to touch a nerve and people see it as an attempt to totally discredit anything that Southgate has done.

The whole point stems from comparing different managers. Sven underachieved, Southgate didnt, but you arent comparing like for like when we had quarter finals against Brazil and Portugal x 2 under him.

In the 5 world cups that Croatia have been a part of they have come third twice and runners up once. That was not an easy draw.

Drawing Italy wasn't easy either. They were a good side and proved it too. And the same for Holland. Switzerland are a team nobody really wants to face as France found out and Spain almost found out too, only scraping by on penalties.

It is not touching a nerve, it is addressing a point you make. Each and every faint praise you give Southgate is caveated with how lucky you think the draw was and that he never beat an "elite" team. Who decides who the 'elite' are? You haven't answered that one yet.

None of those runs were out of the ordinary for a typical route to an international final. I don't understand why you keep repeating them - almost all international tournament winners would have faced similar teams in their route to the semi or final. What's your point? That they were seen as favourable? Maybe, but none of that diminishes in any way the achievement of Southgate, but you mention it every single time you bring up Southgate's tournament record.

For me it doesn't matter one iota. I couldn't care less if we played Papa New Guinea, Fiji and Wales on the way to the Final. In all of the years before Southgate came, getting to the quarters became a success... Now we are looking at anything other than winning a tournament being a failure. That is all on Gareth Southgate. So lucky, blessed by the Gods, a tactical genius - whatever the Council of BRFC decides - he was a resounding success for the national team and the country as a whole

1 minute ago, roversfan99 said:

a) determined by results that we didnt control!

It is the same with every international manager because they all play by the same rules (we will ignore seeding and group rankings as it doesn’t suit the narrative). So by this token unless that nation has beat sides that roversfan99 consider elite their manager has been lucky

Took a while to get there I suppose 

Just now, Hasta said:

My only point is you can get lucky with the draw. Tranmere and Sunderland both knocked out Premier League teams. You can’t control who you play, but things can pan out more or less favourable.

Englands ‘performances’ in the last Euros were fairly poor but they had a lucky enough draw to get through to the semi finals and then actually played ok against the Dutch.

However we did get a bit lucky with the draw. There were 24 teams, seeded and split into 4 pots. In the knockout stages all three games were against teams from either pot 3 or pot 4. We got lucky being drawn against a 3rd place qualifier in the last 16  and we didn’t play any team from seeding pots 1 or 2 in a knockout game until the final. That’s the only time that has happened since the tournament was expanded to 24 teams. 
 

In the FA Cup each round is reverted into a lottery. In your example, if Milwall were a country, they’d have faced an Arsenal or a Man Utd in the group stage. As it is, the lottery took that fate away from them 

Within international football, you balance the odds in your favour by making yourself a top seeded nation. Once you are put into your groups everything else is then decided by the merit of your performances. Had England not won their group, we’d have been more likely to face sides who came first in their respective group, therefore more in form. Most things in international football are by merit - you come Top Seed by merit, you win your group by merit and from there on the route is planned out. If we had come 2nd we’d have played Germany and then Spain. It was the merit of our group stage performances which meant we didn’t.

By far the luckiest thing in international football is the country you qualify for. From then on in, merit of your performances are king.

And in Euro 24 pots 3 and 4 included Croatia, Italy, Holland and Switzerland who are no mugs. Switzerland especially was a banana skin - as Italy found out in the knock outs, Germany in the groups and France in the tournament before. I was fearful for that game for sure 

There are also ebbs and flows in international footy more so than domestic, where large clubs now rule the roost

For example we could have played Germany, Brazil, Holland and Spain in recent years and that be seen as favourable as they are going through somewhat of a transition

Conversely, Croatia had been there or thereabouts for tournaments leading up to our loss and teams like Switzerland have been outperforming their historic places by knocking out teams like France, and only losing by penalties to Spain let’s not forget

This is a bit different from a comparison to domestic league positions