You can't blame Broughton for the last bit Matty. The bloke probably knows that at any point the rug can be pulled. He's at risk of sounding stupid...twice

He has an impossible job to be honest. Since GB has come we have come close to landing two very good signings. For whatever reason they haven't been allowed to be finalised. I know some blame Broughton but I certainly don't. We were never close to signings like Lewis OBrien or McGuire before him. Perhaps that is because nobody was trying that hard. Yet now they have a person who seems to be actually trying to 'push the boat out' we are seeing incompetence that is suspicious at best

5 minutes ago, superniko said:

From what I’ve read the 3pm slot remains blackout so there will only be 7 x 3pm Saturday matches so that means 10 championship clubs each week will NOT be playing in the traditional slot. Absolute madness. 

Worth around £2m extra a year per club? If it’s £60m seasonal uplift with 80% going to the championship (assuming it’s split 24 ways equally).

Now, will Waggott take that money off his ticket prices? (Narrator: He won’t)

 

Nor will any club

All that will happen is that staff get paid more, with the biggest beneficiaries being the players

33 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

do we need alot of signings this summer? 

Current squad for next season

keepers - Pears, Wahlstedt, Michalski 

Defenders - Brittain, Carter, Hyam, Wharton, O'Riordan, Pickering, 

CM's - Tronstad, Garrett, Buckley, JRC, Travis

wide players - Dolan, Markanday, Sigurdsson, Hedges, 

no 10 - Szmodics, Gilsenan

Strikers - Gallagher, Vale, Telalovic, Leonard

I have included Dolan and Gallagher cos I expect them to sign next contract. 

I think we deffo need a pacey wide player, Striker, right back, maybe another Keeper if we loan out Wahlstedt for a season, I would use Gent at left back back up given the reviews he had there, could do with another centre back or maybe re sign McFadzean for another season. Then a replacement for Szmodics if he does leave.

That squad looks so bad when it is all out in front of you

We need a goalkeeper, right back, 2 central midfielders, 2 wide players and a striker. That is assuming we keep Szmodics, if not put another attacking midfielder in

We could also benefit from a better centre back and left back. But we can't be greedy now..........

Last night was grim

Right now, the Rovers squad is as weak as it has been since our last Championship relegation. And there are real parallels between the state of our club then and now. Off field disruption and a chronic lack of investment, coupled with the fallout between an ambitious manager and the club

But when you look back at our last 3 / 4 windows, you could really see this coming

We have lost Kaminski, Ayala, Brereton and Bradley Dack. I actually think the loss of Dack was the worst thing to happen to the dressing room. He was clearly a very big figure; he played with a smile on his face too, and that is infectious. Same with Brereton, who seemed a very happy figure, and the harmony of that dressing room just appeared to be perfect. The social media antics whilst obviously a bit staged, showed a very real chemistry between players

Mixed in with the leaders like above, you'd have Travis & Szmodics; before that, you had Bradley Johnson and Lenihan. We have lost some massive players recently and we haven't replaced them with like for like players

In the window where you lose Ayala, BBD, Dack and Kaminski, you are expecting players to come in who can fill that void. Instead, we have asked existing players to step up, like Dom Hyam, Sam Gallagher and Sammie. Only Szmodics has done, but I do worry at times about his temperament; unlike Dack, he doesn't play with a smile on his face, and is that following through to the dressing room?

I can't remember players who were at that "senior council" meeting (farce). I'm sure it was Hyam, Sammie, Sam G and Ryan Hedges. Compare that with what we have lost - it is night & day. This vacuum of leadership we suffer with at board level has once again permeated the playing staff. Last time that happened, we went down

I am starting to think that the success of this club depends entirely on appointing a manager that keeps his dealings close. We cannot operate with a DOF as they are hamstrung at board level. Really, we want to be turning back to a Mowbray type figure, who can work with the constraints of distant owners, and who is happy to operate at all levels of the club so that at least they have oversight from the person responsible for the playing performance

49 minutes ago, Admiral Nelsen said:

 

I'm lukewarm on Hedges. I don't think he really excels at anything in any position to be honest, but he's tidy enough on the ball and reasonably quick and broad shouldered. Lots of our other options are lacking either in size or ability, so he balances the team and doesn't go missing like others have the tendency to do.

 

I'm happy enough to have him in the squad, but if he's comfortably in our best XI then it doesn't say much about the rest of them to be honest. 

His best position is on the right. He has a good shot too, so when he can turn inside he can be dangerous

At the moment, comfortably in our best 11 for me. Last season, maybe not, but we have such a void in attacking talent at the moment and Hedges stands out for me as one of the best options

He's a better footballer than Sigurdson in my eyes

3 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Blimey, shows what a game of opinions football  is! I think Hedges is absolutely dire and would struggle to get a game at League 1 or League 2 level if he wasn't here. Like Gallaher he's an absolute sick note as well so you'd be extremely hard pressed to find two players who offer less in terms of talent  and reliability than either of those 2 imo.

Hedges isn't lacking in talent at all. Has a decent first touch, good weight of pass and can beat a man. His fitness is terrible though

Do agree on the game of opinions. When do you reckon will be the next time you have a good opinion of one of our players? 🤣

Hedges is 100% in our best 11. He's probably the best footballer we have now. If he had Szmodics' natural fitness he'd be fantastic at this level

I don't think we'll have as much success this game as we did against Southampton. They aren't as slow on the ball, which allows us to get back in to shape. The way Eustace sets his team up suits the underdog more. In games where we should dominate the ball more, the lack of quality and attacking emphasis will show up more

Going to go for another bore draw

2 hours ago, arbitro said:

It was Cheston who called Coyle the 'outstanding candidate' when he was appointed thus insulting us and our club. For that alone I'll not be sorry to see him go.

The rumours at the time was that Cheston had lined up Warnock. He had some annual leave and somebody else hijacked it and appointed Coyle

Say what you want about the statements after, but Cheston was probably told what to say

One of the issues at Rovers is that due to the stadium always having room there is little option to sell the match day ticket if they can't attend

At Aston Villa, season ticket holders can sell their match ticket through the club for the same price as a walk on. Plenty of ST holders I know are willing to keep paying their full ST even though they know they can't attend. You list it on the website and then get 80% of the match fee

Other than reducing prices, there's little else Rovers can do until the demand increases

I suppose we could offer a flexi-ticket, where you can choose a number of games per season. We know we are likely not to sell out and so we could do this relatively risk free

Family discounts could be good

Maybe even increase the children go for free range. All under 15s accompanied by an adult go free. That could help

Really, the product just has to improve. It ain't going to happen under Steve Waggott. I think this year will be a disaster

I need to have a proper read, but it's always the same picture

How can our revenue have gone up by 26% but we still lose £20m.......

As always with this lot, it doesn't make sense

The only way any money is being spent is if the case in India is wrapped up

The timing of the court sittings suggest it won't be wrapped up in a time good enough for us to operate "normally" - if such a word ever existed in Venkyland

We should be in a good position to spend money. If we ended this year profitable - which we absolutely should do - then that gives us wiggle room to spend

I had a feeling we'd perform well against Southampton. The way JE sets his sides up means he will always have a chance against a team coached by Russell Martin

We should get used to that type of performance - make the pitch as narrow as possible when you don't have the ball, but as wide as possible when you do. JE certainly follows that mantra. We look so much better in defence. Not allowing ourselves to be exposed to as many 1 v 1's really helps........ We have to understand that Hyam, Wharton and Carter aren't Premier League standard, and I really think that's where JDT let himself down

Unfortunately, we weren't good enough when we won that ball further up the pitch. It is a stark contrast to how our season was going before the change

I do worry about next year. There's every chance we are going to lose both Gallagher and Szmodics and clearly Eustace doesn't have a lot of faith in those behind them. Although, he can be reluctant to make changes at times, so that may be another thing we need to get used to. Really he just needs backing. We need some better wingers and we need a better striker than Gally who, for all of his work rate, is just not up to standard for the Championship imo.

1 minute ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Good to hear somebody is still playing. Amateur football has dropped off massively around my area. Same with women playing Netball and Rounders. At least they seem to be taking up what were seen as traditional men’s sports now.

Sunday league is dying. A lot of teams that are successful now do so because they have social media presence. Some of them, like SE Dons for example, end up with kit sponsorship by Puma. Baiteze are sponsored by Nike. They sell shirts for about £40 a go and have thousands of subscribers. They will be the only teams that survive soon. The combination of the dying pub trade and just the astronomical fees for pitches these days are crippling teams. Our pitch cost the pub £1400 this season and we played 10 home games. We made it to two cup finals, meaning we had more than 10 home games, and they charged us £110 per game extra just for being successful! I am sure even making the two finals cost us money. The woman who does our treasury was going spare

I also think the fact that pubs aren't that good any more doesn't help. If your local pub is full of crap players, then those teams always struggle for numbers. Used to be that playing for them might get you a photo on the pub wall or something, whereas now you're lucky if they even give you sponsorship money. I helped out last year at a team and the pub didn't even offer food when you got back. It just took the whole "team" thing out of it. Why go back when you could just go home and get a nice sunday lunch?

9 hours ago, AllRoverAsia said:

I've just watched the highlights of tonight's games having just awoken from a rare but welcome 6 hours sleep missing the live football and more importantly the darts.

I played just shy of 350 games at mid amateur level and I cannot recall a goal conceded by any keeper like Liverpool's first.

There were howlers but nothing like that.

So much for the fabled keepers eyeline.

Also so nice to see ManUre lose a game they were winning going into Fergie time.

The standard of goalkeeping has clearly dropped

You get goals like that almost every week on Sunday league

I play at a decent amateur level and I always tell my centre forwards to get goal side of the opposition centre backs for goal kicks. It gets us a few goals each season - the keeper just kicking it out at knee level right to them. Amazing really, because most goalkeepers in our league had been in and around academies all of their youth, but kicking and handling is just crap. Some excellent shot stoppers though

21 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

We would have never got £20m for him. £8m was a good offer that we had to take, it wasnt even as if it was mid season.

Yes we could have

He is young, English and could score. He was going to get goals at this level. You sign a player like that on a longer contract, his worth goes up. If it wasn't that year, it would have been the one after

£8m wasn't a good offer

Brereton should have been our "meal ticket" really

When you spend £7m on a player the expectation will always be high. That hampered him early doors. The contract should have been renewed though. You can't leave such an asset to within 18 months of his contract before starting to negotiate

I do understand why they didn't sell him for the £8m offered, but really being in that position was criminal. We should have got £20m+ for him during that season. And we would have done, had we offered a contract earlier

1 hour ago, Exiled in Toronto Mk2 said:

JDT was very employable, wanted to go places quick, knew - and let be known - who wasn’t up to it, and wasn’t afraid of getting fired. 

Eustace was on the scrap heap, grateful to get another gig, is delighted to not be managing complete donkeys, and will cling on by his fingertips no matter the indignities.

You couldn't have it more wrong about Eustace

But, it isn't a theme to know what you are talking about when it comes to John Eustace to be fair

I can't remember a manager getting as much undue stick on here than this bloke. It borders on stupid to be fair. Eustace had a few job offers before going with Rovers. He wanted this gig

5 minutes ago, tomphil said:

Waggot and Suhails deflection tactics are really being ramped up now.

You can't hide behind Tugay lads.

My immediate thought too tomphil

Following Tugay on social media, you can tell he probably doesn't have much of an idea about the true state of our football club

This really does stink of a "find yourself a figurehead" moment, particular after the likes of Speedie's comments in recent weeks

In the past I have seen good value in teams to beat us. Wigan last year for example. I think they were getting on to 6/1 to beat us at their place. They hadn't won in 9. They beat us 1-0. My head told me to put some money on it; my heart wouldn't let me

When you are looking at Rovers you'll find value because you know everything about them. I just can't bet on them though. Either to win or to lose. The only bet I have is a cheeky £10 on us to win the league every year. I know it's pissed up the wall, but one day that bet will come off and that money will be the sweetest cash you will ever earn

37 minutes ago, Blow-in said:

Probably points to how weak the squad has been over the season, especially with 5 subs other teams are replacing like for like and we are bringing on 15 year olds who can't even wear the kit sponsors.

Absolutely

The quality of our bench this season is as poor as it has been for years

Only last year, we had Bradley Dack, Daniel Ayala, Adam Wharton, Pears, Scott Wharton, Sorba Thomas, Leonard, Phillips

This year it has not been good enough. Those players have either moved on or been considered first team players.

Our bench for the last game of the season vs Milwall was: Ayala, Dack, Kaminski, Brittain, Dolan, Garrett and Leonard

If JDT had just been backed in that January transfer window we would have been in the play offs. We had a really good squad. We had Tony Mowbray to thank for some of that if we are being honest, but JDT had them coached to a seriously high level, even if there were questions over our 'spine' when going behind. What they have done to us over the last 2 transfer windows is nothing short of criminal; turned a squad like that into one where we look to the bench and see the likes of McFadzean