Dreams of 1995

You just have made it up. That's not what that table of data shows in any way shape or form Nor has it been what Joe and Andy have been trying to claim either People dismissing data analysis because "they can see better with their eyes" are allowing themselves to be blinded. Whilst data might not present the whole truth it goes some way to filtering out the 'luxury' players Steve Walsh wrote a great article in The Times a few weeks back about his discovery of Kante and Mahrez. He was taken back by Mahrez's skills on the ball but in scouting him came across Kante. Before deciding to scout Kante he retrieved his data and was impressed by his 'recoveries', tackle percentages etc. This was a player that wasn't a glamourous player like Mahrez, not a goal scorer like Haaland (who Walsh uncovered too iirc) but an industrious player that really shined in his match data. Without using them scouting systems that he used he might never have returned to see Kante play in the flesh. There's definitely a role to play with data in football and imo those that are throwing it aside are either old news or unwilling to adapt to the modern world.

Our problem lies in the route we have to take. We draw either Portugal, Germany or France in the first knockout round. If you want to win you have to beat the best. I think this team is good. I would start Ben White over Tyrone Mings personally but that won't happen. Mings is a pretty bad footballer in my eyes but has done well off the field. Out of the Villa back line he has easily been the worst this season yet is the only one included in the England squad. Go figure. To make up for our defensive weakness I have decided I would play 5 at the back. Problem being Southgate has tried to shoe-horn players in to a 4-2-3-1 for a while now, meaning we have no experience playing a formation which served us well last tournament. For me: Henderson James Stones White Trippier Shaw Rice Bellingham Grealish Kane Rashford Switch Grealish for Foden, Rashford for Sancho / Sterling and you have some real impact subs. Henderson would play over Bellingham if fit. Walker is James' back up. Maguire when fit comes in for Ben White. And I know that Southgate will pick Pickford but personally Dean Henderson is a better goalie and would play for me every time. I personally think that squad above could beat France and really that is the team we need to beat.

Big fight happening this weekend between Leon Edwards vs Nate Diaz Birminghams own Leon is my favourite but either way this one will be s bitter scrap. Both fighters go toe for toe.

I think the plan was always 3 at the back Joey. Has to be without Hendo and he was always a doubt. I think it will be James Stones and Mings personally but could easily see Walker replace James. Although I'd prefer he didn't. I have never been a fan of Mings either and personally think Ezre Konsa is a better defender than him having watched almost all the Villa games this year. I have faith in Bellingham in midfield with Rice and thought they looked good together against Austria. They just needed more movement up front. We need to get players running in behind and that's why I am not taking much from the Austria game. Saka, Grealish and Lingard was a poor attacking 3 when you consider Kane. He needs a Rashford, Sancho or Sterling out wide to make them runs in behind when he drops deep. None of the 3 vs Austria did that. The bigger test will be Romania. If he plays his starting line up, which he should do, then we will have an idea of how we are going to perform.

Just because he said it doesn’t make it a factual comment I might add We have to stop pretending like the days of Jack Walker are forever. Historically a player would choose clubs like Utd over us and they would over the vast majority of clubs internationally We don’t know what happened over Bauer but McGinn going to Villa and Kipre to PL Wigan isn’t a sign we are unattractive They aren’t light years ahead of us and quite frankly I resent a fan of Rovers making such comments but have grown accustomed to such pessimism. That is the sad thing in my eyes.

That’s a fair comment I suppose. But it has been more than Mount and Rashford. James, Chilwell, Mount, Sterling, Walker, Foden and Stones all played. There’s a lot of tired legs.

I hope going with a smaller supplier like Macron means our kit will have more thought. Lower league teams all have a copy and paste jobby with the bigger sports brands. Umbro were a bit better but even still managed to miss the mark on a number of occasions.

Ps: I bet people would moan if Mount, Rashford etc got injured tonight when he could have game them a rest! They last played on Saturday after a pretty gruelling season. It makes sense to protect the players you want starting in the tournament. It isn’t like they will be unfit.

The right back situation will speak for itself when we see the formation. My guess is that he sees James as more of a right sided centre half. If Southgate decides to play 5 at the back it leaves Walker / James as the right side, Stones / Coady as central, Maguire / Mings as the left side. That depth is probably about right. In truth we may need to play 5 at the back to counter a bad midfield. Ward-Prowse is unlucky to miss out. He’s a cracking player with a wand of a foot and those set piece specialists are huge in tournament football. Luckily for us we have capable back up in Trippier. Overall I think the squad is as strong as it could be. Greenwood is the biggest miss but that was injury related. I think Saka got in because of that. That said Saka has played everywhere for Arsenal this year and has had a good season. Key is to get Henderson fit and hope him and Rice can anchor that midfield well enough to let our brilliant attacking options thrive.

He was awesome imo. A shame about his injuries. He was really quick too and as a kid I always tried to emulate him in trying to get infront of the attacker before the ball reached him. He was brilliant at taking it off their toes.

The defenders we have now aren’t a brush on what we had in the 00s. They were top class to a man. Ledley King would walk into this back 4 at the moment for me. We are severely lacking a Sol Campbell. Neither Maguire nor Stones fill me with confidence. It is a banker that Stones will make a mistake in the tournament. The only unknown is whether it will cost us the game or not.

I think Southgate will go with 5 at the back. The number of defenders points towards that anyway. We have such a bad midfield that it probably needs a more solid defensive base to accommodate it. An injury to Henderson or Rice and you don’t have a ball winning midfielder left. Phillips isn’t the answer. Id like to see him take Trippier at right back. I think he’s our best defender and has had the benefit of Simeone defensive training. A league winner at Athletico and an unbelievable dead ball specialist. He’s my go to right back. I think you need to get Foden, Kane and Rashford on the pitch with Sancho, Sterling and Grealish ready to come on. That’s a deadly forward line. The problem will come in midfield but Rice and Henderson will be good anchors. The problem is Southgate loves Mason Mount so you’ll have him shoe horned in there over a better quality player imo.

There is a huge commercial opportunity here. South American fans are fanatical and would definitely purchase a Brereton Rovers shirt if given the chance. Merchandise geared towards that should be sold to Chileans or at least marketed there. I highly doubt it though. Well go after the totally wikeds of this world still.

Selling Rothwell to keep Armstrong doesn’t make any sense to me. There’s a player in Rothwell I think. He picks the ball from deep and can hurt teams. He is anonymous far too much but i would like to see him under a new manager before pinning that entirely on him. Don’t sell either and use the owners ‘deep pockets’ to sign some cheques LOL

I would concur with oldjamfan in that your first sentence is incredibly harsh. Nay, I'll go further, incredibly untrue. This is a letter which aims to open a line of communication with Venkys. In that respect the language and structure isn't poor. It is clear, considerate, concise and correct. It isn't emotional and only deals with facts. If you do write as a living then I am sure you could do better. Although I would argue that writing for a living is considerably different to opening lines of communication / correspondence relating to negotiation. Part of my day job is drafting such letters and I think the critique on writing and structure is based on bodies of writing that have a different purpose to this open letter

Things like this will. It is because those people don't understand there are methods which may work and methods which may not work. Had this letter been a slanging match in which Mowbray, Waggot and Venus took pelters, I am sure it would have gone down better. It certainly would not have gone down better with the people that are important in this - Venkys. Like it or not any communication with them has to appeal to them. It has to make sense for them to engage. I saw a gentleman post on Facebook about how it was "poorly written". Given how he delivered his message I thought "pot kettle black". It does go to show though that people will find faults if they want even where there aren't any. I think it is a good letter. Well written and succinct. The only thing I will say is that I still don't know what the objective of it is. Do they want the Venkys to write back? Adopt 50+1? It is a bit ambiguous in that sense

It's odd that Mowbray is even talking about getting a say in the hiring of a recruitment director. He wants to "see if the connection is there". I don't personally give a crap if he connects with Mowbray. If he is good for the club, can spot a player and is in it for the long-haul that's all that counts.

It’s silly season!!

I wouldn’t put Mowbray in the same league as Kean personally although I totally understand the lack of trust and respect after Brockhallgate. I apportion more of the blame to Waggott if I am honest. A real nasty piece of work. Something about him reminds me of a second hand car salesman. Mowbray won’t be remembered fondly that’s for sure. He had a lot of good credit banked but that is just about running dry now.

I don't understand the whole not buying a ticket if Mowbray starts the season as manager. Sorry. I understood the Venky boycott but if history tells us something it is that it does not matter what our game attendance is. Managers come and go in this game and depriving yourself of watching Rovers because of one man is silly. Voice your opinion in the ground. Unlike Venkys he literally has to be there to hear it. Talk of comparing him to Kean and Coyle is just overexaggerated. He's a poor manager that is covering his failings with drivel in the media. What differs him from other managers out there? Nowt. Don't think he is some special case. The only victims of you not attending are Rovers and yourselves. Mowbray, Waggott and the rest don't care one iota.

Do not let one man ruin something for you. If the last 12 months has taught us anything it is not to take anything for granted. In modern times there are no guarantees Rovers will be here in the next 10 years. Boycotting does not work with owners that are not interested in the thoughts of fans.

I cannot see how you’d be against sanctioning these people. At the end of the day they tried to destabilise football forever. They attempted to put themselves above the laws of competition. It is a no brainier in my eyes that sanctions should follow. Even if they are not club related they could be finance related. You could even make them qualify for this years Champions League as opposed to automatic - which is meaningless but will piss them off. I think the best form of punishment would be if this reform promised by so many sees a fairer method of ownership. It would also put the comments from other clubs owners on the line - do they really respect the role of fans as much as they claim? If fan ownership / board representation comes from this then it would be the ultimate punishment for 12 men who are far detached from the realities of life. I thought the Liverpool owners video apology was reticent of his ambition. He also shown a lack of understanding of what a football club is in Europe - instead focusing on the importance of “developing the company”. It was very American, and even in his apology and attempt to show he isn’t detached, he couldn’t have been any further from the everyday man if he tried. It was poor and stunk of self preservation. We are yet to hear from the rest but if they are still in football in the next 12 months then you know how sincere the promises of governments and football authorities were.

With the combined financial powers of UEFA, fifa and all respective football associations / governments such an organisational restructure should be possible. It is whether they want to put their money where their mouth is. I suspect that is where we will fall short. As said though, it the money drains from football, in the long term those ridiculous wages could not be demanded because the supply simply isn’t there. I can only say I hope you are wrong but I do think I am being an idealist

I would suspect some form of government legislation or agreement between the clubs and players would have to be sought. The issue is whether Sky can reneg on their contractural agreements. If they can and the TV rights money drops then simply those contracts will have to be torn up. I know there is more complexity to what I am saying but I don't think we will see mass bankruptcy. These football organisations have to realise their time is up. Uefa, Fifa and the FA have all contributed to this greed taking over the game. It is now up to them to put an end to it all. The current model is unsustainable, with players demanding 500k a week becoming a regular news story. It cannot be allowed to go on like this even if this ESL does not go ahead. A total reset could come of this and unfortunately the players may have to take a financial hit because their contracts are not realistic to their worth once you take away the incredible amounts of money donated by TV.

The money draining doesn't affect anyone except the players, agents and coaches. If there is £65 million in the pot to spend they will fight for all £65 million; if there is £6 million they will fight for all of that. The alternative for them is that they get proper jobs in the real world and that isn't going to happen. You'd be a footballer over a bricklayer every day of the week. If the 6 clubs can enter this Super League they cannot be allowed to compete in the Premier League. The revenue they generate from the Super League will make them financially untouchable in the Prem, and therefore the competitiveness of our domestic leagues will be called in to question. If other clubs cannot ever aspire to that level of prize money then what would be the point? The more I think about it there more I would want this "World Series of Football" to go ahead so we can get our game back. I understand the money will drain but at the end of the day we are all trying to pick up whatever crumbs this lot drops anyway. There are a lot of small clubs that would embrace the idea of these 6 dropping out of the football association. In the short term there will be a lot of change - with owners like you describe calling it a day - but over time that financial disparity will plateau and providing it is supported and regulated the fans can take some control back of their clubs. People will still want to watch football and I think our domestic game might improve. This is all idealistic though and doubt it will happen. I would feel very sorry for the fans of the big 6 but it is up to them to fight against it and show they don't want it. But the message should be clear: if they are allowed to enjoy the riches this ESL promises then they cannot be allowed to use that finance to fund a squad that is head and shoulders above everybody else in the league. The prize money has to be earned, not given each year so they can better predict their balance sheet.