north_ender
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Posts posted by north_ender
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Not confident heading into this one, or any game this season for that matter. I wouldn't be too taken by our last 2 results. We were horrendous at Middlesbrough and were essentially gifted the win. Fulham we did okay with Ched Evans galvanising us but we were still nothing special and only got a point.
My view, and the view of most fans, is that McAvoy is hugely out of his depth. I would be surprised if he does a job on Mowbray tactically like Neil did 2-3 times whilst in charge.
Like any team at this level we have the odd big result in us, like winning away at Bournemouth, but performances have been poor all season on the whole and the majority view is that we need managerial change very quickly if we're to move up the table.
Evans coming back into the team is a big boost as he has been outstanding since signing, and Riis is a big threat up front too, but our defence is there to be got at. We play 5 at the back but don't really have any good wing backs.
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Dolan would have gone anyway even if we'd offered him a deal, but letting him go just sums up what we've become as a football club in the last 2-3 years. The owners are continuing to put in large amounts of money just to keep us afloat, and they aren't getting good value for money. You can't have a football club losing 5-10 million pounds a year giving away talents like Dolan for nothing. Dolan will be worth millions in the future especially if he gets England U21 recognition soon.
We used to be a club that brought on younger players like Dolan but now the money seems to go on older journeymen or mediocre lower league signings who won't be worth a penny in re-sale value in the future, whilst, as mentioned above, the club continues to operate at a huge loss.
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Wouldn‘t be surprised if you moved for Alex Neil.
He has a track record of getting into or pushing closely for the top 6 with decent Championship squads and a reasonable budget, which you have.
And he is settled in the area with his family.
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4 hours ago, Exiled_Rover said:
No disrespect, but the PNE job is an awful one.
Neil has had his team sold from under him and the fans are delusional with their expectations.
Yes it is a very tough job. Which is why despite the bad run we have been on, most fans are thankful to Alex Neil for the job he has done. It has been a herculean effort to keep us competitive and pushing the edges of the play-offs for 3 years whilst we continue to sell our best players and fail to re-invest.
In a sense there are attractions to the job. It is a fairly stable club where managers get time, we now have a top quality training ground, and the squad will always be very easy to man-manage.
But the management of contracts, transfers and basically everything off the pitch to do with football this season has been nowhere near good enough which is why fan criticism is now heading in Ridsdale's direction.
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3 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:
Who will you look to replace him with?
Who would you want? Any suggestions?
It sounds like they want to appoint a young upcoming coach as more of a head coach, with the club controlling transfers by investing more in recruitment staff and analysts. Like at Brentford or Barnsley.
Neil is a good coach but he has had tensions with the hierarchy about transfers throughout his tenure and is more of a 'win now' manager, whereas the club want to generally bring in younger players and bring them on.
He has hardly played Tom Bayliss, for example, who the club bought from Coventry, but experienced heads like Ched Evans or Cunningham are thrown straight into the side and trusted from the off.
The two parties are no longer on the same page. He will do well elsewhere and we will be capable of kicking on without him, but for everyone's sake he needs to be moved on with the club's best wishes.
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3 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:
Listening to the Neill interview on Radio Lancs - if he’s at Preston after the international break I’ll be surprised. A man honestly holding his hands up that he’s run his race. At least he’s honest.
Reports this evening that he will be leaving imminently. Good manager who has on the whole done a decent job. Apparently things have been a bit tense behind the scenes this season with multiple key players allowed to run their deals downed, who were then sold in January without adequate replacement. It has made things very difficult and Neil seems to have now given up.
He will go on to do well elsewhere but a parting of ways now feels like the right thing to do for all parties.
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I thought we played well in the first half and probably on balance deserved the win, but was relieved that you didn't attack the way you did at Deepdale, especially as we've lost our 3 best defenders since then. We are currently very vulnerable at the back, yet Harvey Elliott was left on the bench and I'm not sure where Armstrong was playing?
Armstrong was devastating at Deepdale through the middle as a striker. I was relieved that he seemed to be shunted into a different role tonight. Even when he was central, the ball was hoofed up to him against a 6ft 3 centre half.
Thought Branthwaite struggled a bit for you at the back, although Evans did have a very good game again.
Most PNE fans have looked on at your transfer business and 20 goal striker in envy this season yet under Mowbray your limit seems to be mid-table, despite how heavily he has been able to invest.
With an ambitious and more tactically adept manager I'm pretty sure you'd be seriously in the top 6 race every season with that squad.
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3 hours ago, Mercer said:Alex Neil likes running around Longridge - think he'll have to give that a miss for a while!
Lol, think a couple of the players live around there too. After bad home defeats there will always a big backlash. But I would argue that social media and forums aren't always representative of the majority view.
A lot of fans would still argue that Alex has done a very good job for 3.5 years now with one hand tied behind his back, allowing us to compete in the top half of the Championship whilst our best players are all sold and replaced on the cheap. He has also had players foisted onto him like Nugent, and we are now in a scenario where our 5 best players - Pearson, Browne, Johnson, Davies, Fisher - are all available on free transfers next summer because the club have failed to offer them the market rate for proven Championship players. He has also continually argued for an U23 squad which has not been allowed to happen due to finance, which leads to lads like Dolan leaving the club.
Basically recruitment, contracts, the entire footballing side of the club has been mismanaged for a number of years now, so with that and the lack of any reasonable backing on transfers it's very hard for Alex to continue to place us in the play-off hunt every year. We are now dropping back to where we probably belong - lower mid-table. The problem is that the ownership is not going to change, so even if we did change managers, the next manager would face all of the same problems.
Was impressed with Blackburn tonight despite our ineptitude. Unlike us you have been shrewd in the loan market and actively added pace along with Championship experience to the squad. The squad looks much improved and Armstrong looks like a Premier League player at the moment. Throw Dack back into the mix, if he can hit the ground running, and you could be in for a good season.
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4 hours ago, danger19_80 said:
Are the Preston fans even aware of the bollock they've dropped here. Doesn't seem to be much chat on their message board. Bit about missing out on Arma.
He wanted to leave anyway but the fact that we did even offer him a contract is very bad.
There was some talk during lockdown that no funding had been made available to keep any youth teamers on, except for Ethan Walker who'd already signed a pro contract some time ago.
We're also yet to make a single addition to the squad, despite having the worst strike force bar Hull last season.
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On 24/07/2020 at 19:54, chaddyrovers said:
Connor Ripley would probably be a small fee but would he be coming here as number 1 tho?
Ive seen the odd game a 3 or 4 seasons ago of him but not enough to form a proper opinion.
Can You tell me more about his keeping?
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From an outsider's perspective, I've always wondered why Mowbray's position isn't more widely discussed. He's spent £15m, correct me if I'm slighly wrong, on strikers yet can't mount a serious play-off push.
Looking at some of the options you have got, a more ambitious and hungry type of manager would probably get more out of them. Mowbray has underachieved in a similar way to Lee Johnson at Bristol City.
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7 hours ago, Mattyblue said:
I’m pretty sure that was the process last season... difference being they were flying then and it wasn’t just after Christmas so the upper tier went in no time...
The lower tier went first last time. I had to leave it late buying one and ended up in the upper.
Suspect it's because it's not a daft kick off time for once that they tried to make it upper first this time.
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Just now, K-Hod said:
I’ll be honest, if anyone didn’t take the chance to triple their wages, I’d wonder if everything was alright at home.
Neil is in a position to play the long game though. He's in a stable and decent job at the moment on £1m+ a year, he doesn't need to take any job or wage increase that comes up. Chances are in the summer he'll be offered a big deal at another club far more stable than Stoke and at that point he'd probably go, but there's no point rushing to a bottom of the table club who keep sacking young managers.
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6 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:
I expect Alex Neil will leave now by resigning if he serious wants the Stoke Job. IMO, He must if Stoke sacked Jones on a Friday and his staff aswell
Nah, just poor planning from Stoke. Looks like they tried to agree things with Neil first then strong-arm us after that, and now it's transpired that we weren't having any of it and AN wasn't even bothered about the move. Given the shambolic way Stoke's been run since they came down, really wouldn't be a surprise if they drop down again into L1.
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Just now, chaddyrovers said:
well thanks for being honest in the 1st place.
as for the Bauer point, my view is that no-one is automatic in any team. its down to performance. Would you not agree? How has Bauer been playing for you?
Can I also ask why isn't Storey starting for you?
I agree that nobody should an automatic selection when joining a club, and Bauer didn't have to be for us initially because we've got Storey as well, but he's performed like a man mountain right from the opening day, so at the moment he probably is an automatic choice but that's down to good performances.
I doubt Neil guaranteed him an automatic spot every week when trying to get him to sign, but ultimately players do want at least some assurances on game time before joining a new club and my point was just that to lose out on a long-term target as Mowbray clearly did by not offering that assurance when you're clearly light at the back anyway is poor management and looks like it's costing you.
As for Storey, he did really well when he came into the side last season, considering how inexperienced he was. He's been a bit unlucky but ultimately the Bauer-Davies partnership has been excellent and both of them are undroppable at the moment. Neil seems very keen to have a left footed CB in the team for balance so with Davies out today he went instead with Hughes. It's not a bad indictment of Storey or anything, who Neil rates very highly.
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23 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:
It was a pen but felt several decisions by the ref was soft for them. Pearson is such a cry baby for supposedly a hard man.
The centre backs were bullied by Stockley and someone like Craig Short would have sorted him out. We lack a proper leader at the back and its costly us badly now.
To be honest, we do go down quite easily and try to buy cheap free kicks. We also time waste very regularly away from home. It's sometimes not great to watch but it's now part of the game, and as a team with a very small budget for this level, we are never going to turn up and just play teams off the park every week. We have to scrap, be streetwise, be willing to change things up sometimes in how we play, and have good 'game management'.
Tony Mowbray seemed quite critical of it in his post-match interview, along with the fact that we hit it long throughout the game. My response to that would be that why wouldn't we keep hitting it long when it was clear that the Rovers defenders couldn't really deal with it? And also, perhaps if Mowbray didn't think himself to be above 'game management' then you wouldn't be letting teams get on top of you and throwing away leads. If he believes you can just pass teams off the park every week without having to go long or changes things up sometimes in this league then he clearly isn't adaptable enough tactically. If he wants to paint himself as a purist then fine, but it clearly doesn't help in winning points.
As for your centre backs, having seen them today fail to deal with balls into the box, long balls, and a physical target man, I'm astonished that your local press were briefing that Bauer wouldn't have been an automatic first choice at Blackburn and that's why you didn't sign him. Granted, he should have done better on the first goal, but I thought he was gargantuan in the second half and I suspect the result may well have been different if he'd been playing for the other side today. As you say it's clear that you lack a leader in the defence.
As I said in my previous post, given some of the quality players you have, you look to have the makings of a decent Championship side, but you obviously need a managerial change.
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Neil got the starting team badly, badly wrong. The front line was totally unbalanced with Browne on the right (with Bodin and Potts, right wingers, sat on the bench) and Hughes had a shocker first half filling in at centre back for Davies (Storey, a CB, sat on the bench).
He doesn't often get it wrong tactically, but when he does he isn't afraid to change it quickly and the first half change bringing Stockley on made a big difference.
Just like I said after the match in March last season, I look at Blackburn and fail to see what way they are trying to play, or what the manager is asking the players to do. Yes you went 2-0 up early on, but whilst you did show some decent aggression and pressing, it was more down to our ineptitude in the first 15 minutes than any patterns of play by Rovers. The players seem to be shoehorned into different roles despite Mowbray having numerous opportunities to rebalance the side in the market. It seems to me that you recruit based on seeing who's available rather than methodically balancing out the squad, hence having 2 very expensive strikers in the squad yet defenders always playing out of position.
Once we actually started stringing some moves together and played off Stockley, Rovers were second best and we dominated. Once the first goal went in it looks inevitable that we'd go on to score more. Mowbray's post-match interview is that of a desperate man facing the sack. He can blame the referee all he wants but Blackburn have been conceding a lot of goals for some time, so it's down to him.
To me it looks like you have the basis of a potentially good side at this level but need a much better manager tactically and in the market.
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50 minutes ago, JacknOry said:
Midfield was awful today. Usually they are our strongest aspect yes, but when they have an off day too, we look atrocious.
Walton, i know people lamented Raya's distribution but at least he got it out of his hands and up the field.
Has Walton been poor? We were after a keeper in the summer and failed to get one, and there were strong rumours that after missing out on Muric to Forest, Neil wanted Walton on loan, prior to him joining Blackburn. I thought he looked decent at Wigan.
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13 hours ago, Bigdoggsteel said:
Ya, to be honest I am surprised to hear we are the ones in pole position to sign him. I would go as far as coup....
Huge, huge, huge upgrade on what we have. A proper defender.
You are correct in saying it's a coup for you. Thought some of the real big hitters in the league would be all over him tbh.
Was a fan favourite with us. What further rubs salt into the wounds is that we loaned out a left back last week, failed in a bid for Max Lowe from Derby and then didn't even try to source another one, leaving ourselves short. Rank bad management from those upstairs and Neil doesn't sound happy about how our window has gone despite getting Bayliss. Then Greg joins Blackburn!
Our goalkeeping situation is a mess too. Led to believe we were also in for Walton but missed out.
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8 hours ago, JacknOry said:
Whats his strengths? Still not convinced we will get it over the line - we dont do defenders here.
He’s a very solid full back who is also excellent going forward. Just an all-round top player for this division.
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Greg is a magnificent signing for any Championship club.
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On 12/07/2019 at 17:25, Paul Mani said:
PNE about to re-sign David Nugent after selling Robinson. What happened to their amazingly innovative young manager...
Not a Neil signing.
Robinson is a winger who we’re looking to replace with Hunter from Fleetwood.
Also Neil is desperate to sign a first choice keeper.
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4 minutes ago, JacknOry said:
Sharpe also backtracking from his article the other day where he said we're looking at Bauer and a younger CB. Now essentially calling him just a Downing replacement.
Your local reporter just follows ‘the party line’ then, just like ours does at the LEP.
I really doubt Tony Mowbray chased Bauer for 12 months to replace someone who played 3 times in the league for you last season.
Clubs miss out on players all the time, it happens. We missed out on Armstrong to Rovers last summer when we thought we had him. Don’t see why reporters and clubs try to deny it.
As for game time, he may not immediately walk into the side but he’ll be much better competition for Jordan Storey than Huntington who is in decline and Clarke who is injury prone. We need Bauer’s experience whilst Storey develops.
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v PNE (h) - 4/12/21
in Blackburn Rovers Fans Messageboard
Posted · Edited by north_ender
Lovely man who tried his best but miles out of his depth and should have been sacked weeks ago. Should never have been appointed to begin with.
Our squad isn't as strong as when we had Davies, Pearson, Robinson, Hugill and others but it's still good enough to be playing way better, and be higher up the league, than we are at the moment. Our defence needs strengthening but our goalkeeper is one of the best in the division, our midfield is strong, and Riis and Evans are decent strikers at this level. Frankie just isn't a manager and couldn't get them playing.
Ryan Lowe seems to be the very strong early favourite with the bookies but we'll see I suppose.