Just now, Proudtobeblue&white said:

Then I bow to your longevity. I just think TM will not take us any further, Owners who have no idea, and no future other than more of the same. The crowd base shrinks. It's heartbreaking.

I live down South so you have probably been to a lot more games than me. Like you I have doubts about TM but per my post above think we should stick

Just now, MCMC1875 said:

Big difference. We had sound foundations then.

Agreed that the club was a 1000% better run then; the problem I have with some of the criticism of Mowbray is that implicit is that his successor will be a better manager. There is no evidence in the last 9 years to suggest that that is likely. I also think that the "best" manager for the club is the one who works best with the current owners and I cannot think of who that would be - hence I prefer to support Mowbray despite some legitimate concerns

Just now, Proudtobeblue&white said:

I don't know how old you are, or how long you have watched the club, or where you are from. The point I make is we have a becalmed manager and rank owners. That is so far fetched from Kenny losing three in a row. TM will not win the PL if City employed him tomorrow. That's my point.

Attended my first game in October 1965. Don't disagree with you about the owners who are clueless. I was trying to introduce some sense of proportion - it is part of the modern football culture that people over react to what has happened in the last few days. Had similar people been around when Kenny was going through that terrible run, who knows what nonsense would have been spouted ?

Just now, Proudtobeblue&white said:

What relevance has that to our current situation? Kenny delivered the PL, Jack was the heart and soul of our club. 

Can't see the relevance of "Jack". The point is that even the best managers have bad runs 

Just now, BankEnd Rover said:

Imagine having a young eager manager who has balls to use our quality. We have one of the best squads in the league yet we have one of the most boringest delusional Managers in the league. It's not fair. 

Imagine being able to name him

Just now, DeeCee said:

1 point from 6 at home = shite

We lost 3 home games in a row under Dalgleish in 1991-92

Just now, USABlue said:

Good end of the game BUT anyone else think Walton should have stopped their goal.  It was not that well hit and he took a week and a half to get down.  I thought for sure Forest would nick it.  Not good enough and I do not like that Travis has had Mowbary coach the Travis out if him.  I don't.think Samuel has.done anything in his two cameos.  He has a couple good games for U23's and boom he's back jn.  Chapman has seemingly had plenty and is nowhere near he does like his boys our Tony.  It's.all just.so bloody infuriating.

Given that it was Mowbray who signed Chapman why do you think he has a down on him ?

12 minutes ago, tomphil said:

Seems he's doing well at Wigan, a rock i've even seen him described as throwing himself into blocks etc. Don't know what happened here but most likely just complacency and too much influence behind the scenes ended in thinking he was undroppable until tail end of last season.

Alternatively,standards and expectations might be lower at Wigan; after another defeat last night they look to be facing a relegation battle.

8 hours ago, Stuart said:

We have a temporary loan situation. That just means it needs addressing again. Ergo it hasn’t really been addressed.

It is the same approach as adopted last season by Aston Villa and Sheffield United - seems pretty good to me

2 hours ago, Stuart said:

Not really buddy.

The transfer window didn’t address our really problems and created even more problems in the area we are already fully stocked.

I think Mowbray peaked at West Brom (ironically with a brand of football that I’d prefer and that he has stated he no longer likes) and his L1 second place (having decided not to try to win the league) was a bit of a dead cat bounce. Would I sack him right now? No, but I do think we need some new ideas.

If I’m eating my words come the end of the season, I’ll be delighted mind.  

Our main problem to address was the defensive weakness - Mowbray signed a new goalkeeper, a new left back plus Tosun to compete as centre back and there has been a significant improvement in the goals per game conceded as a consequence. 

2 hours ago, Stuart said:

But snobby. They are at the same level as us. But the operative word is in bold, which is more than Chapman and others do for Rovers.

Some folk seem to like pretending that Mowbray promotes youth team players ahead of his own signings. Only a small percentage of our own get in and when they do he highlights their failings in public and then drops them or let’s them go.

Like I said, Mahoney will not look back at Rovers and wish he was on the bench here instead of on the pitch at Millwall.

But Chapman is one of Mowbray's signings rather than one of our youth team players - which of our youth team players are better than Mowbray's signings ?

33 minutes ago, Stuart said:

Someone is going to miss out. The player Mowbray bought or the U23 graduate who “is only a young kid really” and “still has lots of years ahead of him” and “needs to be patient”?

Holtby looks a good player but I’d rather we had brought in someone of similar pedigree in attack or full back. We now have a headache to rotate the midfield.

I guess we will see but I don’t think Connor Mahoney will look back with much regret about leaving. Just hope Travis doesn’t end up following him.

I don't understand what you are saying about Mahoney. He got the majority of his first team opportunities with us from Tony Mowbray but refused to renew his contract and then moved to a Premier League club where he never played - but presumably was better paid.

Just now, DE. said:

With their squad they should definitely be doing a lot better. Everything points to the players being utterly confused or having downed tools. Either way the only route out of that kind of situation is normally appointing a new manager.

http://oatcakefanzine.proboards.com/board/2/stoke-city-fc

Absolutely no support for Jones on here tbh. 

Yes, it's a lot cheaper to fire the manager than all the players. Jones did well at Luton so it does show that success in one set of circumstances does not automatically transfer to another

Just now, Dreams of 1995 said:

True Joe but we are still liable for those payments, as such have effectively 'spent' the money.

Transfer fees are amortised over the length of the contract if I am correct. As such, if we signed Brereton on say a 5 year deal for £10m we'd pay £2m for 5 years, or so it would show in our accounts as. 

Without seeing the contracts for the deals we can never be sure what the club are liable for. As Joe Harvey pointed out there is likely to be a trigger for payments in the case of promotion to the Premier League ( and also appearances for England) and those potential liabilities can be included in the fees for players that are quoted in the media. But it wouldn't be fair to say that we have "spent" those sums

Just now, 47er said:

I never said the those clubs spent nothing, merely that they spent less than we did and got better value for what they spent than we did. 

As for our loans you're taking liberties with my comments about Raya. I had no problem with borrowing Walton but I had  expected he would be in the squad alongside Raya not instead of him.

And there I'm finishing, I know from past experience I can never dim the enthusiasm or energy of the Glass Half-Full Brigade!

 

 

I doubt if Brighton would have wanted to loan Walton to us unless they were confident he was going to be playing regularly as first choice.

To know how much money clubs were spending last season we will need to see accounts to the end of June this year - I don't think ours are yet available ?

53 minutes ago, Stuart said:

It’s all about the manager, coaches and scouting team.

How does ours measure up?

Pretty well. Last season after 8 games Norwich had 11 points; we have 13

3 hours ago, DE. said:

Stoke are almost a mirror image of Ipswich at the moment. A struggling lower league manager who has made poor signings in the summer, a terrible start to the season and knocked out on penalties in the cup by League 2 opposition (Ipswich were beaten on pens in the EFL cup by Exeter last season). Ominous signs, although overall Stoke have a more talented squad than Ipswich so if they ditch Jones and bring in somebody decent they could get themselves out of trouble. 

Those "poor signings". Didn't they sign 5 players in one day in the summer ? Then people came on here saying how well they had done !

Just now, CambridgeRover said:

I think long term Lenihan and Tosin are better, I can appreciate Williams is playing well but just personal choice

 

But aren't those two both better suited to playing on the right side of central defence whereas Williams provides balance by being suited to the left side ? 

Just now, Hasta said:

I'm not sure if Samuel is good enough at this level, but to be honest with his form it's another reason why BB is going further down the pecking order.

When Brereton is back, he needs to get a run in the under 23s and be finding this kind of form.

 

Alternatively it might be best in the long run for Brereton to go on loan to a Division One club for the second half of the season and get a run of games where he could start scoring goals and re-discover his confidence - unfortunately I suspect that the reaction of the owners to my suggestion would be strongly negative 

Just now, rovers11 said:

I’m one of those who thinks Samuel does have a part to play in the first team. He wasn’t that great in the lge 1 season but he did show flashes of being a good player, plus he has all the right attributes to be a good striker. No one has really nailed down that central striking spot yet so I think he will get a chance to shine. 

It wouldn’t surprise me if he gets added to the bench for a game soon.

Yes, I think he is a striker suited to playing in the centre but he was played out wide for a while in Division One and consequently lost confidence in front of goal. It's good news that he is on the way back.

Just now, Stuart said:

https://talksport.com/football/573683/maurizio-pochettino-mauricio-tottenham/

Thanks, I didn't know that - not always the easiest situation to be in for any walk of life and there is the risk that he is an easy target.

Just now, Stuart said:

Miserable weather this evening.
Let’s hope the football will warm us up!

Is the Number 15 for Spurs for real ?

2 hours ago, 1864roverite said:

As it stands Rf99, I couldn't give a toss if we won every game 1-0 and other players than our centre forward scored the goals. Its a team game, points at stake and at the end of the day it doesn't matter who scores as long as we win and each team member contributes to the game.

My views exactly

Just now, gumboots said:

They were. Loads of people had brought their kids. We took our 3 year old grandson with us. He had a whale of a time running along the front of the stand copying the subs warm up routines and we didn't think he'd paid much attention to the game but he told his mum afterwards that one man kicked the ball and if somebody caught it then lots of other men jumped on him in a big heap. We bought him a rugby ball afterwards and he was immediately running then lying down and passing it back to his grandad. He cried when he had to leave the ground. Doesn't take much at that age to get them interested

Bring him to the game against Luton

Just now, Atko's Engine said:

Isn't the issue here more about whether Gallagher is a striker or a forward? A striker, either by talent or formation, scores goals and does little else. It's the role of the rest of the team to get the ball to him so he can strike. Like Rhodes.

Gallagher is not a striker, or at least he's not being utilised as one. He's playing as a forward, mainly in a wider role but pretty much anywhere across the front / midfield in a way that's inter changing with other forwards and attacking midfielders. In that role he's there to create problems for defenders that he or team mates can profit from, whilst also tracking back when required out wide.

He's therefore being played differently to how Graham was last season, as he's being asked to play a wider role far more often due to his pace & mobility, something Graham never had, so they're not directly comparable. Though I accept Graham has more to his game than being just a striker too.

Overall, his contributions in games is excellent imo, though we'd all be happier if he scored more goals like we know he can. We can debate about whether or not he's being utilised in his best position by TM, but ultimately he's an important cog in the wheel of a team that is playing well & winning games. That's not just my opinion, or me repeating the manager's words; wasn't it Rigger who said Reading's fans thought he was our best player,  or words to that effect?

 

I think this puts it very well indeed