Shout me down as a madman, BRFCS, but hear me out first:

Daniel Sturridge is a free agent and has been for a while. There are all the reasons in the world why he wouldn't come, we shouldn't sign him and why it might totally not work out for anyone.

But as a redemption narrative, somewhere around a "pay per game"/weighted towards appearance fees remuneration and the fact that he seems to have straightened himself out a bit after definitely losing his way. So crazy it just might work..?



(It's not, is it? It's just crazy.)

1 minute ago, chaddyrovers said:

I would say it would be Rothwell who misses out. Still wouldn't surprise me if he was sold before the deadline

See what you mean, but I was thinking Travis, Davenport and this guy as the three we'll end up playing most often (again, if it comes off). I agree, I think Rothwell more likely to go than stay.

5 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Mowbray would like Man City Tommy Doyle on loan for the season according to Rich Sharpe

That's Buckley not getting a game, if it happens.

3 minutes ago, rigger said:

Is it not upto the other fans forum members, to ask him, what his interests in moving the training facility are. In a minuted meeting so there is evidence. 

Looking at the most recent minutes, it’s all very softball. Absolutely no probing. Strikes me that the fans’ forum is more interested in being able to ask questions than asking questions of any consequence. Maybe that’s seen as the safer tactic, but I can’t say I see any point in a fans’ forum if it’s not applying pressure at a time like this. Correct me if I’m wrong, of course, but with a Twitter presence as it is and no working website, are they even trying?

5 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

It is impossible to say really based solely off a friendly and in direct opposition to a 20 million pound winger and its not as if he had a shocker.

I just thought that it was worth flagging up that he looks slow and it may be a concern against quick wingers in competitive matches, the key will be if he has the intelligence to compensate for his lack of pace. I also read that his strengths lie going forward although he tended to turn back and at one stage he took too long to get the ball out of his feet and a good counter attack fell apart. He did put a decent ball to the back post at one point that was nodded behind. 

Obviously a friendly is very much not something to take many conclusions from, it is just interesting to get a first impression of our sole new (sort of) signing and what type of player he is.

And id like to think that for a player that cost over half a million and will be our only new addition to last seasons team that will have cost money, that the standards are above merely being better than 2 incompetent players.

I think that 3/5 at the back tends to need to be played week in week out like Sheffield United did for players to get that continuity.

Does it suit our squad though, thats the question? None of our centre backs seem comfortable in bringing the ball out from the back. I personally think that Nyambe is more suited to being a full back which relies less on his attacking output which is very limited and more on his one on one defending where he is strong. Pickering with his lack of pace may also suit being a full back although im obviously less sure on him having never seen him competitively.

 

I’m really not one for quoting or getting into disagreements on here but I’ve read two or three of your posts and I just fundamentally disagree with your assessments. Magloire made at least two runs into the opposition half from the back and Nyambe is a very effective forward player. If the expectation is that he’s constantly getting balls in from out wide, then you need to broaden the scope of understanding what an effective wide player is. Overlaps, underlaps and his stamina are crucial for how this kind of system would work and he does all three well enough to be effective. Not got world class delivery as an end product, but more than effective.

I just don’t see how you came to your conclusions at all.

A good watch. Vale looks some way off troubling the first team. Cirino looks really promising. Pretty solid, but additions seem essential.

Leeds commentators insufferable.

Have that, you nasty Yorkshire b*stards.

Very greedy play from Armstrong this half.

Brereton seems to be in good shape/form.

Nice to see the likes of Nyambe, Buckley and Magloire having good games so far. Away kit looks excellent. Sock design is suprisingly effective in making it look very good.

Pickering doesn’t look comfortable, but Raphinha is a pretty tough assignment.

I’m genuinely enjoying this. I’ll stop short of optimism, because let’s be realistic. But so far, not a waste of 40 mins or so.

Fair credit to Magloire on his forward runs, he’s doing good work there and looks an energetic defender.

edit: immediate feelings of total familiarity that nothing happened in the end. I enjoyed the fantasy, the comedown was a bit harsh, but I’ve survived it and I’m here. In summary: keep feeding me the gossip.
 

1 minute ago, dallydally said:

Are you the UK winner tonight??!! 🤠🤠🤠

If I am, they’re in no rush to tell me.

This is off-topic but it’s probably worth acknowledging that under the current guidance at C-suite and playing staff management, the fat lady is warming her vocal cords.

This has happened before in football and it happens a huge amount in business. People really do run businesses into the ground and take a whacking great salary doing it. It’s never truly clear if they know they’re doing it but the result is always the same.

None of us can blame the playing squad so much, really. They’re a target of ire and that’s part and parcel of their jobs, but on an operational level, their responsibilities only go so far. To an extent, none of us can even blame the manager or the executives, because their salaries are easy money. You keep dancing until the music stops and all the grown ups (if you can even call them that) have gone home.

Call it what it is; we were bought by novices as a vanity project, from a family of trustafarians desperate to cash out their inheritance, allowed to descend into ‘basket case’ status and the end has all been prolonged by a seemingly endless stream of face-saving cash from owners who don’t know when to fold.

It’s nice to fantasise about how things might change (I really leaned into the positive start at the beginning of the year and ate my humble pie a while ago) because we all fundamentally care so much about the club. It’s deep for us, it’s always going to be different for us. Pretty much all of us would have resigned before now if we were in Mowbray’s position, but we’re not. It’s different for us because our investment isn’t contingent on however many thousands of pounds a week land in our bank accounts. We’re all paying out for the privilege of following the team.

But speaking objectively, the cracks are being papered over with money from the owners and you’ve got to wonder how low that pile will be allowed to go before the cracks are instead allowed to grow and they abandon it.

In that case - if I’m right in thinking - the holding company goes into administration and therefore the club. Brockhall sale will be worth some money, hence the likely need to get it moving quickly. Goes to paying off any preferred creditors, maybe even in advance. I think Ewood isn’t that desirable as an asset, given the entire of the surrounding area’s infrastructure is basically built around it, so it probably “stays” somehow.

All of this is to say that in that case, someone swoops in on a pennies-to-the-pound basis and this particular nightmare is  over, although whoever picks up a former basket case club in administration better be in it for the genuine love of that particular club and with money they would otherwise have actually set fire to, because it might be a devil we don’t want to get to know.

Anyway, I play the Euromillions, so if I win I promise I’ll be the total idiot who swoops in and wastes it all on this particularly cruel mistress.

2 minutes ago, simongarnerisgod said:

i thought about that when they first took over,appointed the crook anderson,fired big sam and put the scottish moron in charge,why buy a premier product then ruin it,unless you had some ulterior motive,i only hope that ewood is a community asset that can`t be sold

Ten years and £200m is a very long game to play for assets that probably don’t scrape 10% of the outlay. It’s tempting to look at ulterior motives because it seems to make no sense, but Ockham’s Razor tells us that they’re just in way over their heads and too proud to acknowledge it.

I remember appealing for us to enjoy the relative success of the bright start. There was very little to enjoy about that. Their keeper had a good night and maybe on a different day that all feels very different, but we looked - as we have for a few games - like we'd run out of ideas.

4 minutes ago, CambridgeRover said:

And then when he realises he is in trouble he tries to shove Toney over and in the process stumbles himself. 

This kind of mistake should be behind him.

Just now, CambridgeRover said:

Looking at the replay that all stemmed from Lenihan's positioning. He is completely incapable of positioning himself well. Not only is he out of position compared to the rest of the defensive line he allows Toney to get between himself and the ball. Lenihan has fallen off this year and he is no longer someone to build around in the future, 

Yeah, you're bang-on with the positioning. It's made worse because he's not alive to it either, somehow.

Gotta look to the break for any success now, which suits us, generally, but we look very rattled. It was a foul, it was a penalty, it was probably a yellow and all of it was unnecessary. Lenihan gets a small grab of his own shirt and then goes in much harder, he's been tricked, but that's how strikers are entitled to play. It's not befitting of a captain to get sucked in there, it's poor, poor play.

23 minutes ago, Hoochie Bloochie Mama said:

Match thread Blackburn Rovers v Millwall | Page 11 | Millwall Forum (vitalfootball.co.uk)

'Ave it you c@nt. 

Jesus H Christ, it’s a toxic environment in there.

Somewhat living for the tactical over-analysis of the match. A lot of Sunday league sideline spectators having a crack at elite football analysis.

Credit where it’s due; they put together a formidable insult, at times.

I’ve seen this camerawork/directorial style before, I think I actually invented it while I was p*ssed.

Really interesting first half so far. JRC and Elliott on the right are essential for sides playing deep, can see it's just a little bit freer down there. Elliott is finding a lot of space well, but can see he's not quite up to speed with Championship football just yet, with first touch and speed of thought, but still encouraging. You'd hope it will come within a few games.

Concerning we haven't finished as well as we ought and a penalty is always a little fortunate, although Brereton has done enough to have at least earned that.

Lacking a bit of coordination in the back four and the ambition of Lenighan pinging ten yard passes is admirable, but perhaps a little unnecessary. Williams looks comfortable bringing the ball forward and depp-lying Cov are allowing him to showcase that. Question for any tactic buffs; are we technically playing a classic gegenpress at the minute, albeit without the jazzy centrebacks?

Giles on their left hand side looks a spirited and efficient footballer, could be a handful with JRC breaking forward and has been already.

Did more than enough there to win that, but it’s difficult to be encouraged by stats alone. Dominating a side that’s just come down at “home” (does it even count anymore?) isn’t something a side like ours does very often. When it happens, you have to take the chance, there can be no excuses if you’re seriously looking at playoffs and promotion.

Mentality has a lot to do with it, I suspect and it’s difficult to see a collective winning mentality in that squad. Watford were a little fortunate here and there and Foster had an objectively fantastic game, but they made it happen and we didn’t. They’re 3rd and we’re 11 places and six points behind. That’s how it works.

Or doesn’t work, for a team like us, at least. Plenty didn’t tonight, but Evans really stood out at as an abject embarrassment. Farcical that he gets near the squad. What happens in training that he doesn’t bring to the pitch?

15 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Welcome. 

I wouldn't say it's that tetchy on here, despite differences of opinion, levels of civility are generally good I think.

You're right, things COULD go from strength to strength, on the other hand they may not and for anyone failing to accept things are improving we've  frequently heard in the past   the argument "if we  win five out of the next six we'll be in the mix" etc.

I'd actually argue things have to go from strength to strength anyway, given the number of key players out of contract in the summer, the fact our CEO has managed to somehow reduce our fanbase to sub 2.5k, and the long standing elephant in the room, our overall level of debt.

Good opening contribution from you though, enjoyed that.

Thanks Revidge, I appreciate that.

I’m a returning poster, although having binned off more email addresses than I can remember, Bundesburn posts no more, hence the rejoin. Anyway, from memory of BRFCS, there’s a certain point on here when it all gets a bit Judaean People’s Front, which I recognise as when people start to argue about who started the argument, but you usually see it coming when someone gets annoyed at chaddy (shoutout to chaddy, fastest googler in the land!)

Look, the ever-present, protracted death rattle of the club is a particularly difficult thing to ignore, agreed and the type of fan base we are - let alone size - means we’re not a reliable revenue source when the world shuts down. Sh*t creek without a paddle is a couple of stops away. I have no direct knowledge of the CEO (I’ve been busy the last couple of years) but if Shebby, Kean (wondering if the swear filter still works for that one), Shaw et al are a measure of corporate recruitment by Venkys, I don’t find it difficult to believe he’s not much use. The Ewood Park thread was a sad sight to behold, as much for the analogue as anything.

I suppose it is the seeming inevitability of the that makes “being positive” (conscious of invoking partisans) the preferred choice. We didn’t know how lucky we were in the 90s (I was born in the late 80s, first memory is 93/94 season). We didn’t know how lucky we were in the 00s, even. We thought we were gonna get lucky in the 2010s and here we are now. If the prospect is something akin to, let’s say, no renewals of key contracts, no more funding of the deficit by Venkys, no prospect of promotion, we’re potentially looking into a much deeper abyss than 10 years of Championship football. Indeed, we may be looking at the 2010s and saying we didn’t know how lucky we were having a club to argue with each other about.

Suffice it to say, I’m happy with the immediate short term, because for whatever reason, watching the news out of the club didn’t fill me with an overwhelming sense of anxiety and dread, which was the first time in a while. Promotion to the Championship was more relief than joy and I guess a start like the one we’ve had - however fleeting it turns out to be - is one to enjoy, whatever comes of it. And when we consider that a drop down the table is the least of our worries, all the more reason to enjoy it when it happens.

I’d probably enjoy being able to follow a Phoenix club, but I’m also the type of hipster kn*bhead that goes/went to see Dulwich Hamlet 10 times a year, so it may not be a widely-shared opinion.