41 minutes ago, Tomphil2 said:

I genuinely think they make a list every window of players they know they can't afford then just make phone calls to all the various agents who then in turn tip off the media or twitter accounts.

Linked with every player under the sun in certain price ranges but sign non.

Then it's but we tried but X offered a bigger fee, Y offered bigger wages and Z's club wanted way too much.

All lapped up by cries of 'but we only get 12k' if all the fans came back we'd.....

For a club which doesn't care about what it's fans think, you do seem to come up with a lot of ways that they're trying to make us feel better. 

10 hours ago, joey_big_nose said:

Does anyone have a view on whether Ismael is signed up to this transfer strategy? I can't see how he can be much of a fan of letting probably six of our best players go (Dolan, Brittain, Bath, Wieman, Tronstad and Travis) and replacing with unproven imports.

He doesn't look like a guy who will take it lying down to me. And he has a record of walking away from jobs.... Him not being around by Christmas seems possible to me.

It's the main issue, has been since he signed.

His interview after the Stanley game suggested to me that he's on board. Most Interesting part for me was that he was putting the contract problems down to past mistakes.

I do quite like him, I'm just hoping that he was a Gestede signing,it would at least have a chance of working. 

9 minutes ago, Hasta said:

 

I've skimmed the last few pages so not sure if you two are just being pedantic, but Bath was the best centre back we had last season by some distance. 

I'm not disputing that he was, he was excellent. 

The argument though, is always that Hyam only played well because he was alongside Batth, it's never considered that Hyam could have brought the best out of Batth as well.

I don't know how the partnership could have worked so well if they didn't complement each other. 

1 minute ago, USABlue said:

Quite sire if I had a stress fracture in me foot I would limp some. 

Who has a stress fracture? 

1 hour ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Ah the good old Chaddy approach. If anyone leaves,

"They were never that good anyway".

You've totally misunderstood the point, if that's your reply.

1 hour ago, roversfan99 said:

Why was he so good in his first season then? 

I think Batth and Hyam  complemented one another, could be argued if Batth was so good, why did Sunderland let him go. 

50 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

He can run alright. On one occasion he must have sprinted 50 yards flat out to press one of the Accy players. Does he have a trick ? He’s not very big or physical. I get the feeling he’s cover for Kargbo.

You could be right, he did look quick but Kargbo's pace is something else. Unless he plays them both. 

1 hour ago, Wing Wizard Windy Miller said:

Anyone who went yesterday, what was DeNeve like?  Is he genuinely quick, does he look like he could step up?

I pointed him out to my daughter(not a regular by any means). A couple of minutes later she said, well he's quick. He was on free kicks and corners,he looks to have a nice left footed set piece delivery.

Millarkey-Matthews(had to look it up) did well when he came on. 

3 minutes ago, Hasta said:

It won’t be. Eustace wanted to renew contracts and the club wouldn’t (or couldn’t). I don’t believe Ismael suddenly has significant clout.

Rudy has been in situ for 12 months so it’s already his fault anyway, although I suspect his hands are tied.

I don't see it as Ismael having clout,I see it as him understanding the situation and being willing and able to work with it.

If not, it'll soon unravel. 

Just now, Hasta said:

That’s what all employees say. If they want to know the common denominator, Ask Suhail.

Seemed different to me this one. 

38 minutes ago, davulsukur said:

Even a reference to the guy we signed on Thursday being able to come in and play straight away from VI

Not exactly a reassuring answer that they'll be bringing anyone else in, "no rush"

New guy and Montgomery it is then.

Interesting interview that, cheers. Most important thing I took from it was him saying, more than once, that they're paying for mistakes from the past. 

Quite a candid interview as well, he didn't shirk anything .  

1 minute ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Why did he sign up for it then?

One (Eustace) after JDT I could just about excuse.

Two?

This is where alignment is crucial. If he starts sulking about losing players because of finance, he might as well go now.

If he understands the club's stance and agrees with it, then he's a chance of working with Gestede to try to build a squad under those parameters . 

2 minutes ago, RoversClitheroe said:

Continuing where we left off

That aged well 

4 minutes ago, BankEnd Rover said:

How is De Neve playing? 

OK, looks to have a good delivery, been on the set pieces. 

7 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

Because he wasn't offered a new deal. I remember all of him, Travis and Tronstad saying quite late in the season that they hadn't been offered anything.

We leave it too long, when it gets to the summer with a year left, you risk other teams doing this,

So, he was willing to accept a new deal, even though he hadn't seen one? That must be the first time ever . 

18 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

If that happens, it is an avoidable downgrade. Had we acted far sooner, he seemingly was willing to accept prior to other clubs coming in.

Drameh started only 17 games last season, with Lewie Coyle often preferred.

If he was willing to accept before other clubs came in, then why didn't he sign?

That comment makes no sense whatsoever. 

6 hours ago, arbitro said:

I think it's fair to say that Herbie6590 stands out in a crowd 😂.

 

He could see his old house from there. 

4 minutes ago, MarkBRFC said:

Yes, but we're not offering them contracts to stay, despite what Elliot, Nixon etc wants you to believe.

They'll be contracts to stay if they sign them. 

27 minutes ago, DutchRover said:

I said earlier in the window that I thought we might spend a bit more this summer to quiet unrest and that is what they've done, even if they are inflating the quoted fees. The longer term damage being hidden is the wage cap, which is definitely being implemented, hence no new contracts and a reliance on relegated European talent.

That said, I have a more positive view of the signings so far than some here, and I the club does seem to be at least trying to copy a Brentford model of unheard European talents on the cheap. Whether it works remains to be seen...

I still think we will struggle this year, unless we bring in three or four more players, and offload guys like Buckley and Pears. CB and RW are major needs.

I remember hearing that Brentford look at teams that are seen to be over achieving, they then scout players from those teams.

It certainly works for them, has there ever been a better second tier forward line than the BMW? 

11 minutes ago, Dreams of 1995 said:

Is Abelousi seemingly incompetent yet?

Oh I'm sure he will be, just give it time. 

2 hours ago, JHRover said:

It seems clear that Gestede has well and truly got his feet under the table with the signings we are making. 

There will have to be more than a few fingers and toes crossed that he knows what he is doing here because on paper it is worrying. Granted he is, like everyone else around this club, working with his hands tied behind his back financially, but it is a high risk strategy.

We've seen a similar sort of thing before with the Shebby and Portuguese influx. And thanks to someone last night pointing it out it does concern me that we've now signed two this summer from Vincent Tan's Belgian club who signed Gestede for Cardiff. I don't believe in such coincidences. 

I didn't realise the link, but if we've got info from a certain club that others don't, then it would be foolish not to follow it up, if their players are up to it obviously. 

2 hours ago, JHRover said:

It seems clear that Gestede has well and truly got his feet under the table with the signings we are making. 

There will have to be more than a few fingers and toes crossed that he knows what he is doing here because on paper it is worrying. Granted he is, like everyone else around this club, working with his hands tied behind his back financially, but it is a high risk strategy.

We've seen a similar sort of thing before with the Shebby and Portuguese influx. And thanks to someone last night pointing it out it does concern me that we've now signed two this summer from Vincent Tan's Belgian club who signed Gestede for Cardiff. I don't believe in such coincidences. 

I didn't realise the link, but if we've got info from a certain club that others don't, then it would be foolish not to follow it up, if their players are up to it obviously. 

3 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Strongly disagree there.

Given the prevailing circumstances at each Club Eustace has been wildly successful in his last appointments and was brought in by Derby to keep them up. He succeeded.

VI hasnt impressed in either of his last 2 permanent appointments and was brought in to keep us in the play off positions. He failed. Indeed it only took him one full game and ten minutes of the Derby game to undo a good season's work by Eustace

Therefore recent evidence would tend to suggest that  Eustace is very much a Coach on the up whereas VI is yesterday's man who's  only ever had a good spell at one Club.

Similar to Lambert/Coyle etc etc.

 

Some cherry picking going on here. 

On 06/07/2025 at 11:18, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I like that trip to Accy. It’s usually a good day out visiting a friendly local club.

5 minutes walk local.