Nic81

Really stupid decision to let Hyam go without a replacement lined up. This has been far too extreme. On a very small positive note - Birmingham fans do seem gutted to have lost TGH, so fingers crossed he does ok. Any injuries to CBs and we are in real danger. I’ve gone from intrigued a week ago to terrified 😢

How come you are so confident on getting two in?

I’m getting a bit frustrated with the ‘you can’t see the bigger picture’ type posts. We all know the owners are terrible, we all know things aren’t rosy behind the scenes - just because a post suggests they may be excited or intrigued, doesn’t mean that everything else is forgotten. I love this football club but after a crap week at work, it’s nice to look forward to matchday and cling on to a bit of optimism about some transfers. I’m not going to caveat every slightly positive post with ‘but I know the owners are crap’ or ‘we haven’t invested anywhere near what we have brought in’. I know that, we all know that, and me adding it to a post won’t do anything and will just drive me insane. We are in the situation we are in and unfortunately that doesn’t look like changing any time soon; that might be apathy, who knows 🤷‍♀️

Whilst I am sad to see so many players that have been at the club for years go, I am also happy with the decision to cut ties when we don’t think they are good enough / will play enough. Particularly Buckley, JRC and now Leonard. If this means that we get a striker in, hopefully better than one of Gueye and Ohashi, then this is a good move. I like what we are ‘trying’ to do. Wish it wasn’t as extreme as it is regarding high turnover of players (I would have liked to have kept Britain, Travis and Dolan if only to see if he could continue his form under VI), but I am cautiously optimistic. I understand that a driver for this is wage reduction, but I also like the type of athletic players with hopefully a winning mentality!

Or we could have had similar to Derby’s results and performances instead? Who knows 🤷‍♀️ Edit - although to be fair they have played Stoke and Coventry who seem to have started extremely well, including Coventry scoring 7 at the weekend

Yep, however I didn’t disagree with the club only offering Batth and Wiemann short deals and within the wage cap. Wiemann in particular for me, would have been in the ‘experienced help for the younger players’ mould. Whether the wage cap overall is a good idea, is another argument. They did leave holes but think McLouglin was an excellent piece of business, as was Miller. We really need another striker though.

I actually quite like the business we have done so far. If we can get this deal over the line and at the minimum add a striker, whilst replacing anyone else we lose (Pears etc) with better players (key!) then we have done well. Batth and Wiemann are currently getting slated by Derby fans, so maybe we were right to not risk another year (or two). Beck appears to be injury prone. Travis will be a big loss but think a pairing of Sonny and someone else with a bit more creativity is better for our attack. Dolan at the end of the season was class but so, so inconsistent and frustrating before that. JRC, Buckley and Leonard all need / needed moving on in my view. Callum is the one I did not want to lose, and hope Alebiosu and Miller can fill that void. I really like the look of them and Tavares, McLoughlin looks like a bargain, Toth has stepped up, and for some reason I have a good feeling about Baradji and Axel. I wouldn’t have brought Forshaw back but can see the positives for the younger lads. I thought De Neve looked good when he came on towards the end of the Hull game but not convinced. Like I said, if we add a striker and Morishita, and replace Buckley, Pears with better, then I like the look of what we are doing.

First time I’ve looked at the forum in a while; just feel so despondent. Terrible start to the game again and terrible performance. I felt so optimistic after the start to the season, so this is gutting. Anyway, a beer, red wine and whiskey should do it…

The thread is the race for the play offs, not Rovers’ race to the play offs. I’m away on holiday so missed the Derby match, but it sounds like it was abysmal. Gutted as I had hoped we would at least keep the dream alive a little longer. Although I never really expected us to get there. Coventry are looking good but everyone else seems pretty average.

I think the next four games in particular are massive for us. We need a few wins ideally to put us in a good position as the games get trickier. Next four games (haven’t done everyone): Coventry - Stoke, Derby, Sunderland and Sheff U West Brom - QPR, Burnley, Hull and Norwich Rovers - Derby, Stoke, Cardiff and Portsmouth Boro - Swansea, QPR, Luton and Oxford Bristol City - Millwall, Hull, Sheff U, Norwich and Burnley (played one less)

A bit worried about Hyam and Carter as a pairing - seems Hyam prefers playing with Batth. So pleased Tronstad and Ohashi are back. Work on set pieces needed! Derby game is massive.

If anyone thinks they don’t want promotion just because they aren’t saying the word, then hopefully that video will show exactly what they want. ‘Let’s get this great club back to where it belongs’. Promotion, promotion, promotion. Where we belong is where we were pre Venky’s - if you can make that happen VI….

Maybe cheap is the wrong word - they don’t want to reinvest financially (in terms of percentage of what they brought in with player sales) in the playing squad to get promotion. They want to do that side on the cheap - hoping loans, frees and lower priced players will do the job. My main point is, I believe that if you offered Venky’s, Waggott and Suhail promotion at the end of this season, I think they would snap your hand off. I can’t see any logical reason for them to not want promotion.

I also don’t believe the narrative that they don’t want promotion. They want it on the cheap. If they don’t get it, then they are happy to float around the championship. It’s a dangerous game, especially how close we came to relegation last season. VI may not have specifically said ‘promotion’ but he is talking about the position we are in and what it will take to stay there. He will see this as a huge opportunity and if there is a promotion bonus in his contract, then he will be pushing hard for financial as well as reputational reasons.