Kjell

Having witnessed how effective we are at bringing in our transfer 'targets', I fully expect us to fail in bringing in Rowett. It will be hard to convince him to sign a deal that is considerably worse than the one he had at Oxford... and then we turn our focus to fringe managers from substandard European leagues.

Who decided that Morishita should be our main target this summer, and that Baradji is a really special player? We are in deep trouble, and even if I flirted with the idea of Rovers being a bit more adventurous in the search for the next manager, I, for a short while, misled myself into believing we could survive with just a bit more passion and energy. We need a no-nonsense, experienced firefighter coming in, and among those who would consider us, Rowett is probably the best option.

At least there are some players who can come off the bench....and make a...ehhh...positive impact?!?

Nixon is never wrong 😜

Did Pasha call Waggott for advice? 😉

There are apparent similarities between Eustace and Rowett: from the teams they have managed and the way they set them up to be hard to beat... their families even live in the same areas (ready excuse for subsequent sacking...). However, it became clear that Eustace is highly ambitious and builds a team around him that is very thorough and focused on creating a club culture. He builds strong connections with players, and they describe him as 'intense'. Quite different to his pressers, for sure. My only reservation about Rowett is this: would he bring an ambitious backroom team? What players does he sign? Will it be pushing us back into the playoff race? Short-term 'keep us up deal' must surely be the best option?

Lengthy and recent interview with Rowett:

Adventurous AND with the sentimental value added. What's not to love? I don't think I've ever celebrated a goal overheard on RadioRovers as hard as I celebrated Jansen's goal, on his first game after his injury, against Portsmouth in 2004.

How is it the other way round? I am not advocating for the safe bet. But if it is the adventurous, we'd better go for the Alebiuso version of unproven instead of the De Neve version 😉

Having kept teams in the division before, I guess.

He did well in Scandinavia and comes across as quite knowledgeable. But I guess the one thing that impressed me was how he kept a dead cert for relegation QPR up. Of course, I agree that Leicester was not that great, and there are no guarantees. A bit better than the rest of the dross we are linked with, and knows the championship.

Sensible, keep-us-up, candidates: Rowett Cifuentes A bit more adventurous, but with higher risk: Challinor The rest of the ones currently linked: no, thank you.

No. What I mean is that a new manager needs to get our players to perform better, and for Cantwell, that would mean his general play must improve, AND that he produces passes like that. A good manager with a good team can help with that. Eustace had a great management team, and we should bring in someone who knows how to build a similar structure around our team.

Could it be that many of our players have lost direction a little bit under Ismael's period?

Well, even when he is at his worst, like yesterday, he still made the pass for Jørgensen's big chance, which I would claim that 90% of our players could not replicate if they tried ten times.

I totally get people who have had enough of Cantwell and his potential; however, one of the key attributes of the next manager (and his team) must be to get the best out of the players we have. For many of the players, that presumably means very simple, clear directions and playing on their, it must be admitted, few strengths. When it comes to Cantwell, I don't know what the trick is. But there must be a trick. Somewhere. When he played his first 45 minutes for Rovers at Ewood against QPR, he was clearly rusty as hell, but his movement and vision were still better than anyone on the pitch. Eustace even got a tune out of Gueye...

Given that Adam Owen (and Steve Kean!) is the link here, I guess I have underestimated how utterly incompetent he is. Coleman is League One relegation material.

If you ask Sam that question, he will tell you that there is no one more versed than him 😉

I'm convinced that that's the plan, I mean, to attract circus monkeys.

Would he cost money? Yes. Would he come back until the end of the season? I believe so. The Podcast was all about Rovers at one point. Apart from the money, it could come down to whether Rudy felt that he was treated with 'respect' when he was on. I remember Natalie Pike slating the food offering at Ewood; that probably hurt Mr Gestede's ego a bit too much to call Sam again.

We did once 🙂 Speaking of favourite players... although it did not last long.

Cifuentes is a good shout and could be a quick fix, having kept QRP up a couple of seasons ago. I think QPR had lost something like 10 of the 14 first matches of the season when he came in. Even finished a place above Eustace. But he'll probably get better offers somewhere else...

We did not sign a single player of proven Championship quality, when our squad is bloody screaming out for it. Rudy Gestede is taking us down.

It's a bit strange, or maybe not, but I wish Sammie the best of luck. He kept us up on his own. Those goals against Leicester!!!

Big Sam with Phil Jones as assistant. You read it here first 😆