6 minutes ago, The Gull said:

Liverpool friends telling me Tyler Morton will sign for us on loan shortly. 

They tell me he’s a tidy player, probably needs to beef up a little but high hopes for him, plays in midfield, holding midfielder rather than attacking. 

This feels very familiar. 

4 minutes ago, Ruaney said:

https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/sport/football/peterborough-united/peterborough-united-reject-three-bids-for-sammie-szmodics-from-a-championship-club-3777192

Barry Fry - fucking big mouth.  I wouldn't bother doing business with him when he's naming us to the media.  He's only trying to stir up a bidding war so cut him off at the knees and walk away. 

There's at least 4 empty slots in that sticker book..... 👀

Just now, TruRover said:

Edun will come good this season. Never got a proper run of games in his natural position - give him that and I’m certain he’ll impress

What is his natural position? 

21 minutes ago, neophox said:

Would not Jack Mariott be an better choice...scored 9 goals last season...

Actually always liked the flashes of Marriott that I saw before his Derby move, but he's an out and out striker so slightly different to Szmodics.   Didn't he score a very good goal against us last season?  If we're in the market for a striker I wouldn't actually be against him. 

Just now, Wing Wizard Windy Miller said:

Back to our real market of league one players. Brittain probably worth a punt. The only decent player Peterborough had,  left for Bournemouth in Jan. 

 

*Still beat us though 🤦🏻‍♂️

 

On Szmodics - he had a record similar to Dack in his league one season with P'Boro (15 goals in 42 games), and still managed 6 goals in 36 for an incredibly goal shy side last season. scoring 14% of their 43.   

31 minutes ago, goozburger said:

When supporters weren't allowed into the stadiums, I believe match passes were available for £10 to domestic supporters. I think supporters who bought season tickets were also given match passes to watch games that they weren't allowed to attend (at home only, of course). I don't think there has been any sort of league-based match pass for domestic supporters outside of lockdown periods, though. I'd be interested to see the article you mentioned if there's a way you can show it to me.

As an overseas supporter, the EFL's iFollow platform which started in 2017/18 has been fantastic. Rovers moved away from iFollow last season and now use another platform (branded RoversTV) to show the games in a similar way. A number of clubs have recently started to move away from iFollow, probably due to hefty fees in providing the digital platform. Either way, it's a big bonus for me to be able to watch virtually every game on it, and it's excellent value at ~£3 per game. For games that I can't watch on RoversTV, they are always on the local sports channel. I pay a relative pittance for the latter, but it's just a single company that airs what you see on both Sky Sports and BT Sport (are they still doing it?).

If we were to get promoted, I'd have a hard time getting to watch us regularly.

Just very quickly on this topic.  During lockdown etc I found iFollow really easy to use - one or two initial teething problems when every fan in the country tried to access summer of 2020 if I remember, but otherwise piece of cake.  The Rovers one I found to be absolutely bloody abysmal.  I can never find where to access the match centre and start watching. 

Has anyone else had trouble with it? 

4 minutes ago, JBiz said:

Can we stop with the stupid conspiracy theories like this please.

I don’t think we need many signings but now hoping we make some just to save me reading this every single day.

Scientists always state there is no such thing as fact, just a theory that is yet to be disproven.  I'm sure JH is looking forward to his theory being blown completely out of the water.... it certainly hasn't been yet!  

Speaking of theories.... Chaddy goes to see Waggott on Monday afternoon.   Rumours surface yesterday that our impending Head of Recruitment appointment has fallen through.... this morning we're linked to a player Chaddy has been touting as a good signing for months and months.... 

Safe to say I'm expecting a Twitter announcement very soon.   Welcome our new Head of Recruitment! 

24 minutes ago, The Hypnotic said:

And so what? If you’ve got burning questions for Steve Waggot you’d be better placed to take some initiative and ask them, rather than pouring scorn on someone who has the initiative to set up their own meeting. Much easier to gripe and moan from behind a keyboard though isn’t it?

This is true, I agree with you and tbf, it's something we should all bear in mind. I did wish Chaddy luck yesterday, appreciating that he had taken the time to email Waggott. But the fact that he's now come back the conquering hero and won't share any details is OBVIOUSLY going to get the backs up of a lot of people on here.  He did also say he would report back after the meeting, which barring a very shallow overview, he hasn't done. 

As others have said, why even mention it in the first place?  The fanbase is extremely frustrated, quite rightly in my opinion after 12 years of absolute shite from the ownership.   Others have come on here regaling their meetings with the wonderful Mr Waggott. before clamming up with mysterious, snipey answers should anyone dare to question their unwavering support of the current regime. 

56 minutes ago, RoverRB said:

Another way of looking at it is is Nyambe asking to be one of the highest paid even though he’s guarenteed to be injured for long periods of the season. We’ve already done that with Ayala and it’s shafting us.

45 minutes ago, Jimmy612 said:

Does anyone know his demands? I haven't seen anything on here regards what he asked for and what the club offered... Since promotion he's played in 67% of our league games.  Noting some of those were on the bench, not through injury, you'd could probably estimate he's been available for 75% of our games in that time.  Okay, not an 'ever-present', but I don't think a massive concern.  

And sorry, just in the interest of absolute clarity, Ayala has so far played in 30 league games out of a possible 92 - that's 32%.  So not sure the Ayala comparison is even remotely fair or relevant,

6 minutes ago, RoverRB said:

Another way of looking at it is is Nyambe asking to be one of the highest paid even though he’s guarenteed to be injured for long periods of the season. We’ve already done that with Ayala and it’s shafting us.

Does anyone know his demands? I haven't seen anything on here regards what he asked for and what the club offered... Since promotion he's played in 67% of our league games.  Noting some of those were on the bench, not through injury, you'd could probably estimate he's been available for 75% of our games in that time.  Okay, not an 'ever-present', but I don't think a massive concern.  

10 minutes ago, CrouchingNunhiddenCucumber said:

Waggott was always going to run rings around Chaddy, he's not got where he is without having the ability to schmooze people who could challenge him much more than Chaddy could - no offence intended. He'll never do more than window dress as that's what he is paid to do. Another symptom of the Venky disease, him and his ilk will be involved and around the club until the wretches sell. 

Totally agree.  No intention to belittle Chaddy, but Waggot will be in his element convincing people to like him.  An office based schmooze is his perfect environment. He's not got to his salary level without being able to win people over.  Most posters on here would probably struggle to really nail him in a one-2-one meeting - it would certainly take a huge amount of prior research and fact checking to ensure you went in well armed.  

Glen will probably give as good as he's got nowadays, but interested to know with the benefit of hindsight whether he felt out of his depth when he first met with whoever the fuck was in charge all those years ago. 

37 minutes ago, arbitro said:

 an oasis in the Rao Desert.

Great metaphor.  Even better when you consider his arrival may turn out to be a mirage unless he's supported by the club. 

12 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

Quick update. 

Good meeting with Steve Waggott. good guy 

He answered all my questions and was very personable. 

the pitch has been improve and a number of areas have been stitched up to help the quality of the pitch throughout the season. So money has been spend on the pitch as others have said. 

ST sales have been good and better than start of last season first home game. I won't given exactly figures. Not my place to. 

I was happy what I heard about how the new footballing structure brought in(I said I agree and wanted this structure in place for some time) and how we identify players and scouting. I won't go into exact details as it not my place or position to. Just for the record I didn't asked for specific names or positions we want signings in as I didn't arrange the meeting for this purpose or wanted to asked those questions to him. 

I praised the club on keeping its Category 1 status and being the only club in the championship who has this. It is important part of the club football strategy going forward and vital for our club.  Spoken about the good prospects coming through now and how good it is for the future of the club 

Also just for the record I won't be answering any questions on the meeting. 

 

 

 

Could you divulge the questions that you asked, even if you aren't prepared to publish the answers?  Be interesting to know what subjects/areas you prioritised.

Just now, chaddyrovers said:

late afternoon

Good luck. I'm sure you've got your key points and questions lined up - don't let the bugger soft soap you.

5 minutes ago, OsloRover said:

You realize that paying Phillips 10-15k a week would upset ALL the other players right?

Not sure about this.  He's widely considered a prodigious talent - a potentially generational talent and future England centre half.  He could end up being worth the rest of the squad put together.  They'll also be aware how good this guy is and the type of clubs mooted to be interested.  I think they'd understand, if any of them actually need to know how much he's getting paid.

Still stands to reason, we could go for broke and offer 18k, United would just go to 25k if they valued him so highly.

16 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

It will be success if people actually give it time and patience and don't start judging over a short 5 weeks period but over the long term and improvements going on at the club with all departments under his control. 

Yes we need some transfers in but only around 5 or 6 signings. I'm sure they will happening in the coming days, weeks before the deadlines ends. Alot more clubs need more signings then us and some of those don't have Category 1 status Academy producing players of first team quality. 

I disagree we are well behind where we need to be right now. 

Was your meeting with Waggott this morning or this afternoon?  Looking forward to reading your thoughts and feedback.

2 minutes ago, arbitro said:

We were led to believe that Phillips would sign the professional deal he was offered as we were led to believe that Lenihan and Nyambe would also sign new deals (as told by Swag to posters on here in the lounges pre match). And still the Waggettes offer some defence of him blaming the players, agents etc. Waggotts words mean nothing to me and his word has been broken too often for him to retain any credibility.

If Lenihan and Nyambe had been attracting attention from United I would understand why we couldn't compete.  What sticks in the craw in the case of those two is that they're going to rival clubs, who seemingly are at a similar level to us.  Certainly the case with Lenihan - we'll see with Nyambe.

This with Philips is different, and a fine example of how modern day football is the absolute pits. 

1 minute ago, roverblue said:

If we lose Ash Phillips on top of the big assets lost already due to a lack of admin on contracts then its time for Venky's to sack Waggot.

It's absolutely criminal that a club that relies on academy development to fund the club and drive the 1st team has lost so much in such a short space of time.

You can only blame Waggot for a complete failure to negotiate in the longer term interests of the club. Yes that might mean paying a few grand more in the short term but you have to weigh it up against getting £5m fee plus % future sales on players. 

It is like the administrative part of the club from contracts to ticketing to marketing is overseen by a complete clown.

For once, I'm actually not immediately going to blame the club or Waggott here.  If big clubs have been whispering sweet nothings in the ear of Philips and his agent, then what exactly can Rovers do?  We can try and compete and pay him 5k, 10k, 15k... the big clubs could blow us out of the water without thinking.  It's nothing to them if they think they're getting the next England centre half.

I'm aghast that this can be allowed to happen, quite frankly.

How difficult would it be to impose a rule that the club who offered and honoured the scholarship has first refusal on a 3-year pro contract for the player.  If not, all these academies across the country may as well have the crest of the top 6 or 8 clubs over their door.  We're essentially rearing young footballers for them to swoop in and nick whichever they want.

Just now, davulsukur said:

I think they have to be 17? which he only turned a week or so ago.

The terms of his pro deal were agreed a year ago but since then he's got interest from other clubs and is now on the fringes of the first team, so his agent is trying to get him a better a deal.

So my assumption is right.. the club can be simply held over a barrel by Philips and his agent, and the wealthy elite can mosey on in and take him from under our nose.  The system is completely and utterly broken.

Can someone tell me whether we could have signed him to a pro contract earlier than this?  If he was doing a two-year scholarship and we COULDN'T possibly offer him a pro-contract until 1st July, then what exactly could Rovers do differently - apart from of course pay him more. But even if we did push the boat and offer let's say £5k a week for a 17 year old, any team in the Prem could come sailing in and blow us out of the water.

Would we be due any compensation?  I suppose it would be bloody peanuts.  If he does walk away for next to nothing, and if my assumption that the club couldn't have offered pro-contract earlier is correct, then it's just another indication of how broken the system is.  Top 6 clubs can just come along and peck at the corpse of small-town clubs struggling to make ends meet by taking their top, young talent for nothing.

The sooner football implodes the better.

I may be wrong, but wasn't it Abada that gave Pickering a chasing, not Jota? Jota looked like he was playing on the left vs Carter.  

Pickering looks mighty fishy to me. He's so slow and I think because of it he tends to narrow up too much when defending. He allows so, so many crosses in to the box. 

12 minutes ago, OsloRover said:

Hardly, it was very clever according to the commentators 🙂

Nonsense. If the wall is guarding one side, the keeper covers the other. Basics.  Well placed strike, shouldn’t beat a half decent keeper.