Andy

9 hours ago, roverandout said:

I drink everyday.  Not heavily but 2 or 3 bottles of stout/beer. Makes me think that I should be cutting back 

Without wanting to make this into an anti-drinking thing, 2-3 bottles a day is a lot - and it will be doing a lot of damage, which may not show until later in your life.

I've seen alcohol do so much damage, both personally and professionally in my life - I gave it up a long time ago.

Everyone has their choices, of course, but it's a huge problem in this country.

It's a real shame what alcohol did to him - and what he let it do to him.

Both professionally and personally.

Pretty shoddy to not even receive a holding message response.

I have Customer Service teams reporting into me in my day job and the absolute basic requirement for customer contact is to acknowledge the query/request, even if it's a 'I don't know, but I'll find out'.

Complete radio silence is very poor.

24 minutes ago, BankEnd Rover said:

Most probably an update on Brittain. 

'Derby has joined the bidding, but Boro remain interested. Rovers hold hope of keeping him'.

All agent talk, non-committal.

Aye.

3 minutes ago, RTM08 said:

I'm sure there was compilation on here at one point of a bunch of the mistakes made. To be honest, even if you take out the obvious horror shows, the biggest issue with Pears for me has always been his complete inability to handle a cross. So many routine goals conceded over the years just because of that deficiency and the smart teams targeted it.

His basic positioning is terrible, which isn't as obvious as some of the more prominent errors, but is equally contributory.

He benefitted greatly from having a more organised defence for periods of last season, but I don't think there's any doubt that Pears has proven his incompetence regularly, across a prolonged period.

And hopefully he's played his last game for us.

2 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

Yeah started very shaky, but hes done very well end of last season and today. Looks like he can handle the English game.

Thing is with any GK though, is that they need a run of games to get their match sharpness, work out how the CBs play, etc.

That Pears was still awful 8 times out of 10, despite being made first choice for a couple of years, speaks volumes about his (lack of basic) competence.

Toth looks decent, he'll do well for us this season hopefully.

25 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Did he say what his preferred style is? 

Did Ismael answer every question asked of him? Did the people there happy with Ismael? 

Who else was there from the club Andy? 

 

There was the Yasir guy, the new Marketing Sales Manager (Zach) and a few people involved in the design of the new kits.
What was (mildly) interesting was learning that the current kit designs were commenced back in January 2024 - that's how long the process is.

VI pointed to his Barnsley team, where they might have had the smallest budget in the league, but they were hard working, organised and worked as a team.
Noted that momentum is (obviously) huge in competitive sport and that the squad had bought into what he'd been asking of them.

Made a point of saying 'also set pieces' as a key part of the strategy, which would make a nice difference to recent seasons, I guess.

There was more that's slipping my mind right now - and yes, a lot of it was generic manager speak - but I felt that he was being pretty open and honest.
I quite like him. And the final several games of last season has bought him enough credit for a fresh start this season, imo.

He did a Q&A at the kit reveal down at Ewood this morning and I thought he was really clear and focussed on what he wants from the team, what his preferred style will be and what our approach will be.

I'd asked him directly what the aim/goal is for the season and, whilst I didn't get a straight answer, he did commit to saying that we'll look to emulate how we finished last season and we'll aim as high as we possibly can.

Generic words I guess, but he comes across as honest, I think.

I thought it looked alright in the flesh, to be fair.

The green is infinitely better and I’m not a massive fan of the dark shades on the sleeves, but otherwise it’s alright.

VI was present this morning and came across really well, to be fair.

Seems open and honest, which is completely different to the last guy and his generic soundbites.

I’ll let you know if the away kit is the one leaked pretty shortly.

1 hour ago, Wing Wizard Windy Miller said:

Anyone know who the trialist is?  

Strange both Toth and Pears missing.

Toth has extended leave, following international duty.

Calamity will have at least one foot out of the door.
Certainly better to give a young prospect (Michalski) some minutes; he should be the number 2 this season.

6 hours ago, MarkBRFC said:

I think those would be the fee's if all add ons are hit.

Elliot has said in his article today that Alebiosu is only 500k if that happens, it's a much lower up front fee.

To be fair, there are still people who believe that we spent £7m on BBD and £5m on Gallagher.

Both were inclusive of add-ons and clauses, was closer to half on both.

People use the fees to suit whatever point they want to make.

1 minute ago, JonJonTheDon said:

Does anybody have any idea how to surpass that bloody paywall on the LT 😂 

Go to Google.

Type '12ft Ladder'.

Click on the 12ft Ladder site and enter the URL of the Telegraph story.

Paywall bypassed.

5 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Jackson rams it down our throat with an exclusive transfer story 😂

But a sub right back again from a Belgian relegated side.

Just done the most basic of research on him and the random Scottish club's manager said that they were literally the only team willing to take him (on an emergency 3 month loan) last season, nobody else was interested.

Sounds exciting!

7 hours ago, Tomphil2 said:

Offensively Cantwell at no 10 should be good but his workrate and tracking back is unlikely to be great.

I'm not convinced on this - from watching him live and looking at his stats, he works harder off the ball that most in the team.

This improved moreso when VI came in.

It's been his decisions on the ball that have been inconsistent so far, though the quality of players around him have played a part in this.

I don't mind Toth at all, I think with more gametime, he'll develop into a decent GK at this level.
Calamity...I think it's clear how I feel about him.

TK is streets ahead of both and was probably Luton's best player in their solitary season in the Prem.

6 hours ago, Mercer said:

That's us out the running then!

Trying to think of the last time Rovers signed a player when there were other clubs in for him?

Certainly Cantwell, around 12 months ago - he had a few options available to him, but JE sold him the club / role / etc.

8 hours ago, Tomphil2 said:

They paid c39 million including debt but sold c35 million quids worth of players in the first 18 months. They've created a 'model' that loses 15/20 million a year most years.

I think that this fact tends to get lost on a lot of people.

We lose that amount of money because of the model/running of the club.

A semi-competent ownership and/or UK SLT and it's a different story altogether. 

Anyone who thinks Calamity Pears will move for a seven-figure fee is - quite frankly - on drugs.

52 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Just out of interest does anyone know how many times we actually wore that horrific pink kit last season?

It cant have been many. I hated that particular kit but in general it shows how much the fans are being taken for mugs when they are expected to shell out another £60 for something thats used what, 4-5 times?

I don't particularly disagree with your point, but it looks to have been a good seller, I see it more regularly than the home or away shirts.

Popped over Accy Tesco last night and I saw 2 different people wearing it, for example.
See it all over the place.

2 hours ago, roverandout said:

France were poor through most of their run to the world cup in 2018. Portugal drew every game until the final in 2016. No one really remembers how they got there

This.

The record books never show method, only result.

It's why I never understand the arguement about football being entertaining.
Yes, it's nice to be entertained, but football is a competitve sport first and foremost; nothing matters as much as winning.

If it works like it does in FM (I know...), once a player is within the final 6 months of his contract, he's free to discuss terms on a pre-agreement.

The owning club doesn't have a say in this, at that stage.

Once a deal is agreed, the transfer takes place upon expiry of the contract.

The onus for the owning club is to tie a contract up before you get to the final 6 months.

Additionally, how many times have we fallen foul of the 'weaker' sides?
Like Iceland, under Woy.

In any case, we beat Germany in a knockout phase in the last couple of tournaments - and, without checking, I'm sure we've beaten some Croatia-level sides also.

You don't get to choose who you play; the trick is beating them and progressing.

45 minutes ago, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

Why not keep it to yourself Sammie?,why tarnish your great reputation with Rovers fans..you must be aware some wont take kindly to it.Our fanbase is on its Arse at the moment.

Has apparently also commented how he couldn't get over his move to a MASSIVE™ Club like Ipswich...really!!😲

 

To be fair and to use the full sentence on that, he described it as moving from a 'massive club' to 'another massive' club, which he felt extremely lucky to have represented both.

He worked hard in the games he did play for us, so no complaints from me.