roversfan99

I dont really care about other clubs, it doesnt excuse our shitty policies. Other clubs are in different situations. Not the same supporter unrest, not the same whittled down fanbase, not the same economic conditions in those areas, not the same lack of demand and number of empty seats. Bolton for example will have sold miles more in that first phase than we will.

Disgraceful pricing, these phases are a joke. Just ensuring that from a mere couple of weeks after the end of the season that no further sales will be made.

I think they do get it. Its clear that he will be here. That doesnt mean that he is good enough or that he should be given a deal. If someone isnt good enough, rather than just shrugging our shoulders and going yeah he will have to do, we can still have some standards.

Either way, we shouldnt sell Pickering. Need them both.

Dont see why we would sell our best left back and Cantwell isnt going anywhere.

Isnt that a risk though, in that his contract having signed for a fee is presumably at least reasonable at Championship level, so he could sit on it or it might put off suitors only able to pay a % of his wage?

Clubs at the level that would see Markanday as an asset would struggle to pay a fee. Better off just letting him go rather than activating his extension and risk being stuck with him.

Maybe he will end up at Barrow. I think I am right in thinking that the former data analyst of this parish went there and they seemed to sign a few former Rovers.

But why did it make you actively want them to be relegated? Youve not given a reason why you feel strongly enough not just to agree or disagree with the decision from a neutral perspective, but to want them to be relegated. "And nothing more." Should teams not try and overachieve and just settle for just getting by, even if their current manager has overseen the worst form in the entire league over the second half of the ssason? If Ismael has us in 18th or 19th next season, the guff coming from inside the club keeps saying thats where wre rank financially. So surely his job would be safe as thats as we can expect.

Ive just said why I think why. Lack of alternatives, lack of money, lack of standards. And misjudgements. Jason Lowe was regularly picked. Wonder why?

Exactly. Plus its not as if they have had many other options and certainly no quality. Weve been lacking a quality wide man for a number of years aside from Brereton when we had him, and being on the bench over Buckley who is also not good enough is hardly a badge of honour.

"I hope they get relegated."

"The Hornets started the season well, sitting around the play-off places, but since the turn of the year were the worst side in the Championship, taking 23 points from 23 games." Not that bizarre. What is bizarre is getting angry about Watford sacking their manager to the point of wishing them relegated.

If you are repeatedly highlighting one of his two assists from the entire season, similar to when it was repeated mentions of his solitary goal v Watford the season before. It suggests there isnt too much else to go at. Experienced? Yes. So is David Dunn, shall we get him back? Can play different positions? Not really, left and right wing, equally ineffective on either side. Good enough? No. It is about standards. We take the easy option of signing cheap players to pad the squad out, and when they play the decline in quality compared to the starters helps to cause us to lose momentum and go on terrible runs. Low standards leads to the he will do mentality, he did one or two good things over the course of a season. Rinse and repeat. Im sick of this club just making do. Im not expecting Rodri and Vinicius Junior to be squad members, im not even expecting them to be as good as Travis/Tronstad necessarily. But players who will genuinely challenge and at least keep them on their toes, players who would be capable of filling in if the starters are injured or even desperately in need of a break and wouldnt massively weaken the team in doing so. Lewis Baker coming in did that to an extent, if he started it wasnt quite Travis or Tronstad but it was good competition. Forshaw was a massive downgrade.

They aren't "decent" squad players. They are examples of a club who have lowered their standards, who don't put any money in to the squad. Hedges is an attacking player who plays almost every game and has mustered 1 goal and 2 assists. He offers nothing going forward, he doesn't score, he isn't creative, he isn't quick, he isn't tricky, he doesn't beat players. Forshaw is a veteran who Plymouth happily gave away. When he started games or played a big chunk of games, think Oxford away, Bristol City away, Stoke away, Swansea away, we really struggled. Not obviously all down to him, but he isn't good enough aside from coming on occasionally for a few minutes to help see out a game. Which is all well and good, but he will need to start games when starters are unavailable. It's this idea of, oh he will do as a squad player. Then when we get a few injuries and have to play these players from the start regularly, the performance levels dip and the results suffer.

He really couldn't. Dolan is a decent Championship wide man. Markanday struggled for game time in League 1.

Hedges and Dolan cant be lumped in together. Dolan is far more productive. We also cant let Pickering go just because he wouldnt necessarily be automatic starter. Although from what I have seen from Ribeiro I would prefer Pickering anyway.

They were the best couple of games youll see all season. Fantastic entertainment.

Your opinion on Cleverley being sacked is one thing, wishing them to be relegated is another!

So much hypocrisy and still none the wiser as to why it would make anyone want them to get relegated.

So Danny, would you like to stay at the club next season? No, I couldnt think of anything worse. If anyone offers any more money or a genuine sense of ambition, im off. Of course he will say he is happy here. And he probably is, plus these days he isnt considered fashionable, in his 30s, not the quickest, not the most elegant and not the best on the ball so other offers might be limited. Very old school but a leader and a proper defender. So I think he will stay, but im not naive enough to think he wouldnt jump at a better offer or by the usual interview spiel.

@chaddyrovers there isnt much to seperate a number of squads in this league, it often takes an above average manager to get a team overachieving. See here, Eustace was doing that before we fucked it up. But what sort of attitude is it to shrug your shoulders and say we are where we are, lets settle? Watford are almost certainly not going to shell out on top players at this level, so their best bet in cracking the top 6 is finding a really good manager. Either way, I still cant get my head around why it angered you to the point where you hope they go down. I know Elliott Jackson said it just before you but I dont get that either.

You would only surely give a manager an extended period of time if they have shown enough to warrant it. We know from experience that slides in form arent necessarily all down to the manager, but he hasnt been sacked after a fraction of a season, hes had a full season and its not been a particularly good one. They clearly have ambitions to make the top 6 in an average league and its not like they just missed out, they finished 14th. Having a bit of ambition and saying we are miles away here, thats a big gap to bridge next season so lets try and change a huge variable (the manager) days after the season has finished to give him the full summer has some sense to it. Even if their squad is deemed mid table standard, and that is subjective, the aim surely is to find someone (like we did before we fucked it up for ourselves) who can get more more from them than the sum of their parts. Cleverley was a young appointment from within, and perhaps has settled things down but is he the man to do that? Results suggest not.

Absolutely. Batth obviously we should renew. Weimann perhaps I would prior to a serious injury especially at his age. Hedges on performance levels in the season just gone? Really?

Looking at it, it seems like its 5 wins in 24 unless there is a cup game in there. But yeah, exactly. The "give him time" brigade always come out in force after a sack in and obviously Watford already have a reputation. But he got a full season and results over a prolonged period were really poor, and finishing 14th was seen as a disappointment. I can understand why you wouldnt deem him worthy of blindly backing him going into another season and agree in particular with your last paragraph.