roversfan99

Will Szmodics even be fit? Limped off at the weekend.

Im not sure its an accurate comparison because although Mowbray did have more money to spend, the squad he inherited on the brink of relegation was worlds apart from the one that Tomasson inherited off the back of finishing 8th. Lenihan and Rothwell as permanent players admittedly left but were replaced by Hyam and Szmodics in the only summer in years in which any reasonable money was spent. He did well to match the points tally though and definitely showed enough in that second successive league above expectations finish to suggest that in a more normal club he would be capable of achieving something good.

In a perverse way, the off the field shit show might help to preserve his reputation. Hes clearly handicapped by such a limited squad but his stubbornness to change tactics, the defensive record and the set piece woes culminating in a rapid decline down the table with 5 points in 11 ganes is overshadowed. Rightfully so, everyone is focused on the real issues at the club, so he knows that he could lose the next 5 games and I still think no one would turn their ire from Venkys and Waggott. When he moves on, you would think that potential employers would focus more on the 7th place finish compared to this seasons right off unless maybe we went down. Theres definitely a talented manager there. One destined for big things/a big division job? Jury is out.

It seems that the new processes that Broughton promised would eliminate the chance of a repeat were not fool proof. All this talk of he was a busy boy sorting other bits or he shouldnt have to check everything, he is responsible for the recruitment side and again a transfer has fallen through. Is he the main problem here? Clearly not but he does have SOME responsibility here. The whole non football side needs gutting, including him. It wont because the real problem wont do that.

I get how Waggott might massage ticket sales to hit target. Its a bit of a stretch for him to purposely sabotage transfers to try and earn a bonus or earn brownie points. If anyone has done it on purpose its the owners. If he has trusted Silvester to do it without checking it himself after last time, then again, obviously Silvester should go but its also on Broughton who clearly hasnt learnt. Obviously it doesnt mean he was twiddling his thumbs, nor do I think he was responsible purposely. But hes another I think we would be better without.

Again, I totally agree with your stuff on the real problems. The budget slashing, the moving of the goalposts. These are the quite frankly unsustainable issues that will lead to relegation, maybe not this season but next. But what I cant get my head around is that you cant seem to acknowledge that Broughton holds ANY blame in the debacle. If it is a case of purposeful fucking up of the deal, and im not ruling it out totally, then surely he wouldnt be at the club now. IF the issue is as reported, following Broughton promising that this wont happen again and the processes will be changed, yet he hasnt found time on deadline day to just quickly 100% check to be sure the submission has been done on the most important deal of the three, that simply is unacceptable. Just because Tomasson didnt mention him is immaterial. Internal politics. The people he did mention are bigger problems, most notably the owners who are the problem and the rest including even Waggott are just symptoms. But Broughton is still a problem.

One thing we all (well, almost all) can clearly see is that Broughton is not THE problem. Nor the primary reason for a shit show of a transfer window where we again end it weaker than we started it, with cut backs and moving of goalposts galore. But he does have an element of blame. He is responsible for overlooking recruitment, the buck stops with him. Moran had a shocker as a deep lying midfielder on Saturday, Tomasson gets the blame for that even though it wasnt him sat deep in our midfield. He should have been extra vigilant to make sure it went through, he has now overseen 3 incidents like this and has made his stay here (in normal circumstances under normal owners) impossible. This idea that hes a busy man dealing with other things doesnt wash, especially when the bit that fell through was the most important deal. Broughton needs to go, not as a fall guy and not on his own.

He obviously will be busy on deadline day but he is our director of football. He oversees recruitment. It is absolutely his responsibility to ensure that the deal is 100% sent off. Youd especially double check and be extra viligant after the last farce. What happened to these new processes. I dont get why he is absolved of blame in your head. The club is full of clowns including him, and yet none are the actual problem.

He does have a big degree of responsibility. He took it last time and said processes will change to ensure it doesnt happen again. And it has. He is overlooking the whole recruitment side of things so he is responsible. The whole "he cant be everywhere at once" line doesnt wash. He should be overlooking the whole process being especially thorough after last time. Mind you, working under these owners moving the goalposts constantly (Athletic mentioned that we were in for Brekalo so I suspect Koumentio was a desperate last gasp alternative) is obviously a difficult task. But he should be removed from his job. And wont be.

Its very difficult to specifically know what went on from the outside. But Broughton is overseeing it, he said he would look at processes after it happened last year, and yet here we are. He was announced before 11 with stupid basketball videos made etc whilst the paperwork was fucked up again. Broughton cant escape blame. The main blame lies in India, that cannot be escaped and id be very surprised if anyone is sacked.

Its been acknowledged as an error. I presume people will be sacked with immediate effect now...

Incredible. Ultimately its deckchairs on the titanic because you could change every member of staff and the problem is still the owners. But competent owners would go on a sacking spree with immediate effect. Broughton, Maggott, Silvester, Sasha, all of them.

The sensible choice would have been for the owners to allow reinvestment of the Wharton money into a striker and not to block it. Not to have to then sell more players. Its a symptom of years of budget cuts and lack of investment that Gallagher is now absolutely vital to our team and we badly need him. He may not be anything special but with 2 goals in 2 games and with him being far and away our best striker, we badly need him and are overly reliant on him now with no alternatives up top of note amidst this latest fuck up.

The twitter one is one of a number of younger fans on there who all regularly make condescending posts about other fans in support of the owners etc. One of the regular arguments is that people only moan when we arent doing well. Its a backwards argument because spells of particularly bad ownership even by the low standards of the cunts that own us will naturally lead to adverse results on the pitch. What we see today has been in the post. Aggressive budget slashing, interference, stopping sales leading to valuable players leaving for free, appointing incompetent staff and never bothering to get rid should it be warranted etc. Obviously people are more irate when we are doing worse on the pitch, thats a direct result of the owners. Another is that "we arent a Premier League team anymore" and a general implication that people have deluded expectations. Id argue the opposite, these people/kids dont have any level of standards because this is all they have known.

Fair enough. I was interested to see (not that I could gauge much from 2 people) if the remaining core of us was likely to deplete. I wonder if this could chip away at the small regular core will genuinely be in jeopardy having previously thought that the damage had taken it down this far and it would be unlikely to see that whittle down much further. Where would you get a season ticket elsewhere? That is a big step to go and support another side.

.

Venkys did pay 7m for Brereton and get nothing for him to be fair. Although it was their bloody stupidity that let that happen by rejecting a bid in excess of 7m with a year left on his deal. They were never going to spend 5m on McGuire either. They were going to spend half of that, which is about an eighth of the fee they had just received for a player that cost nothing, then they pulled the plug on that, messed the player around and then a loan fell through. Saturdays backlash was totally organic, and that might hold the key. The atmosphere was really supportive of the team and the trigger point was the 2nd goal when Venkys (who will be none the wiser sadly, theyve never graced us with their presence in nearly a decade) and Waggott really got it in the neck. It was pleasantly surprising to see how much stick they got and it was a considerable quantity. It also was clearly coupled with support for the team and manager. That is the difficulty with organised protests mid game. You will often get people who in many cases dont attend encouraging people to invade the pitch and stop the game, obviously its not them that will get banned and potential criminal proceedings. Marches before games may have more luck I guess but even then, will the numbers even match the days of Kean etc? But it now feels like if we go a goal or two down, there for the first time in a long, long time, there is genuine ill feeling ready to erupt audibly in the stadium.

If the funds werent there, then that is down to the owners, not to shoot the messenger. But you are right in that the dilly dallying has put a right spanner in the works.

Are either of you season ticket holders or regular match goers? Reason I ask, is I was pleasantly surprised at the anger around me yesterday towards the owners and Waggott. We have had years of pretty stable crowds in which only the core left after Venkys have smashed to pieces the fanbase prior have remained loyal/stupid enough to keep going pretty much regardless. I wonder if there is a genuine chance of that remaining core which seemed fairly solid being whittled away, as that would really potentially leave some embarassing crowds.

It seems that the only beef you genuinely have with the owners is that they repeatedly "employ chancers" and keep them in post, but focus onto them and their lack of accountability. The O'Brien deal seemed more cut and dry, a terrible cock up. With McGuire, we had a permanent deal lined up and all of a sudden, we couldnt afford the comparatively tiny fee and had to renegotiate a loan last minute. Surely that screams of a sudden change of tact from the owners regarding willingness to invest.

There has never been a project. Theres no point even trying to create one under these owners.

There were rumours all yesterday (seemed like we had people copying each other to seem ITK) that Tomasson was leaving after yesterdays game. Maybe theres truth in the rumour as it isnt a wild assumption to suggest his days may be numbered but id take with the biggest pinch of salt for the time being.

Waggott is obviously an incompetent chancer but im unsure why you seem to view Broughton as almost flawless. Mind you, all these people are just symptoms of the real problem as had been the case for 13 years or whatever it is.

The recruitment team headed by Broughton are certainly not flawless enough to trust them implicitly, even allowing for a pathetic transfer budget.

Is being unwilling to change your principles and make changes upon such a bad run a positive thing?