roversfan99

It possibly shows how low standards have dropped then. Finishing outside the play offs having been in then for most of the season, with another second half of the season slide, with our talented manager leaving because the club is run so badly and with minimal reason for hopes of building on it because our key players are coming to the end of their contracts. Not sure whats positive about that. I havent in anyway criticised the players in my posts in this thread.

Discarding your low standards regarding a winger who has played the majority of games and contributed one goal and 2 assists. If the options are to sign a 5th centre back and keep Forshaw as immediate cover for midfield, or to not sign a 5th centre back but put the money towards a much better midfielder who can really challenge or at least provide strong cover (and not a huge dip in quality like when Forshaw and Buckley came in during our losing run) and then release Forshaw then surely youd choose the latter. I cant help but feel like again, you are justifying decisions knowing they will be made rather than challenging them if you dont agree.

Having to repeatedly extend early bird offers isnt smart, it shows they repeatedly get it wrong and then panic when they realise. Obviously early birds are an attempt at getting as much in as early as possible, but overall youll get less numbers because people who for whatever reason dont or cant commit so early (the season has literally just finished) wont then willingly pay more than what others have paid for the same product. Take the early bird out of it, I suspect many who have got season tickets would have got them in the early weeks anyway, especially if its to maintain their seats, so I doubt the cash flow is even overly benefitted by it.

Nobody involved in the organisation of matches does, its all about greed and the fans who go to games dont matter.

It would be a nice extra. But we need a number of other positions far more urgently. If its a left centre back or upgrades on sub par players (Hedges, Forshaw etc) then I would choose the latter. We play a back 4, 4 centre backs for 2 places is about right.

I dont get any happiness out of again just missing out, agonisingly, having lost our very talented manager and the main reason we were in the top 6 for much of the season in the circumstances that we did, no. I dont follow this binary thought process of we expected to finish here and finished here instead. We were in the top 6 for so long, are run so bad that Eustace moved to a relegation battle, our season nosedived and in that change, the new manager took only 1 point from 7 favourable games. Its not even like we can look forward and think we can build under these owners. The whole think is built on quicksand. The slumps keep happening, the very talented manager has gone, why would next season be different? It would only be progress if it was part of something that is being built.

Now we are moving towards that spell where people share any sort of rumour regardless of credibility. This is one source we can discount. A player out for most of next season injured.

How have we got to the stage where anyone would pre-emptively be "ecstatic" at finishing narrowly and frustrating outside of the top 6 of the Championship?

Neither broadcaster put any thought into what suits the fans going to the final. No broadcaster ever does.

Again, im talking about Rovers who despite Venkys best efforts arent a League 2 club. We should have the cash flow to not hinder potential season ticket sales by essentially throughout the summer probably putting a lot of people off because by the time theyve decided they would be interested, they then are unwilling to buy a season ticket for more than they could have had one for a month or two ago. There is no justification for it. You could still have a cut off to keep your seat without hiking prices.

I dont really get why a left footed centre back is high on the agenda. We play a back 4 and assuming Batth signs, we have him and Hyam plus Carter. Wharton wouldnt have much pressure on him as he would just be taking Sanderson's place in the squad. Not wasting resources on one could allow us to get a competent player as opposed to the easy option of signing Forshaw and/or Hedges.

It's so subjective so it shouldn't be taken as factual. Also, often a goal has numerous minor errors and misjudgements. If you are analysing off the back of a Hyam discussion then there will also be confirmation bias. For example, the one v Leeds was a dive, the goal v Cardiff came from an ACD error, Hyam not beating Meite who was on the run in the air is very harsh to give all the blame to him. Toth isn't mentioned but he made a big error v Coventry for the goal. Pears definitely has made more mistakes, one that springs to mind is Twine's free kick v Bristol City.

Whether other clubs do it or not, im not particularly interested. But us doing it is ridiculous and counter productive.

It's behind a paywall, but even if its partly fuelled by a bit of a shakeup, the amount of fixture changes across English football shows no consideration to match going fans. It seems that BBC and ITV are in a battle to determine the kick off time for the cup final, and part of it is to do with it not clashing with Eurovision. That sums everything up.

I don't understand why Carter's reputation has remained exactly the same after the last 2 years when his body keeps breaking down but even when he has put a run of games together, he has looked shaky. Hyam and Carter both were really strong together in Hyam's first season when Hyam won player of the season, and that wasn't next to an experienced defender, although in the main he clearly does benefit from one. I just find it strange how off the back of a season where I think Hyam has been good and has played every minute in a team with the 6th best defensive record in the league, with I think 16 clean sheets, it seems to have only accelerated the opinion that he needs moving on and Carter needs to be kept and built around. (Not that I am saying we should get rid of either, I would keep both) I can only conclude that its his lack of popularity that causes this perception. There was the meeting where he apparently said that the players didn't like the booing. There was also apparently an altercation or two with supporters around that time. One performance can also stick in fans minds, and he had an absolute shocker at Bristol City away. Sometimes its difficult to recover in terms of reputation from that. Armstrong had a game ironically at the same place where he had loads of shots and developed a reputation of being greedy. He then went on to score 28 goals in a season but I never felt that he was rated or popular in line with how important he was to us.

Sky promoting the fact that they will be showing 215 games next season, and TNT will show a few more. Thats over half of the games presumably set to be moved and its even the case in the Championship. No thoughts about match going fans.

VAR has worked very well in the Newcastle game. 3 penalties given but only a stupid Ayari handball was actually a genuine penalty, one was outside the box and one was a dive. Van Hecke really does like diving into challenges and can be a bit of a liability around good players.

I dont get why Hyam is being lumped in with the disposable crap.

One thing they dont ever seem to have been pressed on is the stupid phases. Prices etc theyve been questioned on and given often illogical explanations but the phases means that youve basically got a whole summer where you are limiting sales with people unwilling to pay an inflated price.

One of the 3 stooges. Some of the stuff he has said in his recent media round up has been very strange. He has overseen one window post Park and it was a disaster. As you agree, he shouldnt be in the job. The window seems a much more optimistic one to you. You havent really factored in the contract situation as a problem (Dolan is going and the others we either sell or lose in a year for free) and you have just assumed for some reason that everyone is suddenly aligned and on the same budget, and youve based your expected budget on the higher end of what liar Suhail said we spent in the season just gone. On the players you mention. Cantwell hasnt been a success, he has talent but overall has had a really disappointing season. He may kick on next season but cant be seen as a success yet. Youve already concluded based on very little that Kargbo is a success (was dreadful yesterday but either way hasnt done enough so far to be seen as one) so maybe we have different standards. Toth again id say its too early. I think in the last 5 games hes only conceded 3 but the main reason hasnt been his brilliant keeping, similar to when Pears kept 5 clean sheets in a row it was a spell where in the main the good defending of the team meant that the keeper had little to do. Ohashi has been a useful signing and certainly value for the small amount of money paid but I think he would be better competing with someone as first choice, Batth has been very good as a short term signing.

To be fair, that idiot got them promoted.

He has to go because of today? I can see why he didn't bring on the crap off the bench sooner.

Are you saying that we spent £5m this season (I really don't think we did) or that we will have it for this summer? And do you think this club is aligned on transfers?

Not a summer to look forward to, aside from a break from the stress of Rovers. A small budget in the hands of the idiot that is Rudy Gestede. Then you have the players we currently have. Tronstad, Travis, Brittain and Hyam are all key players going into their final year and Dolan is already going. What is left after that? Also, you know the season is over when people start trying to pick through the carcases of the relegated teams, looking at players all of whom are unaffordable.

This season has again proved that the general standard of the league is not very good. The top 2 or 3 are always fairly predictable due to the mess that is the distribution of TV money leaving a huge gap, but getting into the top 6 is very doable. Those inside the club like to dumb down expectations though. Don't allow them to lower your standards and think this season is positive because "we expected a relegation battle." It also proved that we will never thrive under these owners. In 3 of the last 4 seasons, we have had managers to get the team performing beyond the sum of its parts. When they needed help, things collapsed because the owners didnt care.