[Archived] Sam Allardyce

[Kelbo]

We as supporters of Rovers always want to see the best for our club, we suggest potential signings, yes some would be nice, interestingly, Sam has stated in todays LET that players who were valued at £2,000,000 a few years ago are now going for £6,000,000 and the £6,000,000 players £12,000,000 and so on.

He states quite rightly that whilst it is much more difficult to manage nowadays, the accent for the future is to 'grow our own players' I can see the trend, we have already reduced the age of the squad and we have young lads coming through who we hope will make an impact sooner rather than later!

I recall Sam saying last year, he wanted to ad more vibrancy to the team and I feel to a degree he is doing that, it takes time but we now see Olsson, Hoilett, Kalinic, Nzonzi stating a case, Jones is pushing through, our Youth team made a great effort in beating Man U who have the cash to outdo most clubs by bringing in youth lads from all over the world!

Yes, the route one football does still occur, but we keep seeing displays of good solid attacking football, albeit for parts of the game! One of the problems with young players is that they dont have the consistency of experienced players, it takes a little time to bring them through, they have to be nurtured, used sparingly to avoid issues such as lack of confidence etc. I genuinely think that as time goes on and assuming we retain our premiership status, Sam will prove a wise appointment by the club, may take longer than some would like, but we will not go down the route of Pompey, Leeds etc in doing so.

Yes, I would love free flowing football week after week, it wont happen though, most prem clubs are now playing one up top and I remind you all of the free flowing football playing teams (apart from the top 5 or so) have struggled - Burnley, West Brom, West Ham - its a different game now and as a club, we have to balance football with sometimes the ugly side of the game, just as we did under Sparky. Despite the moaners and anti Sam brigade, I feel we are in good hands, Good Luck Sam!!

[greco]

When he first took over he said that his first task was to avoid relegation, his next task would be t consolidate our position in the Premier League over the next season or two and then hopefully we can start realistically aiming for Europe. When I read that back then I was encouraged and have been encouraged ever since. The fact is that Sam has been realistic about the chances and expectations we have as a football club and so far he has delivered appropriately.

So for what it's worth, I don't think he's the greatest manager in the world, I don't know how long he will be with us, I don't know how great we can become under him (or how poor), but I know that he has realistic aspirations for this club, he has the ability to manage at this level successfully and he has the know-how to develop this team and improve it. So I will keep faith in him until such time as he leaves or get sacked.

real solid post miker.

one thing i want to add is, that while he is delivering, sam is also in a process of making the starting eleven younger. That is one hell of an accomplishment, not only deliver results, but doing it with no money, while making a generation change.

i recall the discussions about his transfers, some of those we were linked to, had no resale value, take a look at the squad now. There is a handfull of players, who seems to be heading in right direction, when it comes to ability and value.

samis building the foundation for the future, its not rock solid yet, but progress is certainlt being made.

[thenodrog]

I'm pretty sure it's the other way around. I remember fast flowing attacking football and fearless determination that got us such memorable games as the 3-3 draw vs Arsenal, a top-half finish in our first season back in the Premiership, and a Carling Cup. That with everyone around us outspending us by a wide margin.

People like you moan about Allardyce buying older players but rem it was GS who brought in many old timers. Players like Tugay, Berko and Freidel proved excellent aquisitions of course mainly because two managed to stay fit, injury free and in good shape until they were 40. Remember GS had no way of knowing that they would manage to play so long for BRFC at the time. Rem also that these two mask a list of abject failure.

The mega money wasted on Cole and Yorke whose best days were definitely behind them. He also brought in I seem to rem even worse has-beens in Di Pedro and Baggio.

As far as his ability to spot young talent that was an absolute joke..... if it had happened anywhere else that is! He was damned lucky beyond measure to inherit Duff, Dunn and Jansen but his failures in spotting any young talent were spectacular. Grabbi ffs! Yordi (the only good news here is that we did'nt buy this dud) and who can forget his embarrassment to himself, Soton and their fans over the George Weah's cousin fiasco?

On the plus side and in his defence I think it was souness who brought in a Neill, Reid and MGP who most will agree have been solid but hardly spectacular.

I'm sure there are more examples from the Souness era but I'm left with an over riding feeling of how lucky we were to see the mags buy him off us!

[47er]

We as supporters of Rovers always want to see the best for our club, we suggest potential signings, yes some would be nice, interestingly, Sam has stated in todays LET that players who were valued at £2,000,000 a few years ago are now going for £6,000,000 and the £6,000,000 players £12,000,000 and so on.

He states quite rightly that whilst it is much more difficult to manage nowadays, the accent for the future is to 'grow our own players' I can see the trend, we have already reduced the age of the squad and we have young lads coming through who we hope will make an impact sooner rather than later!

I recall Sam saying last year, he wanted to ad more vibrancy to the team and I feel to a degree he is doing that, it takes time but we now see Olsson, Hoilett, Kalinic, Nzonzi stating a case, Jones is pushing through, our Youth team made a great effort in beating Man U who have the cash to outdo most clubs by bringing in youth lads from all over the world!

Yes, the route one football does still occur, but we keep seeing displays of good solid attacking football, albeit for parts of the game! One of the problems with young players is that they dont have the consistency of experienced players, it takes a little time to bring them through, they have to be nurtured, used sparingly to avoid issues such as lack of confidence etc. I genuinely think that as time goes on and assuming we retain our premiership status, Sam will prove a wise appointment by the club, may take longer than some would like, but we will not go down the route of Pompey, Leeds etc in doing so.

Yes, I would love free flowing football week after week, it wont happen though, most prem clubs are now playing one up top and I remind you all of the free flowing football playing teams (apart from the top 5 or so) have struggled - Burnley, West Brom, West Ham - its a different game now and as a club, we have to balance football with sometimes the ugly side of the game, just as we did under Sparky. Despite the moaners and anti Sam brigade, I feel we are in good hands, Good Luck Sam!!

Well said that man!

[Ossydave]

Not sure if it's been mentioned but Sam is on Goals On Sunday tomorrow if anyone's interested. I'll be tuning in

[Steve Moss]

Sam needs 12 points from the next 14 games to get us to 40. The matches that we need 14 points from:

Stoke (A)

Hull (H)

Bolton (H)

Liverpool (A)

Birmingham (H)

Tottenham (A)

Chelsea (H)

Burnley (A)

Portsmouth (A)

ManU (H)

Everton (H)

Wolves (A)

Arsenal (H)

Aston Villa (A)

I can see us beating Stoke, Hull, Bolton, Birmingham, Burnley, Portsmouth, Everton and Wolves. If we can take 12 points from the 24 available in these 8 matches, we'll be fine. But there isn't a lot of wiggle room. Putting on my cynical, pragmatic hat, we won't beat Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea, ManU, Arsenal or Aston Villa. We might squeeze a point or 3 out of these 6 matches, but I wouldn't count on it.

[Bobby G]

The next 3 home games are the most winnable ones. I cant see us winning anything at home after that to be honest.

[Mr. E]

I wonder if there is anyone here who can still argue that we are incapable of playing better football than the dross Allardyce put out vs West Ham. 1 upfront entirely isolated and helpless, Diouff as useless as he can possibly be, the "cavalry" in Andrews and Roberts when we have better players on the bench, and the other players looking directionless and without any ideas.

I really would like all the Allardyce defenders in this thread to explain why we are incapable of playing with two strikers and stringing more than two ground passes together.

Because we don't have enough money to buy someone like Andy Cole again? Is that why?

[DE.]

There are very few people arguing we are incapable of playing better football, but nicer looking football doesn't always yield results. Sam's tactics as of late have gained us 7 points out of 9 and put us in 10th place. It's difficult to argue against him, particularly on the day we gained a point at a ground we've consistantly lost at for quite a few years now.

[jim mk2]

I really would like all the Allardyce defenders in this thread to explain why we are incapable of playing with two strikers and stringing more than two ground passes together.

Horses for courses and and a point gleaned at a historically difficult venue.

Managing a club like Rovers is about pragmatism.

I'm sick and tired of all your constant stupid criticism of Allardyce.

Please go away and stick your head up your own derriere.

[imy9]

What game were you watching, we played some decent stuff today,who were the better subs? Andrews played well when he came on as did roberts, shame about the effort.

We have now played 3 won 2 and drawn 1, 2 clean sheets in there too, are currently in 10th position, with funds to hopefully buy more players, mgp is playing well, kalinic looks the business and we could have dunn and grella back shortly and there is this negativity, it is depressing.

[gumboots]

Horses for courses and and a point gleaned at a historically difficult venue.

Managing a club like Rovers is about pragmatism.

I'm sick and tired of all your constant stupid criticism of Allardyce.

Please go away and stick your head up your own derriere.

a point against West Ham is like gold dust and could prove to be the difference at the end of the season. I hope it's not that close but it could be. I don't care how it was gained. I'd love to see Rovers play fancy football at least some of the time but sometimes it's just not what it's about. It's about getting points on the board and rebuilding confidence in a team that could so easily have let their heads drop after scoring 4 goals, 2 when they only had 10 men, and still going out of the cup. Stop whingeing. It changes nothing. We're not going to sack the manager now so learn to accept that he has his way of doing things and whilst we may not always agree, he's going to go on doing things his way.

[Claytons Left Boot]

a point against West Ham is like gold dust and could prove to be the difference at the end of the season. I hope it's not that close but it could be. I don't care how it was gained. I'd love to see Rovers play fancy football at least some of the time but sometimes it's just not what it's about. It's about getting points on the board and rebuilding confidence in a team that could so easily have let their heads drop after scoring 4 goals, 2 when they only had 10 men, and still going out of the cup. Stop whingeing. It changes nothing. We're not going to sack the manager now so learn to accept that he has his way of doing things and whilst we may not always agree, he's going to go on doing things his way.

I think you should have highlighted Mr E's (Voice of Doom) post, gumboots, not jim mk 2's.

[Mr. E]

ah, I see, so if we tried stringing 3 passes together, or played with a second striker and lost the great contributions of Diouf, we would have lost the game?

Some people here are absolutely unbelievable. One week Allardyce is "taking the club down", then two rather fortunate home wins vs Fulham and Wigan and no one is allowed to question his expertise? Give me a break.

[Dufflite]

I wonder if there is anyone here who can still argue that we are incapable of playing better football than the dross Allardyce put out vs West Ham. 1 upfront entirely isolated and helpless, Diouff as useless as he can possibly be, the "cavalry" in Andrews and Roberts when we have better players on the bench, and the other players looking directionless and without any ideas.

I really would like all the Allardyce defenders in this thread to explain why we are incapable of playing with two strikers and stringing more than two ground passes together.

Because we don't have enough money to buy someone like Andy Cole again? Is that why?

You have to laugh don't you...this can't be a serious post.

[47er]

ah, I see, so if we tried stringing 3 passes together, or played with a second striker and lost the great contributions of Diouf, we would have lost the game?

Some people here are absolutely unbelievable. One week Allardyce is "taking the club down", then two rather fortunate home wins vs Fulham and Wigan and no one is allowed to question his expertise? Give me a break.

Some people on here are unbelievable and you are the prime example. Why don't you just admit you will never have a good word to say about Rovers on here till Allardyce has gone? Hopefully that will be a while away because he is building a new team and we are going onwards and upwards!

In the meantime if you've nothing positive to say why don't you just shut up?

[Hughesy]

I wonder if there is anyone here who can still argue that we are incapable of playing better football than the dross Allardyce put out vs West Ham. 1 upfront entirely isolated and helpless.

I really would like all the Allardyce defenders in this thread to explain why we are incapable of playing with two strikers and stringing more than two ground passes together.

Go on who could do better?

Prior to today we had lost the last 10 at Upton Park.....would you rather have a pretty performance and 0 points?!

[Tom]

I wonder if there is anyone here who can still argue that we are incapable of playing better football than the dross Allardyce put out vs West Ham. 1 upfront entirely isolated and helpless, Diouff as useless as he can possibly be, the "cavalry" in Andrews and Roberts when we have better players on the bench, and the other players looking directionless and without any ideas.

I really would like all the Allardyce defenders in this thread to explain why we are incapable of playing with two strikers and stringing more than two ground passes together.

Because we don't have enough money to buy someone like Andy Cole again? Is that why?

I'm not a Sam fan by any means but he got it spot on today imo a point is a great result.

Theres nothing wrong with boring teams away from home if it gets the desired result, its when its at home its an issue.

I said earlier and it may sound a cop out but not losing today was far more important than going for a win

[Fife Rover]

ah, I see, so if we tried stringing 3 passes together, or played with a second striker and lost the great contributions of Diouf, we would have lost the game?

Some people here are absolutely unbelievable. One week Allardyce is "taking the club down", then two rather fortunate home wins vs Fulham and Wigan and no one is allowed to question his expertise? Give me a break.

Yes and YOU are the king of them all.

Some people on here are unbelievable and you are the prime example. Why don't you just admit you will never have a good word to say about Rovers on here till Allardyce has gone? Hopefully that will be a while away because he is building a new team and we are going onwards and upwards!

In the meantime if you've nothing positive to say why don't you just shut up?

Or better still get back to Burnley where he obviously belongs. The man's a Dingle just here to wind us all up!

[Hughesy]

For me today our tactics were spot on.....we got 1 point from a game that 99% of Rovers fans expected to get naff all..we went there, stopped them scoring, frustrated the fans...we defended well and with a slight bit of luck we would be looking at a win

[broadsword]

I'm not a Sam fan by any means but he got it spot on today imo a point is a great result.

Theres nothing wrong with boring teams away from home if it gets the desired result, its when its at home its an issue.

I said earlier and it may sound a cop out but not losing today was far more important than going for a win

As much as I have been unhappy of late, I can't complain about the last few games.

I just want to see my team do well, and play football when we can. What drives me mad is aimlessly booting the ball to nowhere time and again.

If Allardyce stops that nonsense and mixes it and can keep us safely mid-table, then that will most certainly do for me. who could ask for anything more, realistically?

Can't say tyhat I'm a massive fan of his personality, but that doesn't really matter if the club is doing OK and he's not causing destructive ructions.

[Tom]

The thing is Bryan I certainly agree that I want to see us playing good football all the time but today the greater good was scruffy football and coming away with a point.

Hopefully a ball playing midfielder comes in and we can play some more football, maybe Basturk can do the job when fit

[gumboots]

I think you should have highlighted Mr E's (Voice of Doom) post, gumboots, not jim mk 2's.

You're right but I had to go out before I read what i'd posted otherwise I'd have put it right.

[PAFELL]

I wonder if there is anyone here who can still argue that we are incapable of playing better football than the dross Allardyce put out vs West Ham. 1 upfront entirely isolated and helpless, Diouff as useless as he can possibly be, the "cavalry" in Andrews and Roberts when we have better players on the bench, and the other players looking directionless and without any ideas.

I really would like all the Allardyce defenders in this thread to explain why we are incapable of playing with two strikers and stringing more than two ground passes together.

Because we don't have enough money to buy someone like Andy Cole again? Is that why?

I take it you were not at the game today. Rovers for a change were the better team against West Ham - normally it is the other way round. Normally Rovers come away without a single point.

Yes a few weeks ago I wanted Sam out, especailly after the man city game. But I think it is common knowledge by now that there was a fairly heated, cards on the table, meeting after that game. Since that Man City game Rovers have improved a lot, improvement which I believe will continue.

I have also been a critc and not happy with Sam not giving Kalinic a chance many games ago, and taking off Kalinic during games, instead of putting on Di Santo. But I am starting to think that this is a tactic that sam has planed. We do not know what is happening behind the scenes in training. Sam held back kalinic and we are seeing the fruit of that now. I think it is possible that Sam is doing the same with a di santo and kalinic partnership. If this partnership works well, chelsea will not allow a permanent transfer of Di Santo. So Sam is instead playing them seperately.

After the city game Sam has changed things a bit - not perfectly - but the players do seem to be responding to what Sam wants them to do. A team is NOT built in a season. Things are improving and I suggest that Sam is given a little more time and suppport from the supporters. Rovers are now tenth in the league, yet people on here like yourself still moan and groan. No the footbal isn't pretty at times and it can be fustrating to watch, but it is working. Many on here have also said that Rovers can also play well keeping the ball on the ground - which in spells they have shown. Maybe some of us want to see this more often, but Sam and the team are not playing for trophys, but prem survival. Rovers are tenth, other teams have games in hand, but Rovers have the points in the bag. They are tenth in the league and getting better. Other teams around Rovers in the league, are starting to crumble - apart from Everton. Yes I think the jury is still out with regards to Sam, so be it. But since the city game, what he is doing appears to be working. I therefore suggest we wait and see what develops.

[RoverInverness]

I am normally a silent reader on this board, but Mr. E has moved me to comment.

Are you seriously suggesting that sacking BFS is a sensible option?

We knew what we getting when we appointed him. Long balls, nulify the opposition, 0-0 draws home and away, the media and nuetrals hating us just like always.

On the other hand, we knew we were getting someone who would keep us in the PL. Yes, the entertainment is low, yes he's a stubborn git who tries to fit players into his preferred formation, yes he makes mistakes and he doesn't admit them - even to himself, yes we are hardly setting the league on fire, yes some purchases will be s**t. But will he take us down? I think even Waggy would be secretely surprised if he did.

In the long run we have to hope that the football eventually improves - like it did at Bolton, and that his heart and health are still in it. It took him a few seasons of steady, grinding, slow progress to push them into the European places. It was not an instant formula success, but then what is? Coyle (I don't think so), Souness (players all grow to hate him before he can get that far), Curbishely (not better than Sam), Hughes (stop kidding yourself), someone with no PL experience (too risky for us).

There is no alternative - this is the world of BFS - Newcastle thought they were too good for it - they were wrong, and they had far more resources at the disposal than we will have in a long time.