[Archived] Michael Appleton - New Rovers Manager

[Steve Kean's Hypnotoad]

I think Appleton has been a breath of fresh air since he has joined the club. His honesty is completely new to us Rovers fans after the years of Kean, and CKR seems to be responding after his ill-judged tweets. OK we didn't get a result in the first match but not every new appointment gets the "new manager bounce". Please God let us win tonight to take some of the pressure off him and let the team kick on.

A breath of fresh air. You mean the way he ended our unbeaten run by losing to a mid-table team at home? Or the way he seems to have sapped the morale of the players? Most good managers get the new manager bounce. But, like Berg, Appleton hasn't even had the new manager continue as you were. We've immediately got worse.

[den]

There is explicit criticism, he said the policy has been all wrong and needs improving.

But Appleton isn't saying a continental system of transfers being chosen by someone other than the manager does not work. He is not saying we shouldn't sign young players from foreign countries.

I know Den has been quite vocal on those two points, I just felt it was twisting and stretching the words into something they weren't to score points. It's pretty obvious the quote is point to our massively unbalanced squad and glut of attacking midfielders.

The discussions as I remember them LeChuck, were based around the way Singh, Anderson and goodness knows which other agents were providing players to the club - that no-one at Ewood, including the manager, knew anything about. Now some people on here backed that, using this "european system" as evidence that it could work and were happy with those goings on. I guess if they weren't happy about it, they would have said so, but they didn't. I'm not trying to score points about this, especially against you because you are always prepared to discuss football matters in a civil manner. There's still nothing wrong with pointing out that our transfer system was totally harmful and that Appleton has seen it as such.

Anyway. Appleton seems to have weighed the entire situation up pretty quickly. He seems to understand all, or virtually all of the problems and I'm sure he'll be forceful in trying to turn this ship around. He knows what's needed - of that I'm certain. Bottom line again though, is that he'll need results and to do that he'll be relying almost totally on the players, both present and new players. So, discussion number xxxvvvii - it's all about players - and it is. Without good players he can't succeed. Well 90% anyway.

[martonrover]

A breath of fresh air. You mean the way he ended our unbeaten run by losing to a mid-table team at home? Or the way he seems to have sapped the morale of the players? Most good managers get the new manager bounce. But, like Berg, Appleton hasn't even had the new manager continue as you were. We've immediately got worse.

Strewth, give him a chance!

My interpretation of some of the players on Saturday was that they weren't putting a shift in as a statement against Appleton.

Is that his fault? No.

It must be unsettling for the players but anyone who doesn't give 100% should be removed.

Appleton wouldntve been my choice but every day he says the right things and seems to have a plan of action ( unlike Berg ).

Admittedly this has to be translated to the product on the pitch.

This isn't the X Factor and we don't want to be one of those clubs which changes manager at the drop of a hat ( doesn't work ).

At least give him until the end of the season before passing judgement.

[OJRovers]

I'm not going to herald him as some sort of messiah for stating the glaringly obvious about our squad.

Many off this message board worked it out a long time ago.

He'll be judged on how he can re-build it.

I still question whether he has the experience to do it as well as a manager who has been there and done it before.

[Rover_Shaun]

Time for the excuses to stop and the talking to be done on the pitch

[ABBEY]

His team tonight will show a lot about him. By that I mean if he's as good as his word . If there isn't at least 3 or 4 changes then he's all talk . If there is every credit to him. Murphy MUST be one who is dropped .

[Tom]

If he goes on the last game then Murphy, Rochina and Olsson would all be dropped but I expect Simon to be one to make way

[ABBEY]

Those 3 should be gimmes Tom . If he leaves them in and does bring Orr back then it's same old same old.

[Doug]

Strewth, give him a chance!

My interpretation of some of the players on Saturday was that they weren't putting a shift in as a statement against Appleton.

Is that his fault? No.

It must be unsettling for the players but anyone who doesn't give 100% should be removed.

Appleton wouldntve been my choice but every day he says the right things and seems to have a plan of action ( unlike Berg ).

Admittedly this has to be translated to the product on the pitch.

This isn't the X Factor and we don't want to be one of those clubs which changes manager at the drop of a hat ( doesn't work ).

At least give him until the end of the season before passing judgement.

Exactly.

Yes, he is stating things that the majority of posters on here felt.......but at least he's doing that.....no BS like we used to get.

Some posters are expecting overnight miracles, ridiculous, this is going to take a while......more than a couple of games.

MA needs time to sort this bunch of overpaid / underperformers out. I would expect him to have outlined his issues from saturday to the players and field a very similar team. This would give the players another chance to show what they're about. As he said, it might get worse before it get's better, a clear reference to the non-performers and non conforming players, of which we have many.

He needs all the support, if the players feel that the fans are behind him they will feel more obliged to put a performance in.

[riverside returns]

Good points raised there 12miles, sense tells you that it takes time. It has taken even Saint Harry half a dozen games to get his team defending properly and to turn the results around.

[thenodrog]

why are we 10 points adrift in the first place? Because we're crap.

10 points isn't insurmountable for a united squad with talent to burn with a well-balanced squad, well-motivated with an experienced manager at the helm and no off-field distractions.

We have none of that, so yeah, it is insurmountable.

With 2/3 strong midfield / defensive additions, lots of journeymen and n'er do wells excluded from the squad, a strong team spirit it is not insurmountable because the one thing we do have and which is paramount for any team with aspirations is a prolific striker. We need to set up to ge the ball to him in the right areas more and once or twice a game.

Whether Appleton is the man to do that I can't say as yet.

[Rover_Shaun]

Can the IF's get any bigger?

[beatrix]

We must not forget that appleton was apparently appointed by the RAOs, WHY select him when there are much more experienced managers out there many of which are

out of work. I want him to be successful for all our sakes, but looking at the performance against Charlton the players looked like they wanted Bowyer back and were definitely

not playing for appleton. Talk is cheap we can all point out fairly easily whats not right, the question is can appleton sort it out in reasonable time. There is nothing obvious

in his background to suggest he can turn results around, he may well be able to cut the wage bill but can he improve results at the same time, his background suggests he is

going to stuggle. It is a strange appointment his chances are slim in my opinion.

[Mike E]

why are we 10 points adrift in the first place? Because we're crap.

10 points isn't insurmountable for a united squad with talent to burn with a well-balanced squad, well-motivated with an experienced manager at the helm and no off-field distractions.

We have none of that, so yeah, it is insurmountable.

Ofc, because situations never change, how silly of me.

Yes we only have the last 2 years of complete @#/? to base our opinions on, but I'm just one the hopeful few I guess. Quite ready to be disappointed yet again, but I'm hoping we can at least get a steady finish. By no means am I expecting to reach the play-offs but there's no reason we can't finish the season in a stronger fashion. We've got fitness coaches (with apparently national reputation) in for the first time in ages and the manager is making decent noises. If he puts those words into actions we could (COULD) go up.

No matter the situation, 10 points is possible to overcome.

[forumquizmaster]

A breath of fresh air. You mean the way he ended our unbeaten run by losing to a mid-table team at home? Or the way he seems to have sapped the morale of the players? Most good managers get the new manager bounce. But, like Berg, Appleton hasn't even had the new manager continue as you were. We've immediately got worse.

Not when its the club's 5th manager of the season they don't. 'New manager bounce' tends to be when a fairly long standing manager has been replaced. These circumstances are totally different.

[Plastic Head]

“Working with a smaller squad it makes it more competitive, it makes the team more unified, there’s a little bit more togetherness. If you’re working with 40 players you can only have 18 players in the squad every week so there are going to be 20 players disappointed. That is going to take some time, this isn’t a short term thing."

Either Appleton isn't very good at Maths or there are 2 players out there who are happy not to be involved.

Lets guess who they are!!!

[John]

We must not forget that appleton was apparently appointed by the RAOs, WHY select him when there are much more experienced managers out there many of which are

out of work. I want him to be successful for all our sakes, but looking at the performance against Charlton the players looked like they wanted Bowyer back and were definitely

not playing for appleton. Talk is cheap we can all point out fairly easily whats not right, the question is can appleton sort it out in reasonable time. There is nothing obvious

in his background to suggest he can turn results around, he may well be able to cut the wage bill but can he improve results at the same time, his background suggests he is

going to stuggle. It is a strange appointment his chances are slim in my opinion.

Appleton says one of the things he has said he will do is cut the wage bill (not at the expense of quality apparently) - perhaps his experience at Pompey made him attractive to the owners/agency who owns us.

[Mike E]

I realise that the comparison is with our best manager in the modern era, but bare (or is it bear? I'm never sure) with me. Just ponder this: How long did it take Hughes to get results in a consistent manner?

As I recall, we beat Portsmouth and then took just over 2months (6 games) to win again (including 2 embarassing 4-0 losses to Chelsea and Boro). After that, we saw some semblance of form (rough 5 pts in 4 games from there on in) and began to climb the table again.

So even one of our greatest managers struggled after being left with a squad devoid of fitness and morale. Our current squad is (or looks) unfit and completely unbalanced, although morale seems to be fine. The time now is for stability, as 5 managers in a season is ridiculous. Give Appleton the chance to make his words count for something and I'm sure he'll be pretty good.

[Steve Moss]

why are we 10 points adrift in the first place? Because we're crap.

10 points isn't insurmountable for a united squad with talent to burn with a well-balanced squad, well-motivated with an experienced manager at the helm and no off-field distractions.

We have none of that, so yeah, it is insurmountable.

I think Appleton has correctly diagnosed the problem, an overlarge, overpaid, unbalanced, unfit and demoralized team. Cutting the squad back to 22-25 quality fighters is the right way to go.

The question is can he deliver? We should give him a few games before discounting him as a manager.

[koi]

I think Appleton has correctly diagnosed the problem, an overlarge, overpaid, unbalanced, unfit and demoralized team. Cutting the squad back to 22-25 quality fighters is the right way to go.

The question is can he deliver? We should give him a few games before discounting him as a manager.

Will he be allowed to deliver? My concern is that he doesn't have any time to sort it and as we all know that is not the way to go.

[ABBEY]

I think Appleton has correctly diagnosed the problem, an overlarge, overpaid, unbalanced, unfit and demoralized team. Cutting the squad back to 22-25 quality fighters is the right way to go.

The question is can he deliver? We should give him a few games before discounting him as a manager.

Like I said earlier ,tonights team will speak volumes.Which way will he go ,I have no idea.

[Blue n White Rover]

Like I said earlier ,tonights team will speak volumes.Which way will he go ,I have no idea.

Abbey, I'm guessing you want Murphy dropped? Sometimes although the captain is playing poor (which Murphy has been), it is hard to drop him. You have to understand that Murphy played a big role in keeping the team together along with Bowyer. If Murphy is dropped then the younger players that "look up to Murphy", heads will drop and may have a detrimental effect on the team. Therefore, in the scenario, it may be best to keep Murphy in the team.

I agree on the rest though that Simon, Rochina, Lowe and possibly CKR need to be dropped. However, as we saw on Saturday, CKR was more effective in a central role so would be surprised if he was dropped.

The other problem we have is that we don't have the quality to replace the outgoing players. Who is going to replace Rochina? Simon? Lowe?

[CapeTownRover]

Oh well once again, the pessimists are out in force. When he says the things we want to hear, we criticise him and look for issues. We all know what the problems are as fans, Appleton knows as well, so its now up to him to set that straight. Its enough that we have @#/? useless people owning the club, but how much of fan negativity can we handle? To me we need to look ahead, playoffs or not, this last 20 or so games need to show a bit of improvement. It needs to be on a game by game basis. However, as I said before, if there are players who are giving less than 100% to the cause, then MA needs to remove them from the squad.

[ABBEY]

So you would have a player in the team who can't pass and has a sky dig at the incoming manager on national tv ?

I don't care who they are captain or no captain.

[SydneyRover]

I realise that the comparison is with our best manager in the modern era, but bare (or is it bear? I'm never sure) with me. Just ponder this: How long did it take Hughes to get results in a consistent manner?

As I recall, we beat Portsmouth and then took just over 2months (6 games) to win again (including 2 embarassing 4-0 losses to Chelsea and Boro). After that, we saw some semblance of form (rough 5 pts in 4 games from there on in) and began to climb the table again.

So even one of our greatest managers struggled after being left with a squad devoid of fitness and morale. Our current squad is (or looks) unfit and completely unbalanced, although morale seems to be fine. The time now is for stability, as 5 managers in a season is ridiculous. Give Appleton the chance to make his words count for something and I'm sure he'll be pretty good.

I had every confidence in Hughes as manager despite the average start due to his excellent record as Wales manager.

Nothing in Appleton's career so far indicates anything promising for Rovers.

I agree we should give him a fair go, but to say "I'm sure he'll be pretty good" about a man who has won 15 out of 64 games a manager makes very little sense.