[Archived] The Championship 2013/14

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Keith Hill at Rochdale singing Bowyer's praises in the papers. Oh, and could he please borrow O'Connell for another season ? Hill's worked miracles at Spotland but if he told me today was Tuesday I'd have to go and look at a calendar.

[Baz]

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/burnley_fc/news/11206958.Sports_science_helped_Clarets_to_Premier_League_promotion/?ref=var_0

Injuries can be prevented and sports science is important?

Well who'd have guessed?

Its all luck Maj, just luck.

[Gav]

Our support has been @#/? poor on many occasions so why anyone is having a go at Wigans gates is beyond me.

At least Wigan have the excuse of having 2 major teams in the town.

Get a grip.

[ABBEY]

Our support has been @#/? poor on many occasions so why anyone is having a go at Wigans gates is beyond me.

At least Wigan have the excuse of having 2 major teams in the town.

Get a grip.

we will soon the mighty Blackburn Town FC

[thenodrog]

Keith Hill at Rochdale singing Bowyer's praises in the papers. Oh, and could he please borrow O'Connell for another season ? Hill's worked miracles at Spotland but if he told me today was Tuesday I'd have to go and look at a calendar.

So tyrone you don't see any improvement in the club both on and off the pitch these past 12 months?

I'm prob going to cause the usual furore on here but from the outside looking in this last year both bowyer and Shaw have exceeded my expectations.

Thee elephant in the room of course is the level of debt and what the owners intentions are. No one will know that and certainly not Shaw and bowyer and all they can do is get on with giving it their best shot.

[Bucksrover]

Its all luck Maj, just luck.

Cairney and evans got stamped on. Marshall basically injured himself, and etuhu's wallet strained his back.

Not sure science could have done much?!

[den]

So tyrone you don't see any improvement in the club both on and off the pitch these past 12 months?

I'm prob going to cause the usual furore on here but from the outside looking in this last year both bowyer and Shaw have exceeded my expectations.

Thee elephant in the room of course is the level of debt and what the owners intentions are. No one will know that and certainly not Shaw and bowyer and all they can do is get on with giving it their best shot.

One thing we do know Gord, is that there will come a time when the owners decide that they didn't come here to pour millions into a lower league club - and that's the basis of most of the concerns about Bowyer. Doing "OK" might just be the final nail in the clubs coffin. You said yourself many times that we need the current owners to stick with us. You must then, understand that the club just has to get out of this league at the earliest opportunity.

As for Bowyer himself - and this is a personal opinion - I think he was taken on permanently on the back of results, that as a caretaker, weren't as great as some believed. I find him uninspiring to listen to, I don't understand what all this talk about needing another two or three transfer windows to get together a squad is all about - except self interests and I think the way he addresses the fans and the way he handled the Leon Best situation demonstrates that man management might not be his thing. So while results improved a little, we were nowhere near to gaining promotion last season. Why will it be different next season?

So putting those two paragraphs together, for me with a better manager we would have come much closer to promotion than we actually did.

[Rover_Shaun]

If the club was a normal club with infinite time and sensible finances then Bowyer would be ideal. Sadly the club is a bomb with a lit fuse that's getting shorter by the day

[IbizaRover]

One thing we do know Gord, is that there will come a time when the owners decide that they didn't come here to pour millions into a lower league club - and that's the basis of most of the concerns about Bowyer. Doing "OK" might just be the final nail in the clubs coffin. You said yourself many times that we need the current owners to stick with us. You must then, understand that the club just has to get out of this league at the earliest opportunity.

As for Bowyer himself - and this is a personal opinion - I think he was taken on permanently on the back of results, that as a caretaker, weren't as great as some believed. I find him uninspiring to listen to, I don't understand what all this talk about needing another two or three transfer windows to get together a squad is all about - except self interests and I think the way he addresses the fans and the way he handled the Leon Best situation demonstrates that man management might not be his thing. So while results improved a little, we were nowhere near to gaining promotion last season. Why will it be different next season?

So putting those two paragraphs together, for me with a better manager we would have come much closer to promotion than we actually did.

Im sorry but he has just taken us on a 12 match unbeaten run. Everything started to click into gear a month too late in my eyes. Had we begun this run earlier I would put a significant amount of money on us talking about play off final tickets and when we can buy them. It was his first season as a first team manager, he knows the club inside out and knows how to handle the younger players due to his previous position. I could give a t0$$ about how he handled Best because, I'll refer back to him learning the role in his first season. I am very excited about next season and as soon as he odds are out I will be backing us to go up automatically. Foundations have been set by Bowyer, when he refers to another couple of transfer windows, Im sure Pearson said something similar a couple of seasons back........look how thats turned out!!!! Rather than bicker about small flaws we should all be singing from the same hymn sheet and get behind the whole of the club and push the team towards the PL next season. And if anyone next season moans at any backwards passing rather than trying to get forward every single time then I'll have to relocate my seat. I have has numerous arguments with people sat around me that we dont always have to pass forward. We still have posession FFS. I would rather pass the ball between ourselves for 90 mins then stick one in and win 1-0 than give in to some fans moaning about these backwards passes. Im sure Barca and munich fans dont moan as some of our fans do.

Rant over

[JBiz]

As for Bowyer himself - and this is a personal opinion - I think he was taken on permanently on the back of results, that as a caretaker, weren't as great as some believed. I find him uninspiring to listen to, I don't understand what all this talk about needing another two or three transfer windows to get together a squad is all about - except self interests and I think the way he addresses the fans and the way he handled the Leon Best situation demonstrates that man management might not be his thing. So while results improved a little, we were nowhere near to gaining promotion last season. Why will it be different next season?

So putting those two paragraphs together, for me with a better manager we would have come much closer to promotion than we actually did.

Your welcome to you opinion of course, and there some aspects that of what you say which certainly hold some fact- For example I don't think he isn't the best interview giver. I wouldn't say this about his motivational skills though, because (on a number of occasions) we have had a team playing and motivated properly. Leon Best is an example of not scouting properly and overpaying. Always had an attitude, not worth his wages- what do you expect? Another example of the idiocy GB followed.

The main part of your post I categorically disagree with. When summing up his work in the 12/13 season, did you forget the set of results between November and March? We were heading for the trap door to league 1 and despite the over paid under performers, GB managed to steady a ship which had spent 3 years without a rudder. The away win at Millwall was a big day for BRFC and I'm not sure many people appreciate that as much as me.

When looking at a whole season- again I find it difficult to acknowledge your view that we would have been promoted under a better manager. It's a difficult thing to argue - in hindsight. I could not see anyone having the tactical nous and motivational effect to make that team consistent. Key player had to be replaced, and we've seen umpteen times what mass changes does to the performance of a team.

I also thing lots of more proven managers would have not been able to get the players we needed. Gary saw the chaos first hand, and it's turned out that he knew the type of characters and players we needed to improve. Looking forward this is a huge positive because if he repeats the formula over this and the next window we will surely have a team challenging for the top.

Obviously things can change and there is definitely ways GB can improve- we may lose some better players- is Gary equipped with the skills to spend bigger amounts or replace Rhodes, Hanley? etc. Will Gary improve his tactical response in games? I'm not sure as some managers don't have it.

One thing that cannot be argued- compared to twelve months ago,we are in a better place in all walks football right now. Better tactics, better players, more fans in the ground, better results, a semi coherent structure behind the scenes, no negative press stories or players wanting out etc.

I agree that financially we are standing on the end of the cliff- but at least the value of the playing squad had improved to the level where there is light at the end of the tunnel. To sum up; The overall feeling around the club has improved drastically and that can only be attributed to improvement on the pitch, and silent work in the corridors.

13/14 was a season where BRFC became a football team again, and not a circus. I personally would like to thank GB for this.

[Rover_Shaun]

So its a positive because the team clicked too late and now everything is reset to zero anx any momentum is completely lost after a 3 month break?

What was he doing when the team bottled every other attempt to force a run to the playoffs? Once the pressure was off they performed. Why? should be the question. Why did the team and management fail and whay steps are they taking to learn from those failures

[IbizaRover]

So its a positive because the team clicked too late and now everything is reset to zero anx any momentum is completely lost after a 3 month break?

What was he doing when the team bottled every other attempt to force a run to the playoffs? Once the pressure was off they performed. Why? should be the question. Why did the team and management fail and whay steps are they taking to learn from those failures

You learn from your mistakes mate!! I was taught this at school. Same applies to football as does practice makes perfect. We will do well next season and carry on where we left off. A shot in the dark here but I reckon you where one of the fans who moaned when the ball was passed backwards?

[OJRovers]

So its a positive because the team clicked too late and now everything is reset to zero anx any momentum is completely lost after a 3 month break?

What was he doing when the team bottled every other attempt to force a run to the playoffs? Once the pressure was off they performed. Why? should be the question. Why did the team and management fail and whay steps are they taking to learn from those failures

What he was doing was scouting for the right sort of players to bring in to replace those who 'bottled it' or were not performing. He picked up a shambles of a squad that nearly went down last year (if it weren't for GB we would have done). He has now turned us into play-off contenders.

The team have started to gel, and the attitude at the club turn a corner. He fully deserves a chance next year. Can't actually believe people now want him gone after the finish to the season.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

So its a positive because the team clicked too late and now everything is reset to zero anx any momentum is completely lost after a 3 month break?

What was he doing when the team bottled every other attempt to force a run to the playoffs? Once the pressure was off they performed. Why? should be the question. Why did the team and management fail and whay steps are they taking to learn from those failures

i think we have to consider that though we did miss numerous opportunities to force ourselves into the play-offs - did you ever consider that this was because other teams were messing it up, much in the same way we did ? Teams like Ipswich with a far more experienced manager - even HR at QPR you could argue he messed up getting second place (taking nothing away from Burnley's achievement).

Except for the top two nobody showed consistency - which was shown by our end of season run being one of the longest unbeaten runs in the Championship (even though it included draws that messed it up for us).

What was refreshing for me - is out of a 46 match season there was only a few were we were comprehensively beaten - most matches swung on the odd defensive mistake, or missed opportunity. Overall the level of performance was night and day to the previous season - still concerned about overall fitness - but looking forward to next season more than I have for a while.

[yoda]

You learn from your mistakes mate!! I was taught this at school. Same applies to football as does practice makes perfect. We will do well next season and carry on where we left off. A shot in the dark here but I reckon you where one of the fans who moaned when the ball was passed backwards?

Clever people learn from their mistakes, wise people learn from other peoples mistakes, that is what I was taught.

Tell me what GB learned?

[JBiz]

Clever people learn from their mistakes, wise people learn from other peoples mistakes, that is what I was taught.

Tell me what GB learned?

It's impossible to tell you what GB had learned without being a fly on the wall or setting him an exam. I do enough assessment day to day, so I can't be arsed organising this... Haha.

Realistically though it's easier to analyse what we've learned about him;

1. He's a lot more than a reserve coach. Proven ability to motivate a first team regularly and organise a squad capable of competing with other teams of the same level

2. He or his team has a real eye for a player. This is proven by numerous good signings.

3. He can be tactically naive during play- not always capable of changing the flow of a game. I'd put this down to a lack of experience- a good example would be 'Arry changing QPRs formation to deal with Wigan tuther night. If anyone watched that game, you will have seen the move of doyle and kranjkar effective changed the game.

4. He is not afraid of speaking his mind and deflects criticism from his squad. Definate examples of manager skills - it's imperative that a squad has respect for him and I think it would be hard to find many examples of the opposite.

There is obviously more elements but cutting it short (due to battery issues..)

[yoda]

It's impossible to tell you what GB had learned without being a fly on the wall or setting him an exam. I do enough assessment day to day, so I can't be arsed organising this... Haha.

Realistically though it's easier to analyse what we've learned about him;

1. He's a lot more than a reserve coach. Proven ability to motivate a first team regularly and organise a squad capable of competing with other teams of the same level

2. He or his team has a real eye for a player. This is proven by numerous good signings.

3. He can be tactically naive during play- not always capable of changing the flow of a game. I'd put this down to a lack of experience- a good example would be 'Arry changing QPRs formation to deal with Wigan tuther night. If anyone watched that game, you will have seen the move of doyle and kranjkar effective changed the game.

4. He is not afraid of speaking his mind and deflects criticism from his squad. Definate examples of manager skills - it's imperative that a squad has respect for him and I think it would be hard to find many examples of the opposite.

There is obviously more elements but cutting it short (due to battery issues..)

Kop out

[West Yorks Rover]

Your welcome to you opinion of course, and there some aspects that of what you say which certainly hold some fact- For example I don't think he isn't the best interview giver. I wouldn't say this about his motivational skills though, because (on a number of occasions) we have had a team playing and motivated properly. Leon Best is an example of not scouting properly and overpaying. Always had an attitude, not worth his wages- what do you expect? Another example of the idiocy GB followed.

The main part of your post I categorically disagree with. When summing up his work in the 12/13 season, did you forget the set of results between November and March? We were heading for the trap door to league 1 and despite the over paid under performers, GB managed to steady a ship which had spent 3 years without a rudder. The away win at Millwall was a big day for BRFC and I'm not sure many people appreciate that as much as me.

When looking at a whole season- again I find it difficult to acknowledge your view that we would have been promoted under a better manager. It's a difficult thing to argue - in hindsight. I could not see anyone having the tactical nous and motivational effect to make that team consistent. Key player had to be replaced, and we've seen umpteen times what mass changes does to the performance of a team.

I also thing lots of more proven managers would have not been able to get the players we needed. Gary saw the chaos first hand, and it's turned out that he knew the type of characters and players we needed to improve. Looking forward this is a huge positive because if he repeats the formula over this and the next window we will surely have a team challenging for the top.

Obviously things can change and there is definitely ways GB can improve- we may lose some better players- is Gary equipped with the skills to spend bigger amounts or replace Rhodes, Hanley? etc. Will Gary improve his tactical response in games? I'm not sure as some managers don't have it.

One thing that cannot be argued- compared to twelve months ago,we are in a better place in all walks football right now. Better tactics, better players, more fans in the ground, better results, a semi coherent structure behind the scenes, no negative press stories or players wanting out etc.

I agree that financially we are standing on the end of the cliff- but at least the value of the playing squad had improved to the level where there is light at the end of the tunnel. To sum up; The overall feeling around the club has improved drastically and that can only be attributed to improvement on the pitch, and silent work in the corridors.

13/14 was a season where BRFC became a football team again, and not a circus. I personally would like to thank GB for this.

Looking to me like the transfer embargo will be going ahead in January 2015, if that's the case he will have to get it right first time

over the summer.

[thenodrog]

Looking to me like the transfer embargo will be going ahead in January 2015, if that's the case he will have to get it right first time

over the summer.

If thats the case we might as well ALL get behind Bowyer and move on cos no manager 'of experience' will come anywhere near us. The Bowyer Out brigade are effectively snookered.

[West Yorks Rover]

If thats the case we might as well ALL get behind Bowyer and move on cos no manager 'of experience' will come anywhere near us. The Bowyer Out brigade are effectively snookered.

I very much doubt he'll be going anywhere after finishing 8th on a 12 match unbeaten run, so I think you're right Gordon.

He has a lot of work to do over the summer though, let's hope he can bring in 4/5 more like Gestede, Conway and Cairney

and forget about the likes of Varney and Feeney.

If he manages that, his tactical limitations may not matter too much, his team may be good enough to make up for it.

Yes and of course if he cocks it up before xmas, we will probably end up with one of his assistants in charge if they decide

to fire him.

[JBiz]

Kop out

Home and fully charged.

I would suggest we have learned one or two more things - you could factor in his willingness to travel to Pune as a negative, but I think that may be a definite for any manager we have under the Raos. Another positive could be his apparent style of play - which is a big improvement on anything served up by Big Sam (granted at a lower level) or any of the others not worth even mentioning since. We utilise both flanks, middle and can go direct. Certainly attacking at times and also well organised for the most part.

The "impending financial meltdown" which is trotted out as reason to pot GB does not factor in any practical concerns. It's like saying "we need to get to the moon- how are we going to land on it?" The foundations ripped out by criminals, replaced with sand. Those foundations had to be rebuilt, regardless of the hole in which the club finds itself.

The club was in utter chaos throughout 2012/13 season. Do I need to even remind us of it? To even consider promotion a possibility during 2013/14, you would have to have either an extremely short memory or an unreasonable expectancy of the club. (an empty shell of the club it recently it once was)

It's easy to understand the over expectancy in my eyes- because when something you value is purposely ripped to pieces or taken away in front of your own eyes, it's extremely difficult to take in.

We have to move on, attune our expectation and if the Raos send us to the wall, it is they who shall be vented upon and blamed- not our ex reserve manager, who is the only guy who has shown one semblance of decency in the last 3 years.

All stated as opinion before anyone jumps down my throat.

[rovers11]

Cardiff have had a bid accepted for Grabban. Not a bad signing but not top class. Certainly a downgrade on Frazier Campbell who will be leaving the club this season.

[USABlue]

When is the final

[Salgado Is A Hero]

Cardiff have had a bid accepted for Grabban. Not a bad signing but not top class. Certainly a downgrade on Frazier Campbell who will be leaving the club this season.

They've signed Javi Guerra from Valldolid as well. He's been banging them in in La Liga despite playing for a relegation threatened team all year. He's quite a physical striker so I think he'll do well in England.

It's hard to tell now but Cardiff and Norwich could be extremely dangerous next season.

[Majiball]

Cairney and evans got stamped on. Marshall basically injured himself, and etuhu's wallet strained his back.

Not sure science could have done much?!

So only 4 injuries all season?

Go and tally up 'their' injuries in comparison to our this season.