[Archived] Season 2015/16 Discussion

[T J Hooker]

I think rhodrs could get well onto the 30s if he gets a consitant supply in every game, hes got 20-30 a season each year so far and we've been playing crap for must of that time.

[roverstdt]

Looking at the 2015 season I think the question whether to Sell Gestede and Rhodes should be a simple one. Should we get the transfer embargo lifted thanks to QPR succesfully challenging the FFP then I would be all for selling them. With the two we would be able to raise about 18 to 20m which would help cut the burden of our financial plight and look to make good replacement signings which they are plenty of options available. Whether we discuss Chris Wood from Leicester on loan or permanent, or make a move for the likes of Jon Walters (who is out of contract), Jamie Ward (who still hasn't signed), with a couple of signings as well. (I also think we should ship off, Kean, Morris, Hanley, Best (if we can)). Having those additional fund come in can only help stabilise Rovers even more. Bowyer has shown when it has come to cheap signings that he has made the right decision. (Marshall, Gestede, Conway, Cairney, and so forth).

If not I am also optimistic about the youth coming through in the likes of Sullivan, Lennihan, Raya, with Nyambe and Mahoney not far behind.

All in all for the summer I think Andy Wilkinson could be a decent signing to add some experience to the team, while also we should be targeting that West Ham fella again, a ball winner, creative mid, and strikers should the two (Rhodes, Gestede) should leave. We aren't that far away from the play offs. However, I believe our downfall this year were due to two things. Bowyer lack of tactical knowledge, and also a lack of starting a consistent 11.

[ABBEY]

When are qpr in court and how long is it expected to last ?

[Gav]

You're getting confused Gav. The question wasn't about who scored, the question was about who could cause a PL team most problems. Rhodes caused them no problems whatsoever, while Gestede gave them problems all afternoon at their place. Nothing to do with "service" .

Come on den, if you don't get no service you don't cause problems or score goals.

Bowyers tactics at home and away, high ball after high ball, that's not Rhodes game but Is very much Gestedes.

Flawed argument in my opinion.

[DE.]

When are qpr in court and how long is it expected to last ?

We should find out by mid-June. If the decision goes QPR's way you can expect an appeal from the Football League though, for all we know this situation could last until the season starts or even beyond. I get the feeling it could get fairly messy.

[JHRover]

I can't see it getting messy. At present there are only two clubs in the League that are being harmed by these rules, and they are ourselves and Nottingham Forest.

QPR won't be bothered if it drags on. Infact, the longer they can go on operating without being punished the better for them. They aren't being hindered in the transfer market, and are seemingly free to go round spending money regardless, as evidenced by last weeks signings of the duo from Swindon. If they can get through the summer without being punished then they will hope to have done their business and be ready for the new season. No doubt this time next year they will point to offloading Barton and Ferdinand and that will be sufficient evidence that they are reducing their losses (strangely doesn't seem to have counted when we got shut of most of our top earners).

Then, if they get really lucky and get promoted again in the near future, they will be immune to whatever punishment gets thrown at them (if any) by being in the Premier League.

Other clubs won't be bothered about this. There are very few wealthy owners in the Championship who are actually being prevented from splashing the cash because of these rules. Most, like Derby and Middlesbrough are seemingly free to throw millions of pounds around without a problem.

My prediction is as follows:

• This will drag on well into the summer
• QPR will eventually get found guilty
• QPR and the Football League will then enter into discussions/negotiations which will take weeks/months
• QPR and the Football League will then reach some sort of compromise agreement which will see QPR paying a substantial fine, albeit much, much less than the £50 million they should get. This will probably be suspended for a period and will be due in broken down instalments to make life easier for QPR.
• QPR will be happy as they are still competing in the Championship, still able to sign players and have got away with a reduced punishment.
• The Football League will be happy that they have 'won'. They will be seen as enforcing their rules properly and dealing with guilty clubs. The 'integrity' of the FFP system will remain intact.

Let's see how close I am to being right when they eventually get round to sorting it out.

The League have already backed down on this. They had QPR over a barrel and could have refused them entry into the Championship if they wanted to, but they have already conceded that they won't be doing that. Expect to see more wriggling from both sides as they try to reach a mutually beneficial arrangement.

All this will be done behind closed doors so that whatever solution is found will be kept quiet from the public.

[thenodrog]

Rhodes is good at springing defences when close to the box. But he suffers from not being able to get in behind a high line. That's the nub of it. Unless the oppo defence is very slow they can push up high and nullify him very easily.

I guess this is why we are looking for a pacy striking partner to replace Gestede to help him out and get the oppo to play deeper.

That would suit him well, especially if we can then drop Cairney or Marshall in the hole behind to thread through balls from around 30 yards out.

Also if we can get him in the box he will score headers from crosses.

Still reckon he will be sold though once someone finds 10 million quid.

A 4-4-2 with Rhodes and a 'pacy' striker does not really allow for someone to 'play in the hole' unless the other 3 are defensive mids and not wide mids.

I thought at the time Liverpool figured out Rudi after about half an hour. They stopped challenging him in the air, stood off and let him have the headers or control it on his chest, then fairly easily dealt with him on the ground.

It's what we used to do when we played Everton and Big Dunc was up top. We let him head it virtually unchallenged and just made sure that there were enough around him to win all the second balls.

[DE.]

I can't see it getting messy. At present there are only two clubs in the League that are being harmed by these rules, and they are ourselves and Nottingham Forest.

QPR won't be bothered if it drags on. Infact, the longer they can go on operating without being punished the better for them. They aren't being hindered in the transfer market, and are seemingly free to go round spending money regardless, as evidenced by last weeks signings of the duo from Swindon. If they can get through the summer without being punished then they will hope to have done their business and be ready for the new season. No doubt this time next year they will point to offloading Barton and Ferdinand and that will be sufficient evidence that they are reducing their losses (strangely doesn't seem to have counted when we got shut of most of our top earners).

Then, if they get really lucky and get promoted again in the near future, they will be immune to whatever punishment gets thrown at them (if any) by being in the Premier League.

Other clubs won't be bothered about this. There are very few wealthy owners in the Championship who are actually being prevented from splashing the cash because of these rules. Most, like Derby and Middlesbrough are seemingly free to throw millions of pounds around without a problem.

My prediction is as follows:

• This will drag on well into the summer
• QPR will eventually get found guilty
• QPR and the Football League will then enter into discussions/negotiations which will take weeks/months
• QPR and the Football League will then reach some sort of compromise agreement which will see QPR paying a substantial fine, albeit much, much less than the £50 million they should get. This will probably be suspended for a period and will be due in broken down instalments to make life easier for QPR.
• QPR will be happy as they are still competing in the Championship, still able to sign players and have got away with a reduced punishment.
• The Football League will be happy that they have 'won'. They will be seen as enforcing their rules properly and dealing with guilty clubs. The 'integrity' of the FFP system will remain intact.

Let's see how close I am to being right when they eventually get round to sorting it out.

The League have already backed down on this. They had QPR over a barrel and could have refused them entry into the Championship if they wanted to, but they have already conceded that they won't be doing that. Expect to see more wriggling from both sides as they try to reach a mutually beneficial arrangement.

All this will be done behind closed doors so that whatever solution is found will be kept quiet from the public.

I find it odd that you say you can't foresee it getting messy, then predict an extremely messy scenario!

[mustard]

Looking at the 2015 season I think the question whether to Sell Gestede and Rhodes should be a simple one. Should we get the transfer embargo lifted thanks to QPR succesfully challenging the FFP then I would be all for selling them. With the two we would be able to raise about 18 to 20m which would help cut the burden of our financial plight and look to make good replacement signings which they are plenty of options available. Whether we discuss Chris Wood from Leicester on loan or permanent, or make a move for the likes of Jon Walters (who is out of contract), Jamie Ward (who still hasn't signed), with a couple of signings as well. (I also think we should ship off, Kean, Morris, Hanley, Best (if we can)). Having those additional fund come in can only help stabilise Rovers even more. Bowyer has shown when it has come to cheap signings that he has made the right decision. (Marshall, Gestede, Conway, Cairney, and so forth).

If not I am also optimistic about the youth coming through in the likes of Sullivan, Lennihan, Raya, with Nyambe and Mahoney not far behind.

All in all for the summer I think Andy Wilkinson could be a decent signing to add some experience to the team, while also we should be targeting that West Ham fella again, a ball winner, creative mid, and strikers should the two (Rhodes, Gestede) should leave. We aren't that far away from the play offs. However, I believe our downfall this year were due to two things. Bowyer lack of tactical knowledge, and also a lack of starting a consistent 11.

The embargo wouldn't be lifted immediately and if you think we'd be able to replace them both under these restrictions then you're far wrong. Sell those two and by the time the embargo is lifted for the January window we'd likely be in a relegation scrap.

[Stuart]

The embargo wouldn't be lifted immediately and if you think we'd be able to replace them both under these restrictions then you're far wrong. Sell those two and by the time the embargo is lifted for the January window we'd likely be in a relegation scrap.

This is exactly my concern.

[Athlete]

I can't see it getting messy. At present there are only two clubs in the League that are being harmed by these rules, and they are ourselves and Nottingham Forest.

QPR won't be bothered if it drags on. Infact, the longer they can go on operating without being punished the better for them. They aren't being hindered in the transfer market, and are seemingly free to go round spending money regardless, as evidenced by last weeks signings of the duo from Swindon. If they can get through the summer without being punished then they will hope to have done their business and be ready for the new season. No doubt this time next year they will point to offloading Barton and Ferdinand and that will be sufficient evidence that they are reducing their losses (strangely doesn't seem to have counted when we got shut of most of our top earners).

Then, if they get really lucky and get promoted again in the near future, they will be immune to whatever punishment gets thrown at them (if any) by being in the Premier League.

Other clubs won't be bothered about this. There are very few wealthy owners in the Championship who are actually being prevented from splashing the cash because of these rules. Most, like Derby and Middlesbrough are seemingly free to throw millions of pounds around without a problem.

My prediction is as follows:

• This will drag on well into the summer
• QPR will eventually get found guilty
• QPR and the Football League will then enter into discussions/negotiations which will take weeks/months
• QPR and the Football League will then reach some sort of compromise agreement which will see QPR paying a substantial fine, albeit much, much less than the £50 million they should get. This will probably be suspended for a period and will be due in broken down instalments to make life easier for QPR.
• QPR will be happy as they are still competing in the Championship, still able to sign players and have got away with a reduced punishment.
• The Football League will be happy that they have 'won'. They will be seen as enforcing their rules properly and dealing with guilty clubs. The 'integrity' of the FFP system will remain intact.

Let's see how close I am to being right when they eventually get round to sorting it out.

The League have already backed down on this. They had QPR over a barrel and could have refused them entry into the Championship if they wanted to, but they have already conceded that they won't be doing that. Expect to see more wriggling from both sides as they try to reach a mutually beneficial arrangement.

All this will be done behind closed doors so that whatever solution is found will be kept quiet from the public.

QPR will win money talks in a civil case.. If they take it all the way to the Euro courts there's no way will they lose some European clubs have already employed the bosman lawyers in the fight against FFP

[den]

Why does everyone think that getting rid of FFP is a good thing for us? Why would allowing us to go further in debt be desirable?

[thenodrog]

Why does everyone think that getting rid of FFP is a good thing for us? Why would allowing us to go further in debt be desirable?

Oi! Foul! Thats way too much plain common sense for the good members of this mboard den.

[Proudtobeblue&white]

But why ain't Loons doing it like all the other mega rich owners? They bought into the club surely? We are still a club of two! Everyone else is doing their own thing.....if it wasn't us it would be hilarious !

[DE.]

Why does everyone think that getting rid of FFP is a good thing for us? Why would allowing us to go further in debt be desirable?

I suppose the thought is that our debt is already at levels which can't be serviced by any means beyond getting back into the PL, and the best way of achieving that is having a team capable of getting promoted (and a manager, obviously).

I do agree that we really don't want to be massively increasing our debt levels any further though. The higher it gets, the worse it'll be when Venky's eventually decide they've had enough and the excrement really hits the fan.

[perthblue02]

Here are details of the 2014/15 parachute payments from a tweet by @sportingintel

Would have been 10/15 mill better off if the owners project partners had not been in such a rush to get relegated.

[Stuart]

But why ain't Loons doing it like all the other mega rich owners?

Words are very interesting, particularly in what we find offensive and what we don't, regardless of context or intent. I'm sure you know that loons is shorthand for lunatics. But the literal definition of lunatic?

I'm not meaning to knock you - I think you're an excellent poster and a good guy - but it's a little hypocritical to be outraged at an innocuous use of one word which is "en vogue pour offense" (Mike called it a hate word - which is a very slippery slope in terms of banning words) and one that is seemingly lighthearted but not dissimilar in literal meaning.

Like I said, merely interesting to note but particularly as Mercer has been shamed, rightly or wrongly, into hiding.

Here are details of the 2014/15 parachute payments from a tweet by @sportingintel

Would have been 10/15 mill better off if the owners project partners had not been in such a rush to get relegated.

That graphic shows how badly managed Cardiff are if they've been so poor with so much money paid!

[joey_big_nose]

A 4-4-2 with Rhodes and a 'pacy' striker does not really allow for someone to 'play in the hole' unless the other 3 are defensive mids and not wide mids.

Agreed. I think the way to get the most out of Rhodes is a diamond formation. Quick striker up with him to stretch the defence, attacking mid in the hole to supply the through balls.

Would be quite effective I think. It helps if you have pacy full backs to supply the width and we have that in Henley and Olsson.

-----------------Raya

Henley---Killa---Duffy---Olsson

-----------------Lowe

-----Evans---------Cairney

----------------Marshall

------Rhodes----Pacemeister

That would be decent enough. Needlesstosay would like someone better than Evans on the right (maybe Lenihan could do a job?) and Cairney would need to learn to put his foot in more to protect the back four.

It certainly would suit Rhodes and Marshall.

[blueboy3333]

One of rhodes best games for us last season was (i think) Charlton at home when Marshall was in the hole threading balls through to him. Rhodes movement was terrific that day and he sprung their back line quite a few times. I sincerely hope we keep him and play to his strengths next season. IMO, if he played up front on his own with no other responsibility than playing on the shoulder of the opposition and waiting for the through-balls he would be lethal. Running the channels isn't his game. What he needs is an Berkovic type in the hole behind him..................step forward Paul Taylor

[JAL]

Paul Taylor another Bradley Orr come Jay Spearing just poor poor scouse footballers that don't win you anything on the field of play.

Raise the bar blueboy3333 please!

[K-Hod]

Paul Taylor another Bradley Orr come Jay Spearing just poor poor scouse footballers that don't win you anything on the field of play.

Raise the bar blueboy3333 please!

Think he was being sarcastic.....

[Athlete]

Paul Taylor another Bradley Orr come Jay Spearing just poor poor scouse footballers that don't win you anything on the field of play.

Raise the bar blueboy3333 please!

Everton mafia connection

[ABBEY]

Surely not

[Proudtobeblue&white]

Words are very interesting, particularly in what we find offensive and what we don't, regardless of context or intent. I'm sure you know that loons is shorthand for lunatics. But the literal definition of lunatic?

I'm not meaning to knock you - I think you're an excellent poster and a good guy - but it's a little hypocritical to be outraged at an innocuous use of one word which is "en vogue pour offense" (Mike called it a hate word - which is a very slippery slope in terms of banning words) and one that is seemingly lighthearted but not dissimilar in literal meaning.

Like I said, merely interesting to note but particularly as Mercer has been shamed, rightly or wrongly, into hiding.

That graphic shows how badly managed Cardiff are if they've been so poor with so much money paid!

Loon - buffoon/silly person - apt description of the Rao's tenure at our club. If I'd wanted to call them lunatics I would have used the word. Lunatics they are not, I am aware of the difference. I don't diss fellow posters, not my style. Debate is healthy. I like you too.

[thenodrog]

One of rhodes best games for us last season was (i think) Charlton at home when Marshall was in the hole threading balls through to him. Rhodes movement was terrific that day and he sprung their back line quite a few times. I sincerely hope we keep him and play to his strengths next season. IMO, if he played up front on his own with no other responsibility than playing on the shoulder of the opposition and waiting for the through-balls he would be lethal. Running the channels isn't his game. What he needs is an Berkovic type in the hole behind him..................step forward Paul Taylor

Easy to counteract that by man marking Marshall..... although 2 games out of 3 Marshall doesn't need marking at all.

btw I could play given the service that Berkovic was able to provide. Marvellous vision and timing.