Danny Graham

[tomphil]

There was the tale by a few witnesses that Dack turned up one matchday looking like he'd just rolled out of a hedge. Told he wasn't fit to play so he either was sent home or stormed off.

Around the time he was having one of his domestic spats.  Can't be having stuff like that interfere with the team so got to back the manager although the Graham thing sounds a bit daft.  Probably a case of the boy who cried wolf with him though.

[roversfan99]

3 hours ago, Oldgregg86 said:

I think it’s not as black and white as were trying to make it. For instance fergie was known to be ruthless with his players and even stricter with the young lads but cantona generally got away with most things . You do have to set a standard and risk upsetting players whilst getting the best out of players that won’t respond anything but negatively to authority. It’s down to man management and I hate the guy but no doubt fergie was the best at it 

I know its hardly Cantona and Ferguson but I also heard a story on a podcast the other day of Neil Warnock giving Adel Taarabt the captaincy at QPR to try and focus him, but he was a terrible professional who never used to turn up etc so the senior pros were not happy, Paddy Kenny, Clint Hill etc all went into his office and said what are you playing at, Warnock said trust me and go with it because he will get us promoted. He did and they all went into his office at the end of the season and said yeah you were right!

[Oldgregg86]

2 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

I know its hardly Cantona and Ferguson but I also heard a story on a podcast the other day of Neil Warnock giving Adel Taarabt the captaincy at QPR to try and focus him, but he was a terrible professional who never used to turn up etc so the senior pros were not happy, Paddy Kenny, Clint Hill etc all went into his office and said what are you playing at, Warnock said trust me and go with it because he will get us promoted. He did and they all went into his office at the end of the season and said yeah you were right!

Listened to that in the gym last week was it paddy Kenny on something 

[roversfan99]

19 minutes ago, Oldgregg86 said:

Listened to that in the gym last week was it paddy Kenny on something 

Undr The Cosh with Jon Parkin and Chris Brown? I heard it on a podcast with former QPR player Marc Bircham although Paddy Kenny has just done one too which I will listen to at some point.

[RoverCanada]

The Christmas dinner story about Coyle is hilarious. The players are trying to sort it out in a serious meeting and he can't be bothered haha... Still can't believe that appointment. Considering how razor thin our relegation was that year, certainly an interesting counterfactual if any other manager had been appointed...

Graham comes off as pretty immature and less than 100% committed, but you can also tell he's probably good for locker room morale. It's a balance... I often remind myself that 90% of athletes are the guys I hated back in school haha.

Players are waaaay more ill-behaved than some fans assume haha, but I also suspect that's what separates the elite from the merely very good. I think there's a quote in Wenger's new book how the very best players live boring, monotonous, and repetitious lives. Fair play to Graham that he's still managing in League One at his age, but you also wonder where he'd be at if he was more dedicated.

Also highlights the credit Mowbray deserves for getting the best out of Dack despite his "extracurricular interests"... £750k was obviously a steal even at the time, but his reputation also contributed to him being so cheap. Will be interesting to see how well he comes back from injury (I also think he keeps fitter than people give him credit for. I recall many games trailing where he's all over the place trying to get the ball back with 80+min left...)

Makes sense that there's always going to be some love-hate between manager and player, particularly for a player effectively frozen out last year. Graham has every right to be annoyed about it, but he'd clearly lost another step last year and also seems to respect that Mowbray helped revive his career. The manager is effectively their boss, making them run/work every morning, so a players vs manager dynamic naturally develops. So Graham will naturally take Mulgrew's "side", even if it's clear from an outsider's view that Mulgrew is also past it... Also recall Graham speaking out for Gallagher after Sharpe's mildly critical article.

Edited October 23, 2020 by RoverCanada

[JacknOry]

Alan 'creasote' Shearer for one. The top players strive to be that at the detriment to their social lives. How many top talented players have fallen to the wayside because they do not have the drive and/or ability to stay away from temptations? Best, Gazza, Maradoonna (though to be fair his natural talent took him far further than most others with this problem)? 

 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 hour ago, JacknOry said:

Alan 'creasote' Shearer for one. The top players strive to be that at the detriment to their social lives. How many top talented players have fallen to the wayside because they do not have the drive and/or ability to stay away from temptations? Best, Gazza, Maradoonna (though to be fair his natural talent took him far further than most others with this problem)? 

 

An ex-player I knew quite well, David Cross, who played in the old First Division for several top sides had about half the ability Graham had but about ten times the dedication. That's why he had a long career at the top. I remember bumping into him at a cricket match were he'd gone to watch his brother play ( Heywood in the old CLL). I was at the bar and he came up behind me. I offered to buy him a pint and he said " No thanks mate, just get me an orange juice ". This was in the close season. I said " Don't you drink beer Dave  ? "  He said " There'll be plenty of time for that when the football is over ".

[Miker]

On 21/10/2020 at 01:50, briansol said:

Good boy Danny, but maybe not so great on self-reflection. First he tells on being hard done by Mowbray in League One, where he started 2 games, and then was out of the squad untill November. Shortly after he tells about him and Dacky going out on the piss all the time and getting called into the gaffer's office 3 times before October. Might seem related

 

It was interesting that the only time he got really serious while talking was in discussing Mowbray. I think there was a mutual respect there and he clearly felt hard done by not getting enough starts but end of the day Mowbray got more out of him than most managers and despite his claims of being out of the squad he played a part in most games.

Pours cold water on the claims that Mowbray is soft on the players and is too nice with them.

[Mattyblue]

Popular as ever up there...

https://www.readytogo.net/smb/threads/danny-graham.1533523/

[Stuart]

1 minute ago, Mattyblue said:

Popular as ever up there...

https://www.readytogo.net/smb/threads/danny-graham.1533523/

“Bin the Mag tramp” sums up exactly why they don’t like him.

That said, his legs have long gone. Needs to be used as a back-to-goal target man and nothing else.

[Hoochie Bloochie Mama]

7 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Popular as ever up there...

https://www.readytogo.net/smb/threads/danny-graham.1533523/

He did very well in the Championship with Blackburn to be fair to him. While he may have been underwhelming so far, I don't think we should give up on him entirely.

Having Dack putting goals on plates helped somewhat.

A comment and reply ^ They got that arse about tit, it was DG who used to set Dack up more as I recall?

Edited November 14, 2020 by Hoochie Bloochie Mama

[Sparks Rover]

I saw Sunderland on the highlights...If that Fisher is still our goalie, looks decent to me.   If its the same one

[davulsukur]

8 minutes ago, Sparks Rover said:

I saw Sunderland on the highlights...If that Fisher is still our goalie, looks decent to me.   If its the same one

Hes not ours anymore. He moved permanently to MK Don's

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2020/october/fisher-re-joins-mk-dons/

[Sparks Rover]

Just now, davulsukur said:

Hes not ours anymore. He moved permanently to MK Don's

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2020/october/fisher-re-joins-mk-dons/

Strange move to sell, looked decent to me and made important saves.....oh wait, Mowbray's mates lad came instead  ? and he doesn't even look like a goalie.  

We are being bled dry. Glad its the Venkys money and not mine.

[davulsukur]

Just now, Sparks Rover said:

Strange move to sell, looked decent to me and made important saves.....oh wait, Mowbray's mates lad came instead  ? and he doesn't even look like a goalie.  

We are being bled dry. Glad its the Venkys money and not mine.

Fisher got some game time during pre season, not sure he looked that great but yer, he will have moved on to accommodate Pears, who also doesn't look that great.

[rigger]

8 hours ago, davulsukur said:

Fisher got some game time during pre season, not sure he looked that great but yer, he will have moved on to accommodate Pears, who also doesn't look that great.

Fisher made a couple of good saves yesterday. He also had a great deal of good fortune. I think we where right to get rid, but I have my doubts regarding Pears, I hope he proves me wrong. 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

14 hours ago, Hoochie Bloochie Mama said:

He did very well in the Championship with Blackburn to be fair to him. While he may have been underwhelming so far, I don't think we should give up on him entirely.

Having Dack putting goals on plates helped somewhat.

A comment and reply ^ They got that arse about tit, it was DG who used to set Dack up more as I recall?

I suspected it might have been " a season too far " for him when he went to Sunderland. Just like when we signed Whittingham.

[John Siddens]

2 hours ago, rigger said:

Fisher made a couple of good saves yesterday. He also had a great deal of good fortune. I think we where right to get rid, but I have my doubts regarding Pears, I hope he proves me wrong. 

We didn't get rid. Mobray didn't want to let him go but also didn't want to hold him back. That's why we have a very large sell on fee agreed. Fisher knew Pears was coming in and the connection to Mobray. MK were desperate to get him back. So why do we all make an issue of him not playing on loan. Doesn't add up.

We keep going on about pre season. He is a young lad who hadn't trained or played for 6 months yet we expect him to be faultless. I personally think we are going to regret it.

Edited November 15, 2020 by John Siddens

[Hoochie Bloochie Mama]

2 minutes ago, John Siddens said:

That's why we have a very large sell on fee agreed.

How large is large and how highly was he rated at Ewood?

Edited November 15, 2020 by Hoochie Bloochie Mama

[John Siddens]

Just now, Hoochie Bloochie Mama said:

How large is large and how much do you rate him?>

Very to both. Wait until he is sold and you will all see what i mean.

[rigger]

Just now, John Siddens said:

We didn't get rid. Mobray didn't want to let him go but also didn't want to hold him back. That's why we have a very large sell on fee agreed. Fisher knew Pears was coming in and the connection to Mobray. MK were desperate to get him back. So why do we all make an issue of him not playing on loan. Doesn't add up.

We keep going on about pre season. He is a young lad who hadn't trained or played for 6 months yet we expect him to be faultless. I personally think we are going to regret it.

Do we still own his contract- No, ergo, we got rid. Do you believe he will leave MK Dons for any sort of decent fee, I don't ? To make an all-round decent keeper a few basics have to be in place that training or playing should not have that much effect on. IE communication, commanding your box, dealing with crosses. he did not in my opinion excel in these areas. Letting Shay Given go, is what I would call a regret. 

[Sparks Rover]

10 minutes ago, John Siddens said:

We didn't get rid. Mobray didn't want to let him go but also didn't want to hold him back. That's why we have a very large sell on fee agreed. Fisher knew Pears was coming in and the connection to Mobray. MK were desperate to get him back. So why do we all make an issue of him not playing on loan. Doesn't add up.

We keep going on about pre season. He is a young lad who hadn't trained or played for 6 months yet we expect him to be faultless. I personally think we are going to regret it.

Yeah spot on.

[John Siddens]

Time will tell

[Hoochie Bloochie Mama]

1 minute ago, John Siddens said:

Very to both. Wait until he is sold and you will all see what i mean.

It makes you wonder why he was sold if he was that highly rated at Ewood too? And why not just send him out on loan? Doesn't add up to me. 

[Mattyblue]

He’s going down well on the Franchise FC forums..

https://www.sitdownorwellstealyourclub.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5556