Championship 2017/18

[philipl]

19 hours ago, skous18 said:

Is it just me or is Championship pathetic this year? Millwall currently stand 8th in the league, 2 points away from the play offs.. 

crazy

nothing to fear if we go up. If we manage to keep Armstrong , Chapman and Payne we can actually start dreaming

The progress of Sheff U and Millwall to play-off contention and survival of a totally crippled Notlob plus all the relegated trio of Wigan Rovers and Rotherham in strong contention to bounce back at first asking suggest we will be OK in Div 2 next season.

Our current squad would run riot overwhelming any team managed by Coyle last season.  

Of the teams coming down, two will be useful but WBA look like next season's Sunderland notwithstanding Derby's Good Friday charity game. Currently looks like any two from Derby, Boro, Bristol City, Sheff U, Millwall and PNE for the play-offs with Derby in freefall (W0 D3 L2 from last 5) 

If Mowbray and the Raos have any sense, setting out our stall for immediate promotion back to the Premier is the very obvious thing to do.

If....

Edited March 31, 2018 by philipl

[DE.]

35 minutes ago, philipl said:

The progress of Sheff U and Millwall to play-off contention and survival of a totally crippled Notlob plus all the relegated trio of Wigan Rovers and Rotherham in strong contention to bounce back at first asking suggest we will be OK in Div 2 next season.

Our current squad would run riot overwhelming any team managed by Coyle last season.  

Of the teams coming down, two will be useful but WBA look like next season's Sunderland notwithstanding Derby's Good Friday charity game. Currently looks like any two from Derby, Boro, Bristol City, Sheff U, Millwall and PNE for the play-offs with Derby in freefall (W0 D3 L2 from last 5) 

If Mowbray and the Raos have any sense, setting out our stall for immediate promotion back to the Premier is the very obvious thing to do.

If....

I think it was Rowett who said that Warnock told him in the summer that the Championship was wide open this season and that he was going to go for it. Seems to have worked out for him. Similar to the season Ipswich got into the playoffs, or Blackpool for that matter, sometimes there are enough poor teams and managers for an opportunity to arrive for a smaller, less fancied team to have a stab at getting themselves up. If you never try you'll never know.

As for Marshall, he had some purple patches here too. We all knew there was a player in there, but once his head dropped it dropped for a long time and that's where his problems exist. 

[rog of the rovers]

Speaking of former friends

Interesting fortunes for most of our ex-Roverites still playing in the Championship, that were with us in 2016/17

Promotion Chasing -  Feeney (Cardiff) 

Playoff Chasing - Marshall (Millwall) 

Mid-Table - Lucas Joao (Sheffield Wednesday)

Relegation Candidates -  Lowe and Gallagher (Birmingham) Akpan and Samuelsen (Burton) Steele (Sunderland)

 

For Context - Most selected lineup of Rovers players in 2016/17 season.....and where they are now

 

GK - Jason Steele (43 apps) - Backup goalkeeper at Sunderland - 12 apps in League - Heading for Relegation

RB - Ryan Nyambe (25 apps) - Still at Club, 1st choice

CB - Charlie Mulgrew (28 apps) - Still at Club, 1st choice - Captain

CB - Darragh Lenihan (40 apps) - Still at Club, 1st choice

LB - Derrick Williams (39 apps) - Still at Club, 1st choice

RM - Liam Feeney (38 apps) - Substitue at Cardiff - Heading for the Premier League

CM - Jason Lowe (43 apps) - 8 apps for Birmingham - Fighting Relegation

CM - Danny Guthrie (24 apps) - Currently playing for Indonesian League 1 side - Mitra Kukar

LM - Craig Conway (42 apps) - Still at Club, Backup, just 20 apps so far this season

ST - Danny Graham (35 apps) - Still at Club, 1st choice

ST - Sam Gallagher (43 apps) - At Birmingham - Fighting Relegation

 

Others

Gordon Greer (20 apps) - at Kilmarnock

Tommie Hoban (16 apps) - Hasn't played for Watford since 2014

Marvin Emnes (34 apps) - At Turkish side Akhisar Belediyespor

Hope Akpan (25 apps) - At Burton - Headed for Relegation

Martin Samuelsen (4 apps) - See Hope Akpan

Connor Mahoney (14 apps) - Reserve on loan at Barnsley - Played 3 games since January - Fighting Relegation

Stephen Hendrie (3 apps) - On loan at Motherwell after loan deal with Southend was cancelled

Adam Henley (2 apps) - On loan to Real Salt Lake FC's reserve team Real Monarchs

Wes Brown (5 apps) - At Kerala Blasters FC in Indian Super League - managed by David James

Anthony Stokes (7 apps) - Recently joined Apollon Smyrni FC of the Greek Super League

Jack Byrne (4 apps) - At Oldham - Fighting Relegation to League Two.

 

And of course........... Owen Coyle - Sacked by Ross County after 4 wins from 22 games

 

Is it any wonder we got relegated? In fact, how did we only go down on goal difference?

 

[DE.]

Our main issue was the midfield area which was absolutely dire. Obviously Steele is a terrible goalkeeper too. I certainly wouldn't swap our current squad for the class of 2016/17! We were relying on Danny Guthrie of all people to be our saviour, and expecting the likes of Samuelsen and Byrne to make a difference. I'd rather not remember No Hope and Lowe stinking up the midfield game after game. 

Amazing that Henley can't even get into the first team of a minor MLS club. That kid has really lost his way. I mean, he always looked like a kid playing with men, but I wouldn't have expected his career to spiral as fast as it has. I figured a Championship or L1 side would give him a chance. Even Uncle Gary had no room for him (or J-Lowe) at Blackpool.

[Bigdoggsteel]

Thats depressing. Please remove 

[DE.]

Birmingham beating Bolton last night means that Sunderland are now 8 points adrift with 6 games left. Looks like they'll be doing back-to-back relegations. Even we avoided that!

[JHRover]

Big problem with Sunderland is their debt. £150 million+ at the last count. Their owner is desperate to get rid and has even offered to give it away to someone who will take the debt on. Sunderland are an attractive investment even in League One with their stadium and fanbase. But throw that amount of debt into the equation and it becomes much more difficult to find someone to take it on.

Ellis Short will do as Venkys have here and keep the doors open and pay the bills and wages each month. Not through benevolence or generosity but because he's no alternative short of shutting the club down. But will he go further than that and stump up some cash for Sunderland to have a chance of bouncing straight back up? Venkys did it, swallow some additional losses on the basis of getting it back through promotion, but there's no guarantee it will work. It is more effective in League One than the Championship where the competition is weaker and the finances so much tighter elsewhere.

Unfortunately it seems Birmingham are going to crawl their way out of trouble again. Shame because in League One their 'big club' claims might have some credence.

Edited April 4, 2018 by JHRover

[DE.]

Barnsley could still catch Brum if they win their game in hand. Bolton and Reading not out of it yet either. Hull should be OK now on 41 points. I think we would have survived this season's Championship, even with our terrible squad of 2016/17. Coyle would have had us down there but Mowbray probably would have been able to save us. Assuming we get promoted this season relegation might actually have done us some good, though. We still won't be at squad levels of 13/14 and under Venky's I'm not sure we ever will be again, but if we'd stayed in the Championship I doubt the likes of Dack sign for us and we'd still probably have wasters like Steele, Akpan, Lowe, etc clinging on.   

As far as Sunderland are concerned, at least Rovers got a few half-decent years in the Championship out of Venky's... Sunderland have just dropped like a stone. Just 6 wins all season. I read that Jack Rodwell's contract still has a year to run and he'll still be on £40k pw next year in League 1 (he's on £72k pw at the moment). We've been there with the likes of Etuhu, Murphy, etc, but at least Venky's had the "sense" (using that word very loosely) to cut a deal and get rid of them, rather than let them linger around the club like a bad smell, "earning" a full wage until the bitter end. 

[Dreams of 1995]

Amazing how out of all of them Danny Guthrie couldn't get a contract in England. I'd say he's one of the better technical players on that list but unfortunately couldn't get fit.

How Hopeless and Lowe got contracts in the Championship is beyond me and it's of no surprise both clubs they are at are fighting relegation. 

[DE.]

Lowe will assumedly be released from Birmingham in the summer. I pray to any and all existing deities that we don't end up bringing him back.  

[Dreams of 1995]

23 minutes ago, DE. said:

Lowe will assumedly be released from Birmingham in the summer. I pray to any and all existing deities that we don't end up bringing him back.  

I can't see that happening. We have arguably a much better midfielder in Smallwood. Plus Evans has got into some fairly decent form the last couple of games despite a relatively uninspiring season.

There are a million central midfielders better than him and I'd imagine Mowbray has his eyes elsewhere than Lowe. We've seen more bite in midfield this season than in the past 3 combined!!

We do need another central midfielder though but I suppose that is looking too far ahead.

[DE.]

Just now, Dreams of 1995 said:

I can't see that happening. We have arguably a much better midfielder in Smallwood. Plus Evans has got into some fairly decent form the last couple of games despite a relatively uninspiring season.

There are a million central midfielders better than him and I'd imagine Mowbray has his eyes elsewhere than Lowe. We've seen more bite in midfield this season than in the past 3 combined!!

We do need another central midfielder though but I suppose that is looking too far ahead.

I hope you're right!

[Bigdoggsteel]

Bringing David Dunn back made sense, bringing Jason Lowe back, does not. I wouldn't be surprise if he eventually found his level and ended up in League 1 

[Rover_Shaun]

Jason Lowe is as much a talisman for failure than Venkys.

[Tom]

I’ll be honest I had forgotten that Ben Marshall existed till I saw the previous page.

At least he looks like he’s using his talents again.

[roversfan99]

How much of a joke is it that Sky have put on Sunderland away at Fulham on a Friday night with 3 weeks notice?

[Admiral Nelsen]

Just now, roversfan99 said:

How much of a joke is it that Sky have put on Sunderland away at Fulham on a Friday night with 3 weeks notice?

Shocking, but to be honest I'm just pleased that it's not us.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

What happened to that Lawrence lad ?

[roversfan99]

10 minutes ago, Admiral Nelsen said:

Shocking, but to be honest I'm just pleased that it's not us.

To be fair they have moved some of ours recently to stupid times.

[chaddyrovers]

Just now, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

What happened to that Lawrence lad ?

Plays for Derby

[DE.]

Judging by comments I read on Derby's forums a couple of weeks ago, Lawrence isn't particularly popular among the support. Although that might have just been frustrations from the horrendous run they were on at the time. 

I remember him blowing hot and cold for us. And obviously, that miss against Burnley.

[SBlue]

43 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

How much of a joke is it that Sky have put on Sunderland away at Fulham on a Friday night with 3 weeks notice?

Does this mean that the Charlton fixture is set in stone?

[roversfan99]

Just now, S8 & Blue said:

Does this mean that the Charlton fixture is set in stone?

No idea. For me the worst part is the lack of notice, maybe theyll announce it the day before.

[Rogerb]

27 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

What happened to that Lawrence lad ?

Scored Derby's winner at Preston over easter

[superniko]

23 minutes ago, S8 & Blue said:

Does this mean that the Charlton fixture is set in stone?

I'm not convinced it's been decided yet. Charlton said home tickets were going on sale on Tuesday yet they're still not available.....perhaps waiting for confirmation of date/time. 

Not sure which slots are available still, Sunday midday maybe? Would be awful for our away support if so.