Championship 2018-19

[DE.]

54 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

I was just talking about strikers, but ya, what an absolute unadulterated shit show. I actually think that Petrovic, Modeste and Vukcevic could have been good under a different manager though. Didn't we end up selling Dann for less than we signed him? Madness. 

Yak was a great signing, but the gloss was taken off due to relegation and the Kean link. I will never forget his 2 goals at Old trafford. I had a fiver on him to score 2 or more at 60/1. He had that done before half-time! 

Samba, Salgado and Nelsen all leaving then, tells it's own story. Rotten, rotten time supporting the club 

I was so disappointed when Petrovic turned out to be a flop. He'd always been great for me on FM so had been looking forward to him grabbing the PL by the scruff of the neck. It was obviously just too difficult with my guidance  

Modeste obviously turned out to be decent, but my only memory of him here is him getting sent off. Can't remember the match but it summed everything up at the time. Vukcevic was a talented footballer but a total nutcase. I guess that's why we picked him up for £2m. 

23 minutes ago, davulsukur said:

Jermaine Jones wasn't a bad loan to be fair. Unsure when we actually signed him though.

Yeah, JJ was the 2011 January window. He was a big part of the reason we kept our heads above water that season. Petrovic was unfortunately nowhere near the same level.

[Bigdoggsteel]

9 minutes ago, DE. said:

I was so disappointed when Petrovic turned out to be a flop. He'd always been great for me on FM so had been looking forward to him grabbing the PL by the scruff of the neck. It was obviously just too difficult with my guidance  

Modeste obviously turned out to be decent, but my only memory of him here is him getting sent off. Can't remember the match but it summed everything up at the time. Vukcevic was a talented footballer but a total nutcase. I guess that's why we picked him up for £2m. 

Yeah, JJ was the 2011 January window. He was a big part of the reason we kept our heads above water that season. Petrovic was unfortunately nowhere near the same level.

I am sure you could have gotten more out of that team than egg head!

I remember Modeste having pretty much an open goal against Newcastle and putting it over. It was far out, but he really should have scored. We didn't actually play too badly that game, but I remember knowing we were doomed after it. Everything was pulling against us 

Jones was phenomenal. Not an Anderson client obviously though 

[chaddyrovers]

Lambert on these 10 million pounds budget rumours

The former Norwich manager went on to deny rumours of a £10m budget for the January transfer window to help Lambert steer the club away from relegation.

“It does make me laugh, because I haven’t even seen that figure or spoken about anything like that,” Lambert added.

“I’m 100% sure we’ll see a different team on Saturday. The atmosphere will be different in the stadium, I’m sure, and we have to play on the front foot.

“I don’t want to be judged by past success and failures, I’ll be judged from now on in and hopefully we’ll climb that table.”

http://the72.co.uk/118315/i-dont-want-to-be-judged-by-past-success-and-failures-paul-lambert-wants-fresh-start-at-ipswich-town/

Lambert 1st press conference 

http://www.eadt.co.uk/sport/ipswich-town-manager-paul-lambert-s-first-press-conference-1-5757292

Edited October 30, 2018 by chaddyrovers

[RoverCanada]

9 hours ago, DE. said:

I guess you could count Scott Dann as a decent buy, but that was the best we got. Yak turned out OK too. Then we had Myles Anderson (just lol, and this guy still managed to get employed in Italy, no doubt through some kind of Kentaro connection), Goodwillie, Petrovic, Bruno Ribiero (aka the Brazilian Denis Irwin), Simon Vekcevic, Jordan Slew, Tim Payne (wtf happened to him?), the other Olsson twin, Modeste and the cherry on top of the shit sundae, Bradley Orr. Dismal. And those last three came in January when we were already in trouble and desperately in need of reinforcements. And we let Samba leave after the transfer window closed, ensuring we couldn't get in a replacement, so another good job there. We also released Ryan Nelsen and froze out Salgado. Well done Keano.

It's interesting/funny/depressing how so many of the castoffs from that era flourished after leaving.

Kalinic and Nzonzi, of course. Dann had a couple excellent years with Crystal Palace. Modeste had a few starring years in the Bundesliga after his bizarre loan here. Petrovic managed to resurrect himself in Turkey, but seems to have struggled since moving to Sporting CP. Seems he's fallen off a bit now, but Nick Blackman had a nice run with Reading that led to a £3m transfer to Derby.  Random one, but Jamie Maclaren's managed to fashion himself a career after never breaking through the youth ranks here. Goodwillie's been quite productive in Scottish League Two and the Scottish court system haha...

That random man of the match performance by Ribeiro cracks me up in retrospect too...

Not quite a 'castoff', but good on Hoilett for his comeback with Cardiff (and for finally serving for Canada too!)

edit: slightly later than the above, but Bryan Dabo is another one who has managed okay for himself after his bizarre 0 appearance loan here...

Edited October 30, 2018 by RoverCanada

[Bigdoggsteel]

17 hours ago, RoverCanada said:

It's interesting/funny/depressing how so many of the castoffs from that era flourished after leaving.

Kalinic and Nzonzi, of course. Dann had a couple excellent years with Crystal Palace. Modeste had a few starring years in the Bundesliga after his bizarre loan here. Petrovic managed to resurrect himself in Turkey, but seems to have struggled since moving to Sporting CP. Seems he's fallen off a bit now, but Nick Blackman had a nice run with Reading that led to a £3m transfer to Derby.  Random one, but Jamie Maclaren's managed to fashion himself a career after never breaking through the youth ranks here. Goodwillie's been quite productive in Scottish League Two and the Scottish court system haha...

That random man of the match performance by Ribeiro cracks me up in retrospect too...

Not quite a 'castoff', but good on Hoilett for his comeback with Cardiff (and for finally serving for Canada too!)

edit: slightly later than the above, but Bryan Dabo is another one who has managed okay for himself after his bizarre 0 appearance loan here...

Kalinic and N'Zonzi were Big Sam signings though I think? 

[davulsukur]

1 hour ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Kalinic and N'Zonzi were Big Sam signings though I think? 

They were.

N'Zonzi goes down in Rovers folklore as a legend for allegedly lamping K**n. Flogging him asap for a criminally low fee just added weight to that rumour. 

[Bigdoggsteel]

Just now, davulsukur said:

They were.

N'Zonzi goes down in Rovers folklore as a legend for allegedly lamping K**n. Flogging him asap for a criminally low fee just added weight to that rumour. 

I heard that about Givet too. We need to get to the bottom of who actually lamped him so that they can be credited and celebrated accordingly! Footage of it would also be a real treat 

 

[AAK]

19 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

I heard that about Givet too. We need to get to the bottom of who actually lamped him so that they can be credited and celebrated accordingly! Footage of it would also be a real treat 

 

Swansea game it was - and this followed, were he stated that he did not refuse to play, despite kean making out that was the case https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/17758470

[K-Hod]

21 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

I heard that about Givet too. We need to get to the bottom of who actually lamped him so that they can be credited and celebrated accordingly! Footage of it would also be a real treat 

 

We do, I owe them a drink.

[Butty]

On 28/10/2018 at 16:11, chaddyrovers said:

He is very close to Lambert and he had the inside track here when he came here. 

It will be interesting to see how he spends the money. need 3 or 4 new players. Plus how he set ups the team whether it diamond formation midfield or 4-2-3-1 or 3 at the back

 

Yes it will be extremely interesting too see what formation Ipswich line up with. I can’t quite contain my excitement, I’m putting my money on the Mike Bassett Christmas pudding formation... 

[DE.]

41 minutes ago, AAK said:

Swansea game it was - and this followed, were he stated that he did not refuse to play, despite kean making out that was the case https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/17758470

From another link on that story:

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/17719839

"I said: 'We need you to play today'," stated Kean. "[But] he was nowhere near in the right frame of mind to do it.

"I can't get inside somebody's head, I can only say how much we and his team-mates need him."

"We need guys who want to play even if they are injured or their heads are not quite right. If you look at David Dunn with his hamstring, he is having injections to play.

"But I would rather keep the conversation between myself and Gael private."

I love that final line, after he's basically thrown Givet under the bus anyway. What a dignified man wee Stevie is.

[Bigdoggsteel]

45 minutes ago, DE. said:

From another link on that story:

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/17719839

"I said: 'We need you to play today'," stated Kean. "[But] he was nowhere near in the right frame of mind to do it.

"I can't get inside somebody's head, I can only say how much we and his team-mates need him."

"We need guys who want to play even if they are injured or their heads are not quite right. If you look at David Dunn with his hamstring, he is having injections to play.

"But I would rather keep the conversation between myself and Gael private."

I love that final line, after he's basically thrown Givet under the bus anyway. What a dignified man wee Stevie is.

Sniveling and sneaky to the end 

[J*B]

Didn't know anything about N'Zonzi, but I do remember the rumour that Gael publicly squared up to Kean on the training ground and called him out. Kean cowered down, so the rumour goes.

[Mattyblue]

Sure I remember a story of him being hung up from a coat hook in the changing rooms.

Though I could have just dreamt that... it was a near nightly occurrence in that era! (Rovers related dreams that is, not being strung up!) 

[RoverCanada]

On 31/10/2018 at 09:59, Bigdoggsteel said:

Kalinic and N'Zonzi were Big Sam signings though I think? 

Yeah, definitely grouping together a mishmash of signings in my post. Meant more transfers that happened around the early years of Venky's' tenure, incoming and outgoing.

Edited November 1, 2018 by RoverCanada

[chaddyrovers]

WBA have appointed Luke Dowling as Sporting director and Ian Pearce as head of recruitment 

https://www.wba.co.uk/news/2018/september/albion-appoint-sporting-and-technical-director/

Dowling worked at Rovers under Appleton. Pearce is a former Rovers player

[JHRover]

Just now, chaddyrovers said:

WBA have appointed Luke Dowling as Sporting director and Ian Pearce as head of recruitment 

https://www.wba.co.uk/news/2018/september/albion-appoint-sporting-and-technical-director/

Dowling worked at Rovers under Appleton. Pearce is a former Rovers player

I suspect Moore is on thin ice and these appointments won't help. Clearly bolstering the operation above him with people who will have their own ideas and views. Won't be too difficult or disruptive to axe the head coach if they don't pick up.

[JHRover]

Interesting figures on Bristol City on twitter.

Losses this year up from £3.5 million to £23.5 million.

Losses over the last 6 years - £94 million

Wage bill up by £5 million.

£65 million in debt to their owner Steve Lansdown.

Not too dissimilar to what we've had really.

[JHRover]

https://www.wiganathletic.com/news/2018/november/a-letter-to-the-wigan-athletic-supporters-from-chairman-david-sharpe/

David Sharpe and the Whelan family won't be involved at Wigan post-takeover. Let's see how that one pans out but I'd be slightly apprehensive as to why a Hong Kong based hotel company are interested in 2nd tier Wigan.

[chaddyrovers]

1 hour ago, JHRover said:

I suspect Moore is on thin ice and these appointments won't help. Clearly bolstering the operation above him with people who will have their own ideas and views. Won't be too difficult or disruptive to axe the head coach if they don't pick up.

I dont think he is on thin ice at all. Dowling knows Moore so maybe he was involved in the decision to appoint him. I dont know. 

58 minutes ago, JHRover said:

https://www.wiganathletic.com/news/2018/november/a-letter-to-the-wigan-athletic-supporters-from-chairman-david-sharpe/

David Sharpe and the Whelan family won't be involved at Wigan post-takeover. Let's see how that one pans out but I'd be slightly apprehensive as to why a Hong Kong based hotel company are interested in 2nd tier Wigan.

Its took a long time to get this deal over the line. I dont think Cook will be there by end of the season..suspect they appoint their manager and who will run the club for them

[Mattyblue]

If that’s the case, he’ll be an excellent appointment for someone.

[JHRover]

2 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

I dont think he is on thin ice at all. Dowling knows Moore so maybe he was involved in the decision to appoint him. I dont know. 

Its took a long time to get this deal over the line. I dont think Cook will be there by end of the season..suspect they appoint their manager and who will run the club for them

Read somewhere that there is a deal in place to appoint Joe Royle and his son to senior positions at Wigan once the takeover is done. Presumably some sort of Director of Football. Bit weird with his son being involved with him.

Cook is a slippery character and has always put himself first in his decision making. Quite quick to dump Stanley, Chesterfield and Pompey as soon as better offers came along and he'll know things won't be the same once the new owners are in place.

[philipl]

Will be happy with a draw today- important not to lose against play-off contenders.

The next three though will be all about collecting 9 points irrespective of new owners at Wigan. Do that and we will be in position to talk meaningfully about the January transfer window.

Runs of wins do wonders in this tight league as our opponents today have shown.

Edited November 3, 2018 by philipl

[chaddyrovers]

20 hours ago, JHRover said:

Read somewhere that there is a deal in place to appoint Joe Royle and his son to senior positions at Wigan once the takeover is done. Presumably some sort of Director of Football. Bit weird with his son being involved with him.

Cook is a slippery character and has always put himself first in his decision making. Quite quick to dump Stanley, Chesterfield and Pompey as soon as better offers came along and he'll know things won't be the same once the new owners are in place.

Cook is leaving I read somewhere next week. 

so Joe Royle will be running the club? will they not be appoint a CEO to run the club?

[roversfan99]

12 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Cook is leaving I read somewhere next week. 

so Joe Royle will be running the club? will they not be appoint a CEO to run the club?

If Cook goes that would be crazy.