Championship 2018-19

[roversfan99]

27 minutes ago, Norbert Rassragr said:

Was he only on loan to whichever A League team had him?

As for Bruce, he decided to keep on Gabby I'dbangthewhore and co. and did not bite the bullet and cancel their contract like we did with Best. Yes, that would have been a hard hit financially but getting rid of wasters can improve a squad spirit. The signings he did make were not good enough, so tough. Walk away Steve like you have done so often and let someone else pick up the pieces.

To be fair, I dont think you can blame him for not cancelling Agbonlahors contract. Im sure he would had he had that luxury.

[Norbert Rassragr]

Yeah, you are probably right. It was a full on Premier league wage. He was not able to motivate him though, so he failed like so many managers since O'Neill. Gabby will probably end up in China or Australia.

 

[arbitro]

7 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

I would agree most of signings have not work out

And did they cost money and get paid exceptionally well?

[arbitro]

Something about this deal doesn't smell right:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44455348

[islander200]

14 minutes ago, arbitro said:

Something about this deal doesn't smell right:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44455348

It looks a bit off but Wolves have done good buisness, they had him on loan with fee of 10 million agreed, probably knew of other clubs interest and nod Stoke have an obligation to make the move permanent in January for 12 million.

He played his part in them getting promoted and they have made a 2 million profit.

Brought in the Mexican striker Jiminez on loan with a view to buy for 30 million.He is highly rated and they get to see how he settles in English football before paying out a big transfer fee

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

10 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

I would agree most of signings have not work out

All managers live or die by their signings.

[JHRover]

Think Bruce getting a bit of unfair stick. Yes he's had a huge budget and ultimately failed to get them up but they went very close and considering the mess they were in 18 months ago he's done well to steady the ship and get them winning games again.

I expect if he sticks around even with budget cuts they'll be up there challenging again because he's a very good manager for the Championship. Like with McCarthy he might not have a fancy name or exotic background but he's pragmatic, knows the league inside out and wherever he goes gets results and makes his teams hard to beat.

He has form for walking away from clubs, particularly early on in his career, but he probably knows that Villa are probably the best he's going to get. Not many Championship clubs will have better prospects than Villa of getting up and staying up. Even with cutbacks Villa will still have a big budget and fanbase. Heard rumours of him moving to Leeds but that would be out of the frying pan and into the fire. Besides, Bruce is far too much of a sensible option for Leeds, they prefer to go for bizarre left-field appointments and then sack them after 6 months.

[Vinjay]

23 minutes ago, JHRover said:

Think Bruce getting a bit of unfair stick. Yes he's had a huge budget and ultimately failed to get them up but they went very close and considering the mess they were in 18 months ago he's done well to steady the ship and get them winning games again.

I expect if he sticks around even with budget cuts they'll be up there challenging again because he's a very good manager for the Championship. Like with McCarthy he might not have a fancy name or exotic background but he's pragmatic, knows the league inside out and wherever he goes gets results and makes his teams hard to beat.

He has form for walking away from clubs, particularly early on in his career, but he probably knows that Villa are probably the best he's going to get. Not many Championship clubs will have better prospects than Villa of getting up and staying up. Even with cutbacks Villa will still have a big budget and fanbase. Heard rumours of him moving to Leeds but that would be out of the frying pan and into the fire. Besides, Bruce is far too much of a sensible option for Leeds, they prefer to go for bizarre left-field appointments and then sack them after 6 months.

What's sensible about an appointment that would piss Leeds fans off beyond belief? Granted sometimes they bring it on themselves (anyone could have seen Cellino was nuts from the second he registered an interest) but they won't pretend Bruce's connections with Man United aren't the biggest reason for objecting. I wouldn't want Bruce here either (you could argue while he's failed this season he's still won more than one promotion to the EPL) and that's looking at the Savage/Birmingham saga before even going into other parts of his past.

Who's to say they will have a big budget? Likes of Sunderland went down last season (granted the club was rotten from top to bottom whereas Villa possibly could retain some of the players who reached the playoffs) as have Leeds in the past. They aren't infallible as we certainly know big clubs can end up in L1.

Edited June 13, 2018 by Vinjay17

[islander200]

Otzumer signed for Bolton.

Greg Cunningham from Preston close to joining Cardiff 3.5 million 

[JHRover]

12 minutes ago, Vinjay17 said:

What's sensible about an appointment that would piss Leeds fans off beyond belief? Granted sometimes they bring it on themselves (anyone could have seen Cellino was nuts from the second he registered an interest) but they won't pretend Bruce's connections with Man United aren't the biggest reason for objecting. I wouldn't want Bruce here either (you could argue while he's failed this season he's still won more than one promotion to the EPL) and that's looking at the Savage/Birmingham saga before even going into other parts of his past.

Who's to say they will have a big budget? Likes of Sunderland went down last season (granted the club was rotten from top to bottom whereas Villa possibly could retain some of the players who reached the playoffs) as have Leeds in the past. They aren't infallible as we certainly know big clubs can end up in L1.

Sensible in that he's as close to a cast iron guarantee of putting a club into promotion contention as you can get. His record at Birmingham, Hull and Villa includes 4 promotions and one play off final. I'm sure a lot of Leeds fans would ignore his history if he got them promoted.

Leeds reckon they want promotion yet their conveyor belt of random head coaches over the last 4 years has been ridiculous, with very few of them carrying CVs that suggest they are able to deliver promotion and none being given long enough to do it in any event. Complete unknowns like Christiansen, Milanic and Hockaday, inexperience like Heckingbottom and Redfearn, now they're going for another bloke who at least has managed at a good level around the world yet doesn't speak English and has left his last 3 clubs in bizarre circumstances.

[JHRover]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/06/13/nottingham-forest-smash-transfer-record-signing-joao-carvalho/

But FFP? Perhaps Waggott and Venkys could go and have a word with them at Forest and find out how to do it.

[chaddyrovers]

20 minutes ago, JHRover said:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/06/13/nottingham-forest-smash-transfer-record-signing-joao-carvalho/

But FFP? Perhaps Waggott and Venkys could go and have a word with them at Forest and find out how to do it.

Is agent Mendes involved in this transfer?

[Mattyblue]

That article says Forest are also going to bring in Alan Hutton on a free from Villa.

I presume he’ll still be receiving his 30k a week?

FFP ay? Make no mistake, the Championship is transforming before our eyes. 

Lets hope our ‘sensible’ approach sees us as a PNE (yep aspiring to be like Preston, cheers Venky’s!), not a club in a perennial battle against returning to League 1...

 

Edited June 13, 2018 by Mattyblue

[davulsukur]

23 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Is agent Mendes involved in this transfer?

Yep he is according to Skysports:

Quote

BREAKING NEWS

Nottingham Forest have agreed a club record fee in the region of £13m for Benfica midfielder Joao Carvalho, Sky Sports News understands.

The deal, subject to a medical, smashes Forest's transfer record of £6.2m for Britt Assombalonga.

Carvalho’s team-mate Diogo Goncalves is also expected to join Forest on a season-long loan.

Both players are represented by Jorge Mendes, who has worked closely in recent months with Wolves.

Both deals are expected to be completed by this weekend.

 

Edited June 13, 2018 by davulsukur

[Norbert Rassragr]

Mendes looking for another host then. It's like Invasion of the Bodysnatchers.

[roversfan99]

Gary Bowyer making some really poor and unimaginative signings at Blackpool, bringing in John O'Sullivan and Chris Taylor.

Add them to Spearing and Delfouenso and youve got a mini Rovers reunion. Can see them struggling if thats the calibre of players they are bringing in.

[rog of the rovers]

Premier League fixtures released

Burnley are away 11th August, likely meaning Rovers are at home that day, giving us most likely an away fixture on the opening day 4th August. My guess would be that we'll end the season at home.

Burnley are also at home on Boxing Day, meaning Rovers likely away that day too. Away Boxing Day, would mean home New Years Day 2019.

[Admiral Nelsen]

7 minutes ago, rog of the rovers said:

Premier League fixtures released

Burnley are away 11th August, likely meaning Rovers are at home that day, giving us most likely an away fixture on the opening day 4th August. My guess would be that we'll end the season at home.

Burnley are also at home on Boxing Day, meaning Rovers likely away that day too. Away Boxing Day, would mean home New Years Day 2019.

Hope it works out that way, always prefer the away xmas game to fall on boxing day than New Years. 

[Mattyblue]

The club won’t, always a much better payday is Boxing Day.

Even the mighty Rochdale attracted one of our biggest gates of the season.

[JHRover]

Rovers might play at home whilst Burnley are at home. The police have set a precedent with their decision last season with both clubs playing at home on the same night, so why couldn't/wouldn't we both be at home next season?

Likewise brace yourselves for plenty of lunchtime kick offs on Ewood.

In our last Championship season the club said that when allocating the entire Darwen End to away fans that games had to kick off early on police grounds. Waggott has said that the Darwen End has closed to home fans to accommodate bigger away followings and allow them the whole Darwen End so I can only presume that means all those games will be early kick offs?

Edited June 14, 2018 by JHRover

[Mattyblue]

Make PNE/Boro/Villa 1pm KO and then they bring 4,000...

[JHRover]

Just now, Mattyblue said:

Make PNE/Boro/Villa 1pm KO and then they bring 4,000...

Interesting conundrum for Rovers to live with.

They'll be desperate for these clubs to fill the Darwen End at £25 a head and shift 7000+ tickets yet their track record suggests they'll do what they are told by the cops. If the cops want a 1pm kick off they'll get it, but that could well slash the numbers turning up by a considerable amount.

I very much doubt they'll be able to rely upon full houses from PNE and Villa again. Last time it was a big PNE day out for the family having not been to Ewood for years whereas this time the novelty will have wore off and Villa are another lot who if they are struggling and aren't going for promotion won't fill it.

https://www.rovers.co.uk/siteassets/pdfs/fans-forum-minutes/14th-march-2016.pdf

The police stipulate an early kick off when the whole Darwen End is allocated to the away club. Technically the whole Darwen End is allocated for every away club now home fans are no longer in there. If the club gets it's wish and Villa, PNE, Leeds, Middlesbrough, Stoke, WBA, Sheffield clubs all get the whole stand then they will be lunchtime kick offs. Won't be many Saturday 3pms...

[Stuart]

Hope the 11th isn’t a home fixture but you can’t please everyone.

However, I fully expect the club, with a completely straight face, to blame policing and for the police to blame resources.

Something that isn’t a problem as soon as Sky decide to televise both at the same time. I just wish people would be honest rather than make stuff up. Seems they would sooner treat us like fools.

I wonder how many games the average season ticket holder misses and how close the resulting ppg is compared to walk-on and special offers.

[JHRover]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44481033

Here we go. A 'holding company' that owns Birmingham has entered into a sponsorship deal with the club to rename their stadium and training ground. A 'significant' deal which will enable 'improving the playing squad'.

Trillion Trophy Asia will 'benefit from increased exposure, and commercial/marketing opportunities' (pretty sure they don't sell anything and their website sheds no light on what they do).

Basically just a back door to pumping money into the club which will get them round FFP rules (Birmingham rumoured to be on thin ice last season after the Redknapp spending - yet haven't been sanctioned yet).

Once again nothing stopping Venkys from renaming Brockhall as the 'VH training ground' for multi-millions to inject into transfers. At least Venkys are a brand that sells things.

[Mattyblue]

From memory Wolves and Newcastle were the only home game live on Sky last time in this league - plus Newcastle was still 3pm, it was on Bank Holiday Monday.