JANUARY TRANSFER WINDOW

[DE.]

In fairness I think blame can be shared to both King and Bowyer when it comes to his tenure here. Bowyer obviously didn't use King very effectively, but there were a few issues surrounding that which people have forgotten. King tended to only play well for us through the middle, so as blueboy says, who do you drop for King? Both Rhodes and Gestede were scoring truckloads at the time so it would have made no sense to bench either of them. The other major issue was that King was pretty injury prone here, and spent plenty of time in the treatment room which hampered his ability to achieve a consistent run of form. There were also times he looked disinterested and was very selfish, often preferring to run down blind alleys and try to take on players as opposed to bringing his team mates into the game. He was very young at the time so you can forgive that to some extent, but when you're talking about dropping one of two goalscoring strikers during a time when we were generally doing fairly well you can understand Bowyer's hesitation.

In retrospect what we were doing was not enough to get into a playoff spot, and maybe King should have been given more of a chance, but it's easy to say in hindsight. There wasn't exactly an outcry when King left the club. Some annoyance but he had been so inconsistent during his time here that nobody was sure which way his career would go,

[Admiral Nelsen]

4 minutes ago, blueboy3333 said:

Who would you have like to have seen dropped to accommodate King, 20-goal Rhodes or 20-goal Rudy?

Water under the bridge now, but on the wing. The only time we ever really looked in any danger of going up under GB was when we played:

Conway            Cairney             Evans/Lowe             King

                          Rhodes             Rudy

[DE.]

Just now, Admiral Nelsen said:

Water under the bridge now, but on the wing. The only time we ever really looked in any danger of going up under GB was when we played:

Conway            Cairney             Evans/Lowe             King

                          Rhodes             Rudy

Can you remember many games where King impressed playing wide? I only ever remember him running into useless space and frustrating everybody by losing the ball. He rarely used his pace effectively on the wing, although whether that is down to King or down to the fact he wasn't coached very well on wing play whilst he was here is another matter. His best performances by far were those cup games where he played through the middle and absolutely ripped Swansea and Stoke's defences apart with his pace. 

[Madon]

I think Doncaster fans are gonna be chuffed this afternoon, Rovers fans not so much ?

[roversfan99]

Just now, Madon said:

I think Doncaster fans are gonna be chuffed this afternoon, Rovers fans not so much ?

Surely not Travis going out on loan?

[had.e.nuff]

Just now, Madon said:

I think Doncaster fans are gonna be chuffed this afternoon, Rovers fans not so much ?

Chris brown is making a come back

[Admiral Nelsen]

Just now, DE. said:

Can you remember many games where King impressed playing wide? I only ever remember him running into useless space and frustrating everybody by losing the ball. He rarely used his pace effectively on the wing, although whether that is down to King or down to the fact he wasn't coached very well on wing play whilst he was here is another matter. His best performances by far were those cup games where he played through the middle and absolutely ripped Swansea and Stoke's defences apart with his pace. 

More away from home in fairness, but I can remember a couple in the 'almost got in the play offs year'.

Birmingham away, when Rudy got 3. I genuinely think that was as dominant a performance from a Rovers attacking player that I've seen in years, probably should have put it in the best performances thread actually. They were dire, but he absolutely tore them a new one. Not to the same extent, but he did well against Charlton away later in that run.

There were plenty of other games when he would torture the opposition full back but with no end product, no disputing that, but I think it retrospect, persevering with King would have probably paid more dividends than persevering with Marshall, even if his final ball was light-years ahead. 

[Madon]

Just now, roversfan99 said:

Surely not Travis going out on loan?

Nope! 

[Admiral Nelsen]

Just now, Madon said:

Nope! 

That's a relief. 

Suppose the other obvious candidate is Nuttall. Wouldn't mind that quite so much, more important that he's playing somewhere. 

[DE.]

Just now, Admiral Nelsen said:

There were plenty of other games when he would torture the opposition full back but with no end product, no disputing that, but I think it retrospect, persevering with King would have probably paid more dividends than persevering with Marshall, even if his final ball was light-years ahead. 

Agreed, but this is GB we're talking about! Given the choice between a steady 6-7/10 every week player or an inconsistent player who could be a 4 or 5/10 but had the ability to be 9-10/10 when he's in the mood, GB would always go for the steady eddie. In fairness most managers would, and our current manager definitely would as well! 

[darrenrover]

6 minutes ago, Madon said:

I think Doncaster fans are gonna be chuffed this afternoon, Rovers fans not so much ?

Rothwell?

[Madon]

It was already on the cards to be fair, maybe i over exaggerated a little but i think it's a bit daft personally!

[Admiral Nelsen]

Just now, DE. said:

Agreed, but this is GB we're talking about! Given the choice between a steady 6-7/10 every week player or an inconsistent player who could be a 4 or 5/10 but had the ability to be 9-10/10 when he's in the mood, GB would always go for the steady eddie. In fairness most managers would, and our current manager definitely would as well! 

I'm still really grateful to Bowyer for giving pride back to the club after 2012-2013, so I don't want to badmouth him too much, but looking back on the talent of some of those players that we had, it's clear that we should have troubled the promotion places more than we did.

Back to King, another strength that he had was that, even if he wasn't on it with his final ball (frequently!) he still occupied the attention of defenders because of how quick & stron he was, and how well he travelled with the ball. Equally, when we had Rhodes & Rudy, both were goal scorers rather than target men, but they both needed constantly looking after. We had so many attacking threats that it seemed impossible for teams to deal with everyone all at once. No co-incidence that it coincided with Conway's best form in Rovers shirt, having so much extra space & then Rhodes & Rudy to hit in the box. 

[Craigman]

Got to be Downing to Doncaster

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

30 minutes ago, blueboy3333 said:

Who would you have like to have seen dropped to accommodate King, 20-goal Rhodes or 20-goal Rudy?

Would like him to have played out wide.

[tomphil]

15 minutes ago, Admiral Nelsen said:

That's a relief. 

Suppose the other obvious candidate is Nuttall. Wouldn't mind that quite so much, more important that he's playing somewhere. 

Yes, here ahead of Brereton for me I think he's proved that. They'd be sending the wrong one on loan.

[G Somerset Rover]

38 minutes ago, Madon said:

I think Doncaster fans are gonna be chuffed this afternoon, Rovers fans not so much ?

I tell you what, TM is putting a lot of bloody faith in Mulgrew and Rodwell staying fit for the remainder of the season. 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

35 minutes ago, Madon said:

It was already on the cards to be fair, maybe i over exaggerated a little but i think it's a bit daft personally!

Brereton on loan to Doncaster ?

[Madon]

2 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Brereton on loan to Doncaster ?

Downing.

[ChrisPriceBaldSpot]

Just now, Madon said:

Downing.

Loan or transfer? 

[Madon]

Loan but he's out of contract anyway at the end of the season.

[JacknOry]

Bit harsh really for Downing as he has not really let anyone down this season when played. I imagine this is more him pushing for a move somewhere to get regular playing time as his contract is up and he should ideally be playing to be given a better chance of getting one elsewhere.

Edited January 24, 2019 by JacknOry

[ChrisPriceBaldSpot]

Must be someone coming in then? 

[Oldgregg86]

1 hour ago, starscascade said:

And see him leave again as soon as he gets good again! Not for me!

Why. If he came good again then we would benefit on the pitch and on his fee

[BlackburnEnd75]

Just now, ChrisPriceBaldSpot said:

Must be someone coming in then? 

I think we'll make do with Lenihan, Mulgrew, Williams, Rodwell as the main 4 and if we're struggling then Nyambe or Magloire and Platt from the under 23's