2018/19 Season Reviews/Conclusions

[jim mk2]

A frustrating season for me.  In retrospect we didn't buy well last summer, and it came back to haunt us over the course of the season. Despite that we started well but again we should have strengthened in the January transfer window, when we were riding high in the league. And some key signings then could see us sitting in the top six now.

Performances were mixed but the players generally showed a pride in playing for the club - credit to Mowbray for that. However the capitulations at the likes of Preston, Wigan and Bristol City were inexcusable and inexplicable when compared to some of the gutsy displays against high fliers such Leeds, West Brom and Derby. The defence continues to be a problem - I cannot see the current Lenihan - Williams partnership being able to stem the flow of goals against and get us into the top 6 next season.

Overall, I'd give the season 7 out of 10. Never in danger of going down, but not good enough to sustain a challenge for the top. Mowbray and the directors have to sit down and ask themselves where they see the club 12 months from now - are we going to show ambition and try to kick on next season, or sit back and hope for the best ? I'm not holding my breath. 

 

 

 

 

  . 

[DeeCee]

6 and half in my expectations/hopes but near enough ?

[Bigdoggsteel]

15 hours ago, Stuart said:

IMHO, they have had two better seasons based on them beating us to first last season and both of us finishing ahead of the relegation zone (which was seemingly the only target for both clubs). There will be no additional benefit to what place we both finish. Based on respective budgets, pound for pound they have had a better return on their investment for 2018/19.

Same as last season so

[Stuart]

Just now, Bigdoggsteel said:

Same as last season so

Wrong, they’ve got a trophy in their cabinet with ‘Winners’ on it.

[Bigdoggsteel]

Just now, Stuart said:

Wrong, they’ve got a trophy in their cabinet with ‘Winners’ on it.

They were in a relegation battle most of this season, we weren't. I don't know how you can spin it that they had a better season than us this year. They certainly did not. 

[Stuart]

Just now, Bigdoggsteel said:

They were in a relegation battle most of this season, we weren't. I don't know how you can spin it that they had a better season than us this year. They certainly did not. 

I’ve already explained my view.

Pound for pound they have.

[JBiz]

16 hours ago, Stuart said:

IMHO, they have had two better seasons based on them beating us to first last season and both of us finishing ahead of the relegation zone (which was seemingly the only target for both clubs). There will be no additional benefit to what place we both finish. Based on respective budgets, pound for pound they have had a better return on their investment for 2018/19.

Honestly, that’s a new depth of weirdness.

Still sore at only getting 96 points in league 1, and happy to talk up Wigan because they haven’t spent as much money....!

[Stuart]

Just now, Biz said:

Honestly, that’s a new depth of weirdness.

Still sore at only getting 96 points in league 1, and happy to talk up Wigan because they haven’t spent as much money....!

Your posting does seem to regress at times. You look like you are maturing then you go back to “laughing at” others’ opinions.

All the best.

[Doug]

Consolidation season so I view it as a success albeit there are a number of positions that need strengthening.

Our league position is better than the two other teams that got promoted which would suggest a decent season overall.

TM has brought some pride back to the club and its very noticeable that our owners are rarely mentioned anymore.

I hope some innovative season ticket deals are announced as a fuller Ewood is something we'd all like to see.

Big decisions for TM regarding ins and outs, new LB, CH, CM, and possibly CF and GK required.

Danny and Charlie have been two significant players for us over the last couple of seasons, but are we now at the crossroads with both of them?

Realistically, a top half finish next season, a few younger players establish themselves, and more emphasis on attacking football would be good.

 

[JBiz]

1 hour ago, Stuart said:

Your posting does seem to regress at times. You look like you are maturing then you go back to “laughing at” others’ opinions.

All the best.

Lets focus on the belief that Wigan have had a “pound for pound” better season.

I’ll state again; weird, crazy and scraping the barrel of criticism.

[roversfan99]

It is definitely true that they have had a better couple of seasons, promotion and then survival, but the key difference being a league title many are insisting on dismissing for some strange reason.

It is however very illogical to suggest that they have had a better season this season.

Id also say that we definitely are currently in a more favourable position ahead of next season.

[Stuart]

1 hour ago, Biz said:

Lets focus on the belief that Wigan have had a “pound for pound” better season.

I’ll state again; weird, crazy and scraping the barrel of criticism.

If you say so.

[Stuart]

2 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

It is definitely true that they have had a better couple of seasons, promotion and then survival, but the key difference being a league title many are insisting on dismissing for some strange reason.

It is however very illogical to suggest that they have had a better season this season.

Id also say that we definitely are currently in a more favourable position ahead of next season.

We spent £10m net, Wigan spent £4.5m and will finish about 5 places above them in the bottom half (thanks to a very good run once safe). Both well clear of relegation..

Our transfer budget alone should have seen us aiming for the play-off places this season. Wigan could well be excused for not doing so. Especially having sold Will Grigg and Dan Burn, and replaced them with inferior players. Who have Rovers had to sell to balance the books and stay up? Nobody, in fact quite the opposite.

Nothing illogical about it. That really is the wrong word to use. Pretty emotive stuff for anyone to suggest we’ve had a better season than Wigan, in comparative terms.

[JBiz]

Just now, Stuart said:

Pretty emotive stuff for anyone to suggest we’ve had a better season than Wigan, in comparative terms.

It’s very illogical to suggest the team with less points and poorer results had a better season.

Theres some point in that they’ve achieved to stay up spending less, but to completley ignore the entire context of results/games is utterly barmy IMHO.

 

[Stuart]

Just now, Biz said:

It’s very illogical to suggest the team with less points and poorer results had a better season.

Theres some point in that they’ve achieved to stay up spending less, but to completley ignore the entire context of results/games is utterly barmy IMHO.

So you’re just going to ignore the point I’m making and keep going back to points/league position. Ok then but it is you that is dismissing the context.

[JBiz]

Just now, Stuart said:

So you’re just going to ignore the point I’m making and keep going back to points/league position. Ok then but it is you that is dismissing the context.

“Pound for pound” a better season

”pretty emotive to suggest we’ve had a better season than Wigan”...

Im not dismissing the fact we’ve spent more, I’m suggesting that these two particular opinions are barmy as they completely ignore the actual games, results, performances, positions through season and final placing.

 

 

[Stuart]

Just now, Biz said:

“Pound for pound” a better season

”pretty emotive to suggest we’ve had a better season than Wigan”...

Im not dismissing the fact we’ve spent more, I’m suggesting that these two particular opinions are barmy as they completely ignore the actual games, results, performances, positions through season and final placing.

You can’t seem to see that where you finish, and how successful you should then see yourself, is a factor of your resources.

I’m afraid that’s your problem, not mine.

[JBiz]

Just now, Stuart said:

You can’t seem to see that where you finish, and how successful you should then see yourself, is a factor of your resources.

I’m afraid that’s your problem, not mine.

Simply looking at the previous twelve months; we are in a higher league, and better squad position than them. As @roversfan99 says, we’ve a arguably a better platform going into next season too.

If you’re only talking about league position, there’s some truth in;“Based on respective budgets, pound for pound they have had a better return on their investment for 2018/19.” The part I disagree with still - is how that translates into a “better season” when some of the initial things are considered too.

Sure - they’re -5m or something on our spends, but I’m sure most would agree our team is worth the difference and more compared to theirs.

Thus, overall on the comparison- my opinion is we’ve moved further forward overall in the last twelve months, if not as far as we could’ve. This is also taking Cook doing a decent job into account, with a lower budget too.

[Stuart]

2 minutes ago, Biz said:

Simply looking at the previous twelve months; we are in a higher league, and better squad position than them. As @roversfan99 says, we’ve a arguably a better platform going into next season too.

If you’re only talking about league position, there’s some truth in;“Based on respective budgets, pound for pound they have had a better return on their investment for 2018/19.” The part I disagree with still - is how that translates into a “better season” when some of the initial things are considered too.

Sure - they’re -5m or something on our spends, but I’m sure most would agree our team is worth the difference and more compared to theirs.

Thus, overall on the comparison- my opinion is we’ve moved further forward overall in the last twelve months, if not as far as we could’ve. This is also taking Cook doing a decent job into account, with a lower budget too.

That’s more like it. Not an insult in sight. Thank you. Let’s agree to disagree on the semantics of “better season” and move on.

Now, have we got a better platform than them? Depends. If we have spent our budget and are now looking for freebies and loans then we are relying on Brezza to come good and fast. We are also relying on another age-defying fitness season from Graham and Lenihan not leaving.

Wigan need to invest too - have they got the capital? They could well struggle next season if they don’t strengthen, as could we.

The Summer for both clubs will be very telling. We are short but Mowbray says he knows that we need a new spine. Let’s see if he follows through.

[JBiz]

@Stuart - I’m not completely au fait with Wigan’s depth or financial clout going forward tbh but given they’ve signed Garner, Clarke, Fox and pilkington all 30+ It’s easy to see why our squad looks a better potential platform for improvement.

They signed Windass for 3 times what we gave Gilligham for Dack and Rothwell combined - we’ve made considerable steps imo in 12 months.

  

[1864roverite]

Satisfactory and steady progress in my opinion ???

[Stuart]

13 minutes ago, Biz said:

They signed Windass for 3 times what we gave Gilligham for Dack and Rothwell combined - we’ve made considerable steps imo in 12 months.  

But how much compared to Brereton?

[Darrenbot]

i would have settled for mid table at the start of the season then pushing on next season.The position we were in at the end of Jan gave hope that playoffs were in reach but i think the squad we have are roughly in the position they should be in.We've now had a year to see who can handle playing in this league and hopefully Mowbray can now weed out the players not up to championship football and can get a few players in the help us kick on next season.

[DE.]

A decent start, a terrible November and Christmas period, a fantastic January, a truly dire February/March followed by a good end to the season. Pretty erratic but it will end in mid-table consolidation which has to be seen as acceptable all things considered. 

If Mowbray learns from this season then the extreme lows of this campaign will hopefully be worth it in the long run. If we start with the Evans/Smallwood axis next season with Mulgrew at centre back and diagonal balls being launched up to Graham with Bennett shoehorned into the team wherever possible then I'll despair. Even Mowbray surely has to understand now that his loyalty and mindset has been misplaced for large portions of this season and needs to be re-aligned for us to really progress. I just hope we can shift some of the deadwood, even though we gave some of that deadwood new contracts at the start of the season. 

[m1st]

44 minutes ago, Darrenbot said:

i would have settled for mid table at the start of the season then pushing on next season.The position we were in at the end of Jan gave hope that playoffs were in reach but i think the squad we have are roughly in the position they should be in.We've now had a year to see who can handle playing in this league and hopefully Mowbray can now weed out the players not up to championship football and can get a few players in the help us kick on next season.

Yes, this seems a fair summary of the season to me. Like many others, I've been pleased that we've never really been close to the relegation zone and, at the end of a first season back at this level, it feels like we're close to being where we should be.

Which makes this summer's transfer window all the more crucial. I agree with many of the comments about players who, shall we say, have realistically found that they may have come to the end of their useful time with Rovers, either because of age or ability.

I remember reading an article about TM in The Times while on the train up to Newcastle. He came across in that as a good human being who cares about all the staff at Ewood. Which is great; but the big concern it left me was whether he has the ruthlessness to erm, 'move on' players who need to be replaced by others better suited to what we need to progress in this Division. Here's hoping!