Promotion next season?

[Prelude]

Presurming we dont pull off a Miracle this season...

 

If next season our only first team signings were Walton, Tosin and Cunningham and we didnt lose any 1st team players would you be confident of us at least reaching the playoffs next season? 

I think we would have to be confident of reaching them. Tosin and Walton are only likely to further improve.

Cunningham strengthens us at Left back and I would keep Bell as back up.

You would hope/expect Buckley, Costello and Brereton to further improve next season.

I think Travis and Armstrong are only going to get better. Rothwell is likely to improve as well.

We would have a settled team we all the players are all familar with each other.

Dont get me wrong I would still expect and love us to sign even more players but if we just signed those 3 and with Dack and Holtby coming back I think we would be a great position next season! 

 

What do you think? 

[roversfan99]

Not for me. We as of yet havent broke into the top 6 with the same squad that you suggest, barring Cunningham and even he played 10 games. We need more than just to keep the status quo.

[AJW]

7 hours ago, Prelude said:

Presurming we dont pull off a Miracle this season...

 

If next season our only first team signings were Walton, Tosin and Cunningham and we didnt lose any 1st team players would you be confident of us at least reaching the playoffs next season? 

I think we would have to be confident of reaching them. Tosin and Walton are only likely to further improve.

Cunningham strengthens us at Left back and I would keep Bell as back up.

You would hope/expect Buckley, Costello and Brereton to further improve next season.

I think Travis and Armstrong are only going to get better. Rothwell is likely to improve as well.

We would have a settled team we all the players are all familar with each other.

Dont get me wrong I would still expect and love us to sign even more players but if we just signed those 3 and with Dack and Holtby coming back I think we would be a great position next season! 

 

What do you think? 

Would still need a goal scorer ..

[Waggy76]

A new manager is needed to achieve that goal and someone to score 20 plus goals..

[Oldgregg86]

8 hours ago, Prelude said:

Presurming we dont pull off a Miracle this season...

 

If next season our only first team signings were Walton, Tosin and Cunningham and we didnt lose any 1st team players would you be confident of us at least reaching the playoffs next season? 

I think we would have to be confident of reaching them. Tosin and Walton are only likely to further improve.

Cunningham strengthens us at Left back and I would keep Bell as back up.

You would hope/expect Buckley, Costello and Brereton to further improve next season.

I think Travis and Armstrong are only going to get better. Rothwell is likely to improve as well.

We would have a settled team we all the players are all familar with each other.

Dont get me wrong I would still expect and love us to sign even more players but if we just signed those 3 and with Dack and Holtby coming back I think we would be a great position next season! 

 

What do you think? 

I think Lenihan would get injured at some point and the wheels would fall off. We need more quality and better depth defensively at a minimum to have a fighting chance

Edited March 5, 2020 by Oldgregg86

[Mattyblue]

We obviously aren’t a million miles away.

We incrementally improve the side this summer - left back, out and out striker etc then why not?

Problem is, who knows where the squad will be in August after a summer of returned loans, perhaps an outgoing we don’t want and the ridiculous farce of summer meetings in Pune and finally getting going in the market after everybody else.

But you can’t rule anything out in this league, the division is weak, the parachute clubs are increasingly nosediving.. it’s there for the taking.
 

[DE.]

44 minutes ago, Waggy76 said:

A new manager is needed to achieve that goal and someone to score 20 plus goals..

Agreed, to progress we need a new manager who won't lead us into long periods of poor form and who can win games at home against weak opposition. Get that sorted and playoffs would be achievable with smart recruitment and keeping hold of our best players, for sure. 

[Guest]

No, next season this is our squad...

Andy Fisher
Joe Hilton

Ryan Nyambe
Darragh Lenihan
Derrick Williams
Charlie Mulgrew
Lewis Thompson
Hayden Carter
Tyler Maglorie
Scott Wharton
Joe Grayson
Matty Platt

Bradley Dack (injured til December)
Lewis Holtby
Lewis Travis
Corry Evans
Bradley Johnson
Joe Rothwell
Harry Chapman
Joe Rankin-Costello
John Buckley
Jacob Davenport
Stefan Mols
Tom White
Brad Lyons
Ben Paton

Adam Armstrong
Ben Brereton
Sam Gallagher
Danny Butterworth
Jack Vale
Luke Brennan

A squad of 17 first team footballers, several of which are only just first team footballers (Buckley/JRC etc). No recognised first team goalkeeper, no proven goalscorer, no left-back or back up right-back and some shite defenders. Unless our plan is to spend £20m in the summer, we'll finish significantly lower next season than we do this. This year is our chance, the league is inconsistent, teams around us have bottled away a lot of points, we're going to lose key players in this squad going into next season. If we don't do it this season, there's no way we do it next, unless we spend big.

You have to replace Tosin, who for me is pretty unique as a footballer, and then you have to replace Walton, or fork out a few million to sign him back. You're looking at over £5m just to get the squad we have this year. Take into account that Bradley Dack is injured until December. Grayson, Butterworth and Holtby all have long term injuries too which will likely affect their starts to the season.

Next season will be a story of Rovers signing a proven goalscorer and kicking on from 19/20, or failing to increase spending and finishing 15th again. 

[tomphil]

'If' we started with the same squad i'd expect the same kind of season i think we are a 12th to 8th place set up at the min. It would need significant strengthening to get in and stay in the top 8 all season with a realistic shout at top 4.

We were under achieving a bit first half of the season not helped by the constant messing around with the side and bedding in a new style. Recently though given the injuries it can be argued we were over achieving a bit but in the last few games its probably balanced out. 

Considering it'll be an almost new back line or a revert to Nyambie/Lenihen/Delboy/Bell and maybe a rookie in the nets i'd be thinking it'll be a similar start next season.

Pity these loans can't be done on some kind of rolling deal so they automatically stay another season if they and their clubs agree.

[Oldgregg86]

16 minutes ago, JoeH said:

No, next season this is our squad...

Andy Fisher
Joe Hilton

Ryan Nyambe
Darragh Lenihan
Derrick Williams
Charlie Mulgrew
Lewis Thompson
Hayden Carter
Tyler Maglorie
Scott Wharton
Joe Grayson
Matty Platt

Bradley Dack (injured til December)
Lewis Holtby
Lewis Travis
Corry Evans
Bradley Johnson
Joe Rothwell
Harry Chapman
Joe Rankin-Costello
John Buckley
Jacob Davenport
Stefan Mols
Tom White
Brad Lyons
Ben Paton

Adam Armstrong
Ben Brereton
Sam Gallagher
Danny Butterworth
Jack Vale
Luke Brennan

A squad of 17 first team footballers, several of which are only just first team footballers (Buckley/JRC etc). No recognised first team goalkeeper, no proven goalscorer, no left-back or back up right-back and some shite defenders. Unless our plan is to spend £20m in the summer, we'll finish significantly lower next season than we do this. This year is our chance, the league is inconsistent, teams around us have bottled away a lot of points, we're going to lose key players in this squad going into next season. If we don't do it this season, there's no way we do it next, unless we spend big.

You have to replace Tosin, who for me is pretty unique as a footballer, and then you have to replace Walton, or fork out a few million to sign him back. You're looking at over £5m just to get the squad we have this year. Take into account that Bradley Dack is injured until December. Grayson, Butterworth and Holtby all have long term injuries too which will likely affect their starts to the season.

Next season will be a story of Rovers signing a proven goalscorer and kicking on from 19/20, or failing to increase spending and finishing 15th again. 

Good post.

there it is in black and white . 

[Hasta]

I think for us to get in the play offs, it would take 3 massively successful loan signings to cover the players we cannot sign, as well as adding 2 or 3 others to the squad in general. We are always going to need a goalkeeper, and we cannot keep playing full backs or midfielders to cover like we do out of the defence, so we have to bring a goalkeeper in permanently.

Edited March 5, 2020 by Hasta

[Guest]

2x Goalkeepers
2x Centre Backs
1x Left Back
2x Wingers
1x Striker

That's 8 signings needed. Even if you can manage three of them on loan, that's still 5 proper, decent money signings... when was the last time we went out and did that?

[Dreams of 1995]

I don't think we could afford Tosin and Walton really. We may get Walton as he is in his last year of his contract but that depends on Brighton surviving really.

Hopefully we can get Tosin on loan but I'd imagine his time in the Prem or top league abroad has come. He's a very good player.

We don't need a striker @JoeH we have enough.

All in all we'd need just shy of about £20m if we are to sign permanently every player we need. This is the Championship though so loans are important; I'd imagine we'll buy a goalkeeper, centre half and left back and try and loan the rest.

Our biggest problem is who leaves. It won't be Dack so it leaves Lenihan, Armstrong and Travis who I think are worth decent money. We can't afford to lose any of them whereas we probably could have afforded to lose Dack. 

[roversfan99]

13 minutes ago, Dreams of 1995 said:

I don't think we could afford Tosin and Walton really. We may get Walton as he is in his last year of his contract but that depends on Brighton surviving really.

Hopefully we can get Tosin on loan but I'd imagine his time in the Prem or top league abroad has come. He's a very good player.

We don't need a striker @JoeH we have enough.

All in all we'd need just shy of about £20m if we are to sign permanently every player we need. This is the Championship though so loans are important; I'd imagine we'll buy a goalkeeper, centre half and left back and try and loan the rest.

Our biggest problem is who leaves. It won't be Dack so it leaves Lenihan, Armstrong and Travis who I think are worth decent money. We can't afford to lose any of them whereas we probably could have afforded to lose Dack. 

Bar Armstrong there is not much quality up front at all but there are much more pressing concerns such as the wide areas. A couple of good wide men, Holtby (eventually Dack) and Armstrong could be a dangerous attack.

[Dreams of 1995]

49 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Bar Armstrong there is not much quality up front at all but there are much more pressing concerns such as the wide areas. A couple of good wide men, Holtby (eventually Dack) and Armstrong could be a dangerous attack.

With only Brentford, Leeds and WBA having scored more than us I’d say we are pretty well stocked in attack. 

[Bigdoggsteel]

I don't see the point of this thread with the season still ongoing. 

[Mattyblue]

Why not? Some good debate.

We don’t go up then it will be pertinent, we do, then we can ceremoniously lock it at 5pm on play off final day.

[Bigdoggsteel]

7 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Why not? Some good debate.

We don’t go up then it will be pertinent, we do, then we can ceremoniously lock it at 5pm on play off final day.

Mmm, maybe,just need  a "can we stay in the Premier league next season?" thread for counterbalance now  

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Mmm, maybe,just need  a "can we stay in the Premier league next season?" thread for counterbalance now  

Yes and a "will we get out of our Champions League group in 2024/25" thread too  

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Dreams of 1995 said:

We don't need a striker @JoeH we have enough.

We have Adam Armstrong.

Sam Gallagher is statistically in the bottom 5 strikers in the division and Ben Brereton's simply not played enough football to be considered. Graham is going, Samuel probably too. We need a striker that can bang 20 goals. It's why Fulham are going up.

Harry Arter, we've got Lewis Travis
Tom Cairney, we've got Lewis Holtby
Tim Ream, we've got Darragh Lenihan
Bobby Decordova-Reid, we've got Bradley Dack
But
Aleksandra Mitrovic... we've got NOTHING.
Ivan Cavaleiro... we've got NOTHING
Anthony Knockhaert... we've got NOTHING]

That's the difference. A few actual wingers and a 20 goal a season striker.

[Mattyblue]

Fulham have the biggest budget in the league so not the best example.

Other clubs are doing well without that kind of outlay.

[Bigdoggsteel]

No guarantee they will go up either. With the budget they have, anything less than promotion is failure. 

[Sparks Rover]

55 minutes ago, JoeH said:

Graham is going, Samuel probably too. We need a striker that can bang 20 goals. It's why Fulham are going up..

So, DS comes back from ages out, looks good in his first game or two, bags a couple and then the slightest sniff of an average game, back to Tony Tombola.  He's been doing this for 2 years, nobody gets settled, nyambe a perfect example....he should pick a forward and bloody stick with him.

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, Sparks Rover said:

So, DS comes back from ages out, looks good in his first game or two, bags a couple and then the slightest sniff of an average game, back to Tony Tombola.  He's been doing this for 2 years, nobody gets settled, nyambe a perfect example....he should pick a forward and bloody stick with him.

I get your point but Dominic Samuel, whilst in my opinion better than Sam Gallagher, is still FAR from good enough for any CH team worth their salt.

We only have Adam Armstrong that's of any value to the team at the top end of the table next season.

[Dreams of 1995]

1 hour ago, JoeH said:

We have Adam Armstrong.

Sam Gallagher is statistically in the bottom 5 strikers in the division and Ben Brereton's simply not played enough football to be considered. Graham is going, Samuel probably too. We need a striker that can bang 20 goals. It's why Fulham are going up.

Harry Arter, we've got Lewis Travis
Tom Cairney, we've got Lewis Holtby
Tim Ream, we've got Darragh Lenihan
Bobby Decordova-Reid, we've got Bradley Dack
But
Aleksandra Mitrovic... we've got NOTHING.
Ivan Cavaleiro... we've got NOTHING
Anthony Knockhaert... we've got NOTHING]

That's the difference. A few actual wingers and a 20 goal a season striker.

And yet for all their multi million pound players we’ve scored more than them. Buzzing. 
 

We aren’t a million miles off Fulham and they’ve spent hundreds of millions over the past 5 or so years. You’ve claimed to me them three players have made a difference but they’re in attack and we’re better than them at scoring goals.