v Bournemouth (h) - 30/4/22

[BigUts]

18 minutes ago, Gav said:

I've just shown you this goes further back than 2009, they almost went to the wall in 1997 but were saved by the fans, I'm sure you see that.

Lets also not pretend that having billionaire owners guarantees anything.......

Its an incredible story that they were saved in 1997, and huge kudos to the small number of fans that they survived and retained their club.

It still isn't a fairy-tale that they ended up in the PL. A fairy-tale is Leicester winning the PL in 2015 - a team tipped to be relegated defying literally all odds to win a title, or to a lesser extent us winning it in 1995 - fulfilling the dream of a fan who put his own wealth in to bank-rolling success. 

Would you agree then that Man City becoming European powerhouses and dominating English football is a fairy-tale? After all billionaire owners don't guarantee success... 

[RoversTilliDie]

18 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

Looks to be selling well in the BEnd Lower and Jack Walker… so surely the same mistake won’t be made as Oxford, and ST info will be handed out to every match ticket buyer?

Does anybody know if i can get a ticket today wednesday the 27th april paying by cash.Rumours have it there selling like hot cakes for Bournemouth.I will be away Thursday and Friday working and want to make sure i get a ticket.

[Mattyblue]

Yes, just go and get one at the shop.

They are selling well by our usual standards, but we have a 30k stadium, so you don’t need to worry about getting one quickly, there will still be a shed load remaining by Saturday.

[TimmyJimmy]

Well hands up I was massively wrong about the PNE match so I'm going to wind my neck in a bit more for this one.

The excitement level clearly depends on the Friday result but if it goes our way then Ewood will be packed and rocking for this match.

It's all too late of course but as the miracle could still be possible I would see this as a cup final and we should be throwing the kitchen sink at this lot. If that happens the atmosphere will be electric and I'm looking forward to experiencing that again.

Can the young guys take the pressure and the expectation? Not so sure they can. But if they perform like they did on Monday then the tension for the last game will be unbelievable and I'll defo be turning up for that one!!

Reality is we will once again be heroic failures and the crowd will applaud a valiant effort (I still remember the song sung at Ewood following one of our relegation seasons back in the day, to the tune of one man went to mow, "when one goes down we all go down together" and cheered the team off Ewood as if they were heroes).

Win or lose it's all a bit too late so any prediction is meaningless but I'll go with a nerve jangling 0-0.

Expecting one hell of an atmosphere though!

[Colt Seavers]

The big question for me is will Mowbray have the balls to stay 4 at the back or will he fear the opposition and revert to type?

[martonrover]

6 minutes ago, Colt Seavers said:

The big question for me is will Mowbray have the balls to stay 4 at the back or will he fear the opposition and revert to type?

Yes, and that decision will impact on the atmosphere at kick off. Give people something to believe in.

[JHRover]

This is where our Premier League designed stadium comes back to bite us.

Because with a capacity of 30,000 to fill even if they fly off the shelves and we get up towards 20,000 or even above that the ground will still be only 2/3 full. For it to feel packed we would need to be getting over 25,000 which just won't happen.

Compare to say the dingles or PNE who have grounds holding 22,000 ish. They only need to shift 15,000 or so home tickets and with a reasonable away following the ground is full or close to full.

If our ground held 25,000 it would effectively mean losing the upper tiers of the BBE and DE. We could put away fans in the DE lower and at the current rate of sales the place would be heaving and the atmosphere brilliant. But with the Bournemouth lot upstairs and home fans rattling around the DE lower, plus a closed BBE upper it will still feel quite empty.

The other side of course is that if we did get back to the PL we have ample space to accommodate all and try to grow our fanbase by offering cheap tickets to all and large away followings to cash in on. So too big for our current level but great if we go up.

[AllRoverAsia]

FFS stop this 'young boys', 'young team' bullshit.

Do not subscribe to Mowbrays Big Lie.

The Rovers team that started v Preston had an average age of 24.82 years - an average age of almost 25 years old!

Also the vast majority of that team also have a lot of first team experience.

Just because Mowbray spouts something doesn't make it true.

[USABlue]

12 hours ago, jim mk2 said:

Kieffer Moore, back from injury after signing in January, made the difference for fourth division Bournemouth. That's the value of their investment and spending some decent money, players like that rescue points and win matches. Contrast to our lack of activity in the window - a couple of good forwards to replace the injured Brereton and the ineffective Gallagher could have saved our season

Should have been off against Swansea but remarkably the ref missed it.  Imagine that!

[LeftWinger]

48 minutes ago, AllRoverAsia said:

FFS stop this 'young boys', 'young team' bullshit.

Do not subscribe to Mowbrays Big Lie.

The Rovers team that started v Preston had an average age of 24.82 years - an average age of almost 25 years old!

Also the vast majority of that team also have a lot of first team experience.

Just because Mowbray spouts something doesn't make it true.

That is pretty young. Not a single player in his 30's (Used sub ages in red):

 

[JHRover]

Forest's average age over the season is about a year more than ours.

If anyone tries to suggest that 1 year more on average age is the reason they are above us and going for automatic whilst we've probably blown even the play-offs since February I'll laugh at them.

The reason they are above us is because they are better managed and invested in key positions at a key time.

[Mattyblue]

Not vastly experienced, but not a ‘team of kids’ that TM (then parroted by the more gullible) tries to make out either…

Edited April 27, 2022 by Mattyblue

[JHRover]

I can't be bothered but imagine if you tot up the number of Championship appearances under the belts of our key players and compare to appearances at this level of players starring for Luton and Huddersfield there will be a different picture.

[AllRoverAsia]

10 minutes ago, LeftWinger said:

That is pretty young. Not a single player in his 30's (Used sub ages in red):

 

I think it's a good age spread in that team.

Buckey is the youngest starter with a full Rovers contract at age 22, even he has over 80 first team appearances.

We have older if Mowbray wants to play them, or in the case of Ayala if Ayala wants to play.

I don't want to listen to Mowbrays lame excuses, not based on fact, about a team/squad that he damn well constructed and just to deflect away from the real problem .... him.

 

[jim mk2]

You could argue a team with an average age of 25 is at or approaching its peak. Either way it’s a silly thing to say by Mowbray and just an excuse/deflection from his failings over the past 3 months. That’s assuming of course that the collapse in Rovers’ form wasn’t planned or deliberate. There’s plenty of fans and non-Rovers supporters who’ve looked at our dire results and come to the same conclusion

[bluebruce]

26 minutes ago, LeftWinger said:

That is pretty young. Not a single player in his 30's (Used sub ages in red):

 

The youngest in there is Van Hecke, who plays like a man and appears to have no fear. One of the joint-third youngest was so needed by Chile, who are full of experience, that they were absolutely desperate to get him back ahead of time. At 23-24 onwards, which all but two of those are, players should be moving into their best years and should certainly know their way around the highs and lows of football and understand pressure. 24 year old Wharton has had what, 3 promotions?

It's not that young. And older players aren't necessarily better to have at all. Johnson is useless now.

[Roverthechimp]

25 minutes ago, AllRoverAsia said:

I think it's a good age spread in that team.

Buckey is the youngest starter with a full Rovers contract at age 22, even he has over 80 first team appearances.

We have older if Mowbray wants to play them, or in the case of Ayala if Ayala wants to play.

I don't want to listen to Mowbrays lame excuses, not based on fact, about a team/squad that he damn well constructed and just to deflect away from the real problem .... him.

 

Actually forgot that Ayala is at the club 🤣🤬

[Gav]

48 minutes ago, LeftWinger said:

That is pretty young. Not a single player in his 30's (Used sub ages in red):

 

Not only is it quite clearly a young side, its a bloody good side too, probably the best side we've had in a decade.

Let hope they do us proud on Saturday.

[bluebruce]

8 minutes ago, Roverthechimp said:

Actually forgot that Ayala is at the club 🤣🤬

Even Ayala probably forgets sometimes.

[DE.]

As we've seen from previous comments Mowbray's perception of a 'young' player is somewhat odd, as he's referred to the likes of Gallagher (26), Rothwell (27) and Lenihan (28) as young in recent times despite them all being well past the point where the average punter would classify them as young players. Not sure when a player becomes old for Tony - 30s maybe? His comments regarding our young team are still quite disingenuous though as I highly doubt our average is significantly skewered lower in comparison to the rest of the division, so in that sense it doesn't really matter.   

Not sure what Bournemouth's history in lower leagues has to do with what they deserve now tbh. If we're working on that logic we might as well just create regional divisions where nobody ever gets promoted or relegated, irrespective of club structure, stadium, etc. Just seems like a criticism borne out of bitterness. They certainly have a lot of high paid players at this point thanks to time in the PL and parachute payments, but comparatively so did we when we got relegated and look at what a total fucking mess we made out of that.

Now, disliking Bournemouth for how they acted in January with Rothwell? That I can understand. 

[Sparks Rover]

3 hours ago, TimmyJimmy said:

 

Can the young guys take the pressure and the expectation?

No, they were 2nd in January they've well and truly bottled it.  I'm surprised you are asking. Oh, and they aren't young anymore.

Edited April 27, 2022 by Sparks Rover

[rigger]

To tell the truth I am not bothered who we lose in the summer. The players have proven themselves not good enough, so any that want to leave, let them go. In times gone bye, money from sales may have gone to secure replacements. At this point in time, no monies would be re-invested, so it doesn't matter if players leave for a fee or not.

[bluebruce]

8 minutes ago, rigger said:

To tell the truth I am not bothered who we lose in the summer. The players have proven themselves not good enough, so any that want to leave, let them go. In times gone bye, money from sales may have gone to secure replacements. At this point in time, no monies would be re-invested, so it doesn't matter if players leave for a fee or not.

Sorry but that's bizarre logic unless you think we are going to have a nice kitty to spend in the summer to replace them. You know we won't though, as you say.

Not good enough for promotion they may well prove themselves to be. But with the sheer loss of personnel and lack of funds to fix up the squad, the question isn't going to be promotion, it's going to be relegation. And those departing players definitely have proven themselves good enough to avoid that.

The potential Brereton money we may receive will likely be used to service debt again, maybe with a mill or two left. Any sales on top of that from the contract rebels probably could have seen a portion to reinvest, even if only in better wages or cheap lower league punts. And if any weren't sold that would be one less signing needed. I dread to think what our summer replacement work is going to look like as it stands. Think we may end up mostly hoping we get a bumper crop from the u23s who until recently looked like getting relegated from PL2.

[LeftWinger]

Just had a look on transfermarket - and we've got the 8th youngest squad in the football league.

Wycombe have the oldest at 29.3, Burnley the second oldest at 28.9.

Liverpool are 6th oldest at 27.7 and Man City 18th oldest at 27 (I've listed those two as by far the best sides)

Barnsley are the youngest side at 23.1 and we're 8th youngest at 24.1.

Only Barnsley (bottom of the Championship), AFC Wimbledon (22nd in league one), Scunthorpe United (bottom of league two), Lincoln City (18th in league one), Swindon (8th in league two), MK Dons (3rd in league one) and Doncaster (23rd in league one) have younger squads than us.

Swindon and MK Dons aside - all those with sides younger than Rovers are struggling.

I'm not Mowbray's biggest fan - but this is a young side.

There are definitely times this season when we could have done with an experienced head at centre half (that wasn't hospital bound) or in midfield (that wasn't Johnson). 

 

[G Somerset Rover]

1 hour ago, bluebruce said:

Even Ayala probably forgets sometimes.

Easy to do when you take vacations from January through to August.