v Luton Town (h) - 1/5/23

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

4 minutes ago, BankEnd Rover said:

If we have Sam Gallagher, Dolan & Hedges starting next season then we will do well to stay up. All not good enough.

I could never figure out the Hedges signing. A deeply average player who’s one footedness always gives his opponents a chance.

[Sweaty Gussets]

Just now, RevidgeBlue said:

Out of interest where have reports of substantial cutbacks next season come from? (Other than Nixon)

Genuine question as I haven't seen anything about it other than Nixons online offering going "could" "could" "could" "might" "could" etc etc

JDT said we'd be in the 'frees and loans' market this summer. Who knows if that's true or not. 

Nixon says the same shite about cutbacks every season. 

[BigBar]

2 minutes ago, AllRoverAsia said:

TK was on paternity leave.

Yep so that would have reduced the number was my point. Either way wherever you fall on the debate, we need more investment, better recruitment and less dependency on the academy. It has served us very well but you need to outsource for problem areas end of story.

[JohnD]

Men v Boys today, we don't have any men.

An odd season with an incredible and unacceptable low at Burnley but enjoyable nonetheless, the best since our relegation from the Prem?

I don't think I will ever like ,JDT but he has done very well with what he has and I hope he sticks around and gets some support.

Brereton is off to sunny Spain but clearly isn't good enough and will surely never reach the heights of Diaz again? Had him, is it, 6 years and he played out of his skin for 4 months.

Brereton and/ or Dolan must never be in a rovers squad again.

[Andy]

21 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

Honestly, it's over - the players looked absolutely gutted on the lap of honour. They clearly didn't want to come out. 

Not sure about that - certainly not when passing the Blackburn End.

Lots of smiles, waves and JDT encouraging his boys to take it all in.

[RevidgeBlue]

40 minutes ago, RTM08 said:

I hate this framing. This framing implies we've fought for where we are. The actual facts are, since they first started talking about "cup finals" and "big games" at the FA cup QF, we have won ZERO games. A SINGLE win in any of those and we're probably in the play-offs. Yet again we had a massive advantage and completely and totally bottled it.

Instead, we have to watch this turgid, lethargic, tippy tappy football with absolutely no urgency to suggest that we actually want promotion. Taking the table out of context completely distorts what has actually happened.

Great post.

Five points out of 24. If we fail to win against Millwall I'd have thought you'd be hard pushed to find a worse finish to the season ever.

[superniko]

14 minutes ago, AllRoverAsia said:

Ryan Lowe gave his players stick post Sheffield so that may have some positive effect.

Swansea are a lose canon, depends which Russell turns out.

We just need to win and hope.

I'm obviously clutching at straws but there's a way if there's a will.

Swansea I’d fancy and we all know Mowbray could fuck it up for Sunderland. Just not convinced we’ll get the 3 points 

More to the point, if Sunderland are winning 3-0 at HT are we just letting Millwall have it to avoid the double of Burnley win league at a Ewood and Mowbray wins promotion at Wembley. 

Edited May 1, 2023 by superniko

[BigBar]

5 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

JRC, Carter, Travis, A. Wharton, Hilton, Phillips, Leonard and Garrett

Was Philips in the squad? 

[Mashed Potatoes]

3 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Out of interest where have reports of substantial cutbacks next season come from? (Other than Nixon)

Genuine question as I haven't seen anything about it other than Nixons online offering going "could" "could" "could" "might" "could" etc etc

I think it comes from people looking at the financial sustainability rules issued by UEFA which require clubs to initially reduce the costs of their squads to 90% of turnover and then to 70%. However as far as I can tell it has not yet been decided that they should apply to clubs in the EFL.

[Sweaty Gussets]

2 minutes ago, Mashed Potatoes said:

Where does this walk take him to ? He's under contract for another couple of years so will cost the new club a fair few quid.

He walked from Malmo...depends on the clauses in his current contract. It might stipulate he can't take another job for a year if he quits Rovers? 

I have no idea if he will walk, it's just there's enough speculation to suggest he and GB may have had a falling out. If true, he may think his position untenable. 

It may just all be bollocks though. We'll find out soon enough. 

[Ossydave]

44 minutes ago, BigBar said:

I said debatable. Not sure why you took exception to that? The only very very odd thing about this whole exchange is your reaction to it. Completely over the top and dramatic. 

There's no drama at my side, you've made a stupid comment and you're flapping about trying to excuse it.

[Exiled_Rover]

1 minute ago, BigBar said:

Was Philips in the squad? 

He was on the pitch at the start of the match warming up with the subs, so I assume so. 

[Penwortham Blue]

Perhaps now would be a good time for Greg B to give his promised post January window / Appeal debrief. Without a win in 8 isn’t good enough and we have had some stinking luck but look at the bureaucrats, the January fiasco has cost us and will probably see us lose the best manager we have had for many years.

[Exiled_Rover]

1 minute ago, Mashed Potatoes said:

I think it comes from people looking at the financial sustainability rules issued by UEFA which require clubs to initially reduce the costs of their squads to 90% of turnover and then to 70%. However as far as I can tell it has not yet been decided that they should apply to clubs in the EFL.

Losing Brereton-Diaz, Dack and Ayala from the wage bill has to be a substantial saving (for very little return)?

[JHRover]

If there's 5 minutes to go at Millwall and Sunderland are winning at Preston by a couple of goals I'd want us to let one in just to knock Sunderland out of it. Couldn't cope with treacherous Tony sneaking into the top 6.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

2 minutes ago, superniko said:

Swansea I’d fancy and we all know Mowbray could fuck it up for Sunderland. Just not convinced we’ll get the 3 points 

More to the point, if Sunderland are winning 3-0 at HT are we just letting Millwall have it to avoid the double of Burnley win league at a Ewood and Mowbray wins promotion at Wembley. 

Millwall will be another 1-1 draw so it’s over for the foreseeable future. This was the season to do it and we’ve blown it good and proper. 

[chaddyrovers]

22 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

His understanding of the league you would think should improve as the season goes on. 0 wins in 8.

Look at Farke time at Norwich as I said at the time of JDT appointment he needed and should be given. 

Give him a quality striker and O'Brien things would be very different I would hope in the last 8 games

22 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

If the players dont "want" to experience it, why has it happened again? Why are you confident that it will not happen next season?

For me our squad is very different to last season with JRC, Carter, Hyam, Wharton, Szmodics all key players for us going forwards and not here or part of Mowbray squad. 

Players learn from disappointed and use it as motivation for next season like Souness probably did when City won promotion on our ground on the last of the season and celebrate, Souness used that as Motivation for the squad and we got promotion the season after. Do you learn and improve in your job when you made mistakes or learn next ways of doing the job in whatever you do job wise?  

9 minutes ago, roverandout said:

We barely score. We play turgid sideways football. 

That's were we need more quality in forwards areas. 

We play possession based football and as you seen today we some neat and tidy football today in the first half. 

If you were the manager/head coach what type of football would you want your team to play? 

[bluebruce]

1 hour ago, roversfan99 said:

What if we get into a similar position, would people expect many of the same players to push on rather than falter?

Their age profile suggests many of them will improve, yes.

[Penwortham Blue]

5 minutes ago, superniko said:

Swansea I’d fancy and we all know Mowbray could fuck it up for Sunderland. Just not convinced we’ll get the 3 points 

More to the point, if Sunderland are winning 3-0 at HT are we just letting Millwall have it to avoid the double of Burnley win league at a Ewood and Mowbray wins promotion at Wembley. 

I must admit of the three, I would prefer Millwall

[DE.]

7 minutes ago, JohnD said:

An odd season with an incredible and unacceptable low at Burnley but enjoyable nonetheless, the best since our relegation from the Prem?

If so then, if we're being honest, that only highlights how terrible our seasons have been since being relegated. General concensus was that we were playing horrible football until at least January, despite managing to get a decent amount of wins during that time. Since January we've scored on average less than a goal a game and seen our playoff push fizzle out for the second season in a row, whilst having a dismal transfer window and seeing our only goal scoring striker regress to nothing (whilst leaving in the summer on a free transfer). Oh, and the small matter of Burnley winning the title at Ewood.

I think our FA Cup run is what maybe puts this season above others for some - but then even that ended with us throwing away a 2-1 lead in the final ten minutes against a team who were, at the time, only one place above us in the league. We also had a similar cup run under Bowyer where I believe we faced Liverpool in the quarters and lost narrowly. 

If this is our best season since relegation, then I think we can only conclude it's a low bar. 

 

Edited May 1, 2023 by DE.

[Exiled_Rover]

Just now, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Millwall will be another 1-1 draw so it’s over for the foreseeable future. This was the season to do it and we’ve blown it good and proper. 

Much like last season was the season to do it?

You're always in with a chance of sneaking into the Playoffs in this league. Luton and Millwall are no great shakes this year. Barnsley weren't last year (and Notts Forest were nowhere before they went on their run).

[BigBar]

3 minutes ago, Ossydave said:

There's no drama at my side, you've made a stupid comment and you're flapping about trying to excuse it.

You are embarrassing yourself now. You overreacted and now can't keep up. It's ok I forgive you. Now go have I lie down 😉

[AllRoverAsia]

5 minutes ago, superniko said:

Swansea I’d fancy and we all know Mowbray could fuck it up for Sunderland. Just not convinced we’ll get the 3 points 

More to the point, if Sunderland are winning 3-0 at HT are we just letting Millwall have it to avoid the double of Burnley win league at a Ewood and Mowbray wins promotion at Wembley. 

In that scenario it's an emphatic yes from me to garner some joy.

[chaddyrovers]

4 minutes ago, Penwortham Blue said:

Perhaps now would be a good time for Greg B to give his promised post January window / Appeal debrief. Without a win in 8 isn’t good enough and we have had some stinking luck but look at the bureaucrats, the January fiasco has cost us and will probably see us lose the best manager we have had for many years.

I suspected that at the end of the season JDT, GB and Travis will give interviews to Rovers TV and local media. 

4 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

He was on the pitch at the start of the match warming up with the subs, so I assume so. 

Phillips warmed up with the team as 19th man just in case someone gets injured in the warm up he has doing the warm ups. Its happened all season 

8 minutes ago, Sweaty Gussets said:

JDT said we'd be in the 'frees and loans' market this summer. Who knows if that's true or not. 

Nixon says the same shite about cutbacks every season. 

Lets wait and see. 

[Spankus Munky]

14 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

We had 8 Academy players in the squad again today - with the best will in the world you can't expect a promotion push with an Academy propping up the First XI like that. 

7, and you cant be counting Travis as academy player he is 25 and has well over 200 career appearences! was Scholes an academy player when he was 35 playing for Man Utd? So really 6 total, not terrible considering one was also a Keeper who was only in due to circumstances and is usually 3rd choice.