End of season report

[Upside Down]

Not sure how failure to make the playoffs can be deemed an over achievement.

 

[Mattyblue]

If we had finished 7th under a load of parachute clubs in the play offs then I’d agree we’d ‘over achieved’, but below Cov, Sunderland and Luton shows it was for the taking.

Decent season, but even spinner-in-chief, GB, mentioned that we can’t ‘cry about budgets when you see who was in the play offs’.

[booth]

3 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

If we had finished 7th under a load of parachute clubs in the play offs then I’d agree we’d ‘over achieved’, but below Cov, Sunderland and Luton shows it was for the taking.

Decent season, but even spinner-in-chief, GB, mentioned that we can’t ‘cry about budgets when you see who was in the play offs’.

GB knew when saying that that two play off teams spent £2m+ on a centre forward, one spent £1m+ and another that spent between £4-5m. Greggs offering was an embarrassing failure.

I can’t agree with someone saying we are turning the taps off but expect to wash our faces regardless.

Just another dumb down merchant. Perhaps the dumbest yet.

[Athlete]

Another missed opportunity

Januarys lack of a striker thanks to GB and his recruitment team

[Ulrich]

15 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

If we had finished 7th under a load of parachute clubs in the play offs then I’d agree we’d ‘over achieved’, but below Cov, Sunderland and Luton shows it was for the taking.

Decent season, but even spinner-in-chief, GB, mentioned that we can’t ‘cry about budgets when you see who was in the play offs’.

Poor end of season finish, same story as the last few years. Like you say it's a shame as we stood a good chance of beating the other teams, so now seems like an opportunity lost.

Next season sees Southampton, Leicester and Leeds/Everton in the league, 3 teams with strong squads and budgets.  I'm anticipating 2 of those will take the auto places next season.

[philipl]

4 hours ago, Ulrich said:

Poor end of season finish, same story as the last few years. Like you say it's a shame as we stood a good chance of beating the other teams, so now seems like an opportunity lost.

Next season sees Southampton, Leicester and Leeds/Everton in the league, 3 teams with strong squads and budgets.  I'm anticipating 2 of those will take the auto places next season.

Southampton are dropping like a stone and will lose Ward-Prowse. The club needs a lot of work on it.

Leicester is losing the Turkish central defender and Thielemans on frees. Barnes  Maddison and Ionaci will be sold.

Everton and Leeds are both shambles behind the scenes.

By no means a given these clubs will thrive in the Championship. 

The three coming up from League One are all capable of doing a Sunderland.

 

[Ulrich]

4 hours ago, philipl said:

Southampton are dropping like a stone and will lose Ward-Prowse. The club needs a lot of work on it.

Leicester is losing the Turkish central defender and Thielemans on frees. Barnes  Maddison and Ionaci will be sold.

Everton and Leeds are both shambles behind the scenes.

By no means a given these clubs will thrive in the Championship. 

The three coming up from League One are all capable of doing a Sunderland.

 

Turmoil yes but Dyche at Everton will sort them if they come down. Those teams have bounced back from relegation before quickly so I suspect that they will manage similar again.  Leicester will have millions lying around after sales so an astute manager and they should be fine, JDT is linked I see.

We will see but I'm glad Leicester are coming down, means we are no longer alone in that accolade IE ex premier league winners being relegated.

How's Malta?

[Blow-in]

On 16/05/2023 at 12:24, Ulrich said:

So a name change?

Zlackburn Rovers

Venky's Rovers would do until wolves get relegated.

[wilsdenrover]

4 hours ago, Ulrich said:

Turmoil yes but Dyche at Everton will sort them if they come down. Those teams have bounced back from relegation before quickly so I suspect that they will manage similar again.  Leicester will have millions lying around after sales so an astute manager and they should be fine, JDT is linked I see.

We will see but I'm glad Leicester are coming down, means we are no longer alone in that accolade IE ex premier league winners being relegated.

How's Malta?

Which teams are you referring to?

Southampton took seven years to get back to the premier league last time they went down and Leicester took a decade (both via a trip to league one)

[Andy]

19 hours ago, philipl said:

Southampton are dropping like a stone and will lose Ward-Prowse. The club needs a lot of work on it.

Leicester is losing the Turkish central defender and Thielemans on frees. Barnes  Maddison and Ionaci will be sold.

Everton and Leeds are both shambles behind the scenes.

By no means a given these clubs will thrive in the Championship. 

The three coming up from League One are all capable of doing a Sunderland.

 

Really valid point, momentum is a huge thing in football.

Sunderland had no right at all to have been anywhere near the top 6 this season, having just come from League 1.

I could see both Soton and Leicester dropping like stones.

[Herbie6590]

https://www.brfcs.com/magazine/articles/profit-and-sustainability-and-the-top-six/411

[Tugayisgod]

Pretty fair summing up from GB imo. Football can be a cruel game

 

Gregg Broughton reflects on Rovers’ season as a positive one, though admits that’s taking the medium to long-term view his role requires, rather than that of a supporter.

Rovers missed out on a play-off spot on goal difference, with their win at Millwall on the final day their first since March 15.

Wins evaded them at the worst possible time as despite taking 19 points from their nine games leading into the international break, the final nine yielded only eight, three of which came at Millwall.

It meant that Rovers’ minus two goal difference saw them miss out, as an opportunity to make the top six passed them by for a second successive season.

That was the first in his role for director of football Broughton who believes there has been progress across the club which brings encouragement for the future, even if supporters were left with a sense of ‘what if’.

“If I wear my football supporters’ hat I can be disappointed with it, but it’s important in my job that I don’t wear a football supporters’ hat and think about the medium to long-term success of the football club,” he explained.

“That’s what my role is all about, I have to think not about the outcome but the process that underpins that.

“If you look across the six departments that I am responsible for overseeing, huge progress in all of those and that leads to progress on the pitch, we really believe that.

“I think some of the performances post-Christmas have been excellent and one of the great things, but also the worst things, is that you can perform so well for the last nine games of the season but have so little to show for that and that’s why we all love this sport.

“Those little moments can change it.

“It goes back to Sunderland on Boxing Day ironically, you can never take one result, but that’s ultimately allowed Sunderland to finish above us in the table.

“But Coventry at home, Preston away, those little moments that just go against you in the last few seconds.

“I think I have to focus on the medium to long-term and the processes that underpin that and we’re pleased with how that progress has gone.”

Rovers’ results tailed off for the second successive season, however, performances in 2023 did pick up, even if the wins didn’t follow.

They enjoyed a strong February, and went into March looking well placed in fifth, and with a game in hand over their rivals, many of who they would meet in the run-in.

Broughton said performance metrics in every area bar set pieces improved in the closing weeks of the season, even though they weren’t backed up with wins.

“When the transfer window closed we had 18 league games left, and a couple of cup games as well,” he added.

“Of those 18 league games, the first nine, up to Sheffield United in the cup and the international break, we got 19 points from those.

“You continue that form and you won’t only finish in the play-offs but you might get third in the league as well.

“When you look at those nine games after the international break we only got eight points from those but every single performance metric we use has gone up, chances created, chances conceded, amount of possession in the opposition half, counter-pressing, all the things that underpin how we play and measure our style of play.

“Those little moments have just gone against us and when we dig into it the performance point we were disappointed with from those last nine games was the amount of chances and goals we conceded from set pieces.

“You might think that’s irrelevant but it’s in the bigger picture of looking things.

“The goals conceded in the nine games up to Sheffield United, one set piece goal, in the last nine five set piece goals conceded, and crucial ones.

“Birmingham City away, Huddersfield away, Luton Town at home, those games go on, and those are the margins that can cost you.”

Jon Dahl Tomasson pinpointed a lack of goals as the reason for Rovers’ failure to make the top six, refereeing the January transfer window where the club failed to bring in a striker.

Rovers also failed to secure the signing of midfielder Lewis O’Brien, as well as prospect Ethan Brierley, on what was a window to forget.

Many supporters also focused on the lack of activity, with Sorba Thomas’ loan signing the only addition across the month, as why they missed out on making the play-offs for the first time since relegation from the Premier League.

Yet Broughton says that while mistakes were made, and a better window was planned, he doesn’t feel that was the sole reason why Rovers missed out.

Indeed, their best run of form of the season came in the weeks after the transfer window closed.

Asked if he felt the January window was a determining factor, Broughton said: “I think to look at that way is too binary, too black and white.

“Would we like to have had a different January? I think I’m on the record as saying yes of course we would have done.

“It would now be stupid of me to say ‘ignore that’, but the fact is we came out of January and got 19 points from the next nine games.

“It wasn’t like February 1, crash, we set ourselves up in a really, really good way to play.

“We know there have been lessons learned from January.

“It’s on the record what happened, I’m not trying to brush it under the carpet, I’m happy to answer any questions, but we must look at the lessons learned from that and do better in the future.”

 

Edited May 21, 2023 by Tugayisgod

[Upside Down]

When Coventry, Luton and Sunderland finish above us the season can only be seen as a failure.

[philipl]

What does finishing above Watford, Norwich and West Brom count as?

[Upside Down]

Irrelevant.

[booth]

So the lack of a striker and OBrien wasn’t the reason for not making the play offs on GD.

Those are some heavy sweeping noises from a bloke who says he isn’t trying to brush it under the carpet 🙄

[philipl]

5 hours ago, Upside Down said:

Irrelevant.

Fingers crossed finishing above all of that trio is as irrelevant in 23/24 as we would probably be in an automatic promotion slot.

[Upside Down]

40 minutes ago, philipl said:

Fingers crossed finishing above all of that trio is as irrelevant in 23/24 as we would probably be in an automatic promotion slot

Completely irrelevant who finished below.

Who finished above us puts to bed all the bullshit excuses that the club have come out with over the last decade.

Finishing behind newly promoted Sunderland managed by the one whom we are forbidden to mention is complete failure.

[philipl]

If you say so...

[Upside Down]

I did.

[Hasta]

On 21/05/2023 at 13:10, Tugayisgod said:

Yet Broughton says that while mistakes were made, and a better window was planned, he doesn’t feel that was the sole reason why Rovers missed out.

So Greg doesn't believe that if he had managed to get his striking transfer targets and O'Brien' through the door it wouldn't have made 1 point difference.  This despite the fact we ended up playing Hedges, Dolan, Szmodics etc.. up top in various games towards the end of the season.

Yeah, ok.

 

 

Edited May 25, 2023 by Hasta

[RevidgeBlue]

The more offerings I hear from Broughton the more I despair.  The guy is a bs merchant extraordinaire. He must think the supporters are completely thick in trying to make out the season can be viewed positively because during the final disastrous run in various irrelevant "performance metrics" allegedly improved. There are only 2 indicators that ultimately matter, scoring more goals in a game than you let in at the other end and securing enough points to secure promotion.

I also see in an LT article that we're thinking of employing a throw in coach. Absolute insanity -  we need a decent squad of players and a couple of decent strikers before we start fannying around with window dressing like that. 

[Crimpshrine]

On 22/05/2023 at 00:45, philipl said:

What does finishing above Watford, Norwich and West Brom count as?

 

They failed to an even greater extent than we did.

[Upside Down]

5 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

The more offerings I hear from Broughton the more I despair.  The guy is a bs merchant extraordinaire. He must think the supporters are completely thick in trying to make out the season can be viewed positively because during the final disastrous run in various irrelevant "performance metrics" allegedly improved. There are only 2 indicators that ultimately matter, scoring more goals in a game than you let in at the other end and securing enough points to secure promotion.

I also see in an LT article that we're thinking of employing a throw in coach. Absolute insanity -  we need a decent squad of players and a couple of decent strikers before we start fannying around with window dressing like that. 

Get the ball, throw it to your nearest team mate as fast as you can. Done.

[Oldgregg86]

4 hours ago, Upside Down said:

Get the ball, throw it to your nearest team mate as fast as you can. Done.

Get your application in 😂