Argyle v Rovers !

[bluebruce]

On 08/09/2023 at 18:30, Green Army 75 said:

I know Preston are losing over a million pounds a month and it’s mind boggling.  Even if they go up….they’re likely to come straight back down…..

 

We've been losing more than that for years. We typically lose about 15-20 million each season, and until the last two seasons the result has mainly been treading water and not threatening the playoffs (plus that season we got relegated to League One before bouncing straight back). The Championship is awash with clubs making huge losses. It's an insane league distorted by the Prem treasure being in touching distance.

23 hours ago, Green Army 75 said:

You’ve bought a dud.  
 

He is a good player at this level and will score loads for you…but will always be injured.  Missed about 60% of games at least for us over 3 years.  
Get him fit and he’ll score loads…but he’s never fit.  He’s made of glass. 

Eh, for a freebie and probably not huge wages, I'd take scoring loads of goals but only being available 40% of the time.

14 hours ago, Green Army 75 said:

I know we offered him a contract but the rumour is you offered quadrupled his wages that we offered. 

That's very unlikely btw. Unless your offer was a bit of a joke. If you offered him any more than 2.5k p/w, I shouldn't think we've quadrupled it. A google says your highest paid player is on 5k p/w, with another on 4k and one on 3.5k...with his record (injuries included) surely he was offered at least 2.5k?

I'd be surprised if he's on any more than 8k p/w here tbh.

[Green Army 75]

You’re correct.  
 

Given his injuries, his role (he was essentially the second choice striker) and our wage structure I think 3500 per week or around there would have been an Argyle offer.  
 

Interestingly, it was Lowe, who is now manager at Preston and left us after being caught by his wife having an affair with his cleaner and being ordered to return “up north”, 🤣🤣🤣, who chased him for about a year before we got him at Argyle.  
 

There was no evidence that Lowe tried to get him to Preston so maybe the injuries and social life are a bit too much for the top end of the Championship. 

[oldjamfan1]

35 minutes ago, Green Army 75 said:

There was no evidence that Lowe tried to get him to Preston so maybe the injuries and social life are a bit too much for the top end of the Championship. 

But still enough of a talent when actually playing to take a relatively low cost gamble on IMHO. Clubs like Rovers can’t afford the perfect, finished product any longer.

If he plays even half of our league games this season it sounds like we will get about 15 goals out of him, which will do for me.

[47er]

On 09/09/2023 at 09:10, Aqualung said:

Kind of a contradiction of terms there mate. 

I think we got him on a free tbh. So nowt lost in terms of money if he proves to be as you say. 

He's paid whether he plays or not isn't it he? We've got rid of Buckley to get the wages bill down a tad but are paying this chap who, history suggests, won't play much of the season. So he is loss-making isn't he?

[tomphil]

We've made a 4 year contractual commitment to Ennis and the fact he was so keen to come kind of says money had a part in it.

So probably not the cheap gamble a lot seem to think it is as it's unlikely we'll get much of fee if he's sold on at some point.

Edited September 10, 2023 by tomphil

[Exiled_Rover]

On 09/09/2023 at 09:02, Green Army 75 said:

True.  

I know we offered him a contract but the rumour is you offered quadrupled his wages that we offered.  

I guess that’s the Championship for you and why we will inevitably go down. 
 

I hope he gets fit and scores 30 for you this season as he was part of a couple of fabulous seasons at HP and I’d love to see him go on and get a chance in the Premiership 

There's absolutely no way we offered quadruple his wages.

We're currently operating on a shoestring budget - anyone earning decent Championship wages has been shown the door. Gallagher is the last one left.

[Exiled_Rover]

15 hours ago, bluebruce said:

We've been losing more than that for years. We typically lose about 15-20 million each season, and until the last two seasons the result has mainly been treading water and not threatening the playoffs (plus that season we got relegated to League One before bouncing straight back). The Championship is awash with clubs making huge losses. It's an insane league distorted by the Prem treasure being in touching distance.

The latest Venky drama suggests we're not losing anything like that and they're actually committing fraud. 

[bluebruce]

6 hours ago, Exiled_Rover said:

The latest Venky drama suggests we're not losing anything like that and they're actually committing fraud. 

I mean, that requires further evidence. A dodgy personal property declaration doesn't mean they're committing wide scale fraud on our accounts too.

[MarkBRFC]

22 hours ago, oldjamfan1 said:

But still enough of a talent when actually playing to take a relatively low cost gamble on IMHO. Clubs like Rovers can’t afford the perfect, finished product any longer.

If he plays even half of our league games this season it sounds like we will get about 15 goals out of him, which will do for me.

I'm willing to bet he won't score 15 goals in 23 league games.

[oldjamfan1]

1 hour ago, MarkBRFC said:

I'm willing to bet he won't score 15 goals in 23 league games.

In this team he will, or not far off it. Getting him on the pitch is quite another matter.

[roversfan99]

His previous best goal tally was 11 in a side that finished on over 100 points at a considerably lower standard.

[Green Army 75]

4 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

His previous best goal tally was 11 in a side that finished on over 100 points at a considerably lower standard.

If you get him fit (and keep him fit) he will score goals for you.  
 

I wouldn’t say League one is a considerably lower standard.  Of the three teams that came up I think Ipswich will finish in the top 6, I have fingers crossed we will be mid table and Wednesday have a relegation battle on their hands.  
 

It’s not like being promoted to the Premiership where you will get beaten most weeks. 

[roversfan99]

40 minutes ago, Green Army 75 said:

If you get him fit (and keep him fit) he will score goals for you.  
 

I wouldn’t say League one is a considerably lower standard.  Of the three teams that came up I think Ipswich will finish in the top 6, I have fingers crossed we will be mid table and Wednesday have a relegation battle on their hands.  
 

It’s not like being promoted to the Premiership where you will get beaten most weeks. 

The common consensus based on what I saw from your fans was that Ennis was better than Hardie, would you agree or do you think thats a misconception?

He has looked good when he has featured but I suppose thats of limited use when he will spend lots of time on the treatment table. 

He featured in 38 League games for you last season which caused some questions as to how injury prone he actually was but having only started half of those, it seems like you had the luxury to manage him knowing you had 2 stand out League 1 strikers fighting for one position.

I do think there is a big gap between League 1 and the Championship and I am the first to say that the actual quality of this league isnt as good as people like to suggest. I dont see Ipswich as top 6 quality personally, the 2 of you will be very comfortable but you didnt get promoted from League 1, you breezed it with ridiculous points tallies.

[Green Army 75]

Hardie and Ennis are completely different. 
 

Hardie is a natural scorer and will love the space left by teams as they come forward.  He found it harder last season as teams put 11 men behind the ball against us as the season wore on.  He has 4 already this season though. 
 

Ennis is more of an Ebanks Blake type of battering ram with a surprising amount of guile and cunning.  Maybe a young Barry Hayles?

Keep him fit and he’ll score loads….you’ve just got to keep him fit.  You have to play him as sub a lot.  He couldn’t play 90 minutes more than twice in a month before breaking down.  The international breaks benefit this type of player.  

This is his make or break move   If he scores 30 he will go to the Premiership   If he keeps breaking down he will be playing at Fleetwood or Wrexham for his next contract   

 

[Green Army 75]

4 hours ago, roversfan99 said:the 2 of you will be very comfortable but you didnt get promoted from League 1, you breezed it with ridiculous points tallies.

It didn’t feel like that at the time.  We were only promoted in the penultimate game and did so because Wednesday lost at Forest Green and only drew at Cheltenham. 
 

I think we ended up winning 12 and drawing one of the final 13 games…..

[bazza]

I have a concern about the title of this topic. If you call yourselves Argyle, at least have the courtesy to call us Rovers.

It's either Plymouth v Blackburn or Plymouth Argyle v Blackburn Rovers or Argyle v Rovers.

[Green Army 75]

No problem!  

It’s always Argyle as there’s only one Argyle. 
An Argyle fan would never call us Plymouth.
 

If I could I’d change it to Rovers v Argyle.    

[jim mk2]

13 minutes ago, bazza said:

I have a concern about the title of this topic. If you call yourselves Argyle, at least have the courtesy to call us Rovers.

It's either Plymouth v Blackburn or Plymouth Argyle v Blackburn Rovers or Argyle v Rovers.

Absolutely bazza. Courtesy, consistency and etiquette. 

[Andy]

20 hours ago, Green Army 75 said:

No problem!  

It’s always Argyle as there’s only one Argyle. 
An Argyle fan would never call us Plymouth.
 

If I could I’d change it to Rovers v Argyle.    

Similarly, no Rovers fan would call us 'Blackburn'.

If you refer to Rovers in a football sense, very few are going to think you're talking about Doncaster, Bristol or Forest Green, to be fair.

[ItsRoverZ]

10 minutes ago, Andy said:

Similarly, no Rovers fan would call us 'Blackburn'.

If you refer to Rovers in a football sense, very few are going to think you're talking about Doncaster, Bristol or Forest Green, to be fair.

I remember being told off for calling us blackburn for a while, but to be fair and in my defense I'm from scunthorpe who's two closest rivals are Grimsby and Doncaster Rovers, so I always used to have to say Blackburn Rovers and not just Rovers 😂

It became a bad habit which thanks to this message board swiftly ended 🤣

[BRFC4EVA]

On 12/09/2023 at 09:29, bazza said:

I have a concern about the title of this topic. If you call yourselves Argyle, at least have the courtesy to call us Rovers.

It's either Plymouth v Blackburn or Plymouth Argyle v Blackburn Rovers or Argyle v Rovers.

Gosh we're a touchy bunch. Who cares what opposition fans call us! Besides, with their geographic location and history in the lower leagues they'd probs be far more familiar with Bristol Rovers and their first natural thought when hearing 'Rovers' is towards them..

GA75, I live in Nz now and I'm a big adoptive Welly Phoenix fan (as well as the Rovers of course) Ben Waine was a terrific performer for us, how is he doing for you. It's a big step up..

Edited September 12, 2023 by BRFC4EVA

[Green Army 75]

5 hours ago, BRFC4EVA said:

 

GA75, I live in Nz now and I'm a big adoptive Welly Phoenix fan (as well as the Rovers of course) Ben Waine was a terrific performer for us, how is he doing for you. It's a big step up..

It is a big step up for him.  
 

Isn’t ready to start Championship games yet but gets 10 mins at the end of games when defenders are tiring. 
 

Started against Orient in the league cup and scored 2 and then another against Palace in the 2nd round.  He seems very clinical in the box but needs to develop his all round game. 
 

One thing Argyle do well is acquire players that no one has ever heard of, hide them away for 6-12 months on the training pitch and then they play.  He will get great coaching and development so has every chance.  I know we were trying to buy him for a couple of transfer windows so the club must see possible development in him.  
 

P.S.   I’d rather have a fit Ennis though!

Edited September 13, 2023 by Green Army 75