John Eustace - our head coach

[roverblue]

His points return is awful and his media talk infuriating. I wouldn’t mind if he left at the end of the season.

At the same time the squad is poor from an attacking sense. Losing Wharton and not replacing him was the death of passing it forwards. Costello has had a go but largely looked poor in that role, same for Buckley.

[Upside Down]

58 minutes ago, dingles staying down 4ever said:

To be fair, when you're bottom of the table all you can do is look up the table so with a little bit more time Eustace would achieve this

Would he though? 

More likely he'd be looking at the league below and thinking about how we've got to go to Stockport or some shit like that and play for a draw.

[AllRoverAsia]

With a win% of 12.5% Eustace is in joint 2nd place with Jim Iley, in the list of crap Rovers managers.

Berg tops the list at 10% but only got 10 games before being fired. Iley got 16 games, the same as Eustace is currently on.

Eustace has 2 years to run on his contract and we all know he'll be here for the duration whatever happens on Saturday.

That's purgatory under the Raos direction.

With little or no funding and GB running recruitment the forthcoming window will be another shambles.

And yet we're going to put ourselves through another summer of torment based on lies and false promises by the charlatans installed at Ewood and echoed on here by a few.

Count me out, I'll be watching cricket.

[cesus]

Eustace's Rovers categorically deserve to be relegated, we only have a chance due to the points JDT amassed.

If we do stay up, I pray that this positive and togetherness mindset has been pushed so hard due to the weakness of the players mentality.

I hope that he is actually critical of how things have gone, with also pointing out things that are out of his control, like having no strikers or having an inability to make attacking changes due to his bench consisting of a Germen 4th tier striker and a Brighton under 23. I want him to be critical of how many points his goalkeeper's have lost him.

If he says he is happy with how things have gone, I'm petrified for next season whichever league we are in.

[Inferi]

Eustace certainly comes across as a panic appointment. If he is allowed to continue there is no reason to be positive about next season. Without the points from the early part of the season, relegation would already be confirmed. After his "new manager bounce" is over I expect us to collect even less points then what has been the case so far.

Somehow he seems to be pleased with what he has accomplished when in reality he should be ashamed and scared of losing his job. Even with our weak squad his record is unacceptable. Considering how poor we're playing, it doesn't feel likely that we will start picking up more points if he is allowed to continue whatever he is trying to do.

Edited May 1, 2024 by Inferi

[Eddie]

1 hour ago, Inferi said:

Somehow he seems to be pleased with what he has accomplished when in reality he should be ashamed and scared of losing his job. 

I think this is the toughest pill to swallow.

The 'no excuse' culture has been filled with excuses and, what's worse, the lowering of expectations to a point where an excuse is perceived to not be needed.

[Hasta]

36 minutes ago, Eddie said:

I think this is the toughest pill to swallow.

The 'no excuse' culture has been filled with excuses and, what's worse, the lowering of expectations to a point where an excuse is perceived to not be needed.

Yep. Survival is being marketed as a success by many.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

7 minutes ago, Hasta said:

Yep. Survival is being marketed as a success by many.

That’s because it will be. The team/club/manager relationship had unravelled under JDT to a point were  the relationship wasn’t retrievable. We were a rudderless ship heading for the rocks.

[RTM08]

6 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

That’s because it will be. The team/club/manager relationship had unravelled under JDT to a point were  the relationship wasn’t retrievable. We were a rudderless ship heading for the rocks.

And we still are rudderless. The only reason we may stay up is because other clubs have beefed it, not because we are any better.

[AllRoverAsia]

23 minutes ago, RTM08 said:

And we still are rudderless. The only reason we may stay up is because other clubs have beefed it, not because we are any better.

Spot on.

Eustace's record will take us down over a full season.

We will be safe this year because Plymouth definitely and probably Brum will fail.

SW will finish above us.

Eustace is a failure waiting to happen and when we stay up anyone thinking that a success, ..... well I'd best stop there.

All IMHO.

[Mattyblue]

If we stay up, it’s been done unconvincingly, but it is job done.

End of the day at most clubs he would get to start the new season in charge, be given the benefit of the doubt, but if things go awry in the first half of that campaign, he’d be out, and he would have to be as results would’ve been poor over a sustained period - does anybody seriously think that would be the case here? 

No ambition, no drive, no standards, no pressure anywhere at the club and you can’t run any team, professional or otherwise, in this manner.
 

Edited May 1, 2024 by Mattyblue

[Wheelton Blue]

36 minutes ago, RTM08 said:

And we still are rudderless. The only reason we may stay up is because other clubs have beefed it, not because we are any better.

The same argument could be made for any club, in any season, in any league, who narrowly avoids relegation.

[Hasta]

1 hour ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

That’s because it will be. The team/club/manager relationship had unravelled under JDT to a point were  the relationship wasn’t retrievable. We were a rudderless ship heading for the rocks.

I agree JDT's tenure was up and that results had deteriorated. Had the manager / team / club relationship been better then relegation wouldn't have been a worry.

But a new manager has come in to reset that relationship, and yet results have continued to be poor, with no home wins against a very middling set of opposition at Ewood. Stopping up is what should have been achieved by any competent manager taking over at the start of February from the position we found ourselves in, not portrayed as a great achievement.

This isn't a criticism of Eustace, more a criticism of portraying stopping up being some great sense of achievement. 

Edited May 1, 2024 by Hasta

[DE.]

1 hour ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

We were a rudderless ship heading for the rocks.

We still are. Next season is going to be abysmal even if we cling on to our Championship status this time around.

[dingles staying down 4ever]

5 hours ago, Upside Down said:

Would he though? 

More likely he'd be looking at the league below and thinking about how we've got to go to Stockport or some shit like that and play for a draw.

If he'd have been in charge for the Stoke game is all the extra time he needed we would have lost that so that would have put us in the bottom three so my point is still valid.

I knwo Chaddy will say he was in charge but his wonderful coaching had not had time to take effect.

[dingles staying down 4ever]

1 hour ago, Hasta said:

Yep. Survival is being marketed as a success by many.

Of course it is. It was Waggot's season objective at the beginning of the season!!!

[Mattyblue]

Stretch bonuses all round! 🥳 

[Ewood Ace]

2 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

That’s because it will be. The team/club/manager relationship had unravelled under JDT to a point were  the relationship wasn’t retrievable. We were a rudderless ship heading for the rocks.

Yet the returns have got no better under Eustace and we are now lower in the table and closer to relegation in terms of points than when he took over. So what does that say about Eustace and the the ship he is in charge of? And if we do achieve what you view as a success and stay up it will be thanks to the points accumulated by JDT where in the first 4 months of the season where he massively overachieved with this group of players.

[Exiled_Rover]

2 hours ago, Hasta said:

Yep. Survival is being marketed as a success by many.

It is when you look at the squad he's been left.

[Exiled_Rover]

4 hours ago, RTM08 said:

And we still are rudderless. The only reason we may stay up is because other clubs have beefed it, not because we are any better.

Not quite. 

Eustace has steadied the ship, but he has absolutely nothing to throw on upfront to change a game... and the starting options outside of Szmodics are shit to begin with.

Sheff Weds have gone on a ridiculous run (by hook or crook) - they were dead and buried at Christmas. If they stay up their manager is Manager of the Season without a doubt.

Edited May 1, 2024 by Exiled_Rover

[Ewood Ace]

1 hour ago, Exiled_Rover said:

Not quite. 

Eustace has steadied the ship

Has he? We are closer to relegation now in terms of points and position than when he took over. And he has the same number of points from his first 15 league games as JDT did from his last 15. I'd say an example of and manager going in a steadying the ship is Neil Harris at Millwall who were 21st when he went in there and they are now sitting comfortably and how has Harris done that he's won 5 home games whilst our clown still hasn't managed one.

Edited May 1, 2024 by Ewood Ace

[Hasta]

17 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

Not quite. 

Eustace has steadied the ship, but he has absolutely nothing to throw on upfront to change a game... and the starting options outside of Szmodics are shit to begin with.

But that's a problem which JDT had all season, even in the early part when we were doing quite well and got enough points which ultimately has made us safe. On top of that, he had Dolan injured all of December and January. Gallagher out from mid-September to January. 

I don't deny that this squad would struggle from day 1 next season. But when he came in he already had a points cushion over the bottom 3 to protect, which has been evaporated. 

Edited May 1, 2024 by Hasta

[Exiled_Rover]

3 minutes ago, Hasta said:

But that's a problem which JDT had all season, even in the early part when we were doing quite well and got enough points which ultimately has made us safe. On top of that, he had Dolan injured all of December and January. Gallagher out from mid-September to January. 

I don't deny that this squad would struggle from day 1 next season. But when he came in he already had a points cushion over the bottom 3 to protect, which has been evaporated. 

You're talking to a card-carrying member of the JDT fan club who was devastated that the Venkys poisoned the well so badly that JDT paid to get out of his contract.

He's a fantastic manager. Eustace is a Championship clogger - I just feel he's being unfairly crucified on here because he's followed JDT.

[Mattyblue]

QPR, Millwall, Sheff Wed have all had managerial changes that have had an impact, especially when you consider their respective league positions when they went in, the results are plain to see - this fella obviously hasn’t, luckily he had a very handy buffer to fall back on.

Though I suppose he has steadied the ship as it hasn’t sank yet, but he couldn’t actually steer it into calm waters like the bosses of those other clubs.

[tomphil]

1 hour ago, Exiled_Rover said:

Not quite. 

Eustace has steadied the ship, but he has absolutely nothing to throw on upfront to change a game... and the starting options outside of Szmodics are shit to begin with.

Sheff Weds have gone on a ridiculous run (but hook or crook) - they were dead and buried at Christmas. If they stay up their manager is Manager of the Season without doubt.

Similar to Mowbrays later time and a large reason why he had sudden success at Sunderland with the same midtable Mogga style, he had bright young lads to throw on up top.

We've done well bringing one guy through to replace another in the goal scoring ranks up to now but it has been literally that, 1 at a time.

All of them cost money, the forward line now needs major investment/critical recruitment it is an absolute urgent priority. Even if they find another Sammie or invest in a BBD who carries the can whilst they find their feet ?