Championship 24/25

[norwichblue]

14 minutes ago, roverandout said:

No one has owners as bad as ours

(Live fast) Dai Yongge possibly the worst. But yeah, Venky’s have to be up there.

[Devon Rover]

Bristol City and West Brom have so much more grit and determination about them than our lot, that's why we will finish below them. I don't think either are much better than us, to be honest. It's mindset and the ability to battle, consistently. These are some of the main characteristics that have been sanitised out from this squad since Venkys rode into town. 

[Ferrit]

Let’s be honest we will drop like a stone as we always do. Absolutely bog standard second half of the season capitulation.

Edited March 11 by Ferrit

[Torgeir]

How long is Batth out for? Desperately need him back. 

[Upside Down]

3 hours ago, simongarnerisgod said:

danny rohl undoutedly the manager of the year considering sheff wed are as big a basket case as we are in the owner stakes

Nowhere near.

They've a long way to go to reach our level.

Difference is their fans don't queue around the block to lick the owner's boots the way our lot would if they ever bothered to turn up to a game.

[davulsukur]

9 hours ago, JHRover said:

Eustace will keep Derby up I'm sure, some of the Rovers lot are going to end up with egg all over their faces.

If anything Cardiff and Derby winning only makes tomorrow that much more difficult. Stoke simply have to beat us looking at that table. We know how that usually goes.

Not that we need any more ammo against them but yeah, Waggott, Pasha and the cretins will all come out of this looking even worse than they already do, Derby survive and we continue to slide down the table. 

Next season we'll be struggling and Derby flying, probably with half our squad.

[Mattyblue]

Still, least we had some inflatable reptiles around our necks.

[Forever Blue]

9 hours ago, Devon Rover said:

Bristol City and West Brom have so much more grit and determination about them than our lot, that's why we will finish below them. I don't think either are much better than us, to be honest. It's mindset and the ability to battle, consistently. These are some of the main characteristics that have been sanitised out from this squad since Venkys rode into town. 

They’ve also spent a lot more money on players. 

[norwichblue]

Saw a Cardiff fan posted this on the Championship subreddit. Tickled me 🤣

Highly recommend that sub: loads of great discussion, stats, self deprecation and piss taking. r/championship

[Devon Rover]

2 hours ago, Forever Blue said:

They’ve also spent a lot more money on players. 

Well, yes, that too. And that's another of the scandals of our ownership. However, I do think the right kind of players/attitude brought in goes a long way and doesn't always require large amounts of expenditure. We have generally done the opposite of this.

[Forever Blue]

9 minutes ago, Devon Rover said:

Well, yes, that too. And that's another of the scandals of our ownership. However, I do think the right kind of players/attitude brought in goes a long way and doesn't always require large amounts of expenditure. We have generally done the opposite of this.

Disagree. We’ve been challenging for the play offs in 2 of the last 3 years. The mentality was fine under JDT, as it was under Eustace. You don’t challenge at the top end of the league unless the mentality is right, especially when you have one of the lowest budgets in the league.

The issue is the owners and their negligence, the issue is not the players attitude. 

Edited March 12 by Forever Blue

[Devon Rover]

4 hours ago, Forever Blue said:

Disagree. We’ve been challenging for the play offs in 2 of the last 3 years. The mentality was fine under JDT, as it was under Eustace. You don’t challenge at the top end of the league unless the mentality is right, especially when you have one of the lowest budgets in the league.

The issue is the owners and their negligence, the issue is not the players attitude. 

We will have to agree to disagree - at least in part. The overriding issue is, of course, as you say. But I still strongly believe a lack of leadership and general 'bastardry' across the team impacts when the pressure is on. If you don't see any sign of that, that's fine. I feel like I do. We don't have enough battlers and, some might say, too many bottlers. Let's hope there is a lot more fight and energy from kick off tonight as there have been too many performances lacking in those values.

[speeeeeeedie]

5 minutes ago, Devon Rover said:

We will have to agree to disagree - at least in part. The overriding issue is, of course, as you say. But I still strongly believe a lack of leadership and general 'bastardry' across the team impacts when the pressure is on. If you don't see any sign of that, that's fine. I feel like I do. We don't have enough battlers and, some might say, too many bottlers. Let's hope there is a lot more fight and energy from kick off tonight as there have been too many performances lacking in those values.

I agree with you. Since returning to the Championship from League 1 (and probably before, I'm not going back that far) Rovers have always fallen short when the stakes are higher which speaks to a flaw in the overall mentality irrespective of players or the manager.

Mowbray's teams constantly got beat off those above them in the league. JDT's lot had a near 100% loss record if they went 1-0 down. Eustace took over a team in 17th yet scraped a 19th placed finish thanks to a win against a hungover Leicester team on the last day of the season. Look what Ismael has done; gifted 2 terrible teams in Swansea and Derby extremely comfortable wins. Very few expect anything other than defeat tonight.

Does Venkys abysmal ownership bleed all the way down to shying away from opportunity when it presents itself?

[chaddyrovers]

15 minutes ago, speeeeeeedie said:

Look what Ismael has done; gifted 2 terrible teams in Swansea and Derby extremely comfortable wins.

Lowe was in charge for Swansea game not Ismael 

[Exiled_Rover]

7 hours ago, norwichblue said:

Saw a Cardiff fan posted this on the Championship subreddit. Tickled me 🤣

Highly recommend that sub: loads of great discussion, stats, self deprecation and piss taking. r/championship

Can't recommend that sub - far too many awful memes and people with no sense of humour.

[GHR]

22 hours ago, JHRover said:

Almost as big a basket case. Despite all the hullabaloo about him he at least turns up from time to time and acknowledges he owns a football club. Hell he even got Rohl to sign a new improved deal in the summer which our lot have forgotten the meaning of. 

Different sort of inept. He may show up but has his name painted in the seats on one of the stands and tried to ban unofficial merch being worn inside the ground.

10 hours ago, norwichblue said:

Saw a Cardiff fan posted this on the Championship subreddit. Tickled me 🤣

Highly recommend that sub: loads of great discussion, stats, self deprecation and piss taking. r/championship

Only thing worth reading on Reddit these days. Actual cerebral football fans too.

[GHR]

3 hours ago, Exiled_Rover said:

Can't recommend that sub - far too many awful memes and people with no sense of humour.

Crumble!

[Devon Rover]

Another game, another exhibition of Dolan and Cantwell fannying about and needlessly giving away possession. 

[JHRover]

31 minutes ago, GHR said:

Different sort of inept. He may show up but has his name painted in the seats on one of the stands and tried to ban unofficial merch being worn inside the ground.

Only one step on from the grotesque half-hearted efforts under our lot to 'sponsor' the Riverside by plastering their logo along the ad boards at the top, now covered by grime and filth after 5 years without being cleaned or replaced so barely visible in parts.

[Upside Down]

28 minutes ago, JHRover said:

Only one step on from the grotesque half-hearted efforts under our lot to 'sponsor' the Riverside by plastering their logo along the ad boards at the top, now covered by grime and filth after 5 years without being cleaned or replaced so barely visible in parts.

He's not deliberately relegated the club yet.

When that happens he might be getting a bit closer to our lot.

[jim mk2]

Bristol City 1-0. Now in playoff places

[Waggy76]

2 nil now for Bristol, another team playing out from the back and gifting goals 🤔

[simongarnerisgod]

to be blunt,bristol city are shite and it`s an illustration of how easy it is to be in the play offs,the rabble  upstairs have done a spectacular job of destroying our chances,the "significent january investment!!!!" not really paying off😪

[DE.]

29 minutes ago, simongarnerisgod said:

to be blunt,bristol city are shite and it`s an illustration of how easy it is to be in the play offs,the rabble  upstairs have done a spectacular job of destroying our chances,the "significent january investment!!!!" not really paying off😪

Tbf we wouldn't have been in playoff contention for most of the season if the division wasn't packed full of extremely average teams. It's been like this for a number of seasons now, which is why even under Mowbray and JDT we were still in the hunt despite the club being run like a circus. Mowbray at least had some money to spend, and JDT benefited from some of that 'investment' still being around during his first season. Once the taps were turned off during his second season, though, we were doomed. Eustace getting us into playoff contention is probably the most impressive considering he had bugger all to work with budget-wise and most of our better players had already been shown the door by the time this season began. He knew it wasn't sustainable though, hence the release clause and the desperation to get out in spite of our league position.

Venky's mismanagement was always going to catch up with us at some point, and it does feel like that time is rapidly approaching. If they've got it wrong with Ismael then it's going to be a brutal 25/26 campaign.

[roversfan99]

That season under Mowbray was also one where the taps had been turned off. We sold Armstrong and just signed loans. A common theme.