Souness must go ?

[blue phil]

Give Souness about 2 more seasons, then take on Dowie if he makes a reasonble fist of Palace in the Premiership.

If he makes a decent fist of Palace (sounds bad) , he won't want to come here if we're struggling . From what I've read he sounds fairly ambitious .

Two more seasons of Souness eh ..? Wonder where we'll be then ?

[blue phil]

Come up with something other than the flavour-of-the-month Dowie and people may take you seriously instead of thinking of you as an unvariable and ever increasingly desperate wind-up merchant.

There was a thread started back in Feb about future managers in which Dowie's name cropped up several times . here

(Needless to say , Jim didn't post in it )

[Billy Castell]

Give Souness about 2 more seasons, then take on Dowie if he makes a reasonble fist of Palace in the Premiership.

If he makes a decent fist of Palace (sounds bad) , he won't want to come here if we're struggling . From what I've read he sounds fairly ambitious .

Two more seasons of Souness eh ..? Wonder where we'll be then ?

Then we sign Colin Hendry . Obviously if we have another season like last, then our chances diminish, but if we get to say 8th-13th, whilst Palace are 15th-17th, then we may have a chance. Hell, if Spuds can have a strike force of Keane and Defoe and nearly get relegated, or Rivaldo signs for Bolton, then anything's possible.

Except Burnley winning the 2005/6 Premiership perhaps.

[Exiled in Toronto]

So Graeme's response to the dire last nine months, his Damascus-like conversion having learned so much about himself, is to sign Dickov - another low on skill but a battler - and to indulge in another bout of cronyism with the back room staff.

All soon to be topped off by probably shipping Cole out

How wrong I was to doubt him.....

[Kennysuperbuyer]

Dickov. A typical Souness player but not the signing to encourage a surge in season ticket sales.

No positive vibes coming out of Ewood as yet but I suppose their is time.

[thenodrog]

And whilst the Sword of Damoclese is currently hanging over Souness' head how about issuing one each to Parkes and Saunders too?  I may be wrong but I fail to see what TP is currently contributing to the overall set up.  I think the time is now ripe to get Parkes off the bench and install him at Brockhall in charge of one of the kids teams.

I'm just so good it's spooky!..........Conclusive proof that GS and JW read my contributions to this board! I thank you all .

Edited June 3, 2004 by thenodrog

[G Somerset Rover]

How about a poll regarding whether people want souey to stay on next season? Personally I think give him until october time, if things are still as bad as they were this season then we'd have to get rid I'm afraid. Fingers crossed he gets it right though.

[Rover_Shaun]

So Graeme's response to the dire last nine months, his Damascus-like conversion having learned so much about himself, is to sign Dickov - another low on skill but a battler - and to indulge in another bout of cronyism with the back room staff.

All soon to be topped off by probably shipping Cole out

How wrong I was to doubt him.....

Thank goodness your exiled. Your whingeing would curdle my pre-match pint

[Rover_Shaun]

I agree with a number of your points Theno, I disagree with your comments on Dean Saunders. A number of players (I recall Duff being one of them) have come out and said his attacking coaching has helped improve their goalscoring,

Ricky that point about Duff I've made many times. I always held the opinion that if Duff ever learnt how to score then we could not hold on to him. Credit to Saunders who imo gave him the confidence necessary and taught him how to score and we did indeed make big bucks out of selling him........ however the fact remains that the current management team have had a bad season and as they say in football "you are only as good as your last game"!

Exactly thenodrog....you are only as bad as your last game...

Mark Hughes' last game was a gutless capitulation to Russia. Admittedly Russia are a good side but that does not excuse the limp and listless performance the supposeldy-patriotic Welsh side put in that night.

Can anyone actually name a possible succesor whose 'last game' wasn't rubbish?

I mean it...come on if we are to sack Souness then let's at least have a viable strategy to replace him. Other than rover6 who commendably put forward Paul Sturrock (to much derision including from myself I must say), the constanly anti-Souness brigade such as kennysuperbuyer have constantly failed to provide any kind of alternative.

If we are to sack a manager who has won us promotion and a cup I'd like a serious proposition, not just the tedious diatribe of continual whinging we usually have to put up with...

A pint for that man

You have summed up the feelings of 99.999999999% of Rovers fans in a nutshell

Edited June 5, 2004 by Blue and White Army

[The1mattjansen]

I agree with a number of your points Theno, I disagree with your comments on Dean Saunders. A number of players (I recall Duff being one of them) have come out and said his attacking coaching has helped improve their goalscoring,

Ricky that point about Duff I've made many times. I always held the opinion that if Duff ever learnt how to score then we could not hold on to him. Credit to Saunders who imo gave him the confidence necessary and taught him how to score and we did indeed make big bucks out of selling him........ however the fact remains that the current management team have had a bad season and as they say in football "you are only as good as your last game"!

Exactly thenodrog....you are only as bad as your last game...

Mark Hughes' last game was a gutless capitulation to Russia. Admittedly Russia are a good side but that does not excuse the limp and listless performance the supposeldy-patriotic Welsh side put in that night.

Can anyone actually name a possible succesor whose 'last game' wasn't rubbish?

I mean it...come on if we are to sack Souness then let's at least have a viable strategy to replace him. Other than rover6 who commendably put forward Paul Sturrock (to much derision including from myself I must say), the constanly anti-Souness brigade such as kennysuperbuyer have constantly failed to provide any kind of alternative.

If we are to sack a manager who has won us promotion and a cup I'd like a serious proposition, not just the tedious diatribe of continual whinging we usually have to put up with...

A pint fot that man

You have summed up the feelings of 99.999999999% of Rovers fans in a nutshell

here here

[Blueboy Downunder]

agree.

there are lots of people on here that are prepared to stick the knife in when things aren't going too good, but but in actual point of fact have not once come up with a viable option as to who would replace our best manager since 1995. a man who is only second to kenny dalglish in the the last 20 years (IMO), of what he has done for us.

we'll all be hearing of calls for stanleh....to be our next boss

[ABBEY]

Dickov. A typical Souness player but not the signing to encourage a surge in season ticket sales.

No positive vibes coming out of Ewood as yet but I suppose their is time.

WHY DO YOU ALWAYS POST NEGATIVE ###### ALL THE FKG TIME ....

[FourLaneBlue]

Dickov. A typical Souness  player but  not  the  signing  to  encourage  a  surge  in  season  ticket  sales.

  No  positive  vibes  coming  out  of  Ewood  as  yet  but  I  suppose  their  is  time.

WHY DO YOU ALWAYS POST NEGATIVE ###### ALL THE FKG TIME ....

Probbaly because he's a disgrace and a scumbag.

The board can do without that pillock.

[Rover_Shaun]

Dickov. A typical Souness  player but  not  the  signing  to  encourage  a  surge  in  season  ticket  sales.

  No  positive  vibes  coming  out  of  Ewood  as  yet  but  I  suppose  their  is  time.

WHY DO YOU ALWAYS POST NEGATIVE ###### ALL THE FKG TIME ....

Probbaly because he's a disgrace and a scumbag.

The board can do without that pillock.

Harsh..............but fair

[roversWASmylife]

Dickov. A typical Souness  player but  not  the  signing  to  encourage  a  surge  in  season  ticket  sales.

  No  positive  vibes  coming  out  of  Ewood  as  yet  but  I  suppose  their  is  time.

WHY DO YOU ALWAYS POST NEGATIVE ###### ALL THE FKG TIME ....

Probbaly because he's a disgrace and a scumbag.

The board can do without that pillock.

Harsh..............but fair

Sorry Kennysuperbuyer who do you propose to buy?

Put yourself in Souness`s shoes at the moment. We don’t have a huge great deal of transfer funds to spend this summer unlike other clubs. Ok, Dickov isn’t probably the ideal player that we all wanted and is hardly a household name, however Souness has bought him and personally I think its good business considering the price that the club have paid for him. Dickov`s a player who’ll give 100% every game and that’s what is expected of players.

We aren’t going to sign a big name player that will suddenly see a rise in the sales of season tickets. Simply because we don’t have £5-8Million to spend on a top quality player.

Souness has made some good and bad signings in his time, bringing in players such as Thompson, Ferguson and Stead. But I’m sure Souness will admit he’s made some bad ones too such as Grabbi etc. Dickov won’t be the best or the worst player that will be at the club, we shouldn’t be criticising anymore. We have had a bad season, let’s move on and get behind the manager and the team.

Edited June 5, 2004 by roversismylife

[bob fleming]

  No  positive  vibes  coming  out  of  Ewood  as  yet  but  I  suppose  their  is  time.

No positive vibes coming out of Kennysuperbuyer as yet - so no change there then.

[philipl]

Too many of the posts on this thread are missing the point.

I argued last summer that Souness' track record with the Rovers in different circumstances placed him at least the equal of Kenny Dalglish- I stand by that retrospective assessment.

But football, and espacially a club like Blackburn Rovers, is about the present and the future,

We spent most of the twentieth century living the glories of our achievements in a glorious decade in the nineteenth century.

Are we similarly going to spend the twentyfirst century living on the remarkable achievement and transformation of the Jack Walker decade?

More to the here and now, has Souness got what it takes to move Blackburn Rovers forwards again? Last season suggested not- dumb tactics, bad player management and repeated failure to motivate the team to beat lowly opposition (for the third season running!).

A very interesting article here on the changing demands of English Premier League Management.

On last season's performance, Souness does not measure up well to the new demands of achieving in the Premiership.

Let's face it, Rovers are defying gravity. Blackburn is not a Premier League town and the Council does not understand that Blackburn Rovers is the biggest asset the town has by far. In fact Blackburn Rovers IS Blackburn so far as 99% of the world is concerned.

That means the club has to be continually moving forwards, having a vision of how it is going to be ahead of the game- in financial and footballing strategies. We have the good fortune of being able to live off the fantastic Academy and other football infrastructure Jack built. But in footballing terms, that is all I see we are doing- living off the past.

Perhaps the Lonsdale deal is a ground breaker- well done to JW and the team for doing that.

But is Souness the man to keep the Rovers ahead of the pack in a footballing sense?

I doubt it.

[dillo_dillo]

Too many of the posts on this thread are missing the point.

I argued last summer that Souness' track record with the Rovers in different circumstances placed him at least the equal of Kenny Dalglish- I stand by that retrospective assessment.

But football, and espacially a club like Blackburn Rovers, is about the present and the future,

We spent most of the twentieth century living the glories of our achievements in a glorious decade in the nineteenth century.

Are we similarly going to spend the twentyfirst century living on the remarkable achievement and transformation of the Jack Walker decade?

More to the here and now, has Souness got what it takes to move Blackburn Rovers forwards again? Last season suggested not- dumb tactics, bad player management and repeated failure to motivate the team to beat lowly opposition (for the third season running!).

A very interesting article here on the changing demands of English Premier League Management.

On last season's performance, Souness does not measure up well to the new demands of achieving in the Premiership.

Let's face it, Rovers are defying gravity. Blackburn is not a Premier League town and the Council does not understand that Blackburn Rovers is the biggest asset the town has by far. In fact Blackburn Rovers IS Blackburn so far as 99% of the world is concerned.

That means the club has to be continually moving forwards, having a vision of how it is going to be ahead of the game- in financial and footballing strategies. We have the good fortune of being able to live off the fantastic Academy and other football infrastructure Jack built. But in footballing terms, that is all I see we are doing- living off the past.

Perhaps the Lonsdale deal is a ground breaker- well done to JW and the team for doing that.

But is Souness the man to keep the Rovers ahead of the pack in a footballing sense?

I doubt it.

Exactly right, I agree with you.

[FourLaneBlue]

Dickov. A typical Souness  player but  not  the  signing  to  encourage  a  surge  in  season  ticket  sales.

  No  positive  vibes  coming  out  of  Ewood  as  yet  but  I  suppose  their  is  time.

WHY DO YOU ALWAYS POST NEGATIVE ###### ALL THE FKG TIME ....

Probbaly because he's a disgrace and a scumbag.

The board can do without that pillock.

Sorry about the namecalling - I'd had a few when I posted that. Even though I disagree with kennysuperbuyer and have yet to see a positive comment from him I should have disagreed differently without calling names.

One thing I want to know though- why does kennysuperbuyer post continuousluy during the bad patches the team has to stir things up yet disappears from the board when we are doing well?

Edited June 6, 2004 by FourLaneBlue

[T4E]

Dickov. A typical Souness  player but  not  the  signing  to  encourage  a  surge  in  season  ticket  sales.

  No  positive  vibes  coming  out  of  Ewood  as  yet  but  I  suppose  their  is  time.

WHY DO YOU ALWAYS POST NEGATIVE ###### ALL THE FKG TIME ....

Probbaly because he's a disgrace and a scumbag.

The board can do without that pillock.

Sorry about the namecalling - I'd had a few when I posted that. Even though I disagree with kennysuperbuyer and have yet to see a positive comment from him I should have disagreed differently without calling names.

One thing I want to know though- why does kennysuperbuyer post continuousluy during the bad patches the team has to stir things up yet disappears from the board when we are doing well?

Probably for the reasons you stated at 13 minutes past midnight this morning.

[Anti Euro Smiths Fan]

why does kennysuperbuyer post continuousluy during the bad patches the team has to stir things up yet disappears from the board when we are doing well?

KSB did make a positive post on May 2nd this year, when he wrote:

The latest run of good results have gone some way in changing my opinion on Souness. He now deserves to be still in charge for next season

Edited June 6, 2004 by Anti Euro Smiths Fan

[Kiwiwannabe]

Let's face it, Rovers are defying gravity. Blackburn is not a Premier League town and the Council does not understand that Blackburn Rovers is the biggest asset the town has by far. In fact Blackburn Rovers IS Blackburn so far as 99% of the world is concerned.

That is a very good point!

There are a lot of people even in this country who don't know where Blackburn is, but they have heard of the Rovers. I have travelled a fair amount overseas and when people ask where you are from they do say, "Blackburn? Oh yes, Blackburn Rovers!". Ok, well they dont all say that, but the people who have heard of Blackburn only have done so because of our football team.

I have never told someone I'm from Blackburn and then heard, "Oh, that's the place that won joint council of the year", or, "Isn't that Jack Staw's constituency?", or, "That's where Thwaites' Bitter is from".....etc.

Outside of East Lancashire, Blackburn is Blackburn Rovers.

[RevidgeBlue]

Very good post indeed from philip l.

However I do feel that this "punching above our weight" and "defying gravity" stuff is somewhat overexaggerated.

If we had to rely solely on our gate income and merchandising receipts then yes we would have difficulty in competing. The way the place and TV money is allocated offers a unique opportunity to the smaller clubs. Gate receipts form a relatively small proportion of turnover. So if we were to finish 5th next year we would have one of the largest income outside the Champions League Clubs regardless of fan base.

Secondly to that, no other club enjoys the backing of a trust fund regardless of whether it's "only" £3m per year or a larger amount on special request.

No club has had an academy and training facilities of such quality laid on for them by a benefactor.

Is Souness the man to take us forward and capitalise on these unique advantages? Personally I agree with KSB on this one, Souness earned the right to lead us into next season courtesy of that four game rally but there must be a huge improvement this time round.

[Blueboy Downunder]

without blackburn rovers, there would be nothing to even smile about, as far as living in this town goes. BRFC is everything to this town....and makes me wonder why more so-called fans don't support them as they should, if not for the club but for the town aswell.

[Alan75]

A few years ago I read an article stating that there was a close link between the prosperity of an area and the success of its football team.

A successfull team tended to highlight a town or area and industry tend to want to associate with an area due to publicity.

This however reciprocates itself when successfull local businesses generate wealth and become associated with the town football club.

People in a town with a successfull team, tend to have a feel good factor and there are less recorded days off sick, creating a more stable ecomomic environment and more profit for the towns employers.

Maybe someone else remembers the article, and can expand further.