5 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

That said I don't get too attached to anyone since Friedel left. I always thought he would never leave us for money, then he clearly did. Turned out he was in a bit of financial trouble tbf, but since then I've known any player can leave at any time, especially for money.

Yes - if I remember correctly he'd just been made bankrupt with his US based academy going belly up. Villa then offered to double his wages to £50k a year, which in his late 30s was always going to be tough to turn down. 

11 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

Genuine question - does anyone feel any sort of emotional attachment to the players these days?

Maybe it's just me and the standard being so poor - I used to love Tugay, Emerton (for all his faults!) etc.

This lot are mostly just replaceable cloggers in my eyes - nobody to get attached to. You don't feel like you're watching anything special.

At a stretch I'd say I'm fond of Travis. 

I know what you mean - but then again I'm in my early 30s so I just put it down to getting a bit older.

Rhodes stands out since relegation. Dack too I suppose.

One thing I would say is that I haven't actively disliked any of our players for a while, which wasn't always the case a few years ago! Much easier to develop emotional attachment to cloggers like Smallwood and Bennett compared to the likes of Orr or Murphy.

50 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

I'd give that honour, comfortably, to Lenihan.

Bang average Championship CB on his best day. Earned the captain's armband due to seniority rather than on merit.

Game of opinions, but I disagree completely. I think he's going to be the biggest loss actually.

I would've agreed earlier in his career, but I thought he was very strong last season. Actually for the last couple of seasons, there's a massive difference between our win % with and without Lenihan in the team. 

2 minutes ago, andyroversmad said:

When you see djed spence play right back for Forest last season you can see that Nyambe isn't as great as some are making out. 

I really wish he was staying because it's yet another first team player that we'll now need to go out and replace. Having said that, he's comfortably the most replaceable out of the three that have left this season. 

On 14/06/2022 at 18:38, SuperBrfc said:

I was a fan of Jeff Kenna. Solid, reliable right back and a part of the good times.

Watching old season reviews and highlights remind me of how good Steven Reid was. I think he was underrated at the time. However, it's fair to say his injury issues held him back quite a bit. Aside from that rocket at Wigan, I loved his strong running through the middle of the pitch and his long passing was good too. His goal away at Sunderland in April/May 2006 stands out for me due to the bursting run.

Finally, the main man. Duffer. What a player. He could twist any defender inside out and was truly world class around about the 2002 World Cup time. Happy to have seen such quality and the fact that his last season was his best in a Rovers shirt in '02/03.

Agree completely about Reidy. People always remember the Hughes midfield as Savage & Tugay because of how well they complemented each other, but it says a lot about how good Reid's all round game was that he could play alongside them both and do just as well. One of the best genuine box-to-box midfielders we've had since the title win, albeit too briefly before the injuries took their toll. 

4 minutes ago, Danny O.Brien said:

I think it's like 20% sell on of any profit. I'm trying to remember back to when we signed him. Meaning if we got 20 that's 13 profit, so they would get 2.6 if my maths is right.

Would still mean that we got over twice our money back from the initial outlay I suppose (assuming the £7 million figure is broadly right) but it's a large enough slice to be annoying. 

Apart from the obvious - one thing that we have been absolutely appalling at over recent years is knowing how to be a trading club at this level. We've consistently managed to identify or develop players into proper assets, only then to squander their value by selling them for less than their value, or waiting until the last moment with their contracts running out. Compare that to Brentford and their success - night and day.

If Brereton won't sign a new contract without us smashing our wage structure to pieces, then we don't even have a decision to make. We need to let him go to the highest bidder. 

The World Cup break bookended by Burnley away and PNE at home. Potential for a brilliant or utterly depressing few weeks!

1 hour ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Yeah but we had the “ added degree of difficulty “ that was the Chicken Chokers and Kean.

True enough, I don't really expect them to carry on a downward spiral like we did. 

I do think that their squad has some similar issues though. Collectively we had at least Murphy, Etuhu, Olsson, MGP, Dunny, Dann and maybe one or two more who were all comfortably mid-table standard players in the Prem only a year or two previously.

A combination of age, attitude and the club being a total basket case meant that they weren't able to show their quality. Burnley aren't in such a poor state as we were, but it still remains to be seen how well their more experienced players deal with going down, as it usually goes one of two ways. 

5 hours ago, longsiders1882 said:

Amen to this, except where we do the double. Not sure it will be a shock though, Taylor, Roberts, Collins, Brownhill, Rodriguez and Barnes all played in the Championship. Methinks you’ve forgotten how tough the Premier League is as well.

 

I think you're right - but then again our team was full of players with a good top-flight pedigree when we were relegated and they absolutely bombed. Some of them were perceived as good senior pros too, with experience of how tough the Championship can be. 

I'm not saying the same will happen to your lads this year, but we suffered badly from players approaching or past 30 who lacked either the desire or the physical capacity to compete at the levels they were once capable of.  I'm looking at some of the players that you mention, and thinking too about the likes of Westwood, Cork, Gudmundsson and one or two others. It's going to be a big mental and physical challenge for them to get up for a demanding season at this point in their careers.

With the unknown quantity of the new manager to factor in too, you could literally finish literally in any position from top to just above the relegation spots and it wouldn't shock me (I can't see you actually going down though, too much quality for that). 

2 hours ago, 47er said:

We know about Harwood-Bellis! Good move (sadly)!

He's a good player with massive potential. Not sure he's quite at the level for a promotion chasing team just yet though, especially considering they're losing Mee, Tarkowski and seemingly now Collins too. 

10 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

If you’re looking at it like that Bryan Douglas “ couldn’t run “ either. There’s  the players who are quick over ten yards like Dougie, and that’s all he needed. The ball would be gone or he’d just beat the next man. Then there are those who are fast over forty to fifty yards like Donis. There aren’t many who could both , Craig Bellamy is probably one of a few that springs to mind.

I think that's right. The trouble for Dolan is that the players who are both very small & lack serious pace usually need to make up for that with serious ability. 

He has quick feet and all the time in the world to develop - I definitely wouldn't be looking to sell unless we get a silly offer - but he still has some way to go to be able to properly compensate for his lack of size for me. Having said that I'm looking forward to seeing how he goes under JDT. 

16 minutes ago, Mike E said:

I don't think it's something to overcome. It's an asset, just like it was for Dickov (whom I envision Dolan emulating).

Fast, less of him for the 6ft+ defenders to grab, and easy to draw fouls when they do eventually send him flying.

If we can add a nasty streak to his chasing, he's Dickov.

If we can add goals, he's Jermaine Defoe.

I half agree - a low centre of gravity is useful to be sure. At the moment though, his lack of size is a definite weakness in my view. He loses the ball far too easily and his size (alongside being not particularly quick after the first 10 yards or so) is the main reason for that.

Dickov's a good example of a small player who ended up thriving after making the most of their stature - I'd back Dolan to be another at some point in the future, but it's the main thing that he needs to work on if he is ever to get near his potential. 

I often need to remind myself how young Dolan still is. He'll probably have racked up around 100 first team appearances around the time of his 21st birthday.

I worry long term about how difficult he'll find it to overcome his lack of size, but he still has big potential. I'd be much happier if this story is his agent after a new contract rather than us selling him for £2-3 million. 

14 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

Burnley still have a good core of players that will either be really good at this level or be sold for big money. Pope, Weghorst and Cornet surely will leave but the likes of Collins, Taylor, Brownhill, Rodriguez, Vydra, Roberts, Lowton, Gudmundson etc are a good core. @chaddyrovers you question Kompanys knowledge of the league, im guessing that Tomasson has the same question marks.

 

Big challenge for a decent number in Burnley's squad will be whether they can stay fit and hungry in a Championship season. Quite a few in their 30s now and have struggled to play much more than 20 games a season, despite only playing once a week and never doing anything in the cups.

If they crack that side of things then they could obviously do well and bounce straight back, but I get the feeling the relegation has come at a bad time in a lot of their careers.

What an absolutely ridiculous final session. Amazing hitting. 

3 minutes ago, neophox said:

Hugo Vetlesen is a young midfelder at Bodö/Glimt worth a watch..... scored the winner against Roma in an 2-1 win in april.

Not sure how the rules work, but he's yet to make his international debut if you don't count the U21s. Might make a work permit tricky. 

On 29/05/2022 at 09:40, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I’d like to see that last try again. It looked like the scorer may have been off side to me. Great pass to the kicker though to open the field up.

The angle from this shows it pretty well. Onside. 

Great pass from Leuluai to set it up, like you say. 

21 minutes ago, LeftWinger said:

Wasn't David Bentley the first English man to score at the new Wembley - playing for England U21's?

He was indeed - it was a banger too

Derbyshire scored in the same game

Nobody expects a full day's entertainment to be £20/£30, but the price of test match cricket is a complete scandal.

I understand there's always going to be an element of cashing in on those events which can bring in the most cash, but that sort of cost is going to prohibit a huge percentage of existing cricket fans from going, let alone the sort of casual fans you need to convert if you're serious about growing the game. 

They'll probably just blame the empty seats on the Jubilee and the side's poor form though. 

14 minutes ago, Gav said:

I don't think Farke record is an improvement on Mowbrays to be honest, but he is a better option than most of the dross being touted around.

Appointing Carvalhal would have shown a club with serious intent, Farke shows a club with everything crossed he can pull rabbits out of hats and he's the cheaper option, should he sign. 

Same old sh1t, different managerial appointment, but I hope I'm wrong of course...

 

As someone who sees Mowbray's virtues more than most, that is top trolling. 

10 minutes ago, JHRover said:

Interesting we are now getting people saying that Carvalhal wasn't the right man for us because he's seemingly taking a well paid job in the UAE. Talk about him being a mercenary only motivated by money.

Farke was the manager of Krasnodar in Russia earlier this year....is that much different?

A good point - I'd say there's a potential difference in that Carvahal had options (including staying in Portugal). 

Perhaps Farke just hated the idea of being out of work, even if his reputation could've got him a better job. Certainly might explain why he's interested in the Rovers job!

1 minute ago, TimmyJimmy said:

@glen9mullan, @Tricky, the answer is standards. Fairness and a level playing field for all has to be the basis of any sporting competition otherwise what's the point.

Just imagine for a moment that Wagner was in bed with some heavyweight gambling syndicate and received mega bucks to get Rovers relegated, would that be acceptable behaviour?  Could you distinguish between those two outcomes, no so they amount to the same thing in my book.

The authorities should have been all over it to ensure fairness in every game but as usual, like the Venky's buy out, they did diddly squat.

I love Rovers for many reasons but one of the most important is that I believe we are an honest and fair Lancastrian family oriented  club who've played with a straight bat since we created the football league. Until Venky's took over I've known most of the people who've owned the club and they've all been decent and would never countenance such behaviour, whatever the circumstances or cost.

Many will feel I'm a dinosaur whose day is past but that's how I feel, win fairly or what's the point. Wagner should be nowhere near our club.

You can distinguish between them though. One involves still wanting (albeit at a much lower priority) to win the game using players that were signed because they thought they could do well for the club. The other scenario is deliberately losing to undermine the fairness of the competition. 

Teams get relegated all the time because their competitors are playing teams that are already on the beach. 

3 minutes ago, tomphil said:

We nearly had that last season and it was entertaining in a dramatic all hands to the pump kind of way.

Tired of saying it but these who crave great football need to step up and show us a non Prem/Parachute influenced squad who've 'footballed' their way out of this league.

Styles make fights as they say in boxing, in football we need a style that fits the squad, division, club image and ultimate objective. We had it for half of last season, you can stick possession and fancy interchanges where the sun don't shine.

 

The last ones that comes to mind were Blackpool/Swansea and latterly Huddersfield, but all of these were via the play offs, which proves your point really.