25 minutes ago, Bbrovers2288 said:

He might well do, but it also might just be his style ala allardyce , I think it’s too big a risk to find out. As Iv said before this appointment might well be the biggest in the clubs history , it’s a real make or break moment , get it wrong and the fans will just never return and we will slowly tumble down the leagues , we need some kind of name to get fans returning. Ainsworth just isn’t it for me 

I agree that it's a big risk. Equally, I don't know what else he could have possibly done at a club of that size to show that he deserves a shot at something bigger and better. 

53 minutes ago, riverholmes said:

I must credit Mowbray on persevering with Buckley. He's probably mismanaged him by moving him around to unfamiliar and, frankly, unsuitable positions, including false 9 and right back but he kept picking him, at least. I believe Mowbray brought Zoltan Gera and Robert Koren into English football, whilst at WBA, and, even though Mowbray, to my mind, has lost his way in keeping up with the tactical evolution in the game, he's at least doggedly stuck by the principle of fielding technically gifted midfielders (if not always in midfield).

The Buckley wonder strike against Birmingham indicated to me just what he's capable of, if he works with the right coaches and, also, develops mentally himself. He beat a man, spread play, across the pitch and then got the return and hit a sweet strike to score.

I feel that sometimes his game is about style over substance, and, just sometimes, the style and the substance are matched, such as in the goal which, it seems, he hit with the outside of his boot, or, at least, not conventionally. I don't mind style, at all, and Buckley has a unique, effortless style on the ball but if he could match that with regular outcomes, he could be a really top player.

I liked the way that he started the move almost as much as the goal itself. Receiving the ball facing his own goal under pressure. Four seconds later he's turned, beat a defender like he wasn't there and pinged a 40 yard pass to a man in space. Lovely.

He still has games where he goes missing, but his development in the last twelve months has been wonderful. If he carries on as he is then he'll be some player. 

3 minutes ago, Miller11 said:

No he wasn’t. He was on the bench for each and every one.

If we're talking about the games at the start of 18/19, he wasn't. He was injured for the Fulham game and didn't make the bench - even though we had some kids there to make up the numbers. Not sure if he was back straight away after that one, but I'm pretty sure I remember Mowbray talking about not risking his hamstrings too soon.

Obviously that doesn't account for the full run, but fitness was an issue. 

36 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Nyambe is the best right back at the club, and although he's not one of the very best in this league or indeed capable of the league above at this stage, he is a very solid full back option at this level, 100%. He has been Mowbray's first choice for the majority of every season under Mowbray which doesn't really fall in line with being treated so badly.

And it's not about "falling for his patter," you seem to have fallen into the trap of being so keen (understandably) to see Mowbray go that every single thing can be turned into a criticism of him.

Like I said, there have been a few very short-lived spells that Nyambe has not played, some of which I disagree with. The longest was around 10 games at the start of our second season up, maybe less, was due to Mowbray wanting to stick his (useless) captain in wherever he could. There has been the occasional other game where Rankin Costello has played a game or 2, and also the odd rest that he's given Nyambe which clearly isnt something that you can stomach. I can't question the team that won 4-1 at Preston nor selecting the exact same one again the week after.

Nyambe was injured for some of those games too. 

3 minutes ago, Mercer said:

Dyche's record and cv are far more impressive than Farke's.  Dyche has shown he can keep a team on limited resources in the PL - Farke failed in this respect at Norwich.  Dyche v Farke would be a no brainer for 99% of Rovers' fans.

I think Mrs D will wake up tomorrow morning and probably recall why she has put an alarm on her phone for Friday AM UK time!   

To be fair, Dyche was relegated first time round. Farke probably would've got Norwich relegated this season, but wasn't given the opportunity. Their records at getting teams promoted, our immediate concern, are very similar so it definitely wouldn't be a no brainer. 

Agree that his Burnley connections are irrelevant though. If anything the fact that it'd wind them up just adds to the appeal. 

15 minutes ago, Mellor Rover said:

Personally, I don't rate Nyambe, but it's additional funds in the budget if he does stay, as we'd only need one right back instead of two.

I've already said that I think he's the most replaceable of the three OOC, but him staying will still be a big boost. 

I'm convinced that he'll never be the ideal wingback if that's what the new manager opts for, but if we play him just as a normal right back then he's as good as most in this league. 

I'm not against the logic of targeting a manager with a track record of working with and improving young players. But surely if that's a thing which we're really prioritising, that's all the more reason to throw everything we can at getting Farke in.

So much of Norwich's success has been working with & improving youngsters, whilst at the same time racking up the wins. Someone should dig out the stories linking Max Aarons with a £50 million move to Barcelona a few years ago and show Venkys. That should do the trick.

1 minute ago, Miller11 said:

I think Bell got a really rough ride here. He wasn’t great but I didn’t think he was anywhere near as bad as he was made out to be.

Granted he did have the occasional horror show, but which defender during that time didn’t. It got to the point where he’d have to be flawless to get a 6/10 in most peoples eyes, and exceptional to get a 7.

He’s probably kicked on, but there’s probably a bit of “you don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone” too. Same with Raya. I expect it will be the same with some of the others too, particularly Nyambe.

He certainly improved over his time here. Defensively he grew to be fairly reliable by the end, which he certainly wasn't to begin with, but his final ball was still appalling. He'll get much more protection the way that Luton way I suppose, so that might have something to do with it.

34 minutes ago, RoversClitheroe said:

Do you not remember how awful he was when he played for us? League 1 standard Winger for me 

He was very good indeed against Sheffield United, but other than that I agree. Plus there's the fact that he's recovering from a serious injury to consider.

I wouldn't be dead against it if he came here for buttons as a squaddie on loan - there is some ability there - but I'd hope there would be much better options for us out there. 

9 minutes ago, oldjamfan1 said:

Super Ally did quite well at Rangers, I always thought. Albeit in extremely strange circumstances.

A bit unlucky that he got Rangers in the second tier at the same time as very decent Hearts and Hibs teams. Anything less than marching through the leagues was obviously going to be unacceptable for a club as big as Rangers, but they were still slightly unfair expectations given the scale of the rebuild that needed to be done there. 

23 minutes ago, Bbrovers2288 said:

As I said I’m not advocating for di matteo but mowbray was also on the football scrap head when he came here. I’m not really one for ainsworth either, I can’t put my finger on it but it just screams failure to me , I think it’s the fact that past players, connections to clubs just never seem to do well, it’s like everyone wants it to work and maybe try too hard but it rarely comes off. Off the top of my head

shearer- newcastle 

solskjaer- Man Utd 

mcoist- rangers 

berg- here 

I think it's more a case of most managerial appointments eventually end in failure anyway. It's just that we remember them more when there's the story of them being a club legend. Add in the fact that the appointment is more likely to be an emotional one rather than being hard headed in appointing the most impressive candidate, it's not surprising that most end up finishing in tears. 

Having said that I think Ainsworth's record is seriously impressive for a club so small, so deserves a chance at a bigger one. I'd see it as too big a risk personally, but there's a logic to it which wouldn't be there for 95% of other candidates who happen to have a Rovers connection. 

6 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I’d have wrung his neck if I’d have been Jack. Same goes for Kiddo, he signed some shite as well. Larry Grayson and that Per Frandsen. Show pony. I saw Grayson playing right back once and he had about 6 attempts to pass the ball up the line, a basic skill for a decent full back, every one went into touch ! Useless.

Everyone's rightly talking about how Everton could possibly end up going down after spending hundreds upon hundreds of millions on their squad. We'd be giving them a good run for their money in the late 90s.

Irony is we get associated with being money-bags Rovers because of our success until '95 - but actually we we were pretty sensible next to our reputation. Blow outs on Shearer and Sutton, but most of the title winning side cost a few hundred grand or less.

It was the late 90s - after Jack initially tried to rein in the spending - when we really started throwing the cash at everyone. 

10 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

That was Roy Boy, he hadn’t got a clue. The only good signing he made was Henchoz, the rest were bobbins. He paid £5.25 million for Christian Bloody Dailly ! What would that be today ?

Eye watering. Didn't help that Kidd was almost as profligate with some of his signings, although as an exception Jansen obviously ended being amazing after Souness got hold of him.

I could be wrong, but I think we paid more for Dailly than Chelsea did for Desailly around the same time! Criminally wasteful. 

5 minutes ago, Bbrovers2288 said:

I wouldn’t want cocu, most of the names linked would be a disappointment other than farke but he did do well with psv and derby were on the slide well before he came in, I wouldn’t 100% go on that spell. It’s not a coyle appointment for me 

Must admit I didn't realise that his spell at PSV was as successful as it was.

Sadly, his spell at Derby is far more likely to be an indicator of what can expect if he gets the Rovers job. Also whilst he didn't have a decent budget at Derby, he still massively underperformed with a better group of players than Rooney has worked with. Possibly better than Coyle, but still completely senseless if the likes of Farke are genuinely interested. 

2 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Yes, he has got better, but that was until very recently in a back 5 were there’s less temptation to be drawn out.

That's a fair point. I don't think he's looked too different when played in a four this season either, which he was for the first months of the season and from time-to-time since, but I accept that's a pretty small sample. 

4 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Sometimes he goes in for challenges when he shouldn’t. He gets carried away with natural enthusiasm. He leaves the guy he’s marking to fire fight, does quite make the challenge and his guy is left un marked. He should have learnt years ago  “ do your job and let the other players do theirs ”.

I think that's right, but it's much less a feature of his game than it used to be. He seems much more disciplined in his decision making now than he was even 1-2 years ago. I think the penny might've dropped a little earlier had he been paired with a wiser head in defence earlier in his career. I know Mulgrew was experienced but he was never really a defensive leader in that sense. 

13 hours ago, riverholmes said:

Definitely, agree about Beattie. Forgot about him and what a deal that was for Southampton to sell Davies and get Beattie as part exchange, albeit, the former did eventually prove his worth in the Prem. A shame Beattie didn't make it at Rovers.

 

I still occasionally get angry about that deal, up there with the worst in our history. Arguably the worst.

£7.5 million was a lot of money for a player in 1998. How much in today's world? Around £50 million perhaps? To not only pay that sort of money, but to also throw in a future England international & Rovers fan into the bargain in exchange for Kevin bloody Davies. Dreadful. 

15 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

I reckon like Shane Duffy Lenihan is a better player than people give him credit for. Out of the trio who are leaving (Lenihan, Nymabe, Rothwell) Lenihan is the one who will get a modest Prem career in my opinion.

Agree with this. He seems to be sensing danger and reading the game much better this season - I always thought he was one of those defenders who look the part when going in for challenges, but they often only need to do that to make up for lapses in concentration.

Nyambe and Rothwell both have important aspects to their game which will be hard to replace, but Lenihan is the best player of the three by a decent margin for me. 

1 hour ago, patrickvalery said:

I'm not looking for a kind response. Couldn't give a toss either way to be honest. I just struggle to understand how anyone can hold Mowbray to account with what he has been working with. Not saying the tailspin in form was acceptable but personally I think there are logical reasons for it to some degree. 

The way I see it the club is at fault for most of our issues rather than TM. And now he's off we're left in their hands once again. In my opinion that's the elephant in the room. This is the litmus test. Have the club and the owners learned any lessons? I have my doubts. So maybe all TM ever did was paper over the cracks. But ignorance is bliss and I'm not looking forward to the next chapter because I suspect it'll be a shit show. 

I definitely worry that whoever replaces Mowbray could be worse. There were things to like about Mowbray and, whilst some on here won't agree, I wouldn't see there being any danger of us going down in the medium-term with him in charge.

The man thing I disagree with though is the highlighted bit. I think there are logical reasons why any manager might find Rovers a tough gig at present, but it's really hard to come up with any logical explanations about why we (and crucially, Mowbray's other clubs) go on these horrible runs of form every Christmas. It's such a specific pattern which has been replicated over multiple seasons with multiple groups of players, and as we've seen is enough to completely undermine a promotion bid. 

I'd be happy to say there's been progress of sorts under Mowbray, but these runs of form will always put a ceiling on our ambitions so long as they continue. That's why he needs replacing, but I accept that we could easily get this wrong like we did with Coyle and suddenly Mowbray wouldn't seem so terrible. 

Just now, glen9mullan said:

Not surprised Farke being backed in, heard on 19th March that he was very much in the frame, just hope they don't cock it up, as there is a genuine desire to get it done from both sides

Pleasantly surprising. I won't get my hopes up too much until I see him holding a Rovers scarf above his head though.

I know that sacked managers often can't be too picky about their next move - even Dyche is vanishingly unlikely to get another prem job - but I'd have thought there would be a bit of a queue for Farke. Hopefully the sign that he's interested is an indicator that we're willing to back whoever takes over. 

Just now, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Mm, would we be interested if he wasn’t an ex Rover ?

Probably not, so that worries me a bit. That said, there are a growing number of examples of the 'apprentices' of certain coaches getting gigs elsewhere and doing well. Wagner and Critchley have both worked under Klopp. Arteta and Vieira under Guardiola. The guy at Huddersfield under Bielsa.

Wouldn't be my first choice, but there's a logic to it. 

6 minutes ago, RoversClitheroe said:

Kamy reckons one of the people we are looking at is Jason Wilcox.

Not sure what to think about that. On the one hand obviously a very highly rated coach for City to give him that role. Perhaps not too similar to Neil Critchley before he went to Blackpool. His CV couldn't be more different to the likes of Ainsworth in terms of their different strengths and weaknesses, at least on paper.

Obviously a massive risk though. I'd have him in front of plenty of the names you can get decent odds for, but if we can get Farke with two recent promotions to his name, Wilcox shouldn't be getting in the conversation for me.

56 minutes ago, Ossydave said:

Farke now the bookies favourite on sky, its probably on the back of what Nixon said though, only takes a couple of bets to sway a small market like this.

Yeah, nothing much to be gained from those sorts of markets until the odds are frightening small or they stop taking bets. 

Farke would be brilliant though, even if I'm not convinced just yet that his/our interest is serious. 

39 minutes ago, Miller11 said:

A few stats from this season…

When Nyambe is on the pitch we concede a goal on average every 109 minutes.

When Nyambe is off the pitch we concede a goal on average every 60 minutes.

 

Goals conceded with Nyambe - 23*

Goals conceded without Nyambe - 26

Nyambe has played 62% of total minutes this season

*This includes 7 in one game against Fulham

 

In the 21 games where Nyambe has played the full 90 minutes we have taken 38 points.

In the other 24 games we have taken 28 points.

 

Clean sheets with Nyambe - 11

Clean sheets without Nyambe - 1

 

Borderline premier league quality at defending, no question. 

14 hours ago, simongarnerisgod said:

nyambe should be an absolute machine down the right,if tony had ever bothered with wide players in their right place he could have had nyambe bombing down the wing on the overlap,with his running power we`de have had a right weapon,he never got the best out of ryans attributes

Think Nyambe has to take his share of responsibility for this too. He's not that young anymore, has been played as a wingback with licence to get forward this season, and his attacking output has been appalling. 

Don't get me wrong, I'd be happy if he did a 180 degree turn and signed a new deal, but Nyambe's been given every chance to contribute going forward and hasn't taken it. His performance against Stoke justified him being dropped for me, and it speaks volumes that Lenihan as make shift fullback put in better deliveries than Nyambe has managed in all his time here.