He probably doesn’t count because he wasn’t spotted on Pleasy ?

I don’t think there’s any doubt that our scouting network was decimated during the Kean era. But ultimately we have / are developing some very good players from the academy into the first team. You don’t get extra points for getting them at 8yrs old do you? Also - Must spend half my social life with people currently and previously in professional football....never ever heard one of them say they’re in ‘elite football’...awksy

It was a joke mate. Lighten up!! ??‍♂️ (The bit where I asked who JA was)

You’re completely missing the whole point mate. The POINT of this whole process is to fire out first team players from our academy. You claiming that we aren’t picking them up at 8 or 9 is at best a guess and at worst semantics. BUT either way, you can’t say that a club who’ve churned those I mentioned out in the last 3 seasons have a shit academy system. Two of our key players came out of our academy - Travis and Lenihan. Stop worrying about 8 and 9 year olds. If any of those kids rip it up at Burnley or North End we’ll just take our pick later on. Focus on the actual goal mate. Keep it simple.

Nyambe, Lenihan and Travis currently in the first XI pal....? Raya sold for £3m and Nuttall £1m in the summer. U23 coach brought into the first team fold after huge success to get Buckley, JRC, Butterworth and Magloire In over the next 12 months...With PLENTY backing them up. Defo shit mate ??

No pal, JRC got injured and has since struggled to get back into the same place. But you know that already surely? Being a Rovers fan. So based on that, prob best if you bore someone else ???

Who’s JA? ??‍♂️?

Good post. I’d defo play DG too

100%...what on earth does the current crop of scouts in Portugal have to do with the time JA levered Portugese no marks into Rovers for his own personal gain?

Yup, but the £100k+ a week prob makes a difference. Plus an 8 figure agent fee for getting it done ?

Ehhhh? Abysmal? Iv never seen a flying right winger track back as much in my life? The difference between him and Rothwell over 90 minutes is proof enough.

I know why they talk about it. It’s because they don’t want to piss the lads off who’ve done well. If you put yourself in the players shoes and think that by playing well the club will smell blood around promotion and simply replace you then where’s your incentive to play well? But if the club provides ‘additional quality’ and ‘depth’ then essentially they are helping you to achieve your personal and the teams collective goal. It’s pure psychology. For what it’s worth, I agree with you. January signings should, in the main be to make an immediate boost / impact to the team and results. If we hit Jan 1st in 3rd place and unveiled Ruddy, Cooper, Friend and a loan move for Brewster then I would put decent money on us finishing in the top 6. Those players would bring immediate benefit. What I think is more likely is a push on outgoings, perm and loans for Samuel, Hart, Smallwood, Gladwin, Chapman and Davenport. Then a couple of signings, possible foreign (though I think Friend has to be in their mind) before one last attempt at a forward on loan. The stars of the U23’s May be allowed to move on dependant on what positions we recruit in I’d guess.

Argh...that’s so out of context. Buckley is the chosen one. But yes, JRC was the big mover by the end of the summer because he’d gone from long term injury to potential first team in such a short space of time. TM and Jonty were pleasantly surprised. He’d travelled the furthest at that point...from obscurity to forefront

It genuinely 100% did not matter me. A bit like winning the sherpavan trophy back in the day. Complete irrelevance in the context of our illustrious history. The ONLY thing I wanted was to get out of that league. My main curiosity is why you believe that everyone else desperately wanted to win the third tier league? Since when did that matter?

❤️

We did try to win!! We just didn’t manage it. ?

Good post. I think they’ll keep Buckley in the 23’s with JRC and Buckley. I also think they’ll keep Brereton for the run in as cover for that forward position. An injury to DG or SG puts him immediately into game time. Hart, Davenport, Chapman, Smallwood and Samuel are prime to go out. First team players with no real potential of playing. After that, Fisher might leave if we sign a keeper. I didn’t even include Gladwin

Yes, hopefully we make some solid additions experienced keeper, Cooper and George Friend please. Not to labour the point but our Chief Exec specifically refers to Buckley aswell. ?

I haven’t seen anything you haven’t. I’m just aware of the fact that he is the one they rate (which is shown by his constant inclusion with the first team). More importantly though. If I knew absolutely nothing, I would never slaughter a young player based on an accumulation of about 40 mins of football? 15mins of which (vs Sheffield Weds) a few posters on here attributed his introduction as the ‘turning point’ in the game!

Never. I specifically called out Buckley at the same time as I spoke about the introduction of Jonty and the technology. Buckley was a surprise to me too at the time as everything had been about Magloire before. At the time I also mentioned Butterworth and JRC as being around the squad but Buckley is ‘the one’ in their eyes.

Mate, you’re arguing about this in December 2019 whilst we stand a point off the top 6 and 2pts off third and they’re struggling week in week out to stay in the league. After we finished above them last season. This is the very epitome of nit picking and tbh that’s being kind to you. Crap argument, just let it go ?

Agreed.

I think you (and a few others) are being very harsh Joe. No one has seen enough of Buckley to make that type of judgement. The “wow” was because I cannot believe how quickly our supporters are to write off their own. I rarely see that level of criticism for academy stars at other clubs. I said in the summer exactly what the club thought of Buckley. That has stood up as he is the only one close to breaking through in spite of chatter around Magloire, JRC and Butterworth etc... The club 100% see Buckley as the next big thing. He hasn’t got into his stride yet but they believe he will. At 19 or whatever I’m willing to give him another year or two and trust the professionals before I write the poor lads career off ??

Holtby hasn’t got Rothwell’s pace but his quality effects games much more often. Personally, I think Rothwell is better coming on for the last 20 mins if we want to counter or disrupt the flow of our opponents. He’d get one more chance for me and then I’d be looking to give Holtby a decent run. Downing and Holtby on the left would provide some real quality.

Me too. Hate Wigan, Cook and Morsy. I love Rothwell but he’s skating on thin ice at the moment in terms of hanging onto his place in the first XI. Especially with a quality player like Holtby behind him.