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Thread: Ronan curtis

  1. #1
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    Mar 2013
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    Ronan curtis

    Very strong links to the Portsmouth winger.
    One stumbling block will be the price.
    They are asking for 2.5 million and I am pretty sure the well is dry.
    I happen to think he would be a great fit for us and being around the Irish set up,will already know a few of the boys here.

  2. #2
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    I hope we get a winger. I think we need one, as I am really unsure on Chapman. I am not convinced the manager is.
    And I find it so frustrating that Gallagher keeps getting dumped out there, it's not fair on the lad.
    But this is too big of a fee.
    We need to start finding players who are Championship ready now, not potential who may or may not develop in 2-3 seasons. I feel we have an £8M a year academy who should be rolling these players out. And quite a few of our signings, are buying future potential.
    I keep going back to Brentford, and what they are doing as a club. They don't believe there is any potential in the under 23's. They play their reserve team matches in a leagye where they play other men.
    Under 23's is young boys, playing other young lads. It isn't getting good enough results.
    We paid £300k for Bell. While he is no world beater, he is still better than anything we have created. I feel we can find the likes of Lenihan, Nyambe and Travis quite easily, for much less than running an academy for £8m a year. All 3 of those, would not have cost us £8m. And they are the only ones coming through.
    Brentford sold Maupay last season, and brought through the next lad, nobody had ever heard of. He is now top scorer in the Champ.
    If we had sold Dack last summer, and had to replace him from someone from our own Under23's, we would probably be sat in the bottom 3 now staring at relegation.
    What Brentford are doing as a club, is brave and refreshing. But it doesn't fall into this modern academy pathway. It gets positive results, season on season, and they are clearly heading in the right direction. Without spending stupid money they don't have.
    Because of the long list of bad signings in the last few years, sadly we are not in a position to spend anything now. We just have to sit and see if a few of these lads we have spent over £12m on actually come good at some point. If we keep throwing good money away, then we risk our future even more. Racking this huge debt up with Venkys is going to come back and bite us so hard one day. I feel it will be goodbye Blackburn Rovers personally.

    he may have to use what he has, and utilise the £8m a year academy.

  3. #3
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    Champs - I feel it might actually be sensible if we don't sign anyone at all.
    The trouble is, a lot of fans will still consider a mid-table spot as failure, so Mowbray will probably have to be seen to doing something in the transfer-market.
    My take, however, is that if the owners aren't too impatient, we should just go ahead and see what we can do with our current resources.
    As you say, Lenihan, Travis and Nyambe have come through our own ranks. I don't really think we're going to recruit a couple of new players in the next fortnight who will take us soaring up the table, so why not see if a few more of our U-23s can make it, in the same way those three have?
    Buckley, Butterworth, Rankin-Costello and Magloire are the obvious ones, and if the last three of those had not been injured, I think they might already have featured.
    Then we have Wharton, Grayson, Fisher and a few others, one more step behind.
    I think Brereton does need to go out on loan, because he is not going to regain confidence with us. I imagine Smallwood and Mulgrew will probably move on. (Samuel?)
    Beyond them, let's just keep what we have, and see if we can shape the basis of a team that will have more realistic prospects of a top-six finish next season - with a couple of summer additions. (I still don't completely discount it for the present campaign, actually, because this Division is so even, but I just don't think we finish enough of our chances - especially with Dack missing).

    I totally accept that there is a major stumbling-block to my argument there: the majority of Rovers supporters would become apoplectic at the suggestion that we just use the next four months as an experiment!

    Seriously, though, how often does the January window produce bargain gems? Even PL loanees don't have a brilliant record.
    As it stands, and assuming the departures I mentioned (plus Dack), we can call upon the following (several of whom can play in more than one position);
    GK - Walton, Leutwiler, Fisher
    RB - Nyambe, Bennett, R.-C.
    CB - Lenihan, Tosin, Williams, (Magloire, Wharton, Grayson)
    LB - Bell, Williams, Downing, Hart
    RM/RW - Chapman, Rothwell, Bennett, Armstrong
    LM/LW - Downing, R.-C. Rothwell, Armstrong, Holtby
    DCM - Travis, Evans, Johnson, Davenport, Downing
    ACM - Holtby, Buckley, Rothwell, Downing
    No.10 - Armstrong, Holtby, Samuel, Rothwell, Butterworth
    No.9 - Graham, Gallagher, Armstrong, Samuel, Butterworth.

    I know a lot of people would prefer to see more specialists and fewer utility players, but I've had a good look into this, and it is a total myth to say that Mowbray is the only Championship manager playing people "out of position". There are lots of complaints about the same thing on almost every fan-website for the other Championship clubs!

    We have been seriously affected by injuries, but I think there is easily enough quality in our squad to maintain more or less our current position.
    Is that an acceptable line to take, though? I don't think it is, where most supporters are concerned.
    Last edited by AucklandRover; 16-01-2020 at 02:08 AM.

  4. #4
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    On the subject of signings, I've just looked at the BBC football site.
    As far as I can see, only seven players have moved to Championship clubs in this window so far - all of them loans or "frees".
    At this rate, things are going to get very hectic in the last few days of January!
    It would make more sense to have only the final week of the month as the transfer-window!

  5. #5
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    Maliorgie was taken off by Rochdale vrs Newcastle the other week, after half an hour. He was getting the run around. It was uncomfortable viewing. Another who most likely wont progress sadly.

    I disagree, I think we need to freshen things up. It's all too nice and friendly. Lots of older players treading water, young lads not getting any better. The likes of Mulgrew & Smallwood etc etc need to leave. I don't blame them for not wanting to. They get very well paid. Bone of them are being pushed. We aren't improving. And we are paying guys lots of money to not play football. No real prospects that are exciting are coming through. And the manager hasn't got a clue how to blood them anyway. Everyone is in easy street. The last time we won a game was ages ago. Be nice to start there.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by AucklandRover View Post
    On the subject of signings, I've just looked at the BBC football site.
    As far as I can see, only seven players have moved to Championship clubs in this window so far - all of them loans or "frees".
    At this rate, things are going to get very hectic in the last few days of January!
    It would make more sense to have only the final week of the month as the transfer-window!

    Swansea just managed to get 2 fantastic forwards in on loan, Gallagher from Chelsea and Brewster from Liverpool.
    Maybe BOTH will not push them on, but I bet one will.
    We desperately need some fresh blood in this squad. And someone to put the ball in the net. Not the guy who only touches the ball 9 times in a game, but someone who actually contributes and gets the odd goal. Of all our many forwards, e have nobody who can do that. Either one of those lads who went to Swansea, would have been a good shout.
    But then, Swansea at least trying to go for it a bit.

  7. #7
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    Doesn't Armstrong put the ball in the net?.. people forget him.. his tally is ok.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Saxo1man41 View Post
    Doesn't Armstrong put the ball in the net?.. people forget him.. his tally is ok.
    I think his performance, all-round, has been better since Dack's injury. If he can be more consistent, Saxo, he has a lot to offer.
    It's the same with Bell. Perhaps even Rothwell, but he seems to be one of those players with more style than substance.
    I know what Champs means about freshening the squad up, but the whole loan business is hit-and-miss.
    I'd just as soon see Rankin-Costello and Butterworth given a go.
    As I said, it was a bugger that they both got injured, just when they'd reached the fringe of the First Team.
    Let's hope any PL loanees turn out like Reed, rather than like Palmer!

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Saxo1man41 View Post
    Doesn't Armstrong put the ball in the net?.. people forget him.. his tally is ok.

    Armstrong has stepped up. Right now, he IS our main man. No doubt, and I have been impressed.
    he has a knack of scoring crucial goals that gets us a win or a point.
    This is the first time in his career, he has played in a run of games in a decent league, and showed signs of progressing.
    If you have seen us every week all season, you know that his inconsistent nature is frustrating.
    You either get a good game, or you get nothing. The problems are, we remain inconsistent as a side, due to the inconsistency of the likes of him. We simply aren't good enough to carry even one player.
    I like Arma, he is developing, he is stepping up and I think our whole system does not suit him, or Gallagher And numerous others) I would have him in a front 2 with Gally, or whoever.
    When you think though, Brentford have a striker who has nev er played in this league before, who is now top scorer. A complete unknown. Who they brought in to replace Maupay who is doing well in the Prem.
    Armstrong's goal return is ok. Nothing special, just ok.

    We need a goalscorer. Armstrong needs to weigh in with his too, but its currently not enough. When you factor in the other striker is essentially a non scoring centre forward. Same with Brereton. We just need more goals. A predator, someone who will sniff out goals from nothing. If we got Rhodes of 5 seasons ago back, and scoring we would likely go up.

  10. #10
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    I don't think you can use your last sentence in isolation, though, Champs. There are 12 teams which have scored the same number or fewer goals than us - including three above us in the table.
    I totally agree that our finishing has been poor at times (with Dack's absence adding to the problem), but we are in a similar boat to a lot of others.
    You don't get many Rhodes (as he was!) in this Division, and you can bet your bottom dollar that if Fulham and Brentford don't get promotion, Mirovic and Watkins will get plucked by PL clubs - just as happened with Maupay.
    Obviously, Brereton and Gallagher have been major disappointments. We can talk about "wrong positions" till the cows come home, but the fact is, when a player fluffs a chance from five metres out, his starting position in that game is surely irrelevant.
    I understand "confidence" is a factor, but some of the misses have been by players not affected by that.
    On the official site today, Lenihan makes a good point about luck, acknowledging it's a significant factor (for both teams), and it was the very lucky win against Barnsley that set us off on our last good run.
    I keep coming back to the fact that success is based on far more factors than a lot of fans make out.
    If Mowbray can find a PL loanee who suddenly bags us a dozen goals, I will be delighted, but that must fall into the "10% likelihood" category.
    I think it's more likely that we will have five players scoring three goals each.

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