Just some thoughts about this season...

[Miller_Muz]

I’m sure I’m a bit late on giving my opinion on things going on at the club right now, but I just wanted to put my thoughts forward, as people tend to do on message boards….
First let me say, I’ve supported RUFC for 20 years, & I’ve seen us at Millmoor, at DVS, auto windscreen finals, double promotions, relegations, administrations- all the highs & lows of our recent history.
As far as I’m concerned, this is a period of success for our club, 2 promotions in a row & an ambitious chairman who’s financed a fantastic new stadium- we’re relatively secure financially & competing against sides with budgets 10x the size of ours( I tend to sight Fulham -£11m for Mccormack, reporting bidding £3m+ for Matt Ritchie, & Bournemouth- £3m for Callum Wilson, £2.5 for Rantie (who can’t even get in their side), at this point- to put that in perspective, our club record transfer fee is around £300k!!)
Obviously football isn’t all about money, but at some point,(especially the higher you go up the leagues)

[BigLadonOS]

I quite like the way you have written this as it seems to have been written with a lot of thought.

I agree with most of what you have written (especially about backing the manager - although I think he would be wise to let the fans know why he is doing the things he is doing? like letting Joe go for example).

I don't agree that Pringle is not up to playing in the Championship though. Prings has just lost a bit of form of late like all players do at some point but he will get that back in time as long as he gets some game time.

I am also very concerned about the loans we have on short term contracts! One or two in a team is by and large the norm way to go but five (5)? This can only be a bad thing as when they go back we have effectively lost almost half a team! Just what is the point of that?

[gramiller1959]

the main reason we are struggling now rather than the last 2 seasons is evans/stewart brought in unwanted championship players ie frecks pringle etc in div 1 and 2 we stood out .. the quality showed

but now in the championship those same players are showing why other championship clubs let them go !

if we wanted to do the same as the last two seasons we would have to sign premiership players so we stood out in this league ! this aint going to happen

so we will always be bottom half of the championship until the fan base increases and we can afford more wages (playing defensive boring football this will never happen)

in this league we will always struggle unless a manager puts together an attacking team that scores for fun (bournemouth) who also only have a 12k ground

even if we lose the fans would be happier if they were entertained ! evans defensive tactics will deliver lower crowds and possible relegation

we need to get back to putting teams on the back foot not inviting t

[Miller_Muz]

I see what you mean about having a more attacking style, but i don't really agree.
If we play with a more attacking style, yeh it will probably me more entertaining and we might score a few more goals- but we'll definitely concede more & probably not pick up as many points. I'd love us to be the same side as we were last season, but it was never going to happen- if we tried to play like that this season, we'd just get picked off on the counter or tire ourselves out chasing the ball by teams with much better technical ball players.
I think Evans has tried to make us solid this season to try & stop us conceding goals ( which has worked as we've the 10th best defence in the league)- but i don't think he thought we'd struggle so much to score goals.

As for the comparison to Bournemouth-yeh fair enough they are a similar size club with a similar fan base- however they've got/have had much more financial backing than us(& got a slice of luck with a sell on fee from Lallana to Liverpool), i

[BigLadonOS]

Admitted that in the team Prings is a luxury that we more than likely would have to carry for a big part of any game at this level (and above) but with the quality he has with that sweet left foot and his eye for a long shot that pays off quite a lot you would be a fool not to play him.

[CrackersATM]

It's easy to be negative but there is plenty of positives this season. At the half way stage we were above the bottom 3 and if we can slightly improve in the second half of the season we'll stay up which will be a good season. Regrouping in the summer and planning to be stronger next season etc.

To be fair to SE I would of put the mortgage on Derbyshire scoring minimum 3 or 4 league goals by now. He's played in the Premiership, moved for £3M before and he had a good games to goals ratio in the Championship last season. Based on the chances he's had and missed Harry Redknapp's missus would be in double figures by now. If Derbyshire had scored 3 and we had another 4 points yes he'd be a mediocre signing and we'd all be complaining but we would have a good points barrier between us and the bottom 3 clubs. I'd like to see a quality centre half play with Arnie and right full back but our defensive record is ok. I'd argue taking into account the better opposition we are defending better tha

[redandgreen]

If we maintain this league position, then we will stay up, but the latest mass changes has brought 2 defeats, and zero goals from 2 games. i've yet to see that the latest change in personnel and the rush to break up last season's side is going to work.
No doubt people will say that Bournemout, Brentford,bbournemouth again were games we could expect to lose, what I would say well in the games before them Blackpool twice were games we should expect to win. Further more, why shouldn't we get results against sides at the top. In Ronnies first year, we drew and beat West Brom, drew with Birmingham twice and were robbed at Maine road of at least two draws versus Handball City. All these games we were competetive in. We also had things blatantly missing from this side; a threat from set pieces and a goalscorer, why we've repeatedly ignored both this season, Iis a mystery.

[gwru]

Players brought in good enough for chanpionship. Smallwood, JCH & Newton. Only loan player I would have kept would have been Wootton [ Leeds are said to be financial trouble is there a chance we could go back for him ] Give these new loan players a chance + Ward to get match fit.

SE said by end of window he's going to get squad down to 20 players. Hall [is he still here ] Brindley, Wood Pringle think will be gone. Derbyshire if we get this goalscorer in could be gone. Would like a R. back in + see how it goes at centre back could use loan market. Got to be 2 in for tues, our push for safety starts now.

[jolly_roger]

"SE said by end of window he's going to get squad down to 20 players"

Hmmmmm...what's more likely is that TS has told SE that he's GOT to get the squad down to 20 players