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Thread: This season .......

  1. #1
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    This season .......

    I know things have been far from what we wanted this season but in reality it will end in much the same way and we will get around the same points total.

    Firstly results, they have been awful for quite a while. Would they have been that bad if everyone (including Dack) was fit all season? No, absolutely not. Dack was looking and scoring like his old self when we lost him. That blow left a huge dark cloud over the club as we also lost our leading goal-scorer at he same time, and his form then dipped.
    6 central defensive partnerships over the season, all down to injury, also made a tough season even tougher. Losing Travis was a blow.
    For me, the few early season good results where the worst thing that happened. It made certain fans believe we would get in the play-offs. We beat some poor sides, who had all gone down to 10 men, convincingly.

    You can break it down and surely even the most Anti-Mowbray person can see it's been a disastrous season for luck. We have moved from one unlucky situation to another. I have lost count of the amount of games a woefully poor decision hasn't gone our way. Brentford when we had 2 clear pens not awarded. And being fair, like every season, some rank bad performances and results. A long winless run. But would any of that happened if we had some of our best players playing? No probably not. So I feel its harsh to ignore some factors that put us in the position we are now.

    Some poor things Mowbray has done, playing both Gallagher and Brereton on the wings when it is clear it does not work. Taking Nyambe out of the side every other week. Playing Johnson. Playing Downing, playing Bennett, when its clear all 3 are no longer able to have any input in a game. I'm not getting where he is coming from on those things.

    But this insistance on sacking Mowbray and demanding some other bloke be brought in like it will suddenly change everything also makes no sense. People are ignoring that Hughton (who everyone wanted here) has done absolutely nothing at Forest. Pearson (who everyone wanted here) has done absolutely nothing at Bristol City. Warnock (who everyone wanted here) has done nothing at Boro. Wayne Rooney (the kind of young 'name' manager everyone wants here) has done absolutely nothing at Derby. I get why all of those are being massively ignored as it doesn't suit the narrative of Mowbray out, but clearly bringing in someone guarantees nothing.

    I said end of last season, I feared we would struggle and be involved in a relegation fight this season, as I looked at how Covid would effect a small club like us, and also I looked at our squad. I would say about 2 of the players we own could even think about playing at a higher level. At best. The rest are miles away. We are nowhere near good enough for the play offs, we aren't even close. I am still confused why folk expect us to be close? And very little has changed, other we have lost our best player in Dack, which weakens us.

    If we get no luck with injuries next season, it is irrelevant who manages us. As we will struggle. If we got a bit of luck next season, we could find ourselves having a much better more positive season.
    We never get hammered by anyone. Almost every game is decided by one goal. We are normally chasing a game if it hasn't gone our way until the very last kick.

    I remain unconvinced that another journeyman manager will come in and wave a magic wand and everything will turn around. Equally, I see both the good and bad in a guy who has done a better than average job in his time with us overall.

    Its the unusual and unfair high expectations that fans set themselves that causes the bad feeling.
    More worrying, is I do not believe Rovers will sell more than 4,500 season tickets next season. No matter if its Mowbray, me or Jurgen Klopp taking the reigns. Our decreasing fans base will ultimately dictate where we go. Which is absolutely nowhere.

    Look at the clubs going back up? All the relegated teams, who are £200m RICHER than us.

  2. #2
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    Financially I understand the problems we face and next season will be no different.
    We have had harsh luck and injuries to go with it however we have also seen mowbray look and sound unmotivated make very bizarre decisions and on occasions take swipes at the fanbase.
    We have underachieved this season without a doubt,some bad luck some bad managerial decisions,with bad performances sprinkled on top.
    We cannot stick with mowbray just because the alternative could be worse.
    Sticking with this man will result in us ending up back in league one.
    At the end of the season his position is being reviewed and I just can't see how it can be viewed as anything but a resounding failure.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by robinrover View Post
    Financially I understand the problems we face and next season will be no different.
    We have had harsh luck and injuries to go with it however we have also seen mowbray look and sound unmotivated make very bizarre decisions and on occasions take swipes at the fanbase.
    We have underachieved this season without a doubt,some bad luck some bad managerial decisions,with bad performances sprinkled on top.
    We cannot stick with mowbray just because the alternative could be worse.
    Sticking with this man will result in us ending up back in league one.
    At the end of the season his position is being reviewed and I just can't see how it can be viewed as anything but a resounding failure.
    Would you rather be Sheffield Wednesday going down to into Div1 Robin? I know who's position I would rather be in.
    THAT ....relegation is what anyone would consider as a resounding failure.
    Is a midtable Championship club finishing around midtable that much of a suprise?
    We aren't really close to going down so unless you genuinely expected us to go up, and that is the case you would need your head seeing to, its been a poor season due to all the severe injuries and losing our best player again, which affected results. But we will finish around midtable again.

    A mid-table Championship club finishing mid-table is not going to be deemed a failure. Going down would. We won't, so it will be considered an average one.
    Our paltry little club, with almost no fans have no reason to start saying we expect this and that. We are lucky to have a club as high as midtable Champ. The crowd we get would only support a Div1 side at best, that's probably where we should be. And I am pretty sure you would be very vocal if we where down that low.
    That would be considered underachieving.

    This is called surviving in a league filled with Big city clubs, huge fan bases, clubs with alot more money than us.
    We get the 4th lowest gates in the league. We have the 11th highest wage bill.

    But yet people expect top 6? Its the misguided and over expectant fans that cause alot of this ill feeling.
    Its the lack of fans coming to games that is slowly killing us.

  4. #4
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    I didn't expect us to go up but at least make a push for the play offs with a team assembled,with more than enough quality to do so.
    Injuries have hampered us but so has bizarre managerial decisions.
    How loose is mid table???
    17th is not mid table and chance to slip further.
    This season has been a failure and I am in no doubt unless waggott talks his buddy up to venkys,he will be gone in the summer.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by robinrover View Post
    I didn't expect us to go up but at least make a push for the play offs with a team assembled,with more than enough quality to do so.
    Injuries have hampered us but so has bizarre managerial decisions.
    How loose is mid table???
    17th is not mid table and chance to slip further.
    This season has been a failure and I am in no doubt unless waggott talks his buddy up to venkys,he will be gone in the summer.
    midtable is anywhere from 8th-18th. The season isnt over yet, we could still finish around 14th.
    If we finished 8th or 14th we still wouldnt make the play offs so by that logic we would fail.
    We would fail every single season in our existence.
    The team is nowhere near good enough for the play offs. We have never even been close.
    So I do not get where this team suddenly has the quality comes from?
    There is no quality. That's why we always finish around midtable.
    So do Sheff wed. They are going down. Thats a huge city and a club who get 20/25k for games.
    Let that sink in.
    We are going nowhere, and yet people demand he needs to be sacked?

  6. #6
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    The last 3 seasons since we got in the Champ Bristol City are a club who finished 1 point behind us in our first season (one place behind us). 2 points behind us last season. And are currently 3 points ahead of us. One place behind us. They are a very similar position to us.
    Their fans clambered for a managerial change. They demanded they were going nowhere.
    Pearson took over, much to their delight. He had great experience.
    He has changed nothing, if anything they are now going backwards.
    Most Rovers fans demanded we go get him. What difference would he have made?

    Hughton took over a Forest. Who missed out on trhe play offs last season on the final game, due to goal difference.
    They sacked their manager. Believing they should be doing better.
    Most Rovers fans demanded Hughton be brought in here. They have gone backwards this season. What would Hughton have changed here?
    Warnock has gone in at Boro. they will finish midtable.
    Most fans demanded Warnock be brought in here.
    What difference would he have made?

    I'm looking around at all these managers, and of the realistic ones we can afford, and who would come here, I am struggling to see one I could say with any guarantee that could come here and make a midtable side any better than they are.
    Apart from wilder, who we could not afford in our woldest dreams. He was on betweeen £8-10m a year. It's all pure fantasy stuff.

  7. #7
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    Let's stick with tony mowbray then and return to league one.
    Forwards on the wing and a tendency to chop and change at free will.
    A change might not gain us any improvement but its a fact that with tombola tony at the helm,this team is going southwards.
    Yes we are in essence a mid table team but if you except mediocrity every season you might as well wrap up now.
    The team on paper at the close of the transfer window in August was a fantastic looking squad at this level.
    Injuries have hampered progress,like they do every season under dear tony.
    Some of this is bad luck and some I imagine is poor management/training.
    I have had enough of his management now and the romance of what he had achieved for us is dying and being replaced with a touch of resentment.
    I don't want this to happen to someone who helped lift this club from the depths but the longer he stays and the mediocrity turns to a genuine struggle year on year,all he has achieved will be quickly forgotten.
    We change or the momentum will be completely lost.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by robinrover View Post
    Let's stick with tony mowbray then and return to league one.
    Forwards on the wing and a tendency to chop and change at free will.
    A change might not gain us any improvement but its a fact that with tombola tony at the helm,this team is going southwards.
    Yes we are in essence a mid table team but if you except mediocrity every season you might as well wrap up now.
    The team on paper at the close of the transfer window in August was a fantastic looking squad at this level.
    Injuries have hampered progress,like they do every season under dear tony.
    Some of this is bad luck and some I imagine is poor management/training.
    I have had enough of his management now and the romance of what he had achieved for us is dying and being replaced with a touch of resentment.
    I don't want this to happen to someone who helped lift this club from the depths but the longer he stays and the mediocrity turns to a genuine struggle year on year,all he has achieved will be quickly forgotten.
    We change or the momentum will be completely lost.


    I don't get why you want to change mediocracy for mediocracy?
    As that is literally all you are doing.
    This is it. We will not go any higher than mid-table Champ.
    That's been the case for a hundred years before you and I where born.
    There is no Jack Walker money. We are nothing more than a Div1 side punching above our weight by even being midtable in the Champ. For the size of us, the town, the fan base etc.
    All we will do is swap one manager for another, the same results will ensue. Unless one day we get extremely lucky and find a Sean Dyche. This is as far and as high as we go.
    We are not going down. w are not close to going down, and nothing whatsoever points towards us heading down next season. We stand just as good a chance of finishing closer to the play offs next season if we got lucky with injuries.

    And we had very few injuries when we got promotion. So unsure where this everyone always gets injured under TM. If a new manager came in, Dack will still be out for alot of next season.

    If we arent careful here, we will start blaming Mowbray for Covid

  9. #9
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    But what if we don't end up mid table?
    What if we stumble upon gems like reading and Barnsley have.
    Are their squads better than ours?
    Not even close but they are miles above us in the league.
    Luck or 2 young managers squeezing the best from pretty average looking squads.

  10. #10
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    We will finish around midtable though. Around 10-12th again. May be a bit lower this year, but considering the huge injury hit season we have endured, that accounts for that a bit.
    Barnsley won't go up, and even if they do it will be a season like Sheff Utd next season and all a bit soul destroying. Barnsley, as well as they have done this season are not £200m in debt like us. Reading ultimately will miss out, poss on the play offs altogether. But both sides have improved this season, granted. And both are having decent seasons.
    Meanwhile, Derby, with a manager I am pretty sure some would be excited had we gotten him, are sat 4 points above Rotherham who have 3 games in hand. They are in the mire. Forest have been poor and haven't improved, same with Boro, same with Bristol City, QPR, Millwall, Preston, the league is riddled with them. We are no different to any of those sides. Every so often, someone makes a break from that mid-table pack & suddenly has a great season. But it rarely lasts. Hudds Town went up, came back down. And struggled ever since. Stoke came down, middling out in midtable obscurity, like us. The majority of these clubs are huge compared to us, and have much bigger finances and fan bases than us. Most aren't £200m in debt. Barnsley & Reading will just fall back into our pack again next season. And we all start all over again next season. With 10-12 clubs all believing they have as good a chance as any of the other 10-12 sides to get in the play offs. Almost all will fail. We know that now, this season. Apart from the 3 Prem sides coming down. 2 are almost guaranteed to go back up next season. 1 will get in the play-offs. leaving 3 realistic places, every season, up for grabs for 8-10 clubs. All vying for the same thing. In a god awful league, with second rate refs, and second rate players & managers.

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