Post by Wembley_Gas on Sept 30, 2020 2:16:03 GMT
No, not another BG bashing thread, there’s depressingly enough of those already. I think we’ve got a fair idea of how our manager would like to play the game, technically good footballers all over the pitch playing a high tempo, high press, fast paced possession based game. So, given that premise can you choose three Rovers legends from the past that would have thrived playing Garnerball and three Rovers legends that would have been very ineffective at it?
My three thrivers -
1) Andy Tillson, probably the best footballing centre half we ever had. Could jink out of defence with ease and leave many an attacker on their bottom but importantly never took his defensive duties lightly, never forgot how to clear his lines and that his first objective was to defend our goal at all costs.
2) It’s no secret that my favourite Rovers player remains Wayne Jones. The attacking midfield role would have been made for him, comfortable with a range of passing, inexhaustible energy to press without the ball and offer himself as an outlet when we had it, would’ve chipped in with a fair few goals too.
3) The 1973/4 Promotion team actually had two excellent candidates to carry out the DCM role, Frankie Prince and Tom Stanton. Despite Prince’s tough tackling, never let the ball or man get past me and man marking excellence (he kept George Best quiet for all but 10 seconds) I’d plump for the cultured but no nonsense Stanton as the man that could combine winning the ball with recycling it efficiently. Never flashy despite a grounding in the game from his time at Arsenal he could be depended upon when the chips were down to add steel to the defenders or support for the more gifted ball players.
My three strugglers -
1) Brian Parkin. Without doubt Mr Glum is amongst our very finest shot stoppers, the loss of Nigel Martyn was less acute than it could otherwise have been as Brian pulled off many point saving, nay point winning saves in that 1990 run to the third tier championship. However, it is plain that the introduction of the backpass law put severe pressure on his game as he struggled to adapt to having to use his feet. He regained confidence sufficiently to be between the sticks for John Ward’s play off final side but he was never one to look comfortable as a footballing keeper.
2) Billy Clark. Great at the old fashioned stopper centre half role Billy regularly found row Z, in fact he frequently cleared the ball clean over the stand, excelling himself at Glanford Park by clearing all four stands in the same game! Billy did manage the crab pass to Tillson or one of his full backs but would have frustrated the hell out of BG if he was forced into playing it out from the back too often, just not his game.
3) You can imagine Barry Hayles or Jason Roberts running themselves into the ground as the most forward, leading by example, proponents of the forward press from which the other attacking players could take their lead. One of our heroes from the 2007 new Wembley Play off triumph would have been less at home with it, speedy harrowing of opposition defenders just wasn’t Richard Walker’s game. Allowing defenders to have untroubled time on the ball is not part of the Garner ball plan, nor would BG appreciate attacks slowing down when the ball is moved further forward. I can’t see Richard surviving long in a Garner squad and I think he would have been a member of the no squad number awarded brigade under our current gaffer.
Who would you choose and why?
My three thrivers -
1) Andy Tillson, probably the best footballing centre half we ever had. Could jink out of defence with ease and leave many an attacker on their bottom but importantly never took his defensive duties lightly, never forgot how to clear his lines and that his first objective was to defend our goal at all costs.
2) It’s no secret that my favourite Rovers player remains Wayne Jones. The attacking midfield role would have been made for him, comfortable with a range of passing, inexhaustible energy to press without the ball and offer himself as an outlet when we had it, would’ve chipped in with a fair few goals too.
3) The 1973/4 Promotion team actually had two excellent candidates to carry out the DCM role, Frankie Prince and Tom Stanton. Despite Prince’s tough tackling, never let the ball or man get past me and man marking excellence (he kept George Best quiet for all but 10 seconds) I’d plump for the cultured but no nonsense Stanton as the man that could combine winning the ball with recycling it efficiently. Never flashy despite a grounding in the game from his time at Arsenal he could be depended upon when the chips were down to add steel to the defenders or support for the more gifted ball players.
My three strugglers -
1) Brian Parkin. Without doubt Mr Glum is amongst our very finest shot stoppers, the loss of Nigel Martyn was less acute than it could otherwise have been as Brian pulled off many point saving, nay point winning saves in that 1990 run to the third tier championship. However, it is plain that the introduction of the backpass law put severe pressure on his game as he struggled to adapt to having to use his feet. He regained confidence sufficiently to be between the sticks for John Ward’s play off final side but he was never one to look comfortable as a footballing keeper.
2) Billy Clark. Great at the old fashioned stopper centre half role Billy regularly found row Z, in fact he frequently cleared the ball clean over the stand, excelling himself at Glanford Park by clearing all four stands in the same game! Billy did manage the crab pass to Tillson or one of his full backs but would have frustrated the hell out of BG if he was forced into playing it out from the back too often, just not his game.
3) You can imagine Barry Hayles or Jason Roberts running themselves into the ground as the most forward, leading by example, proponents of the forward press from which the other attacking players could take their lead. One of our heroes from the 2007 new Wembley Play off triumph would have been less at home with it, speedy harrowing of opposition defenders just wasn’t Richard Walker’s game. Allowing defenders to have untroubled time on the ball is not part of the Garner ball plan, nor would BG appreciate attacks slowing down when the ball is moved further forward. I can’t see Richard surviving long in a Garner squad and I think he would have been a member of the no squad number awarded brigade under our current gaffer.
Who would you choose and why?
