|
|
Post by kernowgas on Jul 22, 2024 12:42:30 GMT
Total agree that we aren't ready for that step yet and if we don't put a reserve/u23/u21 team in place we never will. We couldn't have taken a 'gamble' on Conteh when Grimsby did as he was unlikely League 1 ready....half a season at Grimsby, he kicks on and he's ready! Our current policy might be the way to go though. More expensive and less of a gamble. Will be interesting over the next season or two as to whether we make money on Conteh and Omochere! Agree that in recent times we've struggled to find those diamonds....would be nice to get back to those days and start taking some calculated gambles on local talent. I'm hoping that Ellison has a realistic pathway and plan and becomes a regular in a season or two....then other local talent might trust us! There are two other players that should get a mention, Rollin Menayese (WSM) and Tom Broadbent (Hayes & Yeading). Both went straight into the first team and I expect that Ellison has come to break into the first team this season. I would be very surprised if we have bought him for next season or the season after. This is Rovers, we don't plan that far ahead! Or do we? Didn't we loan Menayese to Swindon (league 2) and Aldershot (National League) and realise he wasn't up to it....currently League 2. We stuck with Broadbent for a season and a bit but he still ended up at Swindon (league 2)....currently National League North? We threw both in too early and they weren't ready. I think Ellison is better than those two but it's a big step up from Chippenham. He also has Taylor, Moore, Forbes and Wilson in front of him. I don't think we planned ahead before but maybe we are now  |
|
|
|
Post by gasify on Jul 22, 2024 14:58:13 GMT
There are two other players that should get a mention, Rollin Menayese (WSM) and Tom Broadbent (Hayes & Yeading). Both went straight into the first team and I expect that Ellison has come to break into the first team this season. I would be very surprised if we have bought him for next season or the season after. This is Rovers, we don't plan that far ahead! Or do we? Didn't we loan Menayese to Swindon (league 2) and Aldershot (National League) and realise he wasn't up to it....currently League 2. We stuck with Broadbent for a season and a bit but he still ended up at Swindon (league 2)....currently National League North? We threw both in too early and they weren't ready. I think Ellison is better than those two but it's a big step up from Chippenham. He also has Taylor, Moore, Forbes and Wilson in front of him. I don't think we planned ahead before but maybe we are now I suppose, those two are good examples of where we went direct to non league and it didn't quite work out. Which is what I like about this approach as the players have already proved themselves at at least league 2 level, so lower risk than getting a diamond from Non league. |
|
socrates
Proper Gas
Posts: 12,793 
Member is Online
|
Post by socrates on Jul 22, 2024 20:30:32 GMT
I like what we have done and understand that we need to speculate to accumulate and have to to pay a transfer fee for up and coming young talent. Not a criticism of GF or MT but a realisation of where we are at with our recruitment process but we are 1 or 2 steps away from where we should be. We are currently buying talent from league 2 and league 1, except for Ellison and Bilongo, whereas we should be picking up talent from 1 or 2 tiers below at least....if we spot that talent the profit margins increase considerably but on the flip side also the gamble on a player increases. Examples....Omochere is picked up from Bohemians by Fleetwood for £85kish and we buy 2 years later for £500k....Conteh is picked up from Middleborough u21 by Grimsby on a free and we buy 6 months later for 300k. If Fleetwood and Grimsby can do it I'm sure we can do it too....maybe Bilongo is our Conteh and our recruitment team are moving in the right direction. I agree with that as a destination, but we aren't ready for it yet. The players that we have paid a fee for have proven themselves in the football league. There is still a chance that they had already reached their level but I trust the team and expect them to be Championship level in a couple of seasons. The problem we have right now is that we don't have a route to the first team. So I would expect some work going on behind the scenes to get that pathway open. I agree that Feetwood and Grimsby have made a good profit in a short space of time. I'm sure I'm wrong but the last player I remember us buying from non league (apart from Ellison) was Bernard Mensah for about £80k and that didn't really go well. When was the last time we discovered a diamond from Non League? Do we have to go back to the Gerry Francis era? Taylor ? although we were non league ourselves |
|
|
|
Post by Topper Gas on Jul 22, 2024 20:52:01 GMT
According to Wiki Rollin joined us in June but only made his league debut in October when Locks and Sweeney were away on international duty, he had 4 months playing for the U23's before making his debut.
"On the 1 June 2017, Menayese joined Bristol Rovers, initially joining up with the u23 squad.
On 7 October 2017, with both Tom Lockyer and Ryan Sweeney on international duty Menayese made his first league start in a 6–0 away victory over Northampton town"
|
|
|
|
Post by Topper Gas on Jul 22, 2024 20:54:31 GMT
I like what we have done and understand that we need to speculate to accumulate and have to to pay a transfer fee for up and coming young talent. Not a criticism of GF or MT but a realisation of where we are at with our recruitment process but we are 1 or 2 steps away from where we should be. We are currently buying talent from league 2 and league 1, except for Ellison and Bilongo, whereas we should be picking up talent from 1 or 2 tiers below at least....if we spot that talent the profit margins increase considerably but on the flip side also the gamble on a player increases. Examples....Omochere is picked up from Bohemians by Fleetwood for £85kish and we buy 2 years later for £500k....Conteh is picked up from Middleborough u21 by Grimsby on a free and we buy 6 months later for 300k. If Fleetwood and Grimsby can do it I'm sure we can do it too....maybe Bilongo is our Conteh and our recruitment team are moving in the right direction. I agree with that as a destination, but we aren't ready for it yet. The players that we have paid a fee for have proven themselves in the football league. There is still a chance that they had already reached their level but I trust the team and expect them to be Championship level in a couple of seasons. The problem we have right now is that we don't have a route to the first team. So I would expect some work going on behind the scenes to get that pathway open. I agree that Feetwood and Grimsby have made a good profit in a short space of time. I'm sure I'm wrong but the last player I remember us buying from non league (apart from Ellison) was Bernard Mensah for about £80k and that didn't really go well. When was the last time we discovered a diamond from Non League? Do we have to go back to the Gerry Francis era? Have you totally forgotten the DC era? |
|
|
|
Post by gasify on Jul 22, 2024 21:06:14 GMT
I agree with that as a destination, but we aren't ready for it yet. The players that we have paid a fee for have proven themselves in the football league. There is still a chance that they had already reached their level but I trust the team and expect them to be Championship level in a couple of seasons. The problem we have right now is that we don't have a route to the first team. So I would expect some work going on behind the scenes to get that pathway open. I agree that Feetwood and Grimsby have made a good profit in a short space of time. I'm sure I'm wrong but the last player I remember us buying from non league (apart from Ellison) was Bernard Mensah for about £80k and that didn't really go well. When was the last time we discovered a diamond from Non League? Do we have to go back to the Gerry Francis era? Have you totally forgotten the DC era? Now that is a question. There must be an angle. What angle are you coming from? |
|
|
|
Post by richhertford on Aug 5, 2024 16:45:59 GMT
There is a diverse range of opinions regarding the the gas prospects for this season. Here’s a breakdown of the responses so far (2nd August)
Ground Breaking Goal - Champions/Automatics: 5 votes
A small but optimistic group believes Bristol Rovers can achieve automatic promotion, finishing in the top spots of the league.
Stretching Goal - Promoted through Playoffs: 12 votes
This group of fans is hopeful for a successful playoff campaign that results in promotion.
Realistic Goal - Playoffs but falling short in knockouts: 5 votes
These fans anticipate reaching the playoffs but are cautious about progressing beyond the knockout stages.
Security Goal - Inside top ten - Always Close to play off but falling short: 53 votes
The majority of participants expect the team to be competitive and consistently close to playoff contention but not quite making it.
An incredibly disappointing finish in lower half of the table: 26 votes
A significant portion of the fanbase is concerned about a potential finish in the lower half of the table, reflecting uncertainty about the team's performance.
Thank you to the 101 gasheads who have already shared their thoughts! Your input helps us all understand the collective hopes and concerns for our team's season.
I would love to hear from even more of you to get a fuller picture of fan sentiment. Whether you’re optimistic about a top finish or concerned about the challenges ahead, sharing your perspective helps build this forum.
Let’s aim to double our responses and make this poll a true reflection of the passion and diversity of the Gasheads! It would great to get to 200 responses.
All the best to everyone.
|
|
|
|
Post by badengas on Aug 5, 2024 17:42:46 GMT
Rich, can I vote twice ? I went for the playoffs but I'm itching to go for automatic.
|
|
|
|
Post by Rod1883 on Aug 5, 2024 18:19:26 GMT
Don't forget my vote for the category you didn't allow for - top half but outside of the top 10, i.e. 11th or 12th
|
|
clovis
Reserve Team
Posts: 334
|
Post by clovis on Aug 5, 2024 18:38:27 GMT
I voted for the last option, bottom half. I won’t be too disappointed though if we finish between 13th and 16th, as that’s where I feel we will end up. Can’t quite see us getting into the top half but hope I’m wrong.
|
|
|
|
Post by richhertford on Aug 5, 2024 19:44:09 GMT
Rich, can I vote twice ? I went for the playoffs but I'm itching to go for automatic. I believe you can still change your vote. |
|
|
|
Post by richhertford on Aug 5, 2024 19:45:10 GMT
Don't forget my vote for the category you didn't allow for - top half but outside of the top 10, i.e. 11th or 12th Good spot. Can’t change it. We will need to live with this anomaly. |
|
socrates
Proper Gas
Posts: 12,793
Member is Online
|
Post by socrates on Aug 5, 2024 23:05:55 GMT
There is a diverse range of opinions regarding the the gas prospects for this season. Here’s a breakdown of the responses so far (2nd August) Ground Breaking Goal - Champions/Automatics: 5 votes A small but optimistic group believes Bristol Rovers can achieve automatic promotion, finishing in the top spots of the league. Stretching Goal - Promoted through Playoffs: 12 votes This group of fans is hopeful for a successful playoff campaign that results in promotion. Realistic Goal - Playoffs but falling short in knockouts: 5 votes These fans anticipate reaching the playoffs but are cautious about progressing beyond the knockout stages. Security Goal - Inside top ten - Always Close to play off but falling short: 53 votes The majority of participants expect the team to be competitive and consistently close to playoff contention but not quite making it. An incredibly disappointing finish in lower half of the table: 26 votes A significant portion of the fanbase is concerned about a potential finish in the lower half of the table, reflecting uncertainty about the team's performance. Thank you to the 101 gasheads who have already shared their thoughts! Your input helps us all understand the collective hopes and concerns for our team's season. I would love to hear from even more of you to get a fuller picture of fan sentiment. Whether you’re optimistic about a top finish or concerned about the challenges ahead, sharing your perspective helps build this forum. Let’s aim to double our responses and make this poll a true reflection of the passion and diversity of the Gasheads! It would great to get to 200 responses. All the best to everyone. We all want promotion but in my opinion we’re just as likely to go down as we are win promotion. I see us as a mid table club with probably around a mid table budget but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a good season and win promotion or a crap one and go down. I’ve seen one pre - season friendly ( and they don’t mean anything ) and we looked alright not great not crap. I’m going for somewhere between 10th and 14th I think we’ll do better than our previous manager did in league 1 but I don’t see us as challengers based purely on my knowledge of the players we’ve signed which is very little and what they did as their previous clubs has no bearing on how they’ll get on with us anyway. Anything can happen. Watch this space. |
|
|
|
Post by gaelgas on Aug 6, 2024 10:03:37 GMT
There is a diverse range of opinions regarding the the gas prospects for this season. Here’s a breakdown of the responses so far (2nd August) Ground Breaking Goal - Champions/Automatics: 5 votes A small but optimistic group believes Bristol Rovers can achieve automatic promotion, finishing in the top spots of the league. Stretching Goal - Promoted through Playoffs: 12 votes This group of fans is hopeful for a successful playoff campaign that results in promotion. Realistic Goal - Playoffs but falling short in knockouts: 5 votes These fans anticipate reaching the playoffs but are cautious about progressing beyond the knockout stages. Security Goal - Inside top ten - Always Close to play off but falling short: 53 votes The majority of participants expect the team to be competitive and consistently close to playoff contention but not quite making it. An incredibly disappointing finish in lower half of the table: 26 votes A significant portion of the fanbase is concerned about a potential finish in the lower half of the table, reflecting uncertainty about the team's performance. Thank you to the 101 gasheads who have already shared their thoughts! Your input helps us all understand the collective hopes and concerns for our team's season. I would love to hear from even more of you to get a fuller picture of fan sentiment. Whether you’re optimistic about a top finish or concerned about the challenges ahead, sharing your perspective helps build this forum. Let’s aim to double our responses and make this poll a true reflection of the passion and diversity of the Gasheads! It would great to get to 200 responses. All the best to everyone. We all want promotion but in my opinion we’re just as likely to go down as we are win promotion. I see us as a mid table club with probably around a mid table budget but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a good season and win promotion or a crap one and go down. I’ve seen one pre - season friendly ( and they don’t mean anything ) and we looked alright not great not crap. I’m going for somewhere between 10th and 14th I think we’ll do better than our previous manager did in league 1 but I don’t see us as challengers based purely on my knowledge of the players we’ve signed which is very little and what they did as their previous clubs has no bearing on how they’ll get on with us anyway. Anything can happen. Watch this space. If virtually everyone else is to be believed, we are much more likely to go down than be fighting for promotion. Not that they are reliable, but I've looked at a bunch of predictions, none have us in the top half of the table with the vast majority have us between 15th and 19th, although none have us to actually go down. |
|
|
|
Post by percy on Aug 6, 2024 10:06:44 GMT
We all want promotion but in my opinion we’re just as likely to go down as we are win promotion. I see us as a mid table club with probably around a mid table budget but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a good season and win promotion or a crap one and go down. I’ve seen one pre - season friendly ( and they don’t mean anything ) and we looked alright not great not crap. I’m going for somewhere between 10th and 14th I think we’ll do better than our previous manager did in league 1 but I don’t see us as challengers based purely on my knowledge of the players we’ve signed which is very little and what they did as their previous clubs has no bearing on how they’ll get on with us anyway. Anything can happen. Watch this space. If virtually everyone else is to be believed, we are much more likely to go down than be fighting for promotion. Not that they are reliable, but I've looked at a bunch of predictions, none have us in the top half of the table with the vast majority have us between 15th and 19th, although none have us to actually go down. all the ones I have seen have us between 11th and 15th. Feels about right. Tough league, but think we will compete. |
|
|
|
Post by Dirt Dogg on Aug 6, 2024 10:10:42 GMT
Toughest league 1 has looked in a while, I’d be happy with 10th-15th and a decent cup run.
|
|
|
|
Post by Rovers 12th Man on Aug 6, 2024 10:26:12 GMT
Don't forget my vote for the category you didn't allow for - top half but outside of the top 10, i.e. 11th or 12th I would vote for the same. With the amount of very strong teams in the league this year, I think we will finish around 12th but as long as we are looking more up than down as we go into the last few weeks of the season, I think that will go down as a success after a major summer rebuild. |
|
|
|
Post by badengas on Aug 6, 2024 10:28:48 GMT
Rich, can I vote twice ? I went for the playoffs but I'm itching to go for automatic. I believe you can still change your vote. Yes you can, 6 votes for automatic promotion now ! |
|
|
|
Post by richhertford on Aug 6, 2024 11:32:37 GMT
Listening to Matt I’m pretty excited about our chances. I don’t think we will be in bottom half. Still a few players to leave and a couple to bring in.
Looking at the votes most on here will be on fire, super excited if we hit the play offs.
I might be a dreamer but so pleased that I am not the only one. I love signing winners and achievers. My sort of players. Players, looking to win, playing with energy, putting their heart and soul into this football club. Players looking to improve. Players aiming high. Bring the season on.
Matt lays the ground for my thoughts. What a Statement.
“But, even before the signings were made and we did the references and character checks, we want big on the character aspect. That’s because we wanted the right people at this football club. First and foremost, we wanted winners, and we wanted players who have got the potential to improve, but have also got an almost desperation to do well. “
|
|
|
|
Post by dulwichgas on Aug 6, 2024 12:18:44 GMT
Top half would be an incredible season given the past 30 years, and given the make up of the squad now, would be a great platform to build off.
|
|
