|
Post by Squiffy on Oct 14, 2021 16:16:09 GMT
I love that this forum operates on so many different levels, from soap opera to self help group, culinary critiques, history lesson and now philosophy…and sometimes football. Gaschat will be fabulous source material for future social anthropologists. 😂 Not sure what spiders have to do with anything. What short memories. Do you not remember Hugo’s suffering? Please refer to legendary thread section. 😉
|
|
|
Post by Squiffy on Oct 14, 2021 9:54:58 GMT
I have never said that the scouse was working for Lansdown, read it on previous comments, I said that I think that Lansdown and Wael are in it together to get rid of us, THE PIRATES, as Lansdown quoted when we were relegated to the non league, people will be asking in about two years who was BRISTOL ROVERS, or have you a bad memory. You said Wael spend 20mill paying off debts and 5 mill on the quarters so what peanuts to Lansdown to get rid of us. UWE going ahead until Wael applied for extras, Hotel and retail outlets. Read what you see and not what you think you see. Hanlon's razor. I love that this forum operates on so many different levels, from soap opera to self help group, culinary critiques, history lesson and now philosophy…and sometimes football. Gaschat will be fabulous source material for future social anthropologists. 😂
|
|
|
Post by Squiffy on Oct 9, 2021 17:01:21 GMT
Well done to Squiffy for getting our best result for a long time! Thank you very much, although I clearly wasn’t optimistic enough with my 1-0 prediction. Is it winner stays on? 😊
|
|
|
Post by Squiffy on Oct 9, 2021 7:32:19 GMT
|
|
|
Post by Squiffy on Oct 9, 2021 1:06:09 GMT
Just woke up (2am) with a stinking cold and there’s still no match day thread, you apathetic lot! Ok, I’ll pick up the poisoned chalice.
So, just in case there is no divine intervention today, maybe we should turn to the words of Superintendent Ted Hastings (AC12): “Jesus, Mary and Joseph, and the wee donkey, can we just move this thing along before it drives us all round the bloody bend!”
An optimistic 1-0 Gas win…I think the meds are a bit stronger than I thought. UTG
|
|
|
Post by Squiffy on Oct 8, 2021 13:32:35 GMT
No I'm simply saying if you're a young fan who would you follow,premiership city or basement rovers? You'll follow whomever your Dad says you'll follow and that should be the end of it. …or if your favourite colour is blue, not red, and your next door neighbour (Brian England if anyone remembers him) takes you to your first match. Sorry Dad,…well not really. 😂
|
|
|
Post by Squiffy on Oct 8, 2021 13:24:42 GMT
Not sure about inspiration but maybe investment advice? 😉
|
|
|
Post by Squiffy on Oct 8, 2021 9:36:06 GMT
JB has said that we need to transition from a losing culture to a winning culture via being hard to beat. I sincerely believe that he thinks that five at the back will achieve this aim, and logically speaking it should, however the reality is that individual performances are quite literally letting the side down.
I suspect that he is reluctant to go to a back four as they probably haven’t worked on that formation as much in training (or it has looked bloody awful) so, in his view, it might be even more of a gamble than sticking with the current system being drilled into the team.
From memory, GC basically stuck to one system (and the same team) and that consistency benefited the players as they knew exactly what they had to do, although that does make you predictable and opposing teams work out how to nullify you as the season progresses.
So why isn’t it working? I think that he puts too many experienced heads on at the start where youth would be better at pressing and getting up and down the pitch. You then bring on experience to either protect a lead (wishful thinking) or to take advantage of a worn out defence when speed and mobility are less of an issue.
|
|
|
Post by Squiffy on Oct 8, 2021 8:00:18 GMT
Subbuteo! What an absolute football beaut of a game that was. Got in to it around 89-90 and painted my own Rovers side. Steve Yates stripey white socks with the sock tape , Boris’s ginger hair , Billy oceans Afro ( blueback on his head painted black )Jocks moustache I painted a bit of blood on his boots too. Unstoppable that side was. View AttachmentI could never understand why they also sold “crouching” goalkeepers unless they were intended to be some form of handicap. …and as proof that things were better growing up in the Seventies, my Rovers Subbuteo team regularly thrashed Brazil! 😂
|
|
|
Post by Squiffy on Oct 6, 2021 17:36:14 GMT
In the interests of fairness to the other charities I’ve deleted my post on how to exploit the system. Those that have quoted me original post may want to delete there’s too. I’ve also pointed a number of ways to exploit the system to Asda! Good man.👍 Deleted as requested.
|
|
|
Post by Squiffy on Oct 6, 2021 15:27:35 GMT
As in himself? For funding us? Keeping us alive? Or something else? Earl is the problem. Not difficult to work that out. The Evaluation And Report Language, possibly, the Edinburgh Airport Rail Link, probably not. 😂
|
|
|
Post by Squiffy on Oct 6, 2021 15:17:14 GMT
I know quite a few of the youngsters are cup tied for the FA cup(Phillips, Tomlinson and Hulbert - with all our injuries, who agreed to that?) but I hope at least 5 or 6 of these players get a chance of being in the squads for the PJ Trophy or FA cup games if we get a favourable draw. No chance! JB will play his strongest eleven as he is aiming to go one better than Wigan, win the FA Cup and get relegated out of the entire football League in the same season. 😂 …but, joking aside, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to give one or two of the young players a chance whilst there are still plenty of games to go and before the pressure really reaches a crescendo. Luca Hoole has done ok so far.
|
|
|
Post by Squiffy on Oct 6, 2021 12:03:28 GMT
All dependent on the level of investment. If Dale Vince can pump money into a village team and get them challenging for promotion to L1, then there is no reason that any team anywhere could not do the same. Meaning catchment/population have less of an impact than investment. How deep Dale's pockets are to sustain this is another matter. Wael has invested to a level that should allow Rovers to stay in L1, but is sustaining L2 for the reasons we have all debated. Currently, Lansdown has invested enough in City to maintain Championship status, but not quite enough to get into the Premier League, but if they got there then income is even less dependent on bums on seats. I saw the Mince on the Earthshot Prize: Repairing Our Planet program last night making diamonds from carbon extracted from the atmosphere (no lie). Conceivably his alchemical touch might yet provide them with sufficient financial muscle to push on even further up the pyramid. 🤔
|
|
|
Post by Squiffy on Oct 6, 2021 11:55:23 GMT
Could do with a fourth option of, “give him until Christmas, as he himself suggested, and if there is still no improvement then present him with divorce papers (on camera, with Wael playing the part of dirty Den) and a tube of L’Oreal Men Expert Extreme Fix to show him what gel really looks like”. 😂
|
|
|
Post by Squiffy on Oct 6, 2021 9:37:50 GMT
I took it that we have been saying for a while that Wael is niave, so asking him these questions might make him stop and think about the questions rather than not. I wonder what the true answer is, not the one he would give. I suspect it is something along the lines of - yeah Widdrington and Starnes warned me about this stuff, but I thought he was passionate, articulate and exactly what we needed to give us a boost to stay up. Fair enough, everyone makes mistakes. Wael if your reading, in your heart you must see this has all gone way too far. It is ok to get things wrong, IF done for the right reasons - and if you take appropriate responsibility and actions to rectify. It happens to the greatest men of all: www.history.com/.amp/news/winston-churchills-world-war-disasterOr they could have done due diligence on them, warned them that any transgressions would not be tolerated, (edit: perhaps they also insisted that they regularly attend GA meetings), weighed things up and decided that, on balance, they had more to offer on the practical side of the restructuring process which was worth the risk.
|
|
|
Post by Squiffy on Oct 5, 2021 15:20:35 GMT
Personality opinions aside, it’s not as if he has lost the dressing room at the moment, as the recent player interviews have borne out, so there is still the potential for JB to turn it around (unlike the later stages of PT’s tenure). If, as we are given to understand, the scope of the reset goes way beyond the first team then the board have obviously decided to “stick” and are putting their hands over their ears to block out the dissenting background noise in the hope that results will change sooner rather than later. They are clearly not going to react as there is too much invested in JB and his team and they will only do so if external circumstances dictate that they must or if becomes obvious that the mood amongst the players goes from disappointed but determined to dejected and disillusioned. The question though, is precisely what these mythical issues "way beyond the first team" are? He's completely ripped apart the backroom staff Completely re-built the playing squad Got a pretty decent training facility The stadium has no impact at all on our ability to win football matches - in fact, stands aside, the playing surface is one of the best in the league. So what is left?? The board? All of that is within Wael's power - if any of that is the problem, surely Wael would act as required. So the fact is, it's BS. Last season you could argue it was the case (i.e. pre "Great Reset"), but what is left now? And the fact that he has the dressing room still doesn't really change the fact that he's the worst manager in our history, and completely out of his depth. If he's THIS bad with the players playing FOR him, can you imagine how bad things are going to get?! I agree with you with regards to the infrastructure however there’s probably not just one standout reason why things aren’t working so far, but lots of small mundane things that accumulate and result in the current situation. There are a lot of players who are new to the area, maybe away from home for the first time, find the taste of the water a bit funny and haven’t quite settled into a comfortable routine away from the training ground. A couple have had COVID and are conceivably finding it harder to regain their fitness. Some of the new boys maybe didn’t really understand the recent history when they signed and are now feeling the pressure from the terraces more than they thought. Those that are still here from last season are some who couldn’t get away, are stuck and are still carrying the burden of relegation. Maybe plan A was genuinely to be fitter than everyone else and to win late in the second half, a la DC, but as a large number of the anticipated first eleven are crocked it’s taking more time to find a workable plan B with the remaining squad (obviously). Limiting player acquisition to free transfers only has perhaps restricted formation possibilities owing to the pool of talent available at that time. Maybe the players don’t realise how much sugar is in the Yakult they get at the training ground and they need a little nap at about 3pm. Perhaps there is some truth in the theory that there is some unconscious bias from the referees towards JB and there genuinely have been some unlucky ricochets that you can’t legislate for. I guess that the point I am trying to make is that I don’t think this is a long term revenge plan from JB because of the treatment he got when he came to the Mem as Fleetwood manager (although that could be the basis for a great TV drama), but I do believe that he thought it would be a whole lot easier. I don’t think that he is out of his depth but has completely misjudged the situation which is markedly different to the setup at Fleetwood that doesn’t have the long term league history or scale of support that we do. There the principle pressure came from the ambition of their owner, whereas here almost the opposite is true, with an overly supportive owner and the fan base like a subterranean magma chamber, the temperature of which is rising and with little bits of steam starting to escape. From a managerial perspective I do think that he just needs more time to get his best players fit and then I am optimistic that we won’t go down (high praise indeed). NB: I’m not enamoured with him as a person, but I am willing to give him the benefit of doubt until such time as due process is enacted upon him. In the meantime I am more concerned that he focuses on his day job and my beloved club. UTG,
|
|
|
Post by Squiffy on Oct 5, 2021 13:00:24 GMT
So Olly thinks we should stick with the man who will drag us back to the Conference!! It's not just about the fact that Barton is an awful human being it now is obvious he is a useless manager and sticking with him for the sake of stability is like backing the Captain of the Titanic to keep it afloat!. Barton has to go sooner rather than later to be able to give a decent manager a chance to get the team playing together. I would be happy for the new man to just consolidate our survival in Div 2 and then to build for the future. Personality opinions aside, it’s not as if he has lost the dressing room at the moment, as the recent player interviews have borne out, so there is still the potential for JB to turn it around (unlike the later stages of PT’s tenure). If, as we are given to understand, the scope of the reset goes way beyond the first team then the board have obviously decided to “stick” and are putting their hands over their ears to block out the dissenting background noise in the hope that results will change sooner rather than later. They are clearly not going to react as there is too much invested in JB and his team and they will only do so if external circumstances dictate that they must or if becomes obvious that the mood amongst the players goes from disappointed but determined to dejected and disillusioned.
|
|
|
Post by Squiffy on Oct 5, 2021 11:55:20 GMT
|
|
|
Post by Squiffy on Oct 5, 2021 11:44:27 GMT
My fear is that waiting until December to sack JB will be too late, as we’ve seen before the struggling teams around us will bring in new managers who get it right, leaving us facing non league football once again. Correct. The problem is that the new gaffer has to come in and work miracles in the transfer market immediately, without truly understanding the weaknesses in the squad. You get a manager in before that - say, October time - and they have plenty of time to truly assess where they feel they're weakest and address as neccessary. Maybe Flynn is watching the training ground videos at home as we speak! 😉
|
|
|
Post by Squiffy on Oct 4, 2021 13:18:26 GMT
The 7th game was a cup game vs Oxford on the 6th October, ten days before the window closed. Just read what he said again and he explicitly said he was sacked after 11 games so the 7 games must surely mean only league games.Something changed after 7 games he states so I don’t believe it was about a blocked signing he wanted.Much more likely is what Roverdrive said about Tisdale being approached,Garner would know that somebody else might be watching games prior to taking over as that apparently happened with him before Coggers was ousted.Anyway it’s all speculation and unless Garner clarifies exactly what he meant,then we’ll never know. So we all need to keep our eyes on the boxes on Saturday and pray that Flynn is in one of them. 🤞
|
|