At the understandable risk of being slagged I will say that I will never be reconciled to Steve Evans as manager and consider that Tony Stewart has allowed the club to move in the wrong direction. The template was Dario Gradi at Crewe and Dean Smith at Walsall. Nothing is being built for the longer term at RUFC and to me it is a terribly missed opportunity.
Fully understand your point, but that's the way of English football as a whole is going also, our younger talented players, regardless of whether they're in academies or not, are being shipped to the nether regions of our football regardless of potential. The real tragedy is that the really big clubs, with massive academies, are paying millions for the privelege of those academies, swooping up the best of young English talent and allowing them to waste away in reserves/u21/loans etc, whilst also paying millions for foreign players. Does my box in.
At the understandable risk of being slagged I will say that I will never be reconciled to Steve Evans as manager and consider that Tony Stewart has allowed the club to move in the wrong direction. The template was Dario Gradi at Crewe and Dean Smith at Walsall. Nothing is being built for the longer term at RUFC and to me it is a terribly missed opportunity.
Crewe had 3 or 4 seasons in the second tier in the early to mid 2000's and won the League 2 playoff final in 2012. They have had ups and downs in recent years but generally punch their weight plus a bit. Walsall have done ok in League 1 in recent years.. I may be mistaken but did they not reach a a Wembley final recently? Neither have gone bust. We have had a run of relative success recently from a very low base following our financial problems. TS has done wonders. Nobody can deny that. Steve Evans has achieved results. The only thing that we have built however is our tremendous stadium. If you want quick results then Steve is your man. If you want to build a club then in my opinion he isn't. He favours relying on older pro's, rapid turnaround of players and short term loan deals. The only player he has arguably added value to is Agard. Even when winning we play functional football. The club has not produced a single 'own product' during his tenure and he has given none of the youth players any real chance to even have a go. It depends what you want your club to be. It is all about opinions. I think your OP is controversial Kid but it resonates with me.
-- Edited by smiler on Saturday 5th of September 2015 04:07:09 PM
At the understandable risk of being slagged I will say that I will never be reconciled to Steve Evans as manager and consider that Tony Stewart has allowed the club to move in the wrong direction. The template was Dario Gradi at Crewe and Dean Smith at Walsall. Nothing is being built for the longer term at RUFC and to me it is a terribly missed opportunity.
Obviously I agree. Evans shipped players out because even though they were good enough to get us promoted, his opinion was that they weren't good enough for the level above (Mullins, Nards, Skarz, Agard, Revell, etc etc). Well newsflash Steve, neither are you. A scattergun transfer policy, hoofball tactics & a very very lucky escape last season will not save you this time.
It may take time & quite a few more painful defeats, but I truly believe and hope that we'll see the last of the fat controller sometime this season!!!
At the understandable risk of being slagged I will say that I will never be reconciled to Steve Evans as manager and consider that Tony Stewart has allowed the club to move in the wrong direction. The template was Dario Gradi at Crewe and Dean Smith at Walsall. Nothing is being built for the longer term at RUFC and to me it is a terribly missed opportunity.
Obviously I agree. Evans shipped players out because even though they were good enough to get us promoted, his opinion was that they weren't good enough for the level above (Mullins, Nards, Skarz, Agard, Revell, etc etc). Well newsflash Steve, neither are you. A scattergun transfer policy, hoofball tactics & a very very lucky escape last season will not save you this time.
It may take time & quite a few more painful defeats, but I truly believe and hope that we'll see the last of the fat controller sometime this season!!!
Surely though Brad, he's been proven right about those players, through our success over the last few season's. Whether you like it or not, he's built three teams who've all been a success, by getting rid of players he didn't think good enough, and guess what, he can because he's the gaffer, you can have all the opinion you like, and there's some there i wouldn't have got rid of, but he's been proven right, and still gets this kind of stick, i just don't get it.
I don't think his ability to find good players and shift out those that aren't performing is his problem (if anything he's slightly too paranoid about it and hence why we have a ridiculous turnover of players).
He wouldn't have to if he gave his tactics and team selection a bit of thought. Frecklington moved to a deeper role has made him less impactual, making Nardiello trck back wasn't his game, playing Richardson at left back and Broadfoot at right back were horrendous decisions and some of his substitute decisions are baffling.
I'm willing to afford him the time to learn as I think he's earnt that through the two promotions, but at the moment he's getting out-thought by most managers at this level, and his answer always seems to be to find other players, rather than work with the ones we've got.
It's no secret that on the occasions we've had spells of a consistent team are the ones where we've fared better points wise.
We need a better plan a) then long ball. Even when we had Revell we mixed it, with that ball being a useful not essential ball to play. I know we're at a better level so it's harder to play through teams, but long ball all season will be painful and won't render many points.
My conclusion? Undecided but has earnt more time to prove he's the man.
Was Peter Ridsdale good for Leeds or good old 'Arry good for Portsmouth in the long term? By your logic Millmoormagic Leeds fans would have blindly said yes when in the Champions League and Pompey fans would have said yes when they were winning the cup. But they would both have been wrong. In the OP Ridgeway wasn't asking 'has Steve Evans achieved good results?'. Anyone can see that he has. For now. He was asking whether he is the right man to build the club for the long term. That is not the same thing.
-- Edited by smiler on Saturday 5th of September 2015 09:07:58 PM
Was Peter Ridsdale good for Leeds or good old 'Arry good for Portsmouth in the long term? By your logic Millmoormagic Leeds fans would have blindly said yes when in the Champions League and Pompey fans would have said yes when they were winning the cup. But they would both have been wrong. In the OP Ridgeway wasn't asking 'has Steve Evans achieved good results?'. Anyone can see that he has. For now. He was asking whether he is the right man to build the club for the long term. That is not the same thing.
-- Edited by smiler on Saturday 5th of September 2015 09:07:58 PM
By my logic i was replying to Brad's post and not the original post, read my first reply fella, you've got your logic in a twist.
No offence Miloormagic but read both your posts together and you are saying (1) I don't like it but that's the way the game is these days and (2) you can't argue with his results. On a thread about whether Steve Evans is the right man to build the club for the long term. Sorry if I misunderstood. For the sake of clarity fella, do you think he is or not?
My opinion is this, about my football club, i want us to have a squad full of Rotherham lads, all playing their hearts out for the badge, all who've come through our academy, i also want those same lads playing beautiful pass and move football in whichever division they're playing in, I'm also a realist, and football is about winning three points on a league game, or a one off play off final, and i don't think you could find a more successful manager in British football at this time, maybe European as well, as Steve Evans, so, did i want him at the club? no, do i want him at the club now? yes, are the people knocking him missing the point or is it me?
Meaning that I think you are missing the point and so do others who defend the manager on the basis of results alone. I think the OP made a fair point and I said so and said why without any riddles. Short term success and long term building of a club are not necessarily the same thing. My personal opinion is that Steve Evans has achieved great short term results but that the way he has achieved that is not necessarily good for the long term well being and for that matter the reputation of the club. You may have a different opinion. That's fine.
The reputation of the club? As soon as Steve Evans was appointed the reputation of the club was, lets say, diminished, wouldn't you say, given his personal reputation?
I'm not missing any point, just try and think back to other 'Short term' successes we've had as a club that are comparable to what's happened here at RUFC, maybe RM's tenure, yet RM is seen as a hero (rightly so in my view) so what's so different about Steve Evans?
Finally, if i have a different opinion which is 'fine' with you, why the questioning and underhand comment about mine and others opinions.
Easy Millmoor. You ended a post by asking if people who aren't sold on the gaffer have missed the point or if it is you. I replied that I don't think it's just you. Meaning that I think you had missed the point and that lots of Millers fans do. You asked me to elaborate and I have done. Nothing underhand or questioning. Just an opinion. No offence intended.
Did you study politics Smiler, or connected politically in any way, a councillor or the like, because you're much like the modern politician, all spin and bull shine, with emphasis on spinning what other people have put rather than promoting your own, i actually think you probably got a distinction at it, well done.
