I am inclined to agree with you Brad. Any player worth more than that sort of transfer fee would command wages more than we will pay. The dilemma is how to try and compete whilst living within our means, when we are (let's face it) smaller than almost every if not every other club in the division (by any measure). It's the same dilemma we have faced before. The reality is that it is a tough task. We will probably struggle. We all knew that in August, didn't we? We are making a better fist of it than we did last time, but it is difficult. I understand and accept that. I don't see any easy answers.
TBH Smiler I was thinking while walking back to Wembley Park tube station in May do I really want yet another season when "plucky little Rotherham" got beaten most weeks for 9 months? Unfortunately it's starting to come true. I really hope that in my lifetime I can see an RUFC board with real ambition to try & grow the club but I can only see the same old missed opportunities Every time alas.
The Championship at times isn't enjoyable at all Brad. There are positives. Some of the away grounds are a pleasure to visit. The quality of the football is infinitely better than in League One. As a football fan I enjoyed watching WBA attack even though we were on the wrong end of it. We win occasionally and it feels really good when we do. But I don't mind League One at all. I like going to away games knowing that we have a realistic chance of winning, and I like sometimes dominating teams at our ground. I think we are one of a bunch of clubs who are now firmly established as top half of League One and bottom half of The Championship clubs. Barnsley, Bolton, Millwall, Peterborough and Charlton are there with us. The thing is that if we could stay up this season we would be in a good place when the music stopped for the new TV deal, though talk of Premier League is absolute fantasy. It makes good business sense for TS to invest all he reasonably can to try and help us stay up this season and although he might lack football noise TS is undoubtedly a shrewd businessman. If we don't give it a bit of a go in January it would tell me that financially we are already stretched to the limit.
We played the wrong system today and their big lads at the back were bigger and stronger than Proctor and Smith. Probably should have gone 1 up top and got Williams and Taylor running them around more. Referee was a complete joke and whilst he might have missed the handballs on the floor in the box he couldn't have missed the deliberate punch of the ball in the area, and Smith was battered all afternoon without a single free kick for it. Bolton were utterly terrible though and not an example of the standard of this league - they look certain to join us in L1.
Two poor championship teams on view. They were marginally less poor than us on the day. Whether you play 442, 433, 451 or whatever other system, you won't win games if your defenders give soft goals away and we still don't create enough in open play. The effort is always there but sadly the quality isn't. Blaming the manager and/or players won't help the situation. If we had the scope to invest more and have chosen not to do it then questioning the board is legitimate. I don't know whether that is the situation or not. Remarkably we are still not in the bottom three but at present it isn't looking very good. All in all, I'm a bit dispirited but not yet in a state of despair. We are still in with a shout. I don't think for one second we are going to spend our way out of trouble (we would need tens of millions to make a real difference) so we have to keep behind them and keep at it.
I've been saying we need Proctor and Smith starting and Warne obviously thought it was a day to 'have a go' against a poor side we might outplay... but after today I think I agree with your post Smiler.
A bit of luck wouldn't go miss either... we never get much of that....
We need a win soon so that the confidence levels dont drop...
I take consolation from the fact that up to Boxing Day it was one win out of fourteen games played for Bolton. The last win for Bolton was September 2018. We have played really well while Bolton have been floundering both on and off the field. Oh, hang on a second!We've slipped a place down the league table. Bring Jerry Yates back from Carlisle. He's scoring for fun up there.
Worst thing we could do is panic & bring the likes of Yates Ihiekwe Da Ball back. Williams is the only winger we have good enough. Is it coinsidence we have hit our bad spell since Forde came back in the side. Play Manning on the left wing while January. Side for Bristol C Rodak Vaulks Raggett Robertson Mattock Williams Wiles Ajayi Towell Manning Smudger
Two awful sides played at Bolton yesterday and i would be surprised if either got past 40 pts this season if they keep the same squads.
Don't blame Forde gwru,he has actually been one of the better players in the last few games albeit not offering a lot going forward. A short while ago you wanted Newell out left until Jan now its Manning. I think that shows the problem we have on the wide left.
4.4.2. didn't appear to work yesterday but we carried on lumping forward and played the same style as when we play 4.5.1 or 4.4.1.1. It looked to me like Proctor was way off the pace but its hard to criticise a player who has hardly had any game time. I think its time to play Wiles in the middle instead of Towell and give him license to get forward. Towell has looked jaded for a while so give him a rest. We had very little pace to worry them yesterday so we have to play Williams and possibly Taylor who has had a decent rest.
I agree with most of the posters, the lads out on loan would struggle to make an impact in the championship so we have to shuffle the pack we have. I live in hope we might get some fresh players in January but its hope more than expectation.
Theres a lot of talk about investment and ambition on all message boards. Here's the problem : i live on a street where everyone has a porche or Ferrari. I'm on a much lower income and drive a ford fiesta. Do i get myself into debt so i can upgrade to a ford focus to compete with the neighbours or is that futile ?
All i think we can hope for is a bit of better balance. If we are going to play 4-2-3-1 then we need wingers and a number 10 who can score(agard and frecks types). But we'll be looking at lower league players or loanees. I suspect we could find a million for transfers but not the wages that player would demand.
A month ago we were looking hard to beat and getting draws. A minor tweak to that, to get the odd win as well, might just be enough and realistically might have to be.
I'm sorry but Warne has done what he can
With the budget Tony has given him
Its time Tony had a reality check and wake up if he wants a successful mid table championship team then he has to start investing more . And realise that players aren't like employees at his factory that we need a bigger squad sending ball out on Loan was a mistake
I think DKNY has summed it up. How much do people want TS to invest anyway? We were linked with Christian Doidge and Kayden (?) Jackson both for £1m and wages to match. They have scored one league goal apiece I think. On what I have seen Doidge is not better than the £60k Smith. To significantly improve the side by throwing money at it we would have to spend several million and smash the wage structure, and still with no guarantees. It isn't going to happen. As DKNY says, we have to find another way to do it. Try and recruit cleverly, get the most out of what we can afford, and if we go down know that we gave it our best go.
whiston01 we got away with it for so long but our non-event summer transfer window is working against us now. Only actual signing we brought in that's added something to us is Robertson. Only loan signing that's been a total success is Rodak. We gave 2 yr contracts to players same as Potter in Jones & Wood who won't see them out. Extended Proctor's contract when he's not proved he's come back from a bad injury & doubts are he will. We've ended up with no Right backs good enough & Williams only winger good enough. Forde & Taylor have never been championship players, never will be. Dom Ball I'm not saying for certain he'll be the answer to improve us in the positions he plays but he's the only player we loaned out with the a chance of being a championship player.
Good Points well made gwru. I am with you on Potter,Jones and Wood. This will be a season and a half where Jones hasn't kicked a ball.Its hard to criticise Wood after his wembley heroics but he looks a yard too slow in the championship and i am being kind to him. Proctor hasn't been given a chance yet but as we all know its not easy coming back from the sort of injury he had. Vyner has not progressed as i expected and it looks like he is a centre back and not a full back. He went to ground again yesterday for their second goal and goals are frequently coming from his side. Forde is a squad player at best and is a defensive winger. Perhaps try him at full back, although not sure he can tackle but he is not on his own. Taylor needs to move on but does give us some pace and on the odd occasions (Sheff Utd) can make the odd chance and has scored. I will throw Newell in as well who can only be considered coming on as an impact player. Manning will be back at Q.P.R if rumours are correct, so it leaves us short all over.
The one player, as you say who could be a championship player is Dom Ball. Yesterday he played one of two holding midfield players in a 4.2.3.1 set up. By all accounts he performed well against the best side in Scotland. I have no doubts Celtic would beat us so he could well be up to championship standard. I have no idea if he is a decent human being but he doesn't seem to be upsetting the apple cart in Aberdeen. Perhaps he is maturing. Of the rest i don't see Yates, Ihekwe,Purrington.Bray or David ball having any influence on games in the championship. Same applies to Onarise who i had forgot about.
Think Proctor looks heavy legged after half an hour and its understandable why so he should come off the bench to give us a final push in games until he gets match fit. Taylor and Williams on the flanks with Vaulks, Towell and AN Other in the middle. Thought Wiles looked quite sharp yesterday and perhaps more game time for him. I would love us to bring in a playmaker and a genuine striker but then so would 12 other teams in this league. Ive banged on about it but we should have bought Moore when Ipswich weren't interested. I did think Palmer was going to be something decent but he gets lost. Have we actually said we might bring anyone in?
Warne has managed expectations by saying he would be quite happy if we didn't bring anyone in, but there is a persistent rumour that we are after Chucks Aneke from MK Dons. Question whether they want or need to sell and whether we would appeal to him or not. Maybe the Barker connection will count for something. Aneke has a bit of something about him in my opinion. Thinking about Forde, he is the most disciplined defensive wide player we have and I wonder whether he has been playing to afford Vyner maximum protection. We desperately need a right back.
Taylor if he was good enough he'd be playing Right wing. He's definitely not a left sided player. Play Manning on the left against Bristol C, Williams on the Right. Taylor & Palmer can go in January, send Vyner back to his parent club. Need a Right back Midfielder Left winger Striker in January.
Taylor if he was good enough he'd be playing Right wing. He's definitely not a left sided player. Play Manning on the left against Bristol C, Williams on the Right. Taylor & Palmer can go in January, send Vyner back to his parent club. Need a Right back Midfielder Left winger Striker in January.
And we won't sign anyone apart from a couple of "promising 18 yr olds" from Leicester/Watford/ some other middling PL club on bleedin loan.
With respect gwru who is going to take these players off our hands ? Think we're stuck with Vyner for the whole season and if the story that we don't play Bristol anything if he's in the first team is true then i wonder what sort of club we are giving our support to. Additionally it is ludicrous not to give Wiles a starting berth when the other central midfielders are way out of form (or maybe just not very good).
Its all up in the air now. The form has dropped and so have the results. Same players (more or less), changes are being tried and tested by the management team, and a little time is needed to analyse it confidently. It seems if one considers each players merits at present that none of them inspires any hope. I'm going to suggest its tiredness and a sprinkling of growing belief from the opponents. If that's the case then Warne has to find a way of reinventing that wheel of belief, and pronto.
We may be able to spin the aforementioned new wheel, but its highly unlikely to be anything spectacular, and I have to say that I am simply no fan of extending our credit. I would much rather us go down with balanced books, and I also much rather like, and there is much to appreciate, in Smilers idea that RUFC are part of a new upper half L1. If that is the case then we have made very substantial progress over the last several years.
A team with a history like we have does not easily ascend beyond its base, but we have indeed achieved that. To go farther would take a very rare set of cir***stances. So, I'm content with the current position as it is. We are upward and mobile and it would be all too easy to fall through the bottom of L1 in a season or 3 with bad debt and no incentive to shed that burden. The embalmers need no encouragement. Indeed, it seems to be quite a positive calling to most I've met.
Im fond of the management team, but they really have to deliver. "Talk is cheap" is a startling sweeping but precise idiom, and PW and Co are very good at talking the talk, and have produced results; some way beyond speculation. However, the markets now look keen to close on us, and this season might have already produced its best returns. New management strangely hasn't been mentioned, but for good reason! No win in 16 or so might prompt the majority of fans and chairman to consider that as the issue. Not doing so reveals more than is between the lines of our frustration and efforts to find the right formation.
I do hope we can bring in at least 3 players. I am desperate enough to think that this increases our chances of finding both a slight boost to what currently seems like a tired team and possibly one of them might actually be worth more than his individual merits. To do nothing would for me confirm that PW's eccentricity has increased beyond his creativity.
Where do we need strengthening? Well, as Whiston et al have said; most everywhere we look. That being said, Id target the attacking part of the team. Whenever I've been in a bad situation of any kind it has been a positive forward movement that has loosened up the whole situation. I think we have enough to defend if we can only take more out of the opposition.
