Gwru is fond of justifying his non-stop criticism, carping and computer game style management by saying that he just wants us to be the best we can be. My question is this. Assuming a break-even budget, all things being equal crowd-wise (when they are back) etc and being realistic, what is 'the best that we can be'?
If gwru really wanted us to be the best we can be, he'd shut his mouth and just leave it to people who know what they're talking about.
Our highest finish in my lifetime was 15th in the championship under Ronnie. It was an incredible achievement then and it'd be an incredible achievement now. With our budget can we realistically expect more than that? Based on current budget and crowd size, if come the end of any particular season we're either fighting to stay in the championship, or fighting to get in the championship, it's about right and should be considered a success.
-- Edited by realmiller on Thursday 8th of October 2020 05:33:53 PM
Personally I am with you on that, but in reality in this day and age how long would any manager last if we were losing every week by the odd goal in high-scoring, entertaining matches?
In reality in this day and age how long would any manager last if we were losing every week by the odd goal in high-scoring, entertaining matches?
That's the problem isn't it? It's all well and good wanting entertaining football, but people would soon get bored of entertaining football if it wasn't entertaining winning football and would want the manager sacked, after all we've got some thick 'fans' who want the manager sacked immediately after getting promoted. Give me a dour 1-0 win over a 4-3 defeat any day.
The phrase 'the best we can be' is rather illusory if we are talking about match performance, since performance is not a fixed status. We could could put in a sterling game one day, the next put in an appalling display. How can that be quantified as being the best we can be or the worst?
If we're talking about the club as an entity then some standard can be measured and is a different issue. Since we are discussing a statement often put forward by
Reminds me of Keegan at Newcastle. Some of the most entertaining football you'd wish to see but a lack of success cost him his job.
In the current cir***stances, it's quite difficult to decide what the 'best we can be' is. TS is quite certain that, without Government support, quite a few clubs will go to the wall. In terms of Championship survival, it may not be a question of how good our squad is, rather how sound our finances are. could be the deciding factor.
Going purely on our squad and management team, I'd say we have a 50/50 chance of staying up. Wycombe are a shoe-in for relegation. We just need two more and there are teams who have not made a great start who could struggle all season.
In terms of financial stability, I have confidence in the way TS runs the club and I think we would be well down the queue of teams who stand a chance of going out of business.
The optimist in me says that a top half finish is not beyond our reach. Just a pity that the Barlaser/Ogbene double act has had a set-back!
Sorry you have misunderstood. My vision is a team that can entertain and remain in this division. I am not looking for promotion that is way beyond finances.
A team that plays in a certain way, brings in young players and nurtures them and allows them to move on to better things. I look forward to a former Rotherham player playing for England.
I think as a club we currently enjoy a status that could be described as the best we have ever been, thanks to the good stewardship and management team that we presently enjoy. It would be nice to see more consistently good performances but the players are human not machines and a standard can only be gauged on the final position at the end of a season. Gwru's mantra is cuckoo.
On the safe assumption that we will never spend beyond our means, Financially for our Chairman, being in the Championship is better than L1. So that's the first thing. It is nonsense to ever say we are better off in a lower league.
..and so for being best we can be, not fighting a relegation battle in this league will do for me as a definition of that...
I'm confident the team will always give 100% under Warney and that goes a long way to satisfying what I want to see from a playing point of view.
If Ladapo and/or Hirst can find some goal scoring form, I'd be confident we can stay up & build on that next season.
I'd also like to see us get some luck in games, I've watched us for decades and can't ever remember us getting our fair share during a season.. and I'd like to think that's not a biased view.
We need to beat/manage this virus to keep our sport alive though...
UTM
-- Edited by Davidedin on Thursday 8th of October 2020 10:13:21 PM
I can remember when king Ronnie was manager we were due to play Norwich they were top of the league. All the experts predicted a right pasting half time 2-1down down to 10 men 2nd half we ended up drawing with we were actually leading until the last minute. The Norwich manager said we were playing against animals never seen it in football before. That to me is the best you can do only one Ronnie Moore.
Another attempt at a decent discussion that gets so far before one of the resident village idiots chimes in! It was 4-4 that day. We finished 17th in the second tier that season (2003/4), 3 points above a relegation spot. We struggled for goals most of the season despite that game being high scoring. Unfortunately we couldnt build on it and a great 15th place the season before, and in 2004/5 we finished in bottom spot. Ronnie was fired in Jan 05 after the crowd had given him a very hard time because we were rock bottom, well adrift and pretty awful. Ronnie was great for us and is a legend but he did manage us to relegation as well as promotions.
-- Edited by smiler on Thursday 8th of October 2020 11:58:29 PM
-- Edited by smiler on Thursday 8th of October 2020 11:59:01 PM
One thing I do know King Ronnie has never been in charge of a team that has been relegated. Present manager twice might be a hat trick watch this space.
The way the game is now, money is a massive factor. Unless we get massive investment and smash the FFP Rules, we are always likely to be either one of the middle to larger clubs in League One or one of the smallest clubs in The Championship. On Saturday we drew against a club who have had £60m in parachute payments alone in the last two seasons when our total revenue is about £12m per season. And they are by no means the biggest spenders. For me anything below half way in League One is underperformance, being in The Championship at all represents success and staying in The Championship is probably 'the best we can be' in terms of league position. If we can do that playing entertaining football that would be fantastic, but getting the required points whilst being a bit more expansive is a difficult task. Being a financially stable club and a well respected club that we can be proud to support are different measures that to me are important. There has never been a manager who hasnt made mistakes. Players get injured or lose form, some dont settle, things can go wrong. We cant expect perfection. Give me 100% effort though and a few of the ingredients mentioned above and that will do for me.
