TheBunnyBellEnd
Member
- Joined
- 26 Sep 2008
- Messages
- 337
- Player
- Jimmy Harvey
I have tried to remain upbeat and positive since the Scunthorpe game, but events at the club seem to be getting a little bit out of hand. After getting over the disappointment of the Scunny game I found myself quite excited at the prospect of the coming season. We had a good competitive side and I felt with a couple of good introductions we would certainly be challenging to do something next season. I was aware of players out of contract however was confident that some if not all would re-sign. But how quickly my idyllic little dream turned into a nightmare.
News broke that Ronnie had decided to have a clear out of players he did not come up to scratch, again I felt this was a positive move and would hopefully free up much needed cash for those players who would be joining the club.
I saw first on the internet that club captain Anthony Kay and rejected an offer from the club and had signed for league one rivals Huddersfield. Oh dear I thought I hope this isn’t the sign of things to come, however suddenly news broke of Allott signing from Oldham. I thought to myself that this was a positive move and showed that the manager and the club both had a clear vision for the future, players had indeed been identified and were willing to come to us. Again I began to be hopeful for the new season, then news broke about assistant manager Peter Shirtliff leaving to go to Swindon Town, although I felt this was strange I could see how he would enjoy hooking up with old team mate Danny Wilson, so again dismissed this as unfortunate but felt a suitable replacement would be well in place by the start of pre season training.
Then came the news on Friday that Moore had been sacked with immediate effect! Unable to fully process this it took me until Monday before I began to try and make sense of it all, and again although sad to see Moore go tried to remain upbeat thinking that Peter Johnson must have a master plan. Next came the news that LEGEND John Achterberg had decided to cross the river and sign as coach for Liverpool, his departure actually hurt me even more than any other. It was at this stage that I began to get a little worried, however still I clung onto the fact that we still hadn’t appointed a new management team and things would be ok. The club remained silent for a sustained period of time and it was the new manager himself who let the cat out of the bag after a Jamaican international match. It seemed that rumours were actually true and we were in fact going to be managed by John Barnes with Jason Macateer as his assistant. Again this raised some eye brows and many supporters hoped this was not the case right up until the official announcement. It was during the official announcement that I started to get concerned because it seemed we had in fact all been wishing for something that was not actually going to happen. It seemed that rather than Barnes being given a war chest to begin preparations for the coming season rather he was actually going to get less money than his predecessor did. We must not forget also that whilst this drama is unfolding at our club all the other clubs in league one are building their own squads for the up and coming season.
A further week has gone on now and we still have not tied down any of the contract rebels or moved to make any new signings rather we have just lost another player in Ben Chorley who has joined Leyton Orient. It is now two weeks since the sacking of Moore and the season officially begins at Yeovil at the beginning of August. That made me panic slightly as it is now the 18th June. And the first pre season match is approaching rapidly.
In short we seem to be in a bit of a confused state with supporters beginning to fret, there are many unanswered questions many based around the sacking of Ronnie Moore. Why did the club leave it so long after the Scunny game to do it if that decision had already been made? The thought process (or lack of) that led to this decision is also under scrutiny as are the knock on factors this decision has caused. Ronnie would already of had a good idea of the team he would be expecting to field next season and had already started the building process releasing the likes of Sonko and signing Allott. Had the board acted sooner would all of these players been released? Will Allott actually figure in John Barnes’ plans? Or will he simply be a squad player?
Another major problem with this has also been that Moore would have began negotiations with the players he would have liked to bring to the club , names had such as Mahon and Savage had been linked in local media. The problem now is you would have to assume any such deals are now dead in the water.
Also Many Rovers fans find the reasons given for the sacking very difficult to swallow especially when you now look at the state the club has gotten itself into. The club blamed falling attendances but I cant see there being a rush on season ticket sales during this current fiasco, and attendances are not really the responsibility of the manager, lest not forget we are in the middle of a credit crunch. The other reason given of course was not reaching the playoffs, again this did not wash with many supporters as many felt the team overachieved on the budget and squad size they were allocated.
As I stated initially I felt that Barnes should be given a fair crack of the whip and we should not judge him on previous failures, however as time ticks by I can only see his job becoming more and more difficult and that the appointment may have some serous flaws in it that no amount of public support will be able to help. Many people have defended Barnes over recent weeks (yes myself included!) and many people will argue that he hasny even been in charge of a game yet, but as things seem to be getting grimmer and grimmer even I a die hard supporter is beginning to question if he is the right man for a job many of us on these boards would cherish. His record aint great, he went to one of only two big clubs in Scotland and failed………badly! There could be many underlying reasons for this and I for one still cling desperately to the hope that it was one of these and not the fact he is rubbish that made him ultimately fail. He then ended up taking control of a Jamaica side that could not qualify for anything and was under no pressure, so I cant really see how this has helped him to improve. In the past Barnes has had decent money to spend, here he will have nowt! That being the situation he is faced with he will have to go looking for players who are out of contract, this raises another question, how well do you think John Barnes knows the players of the football league? Will he be looking at the out of contract list and circling for definite players he knows are quality or will he be looking at the list and using the pen to scratch his head in bewilderment? Also what does Barnes know about the type of football played at this level and what it takes to be successful? Again I am left wondering. I question Jasons input, and quite seriously ask the question has he got the intelligence to help run a football team? My final question is has John Barnes got what it takes to do this job day in day out? The answer to most of these questions I am sure will be time will tell, but you are left with a kind of dead man walking feeling.
So where are we now, in truth, probably not a great place. We now have a new ‘big name’ manager who has a squad of eight to pick from. We have still got a number of players stalling on new contracts and to be honest I couldn’t currently blame them if they to did one to another club. The team has basically lost its spine and that will be very difficult to replace and have working effectively in the time that is left. The club also seems to have no talisman left someone who will lift the place when things are not going right both on and off the pitch. We have no club captain and seemingly very few back room staff. Currently supporters seem to be living in a dream world that we are going to make one or two big signings names such as Lita, Fowler and Degen have been spoken about on various message boards. But the simple fact is that we simply cant afford players like this and I imagine anyone who we do sign will quickly be getting researched on wikipedia to find out who they are. As for bringing loan players in I am all for it as long as they are adding something to your current squad they are not a viable alternative to it. Again however I urge supporters to try and keep their feet on the ground again, look at some of the loanees we had last season, Antwi, etc. The exception to the rule of cource was the superb Shotton…….oh how we miss him!
In short folks I apologise for wasting so much of your precious time with my ramblings but cant help feeling deflated and very concerned about the season ahead. The entire league has changed with a number of big clubs coming into it adding to those already there and for a team like us to do anything would have been a struggle even with a settled side, now I fear we could be in for a hard slog and say with a heavy heart we could be flirting at the wrong end of the table come May. As I say I know a ball has yet to be kicked yet and I do hope I am wrong and that Barnes is a success and builds a team that will succeed, but for me I just cant see it.
News broke that Ronnie had decided to have a clear out of players he did not come up to scratch, again I felt this was a positive move and would hopefully free up much needed cash for those players who would be joining the club.
I saw first on the internet that club captain Anthony Kay and rejected an offer from the club and had signed for league one rivals Huddersfield. Oh dear I thought I hope this isn’t the sign of things to come, however suddenly news broke of Allott signing from Oldham. I thought to myself that this was a positive move and showed that the manager and the club both had a clear vision for the future, players had indeed been identified and were willing to come to us. Again I began to be hopeful for the new season, then news broke about assistant manager Peter Shirtliff leaving to go to Swindon Town, although I felt this was strange I could see how he would enjoy hooking up with old team mate Danny Wilson, so again dismissed this as unfortunate but felt a suitable replacement would be well in place by the start of pre season training.
Then came the news on Friday that Moore had been sacked with immediate effect! Unable to fully process this it took me until Monday before I began to try and make sense of it all, and again although sad to see Moore go tried to remain upbeat thinking that Peter Johnson must have a master plan. Next came the news that LEGEND John Achterberg had decided to cross the river and sign as coach for Liverpool, his departure actually hurt me even more than any other. It was at this stage that I began to get a little worried, however still I clung onto the fact that we still hadn’t appointed a new management team and things would be ok. The club remained silent for a sustained period of time and it was the new manager himself who let the cat out of the bag after a Jamaican international match. It seemed that rumours were actually true and we were in fact going to be managed by John Barnes with Jason Macateer as his assistant. Again this raised some eye brows and many supporters hoped this was not the case right up until the official announcement. It was during the official announcement that I started to get concerned because it seemed we had in fact all been wishing for something that was not actually going to happen. It seemed that rather than Barnes being given a war chest to begin preparations for the coming season rather he was actually going to get less money than his predecessor did. We must not forget also that whilst this drama is unfolding at our club all the other clubs in league one are building their own squads for the up and coming season.
A further week has gone on now and we still have not tied down any of the contract rebels or moved to make any new signings rather we have just lost another player in Ben Chorley who has joined Leyton Orient. It is now two weeks since the sacking of Moore and the season officially begins at Yeovil at the beginning of August. That made me panic slightly as it is now the 18th June. And the first pre season match is approaching rapidly.
In short we seem to be in a bit of a confused state with supporters beginning to fret, there are many unanswered questions many based around the sacking of Ronnie Moore. Why did the club leave it so long after the Scunny game to do it if that decision had already been made? The thought process (or lack of) that led to this decision is also under scrutiny as are the knock on factors this decision has caused. Ronnie would already of had a good idea of the team he would be expecting to field next season and had already started the building process releasing the likes of Sonko and signing Allott. Had the board acted sooner would all of these players been released? Will Allott actually figure in John Barnes’ plans? Or will he simply be a squad player?
Another major problem with this has also been that Moore would have began negotiations with the players he would have liked to bring to the club , names had such as Mahon and Savage had been linked in local media. The problem now is you would have to assume any such deals are now dead in the water.
Also Many Rovers fans find the reasons given for the sacking very difficult to swallow especially when you now look at the state the club has gotten itself into. The club blamed falling attendances but I cant see there being a rush on season ticket sales during this current fiasco, and attendances are not really the responsibility of the manager, lest not forget we are in the middle of a credit crunch. The other reason given of course was not reaching the playoffs, again this did not wash with many supporters as many felt the team overachieved on the budget and squad size they were allocated.
As I stated initially I felt that Barnes should be given a fair crack of the whip and we should not judge him on previous failures, however as time ticks by I can only see his job becoming more and more difficult and that the appointment may have some serous flaws in it that no amount of public support will be able to help. Many people have defended Barnes over recent weeks (yes myself included!) and many people will argue that he hasny even been in charge of a game yet, but as things seem to be getting grimmer and grimmer even I a die hard supporter is beginning to question if he is the right man for a job many of us on these boards would cherish. His record aint great, he went to one of only two big clubs in Scotland and failed………badly! There could be many underlying reasons for this and I for one still cling desperately to the hope that it was one of these and not the fact he is rubbish that made him ultimately fail. He then ended up taking control of a Jamaica side that could not qualify for anything and was under no pressure, so I cant really see how this has helped him to improve. In the past Barnes has had decent money to spend, here he will have nowt! That being the situation he is faced with he will have to go looking for players who are out of contract, this raises another question, how well do you think John Barnes knows the players of the football league? Will he be looking at the out of contract list and circling for definite players he knows are quality or will he be looking at the list and using the pen to scratch his head in bewilderment? Also what does Barnes know about the type of football played at this level and what it takes to be successful? Again I am left wondering. I question Jasons input, and quite seriously ask the question has he got the intelligence to help run a football team? My final question is has John Barnes got what it takes to do this job day in day out? The answer to most of these questions I am sure will be time will tell, but you are left with a kind of dead man walking feeling.
So where are we now, in truth, probably not a great place. We now have a new ‘big name’ manager who has a squad of eight to pick from. We have still got a number of players stalling on new contracts and to be honest I couldn’t currently blame them if they to did one to another club. The team has basically lost its spine and that will be very difficult to replace and have working effectively in the time that is left. The club also seems to have no talisman left someone who will lift the place when things are not going right both on and off the pitch. We have no club captain and seemingly very few back room staff. Currently supporters seem to be living in a dream world that we are going to make one or two big signings names such as Lita, Fowler and Degen have been spoken about on various message boards. But the simple fact is that we simply cant afford players like this and I imagine anyone who we do sign will quickly be getting researched on wikipedia to find out who they are. As for bringing loan players in I am all for it as long as they are adding something to your current squad they are not a viable alternative to it. Again however I urge supporters to try and keep their feet on the ground again, look at some of the loanees we had last season, Antwi, etc. The exception to the rule of cource was the superb Shotton…….oh how we miss him!
In short folks I apologise for wasting so much of your precious time with my ramblings but cant help feeling deflated and very concerned about the season ahead. The entire league has changed with a number of big clubs coming into it adding to those already there and for a team like us to do anything would have been a struggle even with a settled side, now I fear we could be in for a hard slog and say with a heavy heart we could be flirting at the wrong end of the table come May. As I say I know a ball has yet to be kicked yet and I do hope I am wrong and that Barnes is a success and builds a team that will succeed, but for me I just cant see it.
