and so it begins..

[Mal]

Hopefully we will have a Clayton/Clark type pair of forwards.....

 

[drwhoman]

I agree BBTC. People were talking the other day about their favourite game. I go back further than most partly because Inhave lived in Oz for the last thirty years and only read or saw film of the games discussed. I was visiting England when we beat Ardiles' Newcastle 7-6 in a wind affected cup game. However, late 65. In the old cowshed. Rovers 4-2 against Brighton who were top of the league at the time. What an atmosphere - 20000 in the ground! Brightn had Bobby Smith the ex England CF and several other well known players in their team. A time when top players needed to live by going down the leagues and not going abroad with their millions! Fish and chips across the road afterwards and join the queue for the fleet of blue Birkenhead buses to go home. Happy days!

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

I too was at the Brighton game - and in the Cowshed, of course! That was the season we won our first 18 home matches and that was one of them. We were robbed by a dodgy off-side goal in the return fixture, which probably cost us promotion. In those days I would walk home to save the bus fare so I could buy fish and chips, which cost less than 10p in today's money!

Apologies to everyone else for going way off topic, but drwhoman does get me going!

 

[drwhoman]

Thanks BBTC. Manning. Dyson, Charlie Mac - oh for at least one guy like them these days! On a different game I see that Inverness won the Scottish Cup after Carl Tremarco (remember him!) was sent off! Did not see David Raven in the team sheet - maybe he was injured.

 

[Boz]

Maynard sounds very promising, but don't think Hogan featured much last season for Halifax, think due to injury.

Bit surprised that we haven't heard where things stand with the likes of Holmes, Koumas, Hill.

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

Thanks BBTC. Manning. Dyson, Charlie Mac - oh for at least one guy like them these days! On a different game I see that Inverness won the Scottish Cup after Carl Tremarco (remember him!) was sent off! Did not see David Raven in the team sheet - maybe he was injured.

David Raven failed a late fitness test. Ye, it's interesting that two players given frees by Rovers a few years ago end up in a cup winning team which finished third in the Scottish League.

 

[Tartantranmere64]

And Will Vaulks ended up on the losing side in the Scottish Cup final. Reports suggest he played well and has just extended his contract at Falkirk.

 

[Boz]

And Will Vaulks ended up on the losing side in the Scottish Cup final. Reports suggest he played well and has just extended his contract at Falkirk.

Vaulks was one of Ronnie Moore's failings, looked decent in the reserves, but never given a fair crack of the whip. Don't know if due to being relatively short for a central defender, when RM preferred his to be Lurch sized or something else.
Maybe we'll see Jake Kirby lining up for Celtic in a few years time...

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

In fairness, we were a League One side when Tremarco and Vaulks went and they were probably no better than other players we had at the time. Scottish football is generally a poor standard, so the fact Vaulks is turning out for Falkirk in the Champuionship does not say a lot in itself.

I agree that Ronnie's fetish for Jake Kirby was a bit weird. Nobody else thought he was going to get a professional contract when he was awarded one by RM.

 

[Mal]

The Scottish Premier is the equivalent of League 2 with two Championship sides in it. I hardly think it says a lot that ex Tranmere players can do well in that league. I also think we should just move on and forget about the Moore years and his choices. What is past is past.

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

The Scottish Premier is the equivalent of League 2 with two Championship sides in it. I hardly think it says a lot that ex Tranmere players can do well in that league. I also think we should just move on and forget about the Moore years and his choices. What is past is past.

Agree with both comments, Mal. I remember when Pat Nevin left us while we were still in the second tier. He couldn't get into Rovers' side but not only played regularly for Motherwell but also continued in the Scotland side. On that logic, the middle of the Championship was better than the top four in Scotland. And that was 20 years ago, the difference will be greater now. Looking how long it took Inverness and Gretna to rise from non-league to top division and European football, it does emphasise your point. It's ironic that if we could have joined the Scottish or Welsh Leagues, we could be looking forward to the prospect of the Champions League.

 

[drwhoman]

On the same theme, how has Ash Taylor done at Aberdeen? I have not been following him. I saw a Scottish Cup final three (?) years ago in which Steve Jennings was playing for Motherwell who lost to Celtic. Incidentally I see that the former thrashed Rangers yesterday. Shows how far the Gers have fallen after all the managerial strife.

 

[Sparky]

Ash Taylor had a great season at Aberdeen finishing runners up in the SPL altho that ain't difficult.

Was a regular in the defence alongside ex rovers loanee shay Logan. Ash leaving has worked out for him with a new contract too but u can't say the same for James Wallace who got another serious injury at sheff utd.

Maybe there should be a new thread on ex rovers players! There has been enough players coming and going over the last few years!

 

[drwhoman]

Not a bad idea! I see David Buchanan got a free from Preston and has gone to Northampton. Shame he chose not to stay.

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

A whole week has passed without a new player. What's GB up to? Seriously, I'd have expected to hear news or at least rumours about Koumas, Hill, Holmes and Laird. I'm expecting Power to leave but the other four might be persuaded to stay and I'd certainly be sorry to see them go. Has anyone heard anything?

 

[Ian]

There's no need to panic. Like Brabin says the seasons only just finished. Plenty of time for player ins and outs and players/agents to negotiate deals.

 

[frenchrover]

No further news this week regarding new additions to the squad or the fate of the remaining players still on the books from last season. I can only assume Gary B and/or Mark P are on holiday. I agree there is no need to panic but another week has gone by and most imortantly we still haven't got a first choice keeper. This is one position we cannot afford to leave until the bottom of the barrel is being scraped.

 

[Ian]

I don't think the keeper position will be that hard to fill. Their first priority was to find a striker and some decent players to fill those weak areas in the squad.

 

[bring back the cowshed!]

We'll need at least one other striker too. I don't think we can manage with just Norwood and Stockton - and George Donnelly of course. I agree there's no panic and I hope GB and MP are planning some holiday this summer.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

We are well ahead of most other Conference clubs in squad building, a number of whom have barely signed anybody yet, so I am not greatly concerned. However, it would be nice to have the situation regarding Holmes, Laird and Hill clarified, the only three of the remaining out of contract players I would want to keep. It would also be good if we could ship a couple of the weak under-contract players out: certainly Donnelly, but perhaps also one or two others, such as Holness.