• Nigel Adkins has been given the Tranmere job on a permanent basis signing until the end of the 25/26 season. Continue the discussion here.

League Two Rovers v Keith Hill's Scunny

Joined
1 Oct 2005
Messages
5,691
Player
Alan King, Barry Dyson
Joined
24 Jul 2017
Messages
4,185
Player
aldo
8 and a half hours not conceding a goal not too shabby, and I have to say what a gaol from Elliott Nevitt that will do him the world of good, also let us hope that is the First of many goals he can get the club
 

Boz

Member
Joined
30 Sep 2005
Messages
8,851
Player
Iain Hume
The opening 20 minutes saw Scunthorpe having more of the possession, but not really able to do much with it. That was down to a combination of some excellent defending at the back and the visitors lack of any incisive attacking play. After that point, Rovers got more on top and two goals in five minutes the first from Jolley could perhaps have been kept out by a more alert keeper, but the second was an unstoppable volley from Nevitt and we finished the half on top.

Second half saw a good early effort by Jolley tipped away, but after that Rovers appeared to be sitting deeper and when we did attack, it didn't seem to make that much impact. Scunny came closer to getting on the scoresheet one effort cleared away and another decent cross slid into the box needed a touch. Interesting to speculate what might have happened if the visitors had got one back at this point. Instead a great long pass from Spearing to Foley, who still had work to do, but Sam carried the ball and finished calmly to put the game out of reach. Rovers had a few chances to extend the lead further and Watson bundled the ball in for a comfortable 4-0 win.

I felt the defending was quality to the extent that Doohan was mainly restricted to mopping up long-distance daisy-cutters, though impressed that Ross used a few theatrics from the Scottie Davies handbook to kill time as the game went on. Up front, probably one of the best performances in a Rovers shirt for Nevitt, who was winning a lot more headers and directing them better, capped by a quality goal. Jolley has a different style, makes a nuisance of himself and difficult to shake off, he was really effective today. Glatzel also looked in decent nick when he came on.

The area of the park where we had some difficulties was midfield. I'm an admirer of Jay Spearing, but he wasn't up to his usual standard in the first half, giving the ball away or conceding throw-ins with misplaced passes and not making any contact with the ball (or thankfully the player) with one of his flying tackles. Thankfully the later stages of the game were more of the expected quality. I barely noticed O'Connor ~wasn't sure why he got booked(?) he did a lot of work in a quietly effective manner. Liam Feeney is a marmite player, I wish that the manager would take all set piece responsibility away from him, as once again he was very poor in their execution. In other aspects he had a decent game. McPake's start was enforced by other absences/departures. It was encouraging that he seemed to be developing an understanding with Macdonald and that he was prepared to get stuck in putting in a few challenges and blocks, while there were glimpses of the attacking flair that is his main attraction.

MoM is a difficult one I could see why the sponsors went for Jolley, while Macdonald was back to his best, but I'd have given it to Nevitt.

A word about Keith Hill. I got to the ground early and he was on the pitch just after two. Posed for a picture with some Rovers fans, had a joke with the goalkeepers being put through their paces pre-match then went off to train his own side. I don't think he was the right fit for us, but he wasn't the malign influence Mickey Adams was. Hope he can turn things round for Scunthorpe, whose fans deserve credit for their respectful behaviour during the memorial service.
 

Ian

Super White!
Admin
Joined
21 Sep 2005
Messages
12,019
Player
Aldo
Manager
Kingy
If he had been as professional and respectful in his interviews here, he might have lasted a bit longer.

It makes you wonder why he was not.........
I think he became more and more frustrated as time went on and his interviews went the same way. The last couple were awful but his time was up by then.

He was never going to be able to shake the Bolton tag either and as awful as that sounds, that is football. He could never really engage with the supporters.
 
Joined
10 Apr 2021
Messages
685
If he had been as professional and respectful in his interviews here, he might have lasted a bit longer.

It makes you wonder why he was not.........
Pressure. He virtually admitted that just before launching into the final interview that sealed his fate.

He did speak well after yesterday’s game, but he was also sending a message to his board that he needs new players. If they don’t support him in this window it could quickly go pear-shaped for both them and him.
 
Joined
17 May 2021
Messages
254
Player
Ian Goodison
Manager
Johnny King
Perhaps Hill’s frustration with us was due to certain players attitude at the time. There were clearly some who couldn’t give a flying one and some disharmony in the dressing room.
The nonsense about his Bolton connections skewed some people’s views and he was on a loser from the start; possibly the same people who wanted Mellon gone earlier this season . He was unlucky losing Vaughan at a crucial time; who knows how we would have faired with a fit Vaughan and also under Mellon’s tenure if we’d have lost Norwood to a lengthy injury; my guess is that it would have had a significant impact.
A lot of his tongue-in-cheek comments were taken literally by the snipers.
 
Joined
15 Mar 2010
Messages
13,871
Player
Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
Manager
John King
Perhaps Hill’s frustration with us was due to certain players attitude at the time. There were clearly some who couldn’t give a flying one and some disharmony in the dressing room.
The nonsense about his Bolton connections skewed some people’s views and he was on a loser from the start; possibly the same people who wanted Mellon gone earlier this season . He was unlucky losing Vaughan at a crucial time; who knows how we would have faired with a fit Vaughan and also under Mellon’s tenure if we’d have lost Norwood to a lengthy injury; my guess is that it would have had a significant impact.
A lot of his tongue-in-cheek comments were taken literally by the snipers.
He was unpopular with a far greater proportion of the fanbase than the minority who from time to time call for Mellon's head. The interviews given recently by Vaughan and others don't suggest there were any problems of disharmony in the dressing room, at least not until the bitter end.

Hill created a lot of his own problems with his disastrous January transfer dealings, which left us completely exposed when Vaughan got injured, an event that was predictable given his history. He allowed three strikers to leave and replaced them with Nugent, and as a result the season was not recoverable when we lost Vaughan.

He was also incredibly paranoid regarding social media criticism. All clubs and managers have to put up with idiotic Tweets from a minority after a defeat, but most bat them to one side, which Hill seemed unable to do. He responded publicly to every negative comment, which resulted in a downward spiral of tit for tat jibes. Perhaps the absence of fans at matches clouded his judgement, but he still should have known better.
 
Last edited:
Joined
10 Apr 2021
Messages
685
Remarkable how Ferrier still gets a free pass for leaving us high and dry. Hardly Hill’s fault a rotten apple meant we lost our fallback forward option after the window had shut. Anyway, water under the bridge..

Looking ahead, the ultimate irony would be if one of those ’disastrous’ January signings turns out to be the man whose goals fire us to promotion this season!
 
Joined
17 May 2021
Messages
254
Player
Ian Goodison
Manager
Johnny King
Regardless of the facts, your (RLC) or my take on the Hill situation, there was a witch-hunt from the very start, even with the announcement of his appointment with some vile stuff on social media; this continued throughout his tenure. I have no doubt many wished for him to fail; even when we did get results, the haters prevailed and they got their wish in the end. Sorry, but the harassment was real, totally disproportionate and you’d think unacceptable in a supposedly enlightened society.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing; I don’t remember too much negativity when Nugent was signed, in fact most thought it was a bit of a coup at our level. There’s also the assumption that keeping those three would have made a difference if they’d have stayed; they certainly weren’t pulling up any trees at the time and not many tears were shed saying goodbye.
 
Joined
15 Mar 2010
Messages
13,871
Player
Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
Manager
John King
Regardless of the facts, your (RLC) or my take on the Hill situation, there was a witch-hunt from the very start, even with the announcement of his appointment with some vile stuff on social media; this continued throughout his tenure. I have no doubt many wished for him to fail; even when we did get results, the haters prevailed and they got their wish in the end. Sorry, but the harassment was real, totally disproportionate and you’d think unacceptable in a supposedly enlightened society.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing; I don’t remember too much negativity when Nugent was signed, in fact most thought it was a bit of a coup at our level. There’s also the assumption that keeping those three would have made a difference if they’d have stayed; they certainly weren’t pulling up any trees at the time and not many tears were shed saying goodbye.
I think you are completely distorting the facts. There was no such witch hunt. There was a reaction of fifty people on Twitter when Hill was appointed, not from the majority of 6,000. The majority on this site were perfectly happy with his appointment. Any antagonism actually subsided in January / February when we were winning games, and the problems only really emerged following the collapse after Wembley.

What you or I think of Ferrier, Payne, Smith or Nugent is irrelevant. Hill was paid to make decisions on those players and made the wrong decisions. He paid for it with his job, as always happens in football.

The three who left were not scintillating centre forwards. However, they were all capable of doing a job as a centre forward. The failure to adequately replace them left us with NO centre forwards, and Lewis playing up front. That resulted in the terrible run in March and April.
 
Last edited:
Joined
15 Mar 2010
Messages
13,871
Player
Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
Manager
John King
Remarkable how Ferrier still gets a free pass for leaving us high and dry. Hardly Hill’s fault a rotten apple meant we lost our fallback forward option after the window had shut. Anyway, water under the bridge..

Looking ahead, the ultimate irony would be if one of those ’disastrous’ January signings turns out to be the man whose goals fire us to promotion this season!
We also got rid of Payne, who offered more than Nugent, and Smith who played regularly for the team that won the league.

Jolley was signed for the future, and I don't think there was any expectation that he would play regularly last season. That left us with Nugent as the only alternative to Vaughan. I am pretty sure the scouting / coaching staff were responsible for the Jolley signing, rather than Hill.
 

bigmart

bigmart
Member
Joined
29 Jul 2009
Messages
7,110
Player
Ian Muir
Regardless of the facts, your (RLC) or my take on the Hill situation, there was a witch-hunt from the very start, even with the announcement of his appointment with some vile stuff on social media; this continued throughout his tenure. I have no doubt many wished for him to fail; even when we did get results, the haters prevailed and they got their wish in the end. Sorry, but the harassment was real, totally disproportionate and you’d think unacceptable in a supposedly enlightened society.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing; I don’t remember too much negativity when Nugent was signed, in fact most thought it was a bit of a coup at our level. There’s also the assumption that keeping those three would have made a difference if they’d have stayed; they certainly weren’t pulling up any trees at the time and not many tears were shed saying goodbye.
It wasn't a witch hunt just a small minority on social media which Hill said he never read only later to day he did.
His attitude towards the fans and then eventually the owners did him no favours but ultimately he was sacked for the dull, rubbish football he served up during the latter part of the season.
 
Joined
10 Apr 2021
Messages
685
His insinuations in that final interview about the owners, notably on recruitment (’note for future, to get promotion you need 60-70 goals in your team’….something Micky now seems determined to disprove!) and, above all, his attack on Palios’ sacred cow of the demotion from L1, is what did him. Similar to how Brabin signed his own P45. But for that, I reckon Hill would’ve survived into the playoffs, although he’d have probably had to win them to have had any chance of being kept on.
 
Joined
15 Mar 2010
Messages
13,871
Player
Jason Koumas / John Morrissey
Manager
John King
His insinuations in that final interview about the owners, notably on recruitment (’note for future, to get promotion you need 60-70 goals in your team’….something Micky now seems determined to disprove!) and, above all, his attack on Palios’ sacred cow of the demotion from L1, is what did him. Similar to how Brabin signed his own P45. But for that, I reckon Hill would’ve survived into the playoffs, although he’d have probably had to win them to have had any chance of being kept on.
There was no chance we were going to win the play offs with Hill in charge. We had been consistently awful for weeks and even Dawes could not muster much of an improvement.
 

Ian

Super White!
Admin
Joined
21 Sep 2005
Messages
12,019
Player
Aldo
Manager
Kingy
It wasn't a witch hunt just a small minority on social media which Hill said he never read only later to day he did.
No doubt is was the minority however I think there were more people than just a small minority on social media. From the supporters I spoke to during the time, they gave him no chance from the start and I would like to believe they are respectable people, not keyboard warriors on twitter.
 
Top