RedRock

Simples. Listening to you lot blathering on constantly about how big/good/loved you were on his radio show which, back in the day, was one of the finest national football phone-ins. He no doubt, did a ‘compare and contrast’, between those expressed views and his own visits to both Bristol clubs (and elsewhere) following his beloved Millwall.

He actually knows an awful lot about Bristol Rovers. He described your supporters on national radio as ‘pathological liars’. He had deduced that even before you started inflating the size of your away support, claiming to be the sixth richest Club in the Country, everyone’s second team and prowed owners of a brand new stadium. What next. City never took the Tote?

Wrong time of year. Too busy blowing grouse out of the sky. Sunak and all other politicians unavailable ans they are all in the middle of their 11 month holidays. Dosser Doris might be interested though to relieve the boredom of her tax payer funded 18 month break. All expenses paid with her own 150 seater flag emblazoned plane for her offspring/relatives. Offer her a place in the House of Lords and she’ll jump at it.

Winners. Take that Aussies. Tremendous performance.

Building into a tournament. Some pretty iffy performances to reach this point, but very accomplished today. That Hemp in attack has been outstanding. Some stamina.

‘Foot like a traction engine’ spring to mind.

Some hit! Shows you can substitute brilliant technique for pure muscle power in shooting velocity.

Re-build brick by brick. Sometimes, when you’re not strong , stay still and even if it’s just two bricks that’s progress. You’ve already started. An absolute brilliant ‘reach out’ on a sub-forum full of people who you don’t know but who care, many no doubt having experienced life lows. You are not alone.

Easy mistake to make. The sky blue colour is ours now. Jon Lansdown told me. It was probably Lee Johnson in the training kit.

Can remember a couple of years back driving down Queen Street, Newton Abbot as the schools came out and a youngster was wearing a City shirt alongside his mates. Good lad. Torquay has good representation, shirt wise, around South Devon, more Exeter east of the Exe. Certainly seems with the youngsters down here a greater affinity with the local sides. The very few Gas clown shirts I’ve spotted down here are associated with old fossils on coach day trips from their Bristol care homes.

Yep, if we use a lightweight, high-skill midfield we need to play a high tempo game. Move the ball fast, quick feet, accurate passing and create spaces. We didn’t do that, so largely stifled. We were lucky to win that game. Bar China, a pretty spluttering show from the us so far in this competition. Need to get back to what we do best for the Aussies.

This tournament has been an odd one quality wise. Think the top teams have plateaued out, if not declined in quality, with the previous ‘fodder’ teams improving and near catching them up. Personally, find it enjoyable, with some skills - close control, passing, trickery and shooting - on a par, if not better than the men’s game. The one aspect that has improved throughout is the keepers, with gaffs now a rarity. On the downside, the play acting that used to be absent is creeping in unfortunately. Thought Columbia were a very solid, physical, technically proficient side. If they’d really given it a go and had taken the shackles off they could easily have won that match.

Better team lost imo.

First half. Colombia solid and resilient. England lightweight and fragile.

Ha. Like minds and all that.

Is that David Seaman in goal?

I think they both admit not seeing eye-to-eye on occasions. Suspect one of those occasions would have been signing Danny Simpson … and I fully understand that. Think the football side is now Nige’s, with little interference from Steve. Nige doesn’t get involved in the financials. Clearly there is an interface, such as transfers, where Steve has the trump card. Think that would have been explained to Nige at his appointment. Nige’s brief is to build a squad that can take us to the Prem, which I believe he is more than capable of doing, with the occasional star player loss to fund running costs and the purchase of squad players with potential. The subtle and crucial difference from previous regimes - that player must be one that Nige believes will enhance the squad and fit HIS player template - ie not just a random speculative ‘hit’, hoping for player profit.

Fair do’s. Must have read my OTIB post from yesterday. Caveat would be, occasionally need to take a calculated risk and, of course, these things take time. In our case, a very long time… but to be fair to Nige, it’s only a couple of years.

Millwall regularly ‘shared’ stands, normally on an unauthorised basis, back in the day! Rather amusingly they tied to ‘share’ The Dolman, while some of ours tried to ‘share’ the away pen in the Park End at a match in the early 80’s. Didn’t end well for either.

Nice write up. Thanks. Just one inaccuracy. The Sags took more than anyone to Wembley and also filled the car park. So they must have the attendance record. Hope it all goes well tomorrow. Admit, given the history between our two clubs, putting us together in one stand on such an important occasion for you does seem a bit of a risk. That said, let’s hope both sides show respect.

Yes, agree but it’s very easy when you are top of the football food chain. We aren’t. We haven’t a real choice - unless we offer Prem wages to our top youngsters - but to be a selling Club. We all know what happened when we offered long contracts and big wages the last time! Massive gamble. Have a plan, stick to it and build slow and sustainably is the best way.

Think we are opting for the lower risk ‘get all your ducks in alignment’ approach to an assault on promotion ie. we are building a team of 11 players of similar ‘average’ ability that together become a force. This, opposed to 3-4 individual stars with infill support of players of lesser ability. Arguably, this is more tricky as it depends on everyone gelling and each being at the top of their game. However, given how football works at Championship level for non-parachute payment teams it’s the only the realistic way. The alternative is high risk with at least an equal chance of crashing and burning as getting promotion. Hopefully, Nige when appointed understood and accepted the context in which he was working. Personally, think he is the man who can deliver adopting the ‘team’ approach. Understand the frustrations of it taking time, but he walked into a complete mess of a Club and had to completely rebuild from the bottom up. Progress is steady, with a few blips, and within 2 years I think we will be a force in this division based, this time, on solid and sustainable foundations.

Make sure you negotiate a contract with them that has a £10 million transfer clause, with the proviso that if we offer £300,000 he comes to us.

Mind you, Arnold Gartia is not someone I would wish to have in my ‘scouted’ portfolio. So in Steve’s case you win some, lose some.

Yep, and I suspect if Steve didn’t live in Guernsey and had our Club develop a relationship with local sides, he more than likely would have gone under our radar. Don’t think we had that many scouts in the Channel Islands. Indeed, I don’t think we have many/any on the mainland!