In the Net

7 minutes ago, NOTBLUE said:

I’m amazed at how often some  R***** fans come on here

Due to health issues, I spend a lot of time in the house, and there are actually some people on here who are capable of having an open minded exchange of views.

14 minutes ago, Gert Mare said:

Especially when it comes to actual attendances both home and away. Rovers fans love to exaggerate massively in this particular area.

I'm not fixated on attendance figures, so have no idea. 

I'm amazed by how much some of the posters on here know about Rovers, regarding facts and figures.

5 minutes ago, BCFC11 said:

Yet on the same day, Clarke said you'd be in a new stadium? How's that coming along?

Providing a new stadium was not within DC's remit or skill set, whereas LJ was taking about his area of expertise (or maybe not)

2 hours ago, NcnsBcfc said:

All really valid points made in the last few days by all of the posters.

The major point or reckoning for the Gas moving into League 1 from my perspective is that really they have no team to start the next season with? They've only signed Belshaw and Hoole to new deals. Evans & Nicholson have refused new contracts and will have better offers i'm sure. 

By way of their squad for next season, in a higher division they are:-

- Losing 2 of their top 3 goal scorers (Evans, and Anderson)

- 3 of their top 4 assisters (Evans, Anderson ,Thomas).

- Both CB's are off (Taylor, and Connolly)

So by way of either loans or 1 year contracts ending potentially leaving are:-

Evans

Nicholson

Elliott Anderson

Clarke

Thomas

Pittman

Coutts

Rodman

Whelan

Spence

Harries

Jakkola

Brown

Connolly

Taylor

So JB from my reckoning will have to completely rebuild a team in a higher division in which they will be paupers compared to some other teams. Any continuity from this promotion season will be lost, and like this season will take time to remould the team into an effective unit. 

A number of these may stay of course, but they were bought for L2 football, L1 is a very different ball game.

I think the Rovers fans should adjust their expectations for next season accordingly. Who knows what sort of team they will put out for that first game on the 30th July???

 

 

Evans and Nicholson have not refused new contracts.

Coutts triggered another year on his contract by number of appearances

Rodman is likely to remain with the club

Brown and Pitman were surplus to requirements before the end of this season.

Elliot Anderson - obviously moving on to Championship, or fighting for a place in the Newcastle squad.

Taylor - same as Anderson, returning to home club

Connolly - out of contract with Cardiff, had not played first team football before signing for Rovers,  may well sign a contract here.

Spence - has only played 6 games, will return to Palace

Clarke - has only played 7 games due to injury.  Not sure if he will be offered a new contract

Jakkola - 2nd choice keeper, injury prone.  Likely to move on, as Jed Ward has been part of the first team set up for most of the season

Thomas - not sure if he is out of contract with Barnsley.  Came to Rovers to be closer to his family, previous mental health issues.  Has flourished under Barton's management, may well like a permanent contract here.

Whelan - JB wants him at Rovers next season.  I guess it depends on how long he is prepared to go on living away from his family.

Several players chose to move down from League One to come and play for Barton, so are capable of playing there again.  Barton seems to have good contacts for loans, so those who are leaving may well be replaced in the same manner - although, I doubt that we'd get another Elliot Anderson, he was a different level. 

No idea what next season has in store - interesting times ahead. 

1 hour ago, Southport Red said:

I think you are missing the point.  They are coming for us, deffo.  They will get promoted to the Championship next year, to the Premiership the year after, Europa League the Year after that, Champion's League Semi final the year after that, before finally winning the quadruple. Phew!

Exciting times to be a Prowed gashead.

EDIT:  Otr they have just squeaked promotion out of Division 4 which is where the Messiah took them to a year ago when he threw the towel in with 10 games to go.

 

One of the above scenarios is definitely true. 

How did you get on playing in European competitions in 2021?  I must have missed those results, but I remember Mr Johnson saying that he envisaged that you'd be at that level within 5 years. 

36 minutes ago, CiderJar said:

I was watching SkySports News and Jeff Stelling was saying how wonderful they were and that they had been averaging nearly 10,000 all season. Jeff said it, so it must be true. 5,000 is very nearly 10,000.

Sounds as though they're still using unpaid interns as researchers. 

1 hour ago, RedLionLad said:

They didn't sell out for their most important game of the season (and for many years)

Att. 9,790 with 279 away fans.

How did you reach that conclusion?

4 minutes ago, 1960maaan said:

Not sure R*vers could  have done anything wrong, unless they suggested it, but let have some fun .

It's the integrity of the competition that has been questioned. It is not fair on teams fighting for promotion/playoff/relegation if a team looks like it is just laying down for whatever reason. Nothing is won or lost on one game, but everything is settled by that last game and Scunthorpe played a weak side against a form team. Deliberate or not, for nefarious reasons or not, it stinks. Can you imagine your board just saying, ah well , and moving on ? The mob that wanted to sue another team for them being relegated.  There may be nothing to see, but if I was Northampton I'd be on the phone to the EFL bloody quick.

As I said, I don't blame Northampton for looking at a complaint, most clubs would these days.  Teams in the position which Scunthorpe were in have to look after themselves, no doubt some of their better players will be off now they are non-league, and you would expect the manager to want to look at the competence of other players at the club, and identify the priorities regarding which positions need recruitment from elsewhere.  He's been doing this for at least 4 games - were you all up in arms when Mansfield beat them 4-0?  That result affected the promotion race. 

The same situation sometimes happens mid-season, if a team has a big FA Cup tie they will look at resting some crucial players from the preceeding game - if they lose that game it affects where other teams will finish in the table.  It's not all down to the last day.  Where do you draw the line - let the EFL pick the teams for the last month of the season?

5 hours ago, HoldenBall said:

Fair play to Northampton, it stinks of pure corruption not matter what the gas sympathisers say. 

How do you come to that conclusion?  Scunthorpe have been playing younger players for the last 4 games - has anybody complained?  There is an EFL ruling re. the make-up of teams from March onwards, and Scunthorpe kept within those rules.  The pitch invasion was actually a hinderence, as we had the momentum at that time, and looked very likely to score again - do you honestly think that the sort of morons who ran on actually have the brain capacity to plan something in advance?  The older Rovers fans in that area were trying to stop people running onto the pitch.

Maybe Northampton should look at themselves, why didn't they keep going for it, instead of changing formation to try and protect the scoreline?  I don't blame them for having a go with the complaint, a lot of teams would, it seems to be the culture we live in now - on a personal and professional level.

20 minutes ago, LondonBristolian said:

Indeed. The thing with Colin Murray is that he obviously loves the game and genuinely gets that the majority of people who watch the EFL highlights aren't just interested in the "big" teams. 

Yes, he knows his stuff, I was quite surprised that Andy Goldstein seems quite clued up on the lower leagues too. 

2 minutes ago, 2015 said:

How long do we give it until there is a column by Ian Holloway in the Bristol Post claiming that Promotion for Rovers is good for both Bristol clubs? 

Surprised that it isn't on there already! I've lost track of what colour his blood is, blue, green, tangerine ...... ?

2 hours ago, Ska Junkie said:

I wonder if, given the sags are at a higher level now, would Newcastle give him a season in L1?

Obviously, I hope not as he looks some player.

No chance - he definitely needs Championship football, Millwall seem to be the favourites to get him. 

1 minute ago, Slippin cider said:

These morons will punch anything ….keepers….horses….etc …

Whereas other morons deliberately injure police dogs at matches 

Shame on all of them, whomever they purport to support.

5 hours ago, Andy082005 said:

They’ve got zero morals. As long as they are winning games both the owner and fans will sweep it under the carpet 

As I said earlier, the #HerGameTo movement have suddenly come down with a bout of amnesia to 

 

I presume that you protested very publicly about the signing of Danny Simpson at the time?

Thank you for all the laughs on here this season. 

1 hour ago, italian dave said:

Yes, I remember Coventry. I was there! Knowing the Sunderland result didn’t help us: I’m sure we would have gone on the score a third if the result hadn’t been announced and Coventry sat back to defend the point they needed.

  And anyway, why do you need to ask that - I actually mentioned it in the post you’ve just responded to!

If we’re going back in time, do you remember Bradford Park Avenue in 1963? 

Oh, and I’ve already acknowledged elsewhere that a ‘full strength’ Scunthorpe side might just as likely have lost 7-0. 

Apologies - @slartibartfast is right, I'm getting a bit chopsy lately! 

46 minutes ago, elhombrecito said:

If we had won 7-0 to win promotion on the last day of the season, I'm not sure I'd be spending the next morning on the 15ers forum, but each to their own I suppose 

Due to health issues, I'm knackered after yesterday, so the internet is my only form of entertainment today.  I've read everything else, so had to resort to scraping the bottom of the barrell.  

3 hours ago, italian dave said:

Add to that, the pitch invasion meant that they were able to play out the last 15 minutes knowing exactly what they needed to do. So could sit back and just focus on defending their lead, and stopping Scunthorpe Babes from scoring, rather than going for an eighth and risking conceding from a breakaway.

Still, if there’s a plus it will mean we don’t keep getting “Coventry” thrown at us (decades after the event) any longer, since the G** have engineered something very similar them selves now. 

The pitch invasion was not a help, we had the momentum at that time, and I'm sure that we would have gone on to score an 8th without the interruption in play, whereas Scunthorpe appeared to have re-grouped when play re-started and the worry was that they would score.  Bit rich you mentioning this, remember Coventry v City in the 1970's?

Scunthorpe have been playing younger players for several games, Mansfield beat them 4-0 and I didn't hear anybody complaining about their line-up, although Mansfield were also involved in the hunt for an automatic place. 

Still, everybody loves a conspiracy theory.  

7 minutes ago, 1960maaan said:

Serious question.

When was the last time you sold the ground out? and what was the attendance?

I saw you had about 9,500 Vs FGR , what is the current capacity ? I thought it was over 12k at one point, has it been reduced that much?

As far as I know, the two previous games were sold out - capacity is around the 9,500 mark, but does vary slightly, depending on how the South Stand is set up - how many seats have to be netted for segregation etc.  The capacity has been reduced (not of our chosing) to around 9,500 this season, the former away terrace, which was used by home fans for the previous 3 games, looked rather sparsely populated compared to previous season's when there was a "full house" of away fans on it.  

Even the players have been restricted on tickets for this game, so there certainly aren't unsold ones knocking about.  I think Scunthorpe are bringing around 280, so I'm expecting something around the 9,500 figure again. 

Capacity did used to be over 11,000 at one point, a fair bit of income lost over the last few games, compared to past seasons - not that we were often at capacity, of course! 

10 hours ago, slartibartfast said:

I've noticed that since your lot have "turned the corner ", you've become a bit more edgy and answering back. Don't forget ,you're not up yet, here's hoping for a return to the more humble Netty..................a couple of losses might just do the trick !                        

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ooops - I'll get back to the kitchen, I know my place.   Never been described as "edgy" before - I rather like it. 

My feet are firmly on the ground, - it ain't over 'til it's over, I still have nightmares about the 2nd leg play-off at Northampton.

59 minutes ago, Shaun Taylor said:

We got super wife beating Joey Barton! They're like flys around around sh*t at the end of the game as rush to pick him up

 

 

I missed the Court verdict - have you got a link?

5 hours ago, phantom said:

You are spot on, the cess pit of a ground is unsafe to hold any serious numbers now, no doubt the building of additional tents has taken additional standing space on those magnificent open terraces

Sorry to burst your bubble, but none of the reasons are due to ground being deemed unsafe.  I believe that a few Safety Advisory Groups have been flexing their muscles since Covid - must have too much time on their hands with all that working at home.

There is a stipulation this season that people are not allowed to stand pitchside, as the front walkways have to be kept clear.  I don't really see the point of this, as the walkways have always had enough space for people to use them safely, even with a couple of rows of kids/short-arse people standing right at the front.  I believe that there was also concern about people standing on the yellow lined areas on the terracing, they seem to think that reducing the capacity will create more space, and stop this happening - wishful thinking.

Obviously the newest tent will have reduced the capacity since we last had a sell-out game, although this is being removed during the summer, and reverting to terracing.

No idea why any of you are bothered about our stadium or capacity, when you have your own state of the art gaff.

12 hours ago, BS4 on Tour... said:

They couldn’t even sell out when playing Man Utd a few years back - funny how their capacity has suddenly slipped from 12,600 to around 9,000 for no proper reason at all - allowing them to claim false ‘sellouts’ - and when Wael took over they were ‘going to be premier league within 5 years’ as the ‘6th richest club in English football’ - what happened?! Why are they now going to be ‘premier league in 10 years’?! Why has their expectations suddenly shifted to adding an extra five years on?! Oh well, the reality is they will undoubtedly still be mooching around divisions three and four for the next few decades ... shame ...

"For no proper reason...."  - try the Safety Advisory Group advising the Local Authority regarding the stipulations of the licence.  What sort of brain thinks that a club would deliberately reduce their capacity level, in order that they can sell less tickets for matches? 

1 hour ago, E.G.Red said:

Yes and if Port Vale do it. It will be their old manager come back to haunt them  Shame that their captain Tom Conlan is out after achilles surgery.  

If Port Vale do get the automatic spot over us, so be it, I would not begrudge Darrell Clarke some success this season.