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Three Players
Gary Rowett mentioned this morning in the Birmingham Mail that he is hoping to bring in three players in the January transfer window to help bolster his somewhat faltering side.
“We will be in a reasonably strong position but I say that in terms of maybe being able to bring three players in.
“I am not suggesting we are going to spend vast fees like some of the teams in the division are.”
I’m going to say it before anyone else does – I’ll believe it when they’re holding scarves aloft on the Kop having signed on the dotted line. The last few transfer windows have proved that there can easily be slips between cup and lips and I will admit that I am still very concerned about the ability of the club to get deals across the line.
While Rowett is quick to rule out Blues splashing out millions there is an implication that Blues will spend money on transfer fees which would be interesting. I know that there seems to be this misapprehension that if no transfer fee is spent then no money is spent – obviously loan fees, wages and what not don’t count in some people’s eyes – but I am of the belief that it would be good for fans morale if SOME transfer fees are paid as it’s a statement – ie we’re no longer just looking for freebies, we can afford something.
I’m intrigued most of all as to what positions Rowett is looking in. Something reported yesterday in the Mail makes me think that he’ll be after a left-back:
“I think probably Groundsy is quite fortunate that he didn’t have a natural left back to compete with in that position, otherwise I might have made one or two more changes.”
This is interesting in itself as it kinda says two things. First of all – that Mitch Hancox isn’t at all rated (he can now be recalled from his loan spell) and that his Blues career is probably at an end barring a major surprise. Secondly, it also says that Rowett doesn’t rate Shane Lowry at left-back, which leaves me wondering why we signed him in the first place – especially as he’s brought in another centre-back in Greg Halford (albeit temporarily).
I think we’ll be after a striker too. Although Wes Thomas returns from his loan spell in January, along with potential recalls for Lee Novak and Denny Johnstone I believe Rowett wants to bring someone different in. I wonder if there is a possibility of a permanent deal for James Vaughan – who if he can remain fit would be in my eyes an excellent acquisition; otherwise I could see us looking at a deal for someone to play a pacy role up front until the end of the season.
The one thing I hope for most of all is that we tie up deals early. I’m personally tired of waiting and waiting for deals to be done when we’ve known what the problems have been for some time; yes, there are issues with teams not wanting to let go of players but as we’ve seen if we delay too long we could miss out altogether.
Tags: Gary Rowett, James Vaughan, Jonathan Grounds, Mitchell Hancox, Shane Lowry, Transfers
87 Responses to “Three Players”
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There’s one major problem with your ‘frustrations’, we have very little money, what’s the point in getting frustrated about the lack of signings or the inability to bring players in when we can’t compete financially with anyone basically, I’d say if you read between the lines rowett has become frustrated on putting in the hard work to bring players I only for other clubs to offer that bit more, the scary thing is if you feel frustrated imagine how he feels, he’s putting all the legwork in to end up with nothing, I think the Fulham interest has given him leverage to approach pavos and say if you want me to stay I want some assurances we can compete, because he doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who’s happy to just mull along life being happy and content with being average, you can tell by what he says he wants to improve, he wants to push forward, let’s hope that pavos has put his hands on some funds, or your frustration could become a lot worse by the end of the season
Another snippet from the Rowett piece: “When you see teams like Reading have vast resources and are able to pay the sort of loan fees they are paying for the likes of [Matej] Vydra.”
I hope he’s not too frustrated, as he’s one of the media favourites for the Reading job.
See, I don’t see it that way. I don’t believe the money is as much finance as it is taking too long to make a decision – and that I believe is Rowett.
You could well be right. He can’t have spent much in the way of transfer fees since he’s been a manager. Maybe he’s a bit worried that he’ll waste what bit we have. The Brock-Madsen deal might make him dither even more. I do hope not.
This is what I said some weeks ago, although money is undoubtedly an issue the fact is Rowett is a small time operator. He has never had large sums to spend, there probably is a doubt in his own mind that he could spend it wisely.The experience of Brock andLowry lend weight to this point why on earth did he sign them?.,the old adage of getting what you pay for is very true. The events of the last few weeks have demonstrated Rowetts limitations, he is overcautious and leaves things too late, and then panics into a decision, often the wrong decision. On Saturday is was like watching one of Clarks teams they were so disjointed
As far as I’m concerned the decision to let Donaldson carry on without cover was unforgivable and condemns him to life in the lower divisions.
Having said that Iam very grateful for what he has achieved, after the lamentable Clark he has done a wonderful job its just that he has found his level.
Excellent post Tony. Spot on
What we need most of all, is to shore up the left-hand side, which is weak as p*ss, A decent left back would be nice, then Grounds can move inside or be given a rest.
A left-footed midfielder would be nice too. I’m cheesed off with seeing right-footers out there, whose only intention is to cut inside. *yawn* Getting another striker in is a given.
I think that with Caddis and Eardley.. Morrison and Halford, Cotterill, Gray and Maghoma, the right side is pretty much sorted.
That, as OP mentioned, begs the question of where Lowry fits in. I think most fans are bemused by his signing. Was he brought in as a left centre back or a left back? Is he fit now or not? If so, why hasn’t he been used when it’s obvious the defence needs something different? Does the manager not trust him in either position? Answers to all these questions on a postcard please Mr Rowett.
Your begging a question when the answer is simple, he’s what we can afford, it’s obvious that he sees grounds as a better player than Lowry, whiteout Lowry our only option is to play a player out of position at left back, rowett can only buy what he can afford and at the moment it’s Lowry on a short term contract, Vaughan and halford on loan, listen to what the guy says, without coming out and saying we’re sh*t he has said the players ruined his weekend so they have had some back by cancelling the day off yesterday, he’s clearly intent on hitting the play offs judging by his comments about ‘hanging on in there’, he’s clearly more frustrated than any fan right now, I think if we can’t make funds available for him in Jan he’s going to feel like he’s hit the wall at blues
It still begs the question, why bring him in at all if he’s not going to give him a chance? We might as well save the wages and stick an U21 left back on the bench.
If grounds gets injured or suspended he hasn’t got to use one of his centre halves as a left back, it’s a tight squad, grounds might not be setting the place alight but he’s clearly deemed a safer option than Lowry, you’ll probably find Lowry is on about a grand a week tops, he’s nothing more than a worst case emergency cover signing
could have saved the wages on Lowry as you say and kept Hancox as cover if he has no intention of using either player
Grounds does not have what it takes.
It feels perverse to say it, but with the recent experience of Brock-Marsden and the decent performance of some of our latter day loan experiences, I am almost fearing any paid for transfers, as each failure undermines our financial stability and ability to progress on the field. As long as the wages and call back arrangements stack up, I reckon that until we can genuinely compete in the transfer market, then this may be our way forward.
Listening to Tom Ross last night he said Gary Rowett hasn’t really got money to spend on transfer fee’s but wages for loans this is ok but we are just going to end up with more rejects that nobody else wants it will do the job for a bit but we will end up in the same position that we are in now. Until this ridiculous takeover is sorted blues will always be in trouble and we will keep losing out on decent players and managers.
Losing out on managers? Did I miss Rowett going to Fulham?
By the way Alex McLeish is said to be in talks with Reading.
Dan did you miss out on Chris Hughton, Got us to the Play Off first leg also we were extremely unlucky to be knocked out of the Europa , Did you miss out on Bruce got us Promoted after 16 years, Did you miss out on McLeish plenty folk think he did a great job too. He is spot on imo and is only saying what he believes if not what you want him to.
You mean the Chris Hughton that should of got us promoted but didn’t, the Chris Hughton that jumped ship for Norwich after we & nobody else took a chance on him & then got sacked from Norwich, the Chris Hughton that wanted to come back to us when Lee Clarke was sacked but the club didn’t trust him anymore. We were relegated under Bruce but came straight back up & when he lefft & Mcleish took over we were relegated again, he got us promoted, spent money the club didn’t have on players & wages etc which helped us win the cup but once again we were relegated & then he jumped ship. Some people should really think before passing stupid comments
Mcleish was the best manager this club have ever had, if anyone is making stupid comments its you GG.
Chris G Has your school broken up already.
Tony, I would have him back tomorrow mate, no hesitation whatsoever.
McLeish is the best manager we’ve ever had, I really have heard it all now, give me strength
Oh no help me the 2 thick little girls are ganging up on me. Well if I had to choose between Carson Young or either of zxcv & her girlfriend tony to run BCFC it would be Carson all day long. Oh zxcv ( or is it zzzz) to answer your question I wouldn’t know if my school has broken up yet I left 37 years ago pr*ck
Savvy loan arrangements do not include rejects, what about Fabbrini, Lindberg, Ibe, Andros Townsend, Grant Hall, Frederico Macheda and Bendtner?
Tesche and Fabbrini wern’t poor loans so anymore ‘reject signings like them will do for me.
Some loans will be ok but most won’t and did we get any of the loans back NO we start there career off and they go elsewhere is that good for blues in the long run NO we just end up frustrated and back in trouble and believe me Rowett will go you can tell he’s getting fed up at blues being held back and he will leave if you think he won’t you are deluded.
So you know for a fact he’s getting fed up? How do you know this?
And of course he’ll leave us one day – that’s football. Doesn’t mean to say we won’t be able to bring in another decent manager.
I have to say – and don’t take this the wrong way – I don’t know why you bother with Blues. You’re clearly very unhappy with the way things are at BCFC, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you say anything positive here, or on FB or twitter. If it’s so consistently depressing, if it’s so bleak why bother? Or does it make you happier to moan about things? Genuine question.
It matters not much how many players we bring in , the fact remains that we , as a club have NO IDEA how to defend and keep a clean sheet !! let alone score A GOAL !!
Bournmouth will put at least 3 past us in the FA cup and I fail to see HOW we can hope to win any game without scoring 3 goals !! Perhaps we should bring back Roger Hynd at centre half and a few other REAL players who KNOW a thing or two !!
Sort this crap defence out NOW !! until we stop conceding goals to everybody including the kitchen sink ! we will Lose ,Lose , and Lose again !!
flanegan from Liverpool would be a great loan signing for left back….
Are any of our fans happy with the way things are being run at blues and by that I don’t mean Gary Rowett he’s doing a brilliant job with very little resources I’m talking about our useless crazy owners.You must be the only fan who is don’t get me wrong you are doing a great job on reporting what’s happening at blues but the way you talk is as if you are always right and other fans don’t know what they are talking about.
spot on Bluesfan.
Bluesfan, there is nothing you or anyone can do about our owners at this present time, so it’s no good moaning. Even if TTA wanted to complete the purchase, the shareholders have got to agree and as it stands I doubt if Carson would do that willingly so you’d have to persuade all the others too. As far as I can see there are only 2 ways round it, get the shares trading, so an investor could purchase on the Stock Exchange to get a substantial holding or Carson losses is appeal and the Chinese Government confiscates his assets to repay the money he laundered, which would lead to a sale
Guys I too am frustrated-but-given where we could be and I expected us to be-we are in a much better place.GR needs help on aquisitions.He is clearly weak in this department.Pavlos knows nothing so he should put his hands up and get an experienced scout or a real football ceo in.What really concerns me is that even in the loan market we do not appear to have the same money to spend on salaries as before.
Agree completely.Coming from Burton GR has never had any experience at this level with regards loaning premier league players or this kind of market in general.I get the feeling he doesn’t know wheather to stick or twist sometimes and it means we miss out on targets and panic buy (Lowry).
Dan made the point on a previous blog that he needs a John Benson type figure behind him to help and maybe show him the ropes and get some of these deals over the line.Complete autonomy is all very well as long as you have all angles covered and this is definitely a weak area.
i would suggest that is because this season there is no parachute payments to aid those wages
3 player in what’s to moan about! If GR Bring them in ?
Will they be lone players ? Will we spend some money on permanent deals ?
I believe ever supporter no mater what team/club they support would have the same Questions
But to many Blues fans/Supporter are all negative. Why so negative ?
The way I see it is we have money to spend on the right players we have money to spend on lone fees or permanent Deals. just how much I have no idea. I trust GR will bring in players that will make a difference So this report should be a positive not a negative.
Now all we need to do is get behind our team and manager. Forget the background stuff forget about the past and look to future. KRO
Daniel. The main reason for fans frustration boils down purely and simply to the horrendous loss of 5 home games to miserable opposition. This is bringing out anger,and sometimes nastiness on to your site. Had we done well in these home games then no such discussions would be happening now. Many of us can only watch home games so this is all we have to go on. Patience and a little understanding as to how we ‘home fans’ feel would not go amiss. Nobody is trying to be clever or downright negative.
Absolutely correct Mitchell, Home fans have every right to feel fustrated , it’s been bottom three relegation form all season really yet Away form as been very good and top three with the points we’ve gained and the way we’ve played .. Me my wife and son can’t understand why such the massive difference even taking formation and our counter attacking policy in to consideration , it’s like watching two different teams . Kro
As a fan who is lucky enough to be in a position to go home and away, Dave do you not think the fans have their part to play in putting our home form right? The difference in atmosphere between home and away games is like we’re talking about two different teams which results in the performances of two different teams. It’s like the fans are apprehensive before a ball is kicked instead of behind the team. There’s hardly any atmosphere at home games from the home section which we know affects the players after it happened under Clarke.
atko, all I can say on the matter is that away from home nearly eveyone sings gets behind the team and enjoy themselves and the fantastic atmosphere we generate gives everyone a lift and it rubs off on the players in my opinion .. at home we are quiet , apprehensive more cynical and less supportive towards the team , yes our home form is poor but if it was as poor away we would still ge behind the team more away .. The performance of the team and the fans are chalk and cheese from home game to away game , my opinion . Kro
I guess it’s easier though when you’re all congregated in one end rather than 3 sides of the ground but I do think the atmosphere could be better at home games.
Dave, i’ve always agreed with you on the difference between home & away, having been to several away games this season i’ve seen it myself, I think now that it’s up to the players to start giving the home fans something to cheer by putting in some good performances, away teams used to be scared of coming to stans because of the atmosphere, the only way we will get back to “fortress st andrews” is by the players playing out of their skins & the crowd getting behind them. Away teams come here now looking at 3 easy points & that’s what they’re getting
It’s a strange season with regard to home and away form. Take a look at the stats. 223 games in the Championship so far. 83 were home wins. 75 were drawn. 65 were away wins. Or to put it another way – only just over one third of all games have resulted in home wins. We ain’t the only club concerned about our home form!!
Come on guys – perspective, perspective, perspective. A week or two ago, when we were in second place, we were all talking like we were Bayern Munich. Now we are all going on about how we are worse than the local pub side. We are neither. For a side tipped for a relegation battle we are in eighth place. In present circumstances I would settle for that. Just think, we could easily have descended to the position of clubs like Blackpool or Bolton. GR is a young manager learning what it takes to be successful at this level. Cut him some slack and get behind the team.
PS. Also, credit sides like Charlton and Huddersfield for upping their game.
fans also need to realise we are competing with the likes of Charlton, Huddersfield and Rotherham when if comes to turnover and players wages so they have players very similar to ours, it’s just the fact GR has got more out of his lower Championship players so far this season, but that some of the rest are now catching us up maybe due to injuries, tiredness or teams gelling.
Ditto”’ Thanks someone with sense.
You’re right with a lot of that Micko, but the fact that we were in 2nd place and are now 11 points off 2nd place, is almost exclusively down to losing games at home that we should be winning. From that perspective it needs to be put right… and a couple of decent signings in key positions could be all we need to kickstart a decent run.
Well its a cases of when we are playing well supporters get cared away and wen we play badly the same supporters get even more cared away. Me I am only looking up not down so we are in a bad spell every team will have one and its best we have that bad spell now before January so things can be fixt. the good spells will come back and the same supporters can get cared away all over again. but me I am a realist and refuse to get cared away good or bad. So the fact that GR is looking to bring new players in is a good thing.
For anyone interested, there’s an article on the skysports website titled ‘The changing role of a striker: Craig Bellamy and Jamie Carragher on modern-day forwards.’
I found it very interesting.
We need a midfielder whos better than davis, keiftenbeld & gleeson who are ok but a bit limited.
Recent weeks (barring the Fulham match) have been dire and we have gone from a top 3 team to bottom 3 form. I believe that this is due to both player complacency, injuries to key players, but also, I hate to say it, but the manager losing his way.
I couldn’t believe the team when I saw it on Sat. Firstly, a narrow formation and isolated front man when we needed to stretch and press a team content to sit back and keep it tight (effectively it was the same tactics that let us down against Wolves so badly a few weeks back). Secondly, despite recently saying how our good form was in part by playing players in their correct positions (Shinnie coming in from the left of mid into his more natural number 10 position being given as an example), Rowett promptly plays Toral out of position in not one but two positions throughout the game. And thirdly, if you are going to play a narrow three, then surely you can’t drop your most attacking full-back?
And I don’t buy in to this ‘small and tight’ squad rhetoric. On paper we have cover for every position. The issue is that some of that cover is not the best. Despite saying that he would only bring in better than what we have, the reality is that what has been brought in is not good enough – Lowry being a prime example, a player who can’t get a game despite leaking goals and an out of form left back in desperate need of a break. In addition, we lose Donaldson, and only have Brock to fall back on (a £500k investment for the future when we have little funds and a variety of strikers out on loan).
I do not like being negative and hate to criticize Rowett too much – he has been a breath of fresh air for the past year. But in my opinion he is not bullet-proof and must relect on his fair share of blame for the extremely poor start to his second year as Blues boss.
Is he the man I want as manager? Absolutely! Is he good enough to turn things around? I believe so! Will he be able to get us back on track sooner rather than later? I desperately hope so!
KRO!
Just wanted to clarify that not all of Rowett’s signings have been poor or questionable. There have obviously been a couple of really good signings. However, I feel that January will be a big test and a key month where he needs to make signings count! KRO!
Agreed. All he can do is identify players who in his opinion can do a job for us in the system we play. Only when he gets them in training after signinv them can he truly know and clearly with a couple of signings he has maybe had a rethink. Unfortunate but with the finances as they are we haven’t the luxury of switching systems whenever we choose.
Don’t be surprised to see Robert Tesche back with blues in January.
Mid table finish and the Vile relegated…I’ll take that.
KRO
A lot of fans want “investment” in the club. Personally, I don’t think that you can “invest” in a football club – investment means “to put money, effort, time, etc. into something to make a profit or get an advantage”. Buying players is a “gamble” because you cannot guarantee “to make a profit or get an advantage”.
If you “gamble irresponsibly” with money you don’t have and loan money you can’t afford then the consequences can be dire – look at Leeds and Portsmouth – and at some point in the future one club is going to “gamble irresponsibly” and be in such dire straits that they are wiped out completely.
You can though “gamble responsibly” with money that you do have – income and serviceable loans. It seems to me, reading what’s said and on this blog, that E&Y are having BCFC run this way. And if you “gamble responsibly” and do a league table of spend then Blues are mid table Championship because there are clubs with parachute payments and clubs with bigger fan bases.
So what of the future?
I’d like a sugar daddy owner, like Chelsea and Man City that “donate” hundreds of millions of their own pounds. Although you never know, I think Blues are far too gritty and unloved, other than by us, to be that lucky.
So do we want the new owner to “gamble irresponsibly” or “gamble responsibly”? It looks to me like a lot of you are unhappy with “gambling responsibly” that E&Y are having done and want to “gamble Irresponsibly”. Hmmmmmmmm………….
Very well said. Also why would a sensible businessman but assets for millions and depreciate not over 36 years but 36 months! Just acquire Bosman until your budget allows you to ‘squander’ transfer fees
We’re 8th in the league and going well, couple of setbacks recently but we’re still in there…… which is so much more positive than where we were last season.
It depends whether the cup is half full or half empty, last year we could only improve and climb the table which people got excited about. After the start to this season, drop a couple of places and it’s doom & gloom.
Buying players is tricky as those which would improve our squad are coveted by other clubs too. This drives up demand which agents use to get the best deal- Fabrini being a casing point by ending up at Middlesbrough.
I’m sure there were plenty of targets identified in pre season, but time taken on Fabrini and Tesche possibly scuppered other deals. After all, the club must have had reason to believe these deals would be conculded else why pursue them so vigerously.
I wish Rowett all the best for January- hope the players he’s identified are available and deals can be concluded.
I hope GR has watched the U18 match vs Crewe and thought about their left winger.
I know you say you will believe it when you see it Dan but GR seems confident about January so just maybe the deals are already done and he’s waiting for the window to open. It’s happened before with deals between clubs.
gentlemen gary will get it right i believe it is just a blip most team have a bad month charlton and huddesfield deserved to win on the day but i think gary now knows we need a decent left back
grounds has cost us four goals in the last three games i think he would be a better centre back
he has no pace at left back and he gets skinned to easy but we are blues fans and we always want better kro
GR in the passed has made comments along the line of not wanting to sign journey men, whilst l agree with the sentiment l do believe a couple of wise headed pro’s in the mold of Robbo could steady the ship. It’s a lovely ideology to buy for the future, but l don’t think we are in such a fortunate financial position to be able to invest for the future, the future is now and we were close a few weeks ago. January will be massive, and we will see for sure if Trophy have the real financial clout to back GR. We’re not expecting to sign Bale and co, but we need actions that will re-ignite our season.
I think his hands are tied and he has no choice but to have one eye on the future. Remember the loan system is changing so he has to think ahead for that too. It’s not ideal as results indicate to concentrate on the here and now but until something’s concrete about the takeover we don’t have the luxury like other clubs. We had a strong finish to last season and if we can just hang in there until new year then who knows where we might be if we can repeat it.
Home form isn’t that good in fairness it does need to improve, home fans need to be more vocal that’s a given.
In my opinion Rowett has got us this far albeit he has struggled with improving home results I personally think that is down to not playing a 4-4-2 at home which may have been the case if vaughan was allowed to play last game, but for me we need to get behind rowett as I believe he will bring in the three players that will make the difference this time around as somebody mentioned above he has more leverage and its down to the board now to either back him and have a good go at finishing in the playoffs or not back him and settle for mid-table.
In rowett I trust just hope the board trust him as much.
We are going through a diificult patch. It is clear that the defence is weak without the cover of the counterattacking formation. Clearly it is the homestyle that is causing problems. We are in the incredible position of experimenting and lost, but remain in 8th (or is it joint 6th).
I am prepared to be patient and bearing in mind we only lost by one goal v Brighton so Boro here we come!. Looking forward to a 1-1 draw.but a loss will be ok too.
I’m just glad we’re able to bring in 3 players,I’m happy with Vaughan I be he will offer something different,if GR can bring in a LB and a creative midfielder whilst keeping Vaughan he would have done well.
Let’s just hope were in the mix at the end of the season but if not at least we’ve made a marked improvement this season.
Why does there have to be so much secrecy about “the ones that got away”? GR is accused by some of being indecisive for our lack of signings. What harm would it do if we published our targets after missing them, with reasons why….money, picked off by “better” teams or the player not wanting to travel etc. At least then we would know the calibre of his targets and why despite his efforts he is failing to sign them up.
Good point buy there may well have been confidentiality or non disclosure clauses signed before negotiation s began.
One that got away was James Wilson as stated in GR’s programme notes from Saturday. In his words Brighton were able to offer him a more attractive package than we could.
Perhaps Gary has no problem publishing near misses but the ‘back room staff’ do, because they know the reasons would cause discontent amongst fans whose trust they are trying hard to win! Kro
You might be right…but who knows? One of the other main reasons for failing to land targets I strongly suspect are Agents. Once a Club shows an interest in one of their players I am sure that they then inform other Clubs in the hope of increasing their cut. I am sure that we have taken advantage of this in the past when we had more money to gazump our competitors, so we cannot moan now.
Does anyone think it could be fatigue with virtually the same team playing week in week out? Players not having competition and knowing they will be playing could be a factor. I think Gary Rowett needs to mix it up to keep the players fresh and on their toes. Sending 4 strikers out on loan leaving only Brock as cover was unforgiveable. Thomas was a nuisance because he wanted to play and not sit quietly while growing fat on his wages does not sit well with me.
Robert Teche has only played twice for Forest this season and although his position is not a priority to fill at Blues i wonder if GR will try again for a loan / permanent signing
Not fussed if signings are loans or permanent just as long as they are better than current first teamers, which will be a tall act based on our finances.
We could have done with another big cup game to bolster the bank like the Vile game, instead we get Bournemouth !
Being greedy I think we need four players to really improve the team. So which position out of left back, left central, central midfield and striker will not be strengthen?
I appreciate clean sheets would be nice but scoring goals wins games and with Donaldson sidelined I can not see where the goals will come from? I think we need 2 strikers so that Donaldson will have support and cover. Kro
Well we do not have a left back hopefully Vaughan will be the striker, for me central midfield is a priority too.
I agree. Grounds has been the fall guy but we are really struggling to impose any control in the middle of the park at home against even some of the weakest teams in the division. Kelftenbeld and Gleeson have been very poor neither protecting the defence or keeping possession or creating chances. We are very, very predictable at home. If we hadnt got Tesche and Fabbrini last season then we wouldn’t have got close to where we finished. They massively improved the overall quality of the team and the other players did better as a result.
Whatever money he has got to spend in January will probably have to be used on loans to pay higher wages on better players than we have got. I just don’t believe we have enough money to pay the sort of transfer fees that will get better players in permanently to enable us to have another push for 6th place. I bet GR wishes he had used the £500k on B-M to pay the wages to get someone like James Wilson in on loan instead. Hindsight is a wonderful thing though.
Yes SB agree
In life at my age of 65 and of those 59 years have been spent supporting the team I love to bits and will always be proud to support, you have to get perspective, no one is blameless all the time, GR is still learning at a much higher grade is he capable of course-fans including ourselves are very fickle indeed Bluenoses are unique and not as fickle as most, the support at Fulham was amazing that is why we are the best supporters be proud of yourselves, Having just returned from Australia ( I left after the Fulham game ) I still maintain a positive outlook, the next few weeks will be tough but remember were we stood some 14 months ago so take it on the chin for now and believe in GR- he has and will continue to make mistakes ( who does not ) we may lose a few more but come January when I think Gray will be sold? note GR recent comments- as long as we are in touch with play-offs as long as he is given the promised funds plus if Gray is sold even more finance then the future is brighter- he is without doubt intelligent wise enough to learn and progress our future just look at the past 12 months, however if events off the field get in his way or insufficient funds are given to him in his opinion ( given his relationship with Panos ) then he may well consider his future at St.Andrews who would blame him.Over the whole period , with limited funds he has performed miracles this season .To stop gates sliding to produce results as he said to get fans to support you have to give them something to get them off their seats, that is his priority give him the chance please at least until the end of January 2016, a final note I rate Viv Soloman- Otabar potentially better Gray? you may not agree but GR may know he has a ready made replacement in January and any extra funds from the sale of DG means a definite play off place ?
I agree in principle to what you are saying, but I do think we need plans B & C which requires a depth of squad that we have not got and can not afford, I do believe the remainder of this season will be about creating a bit of luck, when we have our full squad playing to their full potential I believe we are as good as any in the championship, problem is we have trouble sustaining it, I have therefor settled on us finishing mid table, any better will be a bonus, and regardless the team and staff will have my full support, I also dream of play offs, but in the end I am a realist, but it doesn’t stop me dreaming, even if we had a windfall it guarantees nothing, so I will cheer the good results and bemoan the poor one’s but my support will never dwindle. Kro
At the start of the season, I expected a 10th-12th place finish. I still think that, with this squad, it’s a reasonable expectation. If we get 2 or 3 additions, it’s possible we could push on above that, but there are no guarantees even then.
We finished 10th last season, so, in May, when the dust has settled on the season, even a 9th place finish will be progress, I don’t think anyone could argue with that. There’s a long way to go yet, let’s see what happens.
The loss of Donaldson and cotterill are proving as most fans have said to be massive , 25 goals last season and we’ve no one to fill there boots .. The sooner they come back the better along with three signings in January could boost our chances again of trying and I do mean trying to push top six though even I must admit that finishing 9th now would be a good season . Kro
I think that expecting promotion whilst we have these owners is putting unecessary pressure on the team, regardless of how good the manager is. It’ll be interesting to see what happens in January, but I certainly wouldn’t hold my breath on anything significant happening. Let’s just support the lads every game and see where that gets us.
I couldn’t agree more, expectations are being raised and it’s a shame our home form has been poor.
3 players that would improve this team, on loan:
Robert Tesche
Danny Fox
Federico Macheda
The signings would add good balance in addition to keeping Vaughan and Halford
I’m having to delete comments AGAIN because people are being childish. You want to argue, go do it on a forum. Commenting on OP is not a right and I will take it away if people can’t grow up.
I think Gary is going to upgrade a few position in January: 1/ Left back – he’s as much said they he has wanted to drop Grounds 2/ Centre Half – he’ll bring in a specialist centre back or acquire Halford to challenge Spector or allow Spector to move on from of the back four 3/ Upgrade
Gleeson to Tesche, to play alongside Kieftenbeld. I think that’s what he wanted to start the season with 4/ Will it be Vaughan? It’ll certainly be someone