RodleyRam

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Collins FRGS

3 hours ago, Ghost of Clough said:

When you've studied football club accounts as much as I have over the last however many years you tend to get a good idea of what a club is spending. Looking at anything like Salary Sport as an indication of what a club is spending on wages is a complete waste of time and are wildly out. You'd be just as well informed if you used the latest Football Manager as evidence of a club's wage bill.

As an example, Bolton had a wage bill of over £10m in 21/22, yet Salary Sport at the time had them down as just £3.3m
Other examples being Burton (£5.1m vs £3.8m), Charlton (£10.6m vs £6.1m), Portsmouth (£7.9m vs £4.3m), etc...

Out of interest is the discrepancy football Vs non-football staff?

Crewe Alex is the closest club to where I grew up and I had a spell in there academy as a youf. Used to be a really good set up for a small club but then mired in controversy.

Hopefully it's a full ground and a good atmosphere, will prove a tough place to go though I'd wager.

Our squad should be good enough for top six. The 'stats' used by the OP to suggest otherwise are a tad misleading IMO.

I don't think we have the players to play PW's preferred formation personally and I'm not 100% convinced the tactics or style of play has always got the best out of the players consistently (yet). Despite that, win our game in hand and we are 4th, which would prove my view that the squad is more than capable of finishing top 6. If we can get the best out of them individually and collectively then we could/should challenge autos.

I'm not basing this on in-depth statistical analysis, just based on what I observe and assessment of the qualities of the squad overall. As it stands, we are about where I expect us to be.

Nowt black and white about anything that's happened at Derby in the last 5 years.

I don't think Rooney is a particularly good tactician or coach. But then neither were some of the greatest managers in history. In the right circumstances, he showed himself to be a great leader and gave us pride and hope when we had none.

Somewhat inevitably, given his celebrity profile, he comes with a fair bit of baggage and a circus behind the scenes that has no appeal to me.

Whether he can actually succeed in football management remains to be seen. Personally I think Brum have made a mistake.

I'd rather he didn't sniff around at the likes of Bird and Cashin personally.

Should have won.

Didn't lose.

Unbeaten in 6.

3 points off playoffs with a game in hand.

Uninspiring but improving performances.

Perspective. I think we'll be reet.

Chelters 1 - 1 Rams

FRGS Birdy

Most of the signings add something different. I was sceptical about an apparent lack of strategy and a few too many in the 'been there, done that' category but Fornah, Wilson and the Cat give us a little more dynamism. It's a nice blend overall.

Nelson the quiet standout for me so far.

It's a long old season and highly unlikely that both Pompey and Oxford will sustain their form for the whole campaign. Fix the home form (tactics!) and we have every chance of autos still (despite being distinctly average thus far)

1-0

Waggy

Every time I watch an interview with him or watch a positive passage of play, I am brought around to giving it more time. So I'm not in a particular camp or another. There are things I really like and things that give me a lot of concern.

At present I'm in the give it until Christmas and reassess camp.

If we are way off the pace at that point and the football is still chaotic and painful to watch, then I think he has to go (and I would think he's the sort of guy to walk)

If we're playing decent football and I can see there's an actual plan, then I'd give it until the end of the season regardless of where we are.

If it's Christmas and we're in the playoffs but the football is still poor, then I would given him until the end of the season.

So I'm summary crap football, crap results = Christmas dismissal.

Anything else and I think we have to give it until the end of the season.

Hopefully with the better players coming back and an acceptance that four at the back is the best platform for these players, then we can improve results and performances.

Carlisle 0 - 2 Rams

FRGS Sibley

I guess he's boosted the ad revenue on this site as a result of all the meaningless repeat topics that have been created?

1-1 

High time we had a low key draw

FRGS Hourihane 

2 minutes ago, Caerphilly Ram said:

What is it about the post admin approach to the club overall (not the first team management/coaching) that concerns you?

I’d argue other than Warne and the first team, which is an ongoing discussion across several threads, Clowes is doing exactly what you were hoping for. He’s refreshed and renewed the coaching set up for the academy whilst retaining category 1 status, he’s recruited a new recruitment “specialist” (who’s work thus far we’re yet to properly see results from), we’ve added 11 first team players of varying ages and contract lengths 9 of who are permanent additions whilst also adding 8(?) new players to the u21 side. Clowes is seemingly doing a lot to improve the culture of the club and also the outward perception of the club after our name was muddied quite spectacularly. He’s invested in the women’s side and brought that into the structure of the club.
He’s preaching about the club being sustainable, with a patient long term vision. Seems to be exactly what you suggest you wanted? 

If Warne is your concern, he may or may not prove successful, if he’s not then another manager will come in and have a go, that’s the nature of football. It seems to be that regardless of that, there is work being done to stabilise and secure the reputation and infrastructure of the club for the future, but I could of course be mistaken. 
 

All very sensible and well conveyed points. As I said, I'm probably in a slightly grumpy mood.

I think it's the disconnect I perceive between Warne and the rest of the club at the moment (or at least what I would want the rest of the club to look like)

I'm sure I've made this point before in my more whiney posts but my fave managers of the last 15 years were Clough and the small insight we got into Rosenior's philosophy. Something about the way they spoke and approached their roles made me think they were at one with the club, understood what made it tick and wanted to build something from the ground up. I really bought into what they said and how they went about it.

I just don't genuinely feel that with Warne and if you don't have that in the first team manager, I don't know how much of the other stuff can come to fruition. It's about pathways to the first team, embedding a playing style from the youth teams up, integration with the community. 

I just feel like we have Warne and the first team over here and the rest of the club over there. It's just a feeling and I have absolutely zero to back it up!

Jury is out on the recruitment team. 

And for the record I'm not in the Warne out camp, I quite like the guy, I'm just struggling to make sense of the club at the moment and can't get that excited about where we're heading.

My father in law is called Graham.

He supports Palace and believes everything he reads in the Daily Mail. Pretty sure he believes @Anag Ramis a thoroughly decent chap.

He doesn't get my vote.

In short, this should be the objective.

However, my optimism that we would rebuild the club with a very modern, long term approach from the ground up piece by piece after admin is slipping away. 

Doesn't mean we won't make the top flight at some point in the next 10 years I'm just not sure the current model gets us or keeps us there.

It's a cup half empty day.

In the immortal words of our Nigel...

"They can all go back to Wigan, or wherever it is they're from"

I suspect he couldn't pronounce Gdansk.

Late to the party on this thread as usual.

I understand the theory of what Warneball is, I can broadly get behind the theory, though I would prefer us to be more possession based. As a direct comparison I thought Rosenior was onto something, the players just needed to better judge when you keep it and when to move it.

That said we have seen glimpses of Warne's style of play being both effective and exciting to watch.

With the right players who could execute that style of play consistently, then I could get behind it.

The issue is there's often a stark difference between the touted style of play and what style of play we actually get. We rarely look to control games which seems utter madness given our resources.

Often it looks a total mess and our good quality players look like they've never seen a football before and run about a lot with very little impact. It's painful to watch and frustrating to see talent being wasted on a chaotic style of play.

Somewhere between Rosenior and Warne would suit these players and would be good to watch. I hope Warne is able to adjust sufficiently to bring out the ability of the players, as it is I don't look forward to match days.

26 minutes ago, Osbaldwick said:

Thought south stand were a bit quiet. Enjoyed the streaker though. 

Shame he was so hirsute...

47 minutes ago, WestKentRam said:

Decent results for us with Exeter and Stevenage dropping points. It's still on!

That's the spirit!

Igor - so Warne can prove to the world that 3-5-2 is the greatest formation ever

Call me a happy clapper if you will but I am encouraged that it's 5pm on a Saturday and we haven't dropped 3 points in an abject display of hoofball.

No doubt the naysayers will be bemoaning the fact that we haven't won or drawn either but that kind of negative thinking will just bring us down.

Mods can we have a poll to ascertain whether it was Warne's fault we haven't played today?

1-1 Washington

We have to draw at some point

Wherever he is I hope he's resolving the lax defending and making us more solid at the back.