Ram Bam

Out and gave phone to son to keep him quiet while losing 1-0. Got it back from son with a notification that waggy had scored so thinking at least we'd equalised. Shocked when I checked properly that it now 4-1.

Just wanted to add my rambling thoughts on this to the mix.

Any talk of sacking Warne is ridiculous, he needs more time although I’m also of the belief that Rosenior should have been given longer if not the job full time. Comparing the playing styles of the two and expressing any concerns should be fair game though.

As I’ve said above Warne needs more time to implement his style but in my opinion performances have certainly got gradually worse over his tenure so far. Under Rosenior there was a slow build up (painfully so at times) but at least we’d generally dominate possession and create a number of decent to half decent chances in each game. We’re now trying to either get crosses in from wide or knock the ball in behind the opposition defence which generally just results in possession returning the opposition team and from memory have had one shot on target which was from a free kick in the last 2 games. Both styles needed longer to settle and who knows where they will eventually take us but to my eye it seems that the previous style was more successful and getting better performances.

When Warne came in in one interview he said there was not a lot wrong and he wouldn’t be changing a lot however we have generally been playing a different formation than we had played in for the majority of the season before he arrived and are seemingly playing a completely different style. The formation we’re playing doesn’t seem to suit anybody in the squads strengths and shoe horns some into positions they have said in interviews before joining that they didn’t enjoy playing. IMO the biggest strength of our squad is our midfield, we’ve got two good ball players in Bird and Hourihane, two good players who can run with the ball in Sibley and Knight and a couple of Jack of all trades in Smith and Thompson. They are seemingly being negated as all they are now asked to do is knock the ball wide or in behind the opposition defence and then play for second balls when cleared. Winning second balls is important at any level but it is not really any of our midfielders main strengths yet now seems to be a major part of the way we play.

Warne also seems to be a bit ‘old school’ in his approach. I appreciate he wants the players to put maximum effort in but at no point during the game on Tuesday did I think the problem was that we didn’t run enough as he alluded to in his post-match interview. His comments on injuries seems to indicate he thinks players should play through the pain and certain niggles, I’m sure some will but there has been a fair few of these comments already in his short time at the club. He’s also made comments about needing ‘Men’ and in the moment of truth podcast made lots of mentions to senior pros, we’ll have to see how it pans out but it makes you think there may not be as much of a pathway from the academy to the first team as there has been previously and there is a worry we’ll revert to Rowett’s style of signing OAP’s.

It might not seem like it from what I’ve written but I like Warne, he comes across as a funny, intriguing, genuine guy and I hope he can turn it round. However the football and results served up so far has been pretty poor and there are a couple of red flags popping up.

Was a little unsure on having 5 centre backs in the squad at first but the more I think about it it might not be the worst idea in the world. Normally an advocate for 2 players in a squad for each position with a couple of extras and I think it makes sense to have one of these extras be a defender in our case when you look at the players we have.

Chester - 33 and some niggling injuries over the last couple of years

Stearman - 35 soon, steady enough to come in for a game or two but has been a bit part player for a long time

Davies - 37, played every game last season but can he do that again or is he going to need to be rested some weeks now. Has also had a couple of lengthy injuries during his time at the club

Cashin - really like him as a player but he's only 20 and played about 15 games. He's young and his form may dip so may need spells out of the team

Roberts - see above for Cashin

Based on that I can see us potentially having a couple of spells where two or more are unavailable or we want to rest them so makes sense to have the extra option.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-10996387/AHEAD-GAME-EFL-fury-BBCs-20m-Champions-League-TV-deal.html

Daily Mail article by Matt Hughes so take it how you want but apparently we've got a wage budget of 8 million this year compared to 12 million last year.

Any idea what that's likely to get us?

1 hour ago, WystonRam said:

interesting accounts filed by Mels company that owns the stadium 

 

For me the interesting line is the money owed to other mm companies. To get anywhere near £73m surely a large chunk of that has to be the money owed to the club for the purchase of the ground?

Does anyone know if our accounts or the little we've seen of them show how much money we actually received for pride park?

7 minutes ago, StarterForTen said:

Because Ashley is clearly not a bidder. Reading between the lines of that statement it would suggest Ashley is doing the Ashley thing... hanging around the fringes and lobbing in hand grenades until the final, final moment. Then he either tops the bid pot or flies off to buzz around the next pile of stinking dog doo that takes his interest.

This is my take on the statement as well. My completely uneducated guess is that Ashley has put in an expression of interest and said they'll potentially pay more than any other bids but hasn't actually put a bid in. The admins can't accept one of the other bids while there's potentially a bigger offer out there. Meanwhile Ashley is hanging round hoping the other bidders get fed up and give up and can pick us up for as cheap as possible. 

11 hours ago, dantheram said:

What can we do,

within the law, that would piss the little Bamford off?

 

plane with a banner on the back? Billboard with something on? 

You know how when Blackpool fans were protesting against the Oystons they threw tennis balls on the pitch to peacefully disrupt matches? That.

Except instead of tennis balls we throw phallically shaped objects.

With Gibsons face stuck on

9 minutes ago, hintonsboots said:

Can anyone explain why the TV revenue is withheld ?

No actual knowledge on it but having seen how the EFL work I'd guess there's a rule somewhere that says TV money can't be paid to a club in administration and is held in an account to pay football creditors if the worst happens.

Seems counter productive to then say we need you to prove you can fund yourself for the season but we're withholding money you'd normally be getting though or is that just me?

3 hours ago, Mick Harford said:

6 minutes in applause for a young lad that passed away aged 6.

 

Was going to share this as well, the family of the young lad are friends of my partner's family.

I appreciate emotions are running high at the minute and will be even more so on Saturday with barbs about our current situation no doubt coming out way from the forest fans but would implore all rams going to the game to respect this and to even join in if possible.

Just a thought on the potential points deduction for next season, isn't it a thing that if you're relegated outright then any points deduction is applied to the following season?

Is it possible we finish in the bottom 3 or a points deduction for the amortisation sees us relegated so the 12 points for administration apply to next season?

22 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

You perhaps need to pop to SpecSavers. He has lovely technique and control of the ball. He tries too much sometimes or makes the wrong decision, but he's still young in experience.

Shows how different people see football as I agree with collo. Only seen him a couple of times but imo Ebosele is very good when running at people but just seems a bit clumsy almost at some of the basics. 

For me he's a winger and not a full back. He'll give some full backs a tough game with his raw pace and directness but there's something missing in his overall play. Happy to see how he develops and if he can improve on them though.

Countless times over the years we've heard fans clamouring for player X to start, normally I've been able to understand where the manager has been coming from when he's not playing be it a settled team doing well, player y who's in the team having done nothing to lose their place or some tactical reason.

This time I genuinely can't see any reason why Sibley is not playing. We're desperately short of goals and he regularly looks like the most likely to score or create something. With CKR playing as a hold up striker we need someone to get in and around him or run past him otherwise we're playing in front of the opposition all the time relying on getting wide and crosses in. Even when we do that we've generally only got one or two in the box as theirs noone pushed on and we're not the best aerially to get on the end of them anyway. Sibley gets ahead of the striker pushing the opposition defence back and provides an extra body in the box which is why I think we always look more dangerous when he's playing.

Add into that he's home grown and one good season with 10-15 goals from him could see him be worth 10 million plus which would help the club massively given our current state. 

For me we should build the team round him but at the very least he needs a consistent run of games in the team, in his best position and not stuck out on the wing, or being dropped after an average game when he's been no worse than anyone else as has been the case over Rooney's tenure.