League 1 2007/8 v 2012/13

[andysly]

From what I've seen so far the standard of football has declined dramatically since we've been away.
Our promotion year saw a very good Swansea side, us, and a decent Forest go up. All good football teams playing proper football. But there were also other useful sides like Carlisle, Leeds, Southend and others.
I know it's wishful thing but our promotion team would have this league won by Christmas.

[Chris Black come back]

Yes, I have been surprised by the dire quality of football - including our own at times. Our promotion winning team was indeed far better than our curent team but then again it was better than most of the sides we managed to field once we got into the Championship. We now have a honest and solid team, which is at least a building block for the future.

[DC-]

Different years, different situations. We weren't rebuilding the side nearly as much in 07/08 and we hadn't just been relegated.

Look to the future. The team of 07/08 can't do anything for us now.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Some selective memories going on here. Anyone recall how often our expensively assembled 07-08 squad laboured against journeymen over the first half of the season?

We picked up 11 points from the first 10 games. 28 from the first 20. We were often flat, lifeless and punchless.

If I'd have been an opposition fan back then, I'd have been musing on how poor the division was if we were in the top five wage payers and bookies' favourites.


Then it all clicked into place and the legend was written. But that first 4 months was frequently grim.

[DonnyNoel]

Some selective memories going on here. Anyone recall how often our expensively assembled 07-08 squad laboured against journeymen over the first half of the season?

We picked up 11 points from the first 10 games. 28 from the first 20. We were often flat, lifeless and punchless.

If I'd have been an opposition fan back then, I'd have been musing on how poor the division was if we were in the top five wage payers and bookies' favourites.


Then it all clicked into place and the legend was written. But that first 4 months was frequently grim.

I was thinking that too, but then its possibly even more reason for optimism. We've got the solid defence already, a striker scoring goals and a couple more (Hume & Paynter) who could easily get double figures each. If the midfield can click I think thats the missing piece of the jigsaw that could see us go on a decent run. As your stats point out, you don't have to be world beaters over 46 games to go up. I also still maintain if we're "up there" come January we might see even more investment...

Certainly more than a half full glass, especially given where most expectations were in July.

[andysly]

To be honest I was talking about the division in general not specifically Rovers.

[drfcsteve]

To say we didn't have a great start in 2007/08 makes the fact that we finished 3rd in a league with Swansea, Forest, Leeds, Brighton, Millwall, Huddersfield etc even more impressive. Look at the league we're in now, who stands out as a dominant force? Maybe Sheffield United but even they aren't very good. We had a very good team in 2007/08 but it was a tough league then, now we have a very average team but we're playing in a poor league, but at the end of the season the outcome could be the same as 2007/08.

[The Red Baron]

To be honest I was talking about the division in general not specifically Rovers.

I was thinking along those lines too, Andy. The dates are significant, though. After 2007/08 the Western economies started to fall off a cliff and we now have a kind of "post-recession nuclear winter" for those clubs who don't have Sky TV money, Champions League payouts or ownership by foreign billionaires.

The football I see now reminds me a lot of the mid-80s, when football was unfashionable and when the English clubs were banned from Europe. Lots of functional teams built on small budgets playing long-ball stuff. An unreconstructed long-ball man like John Beck could probably take a managerial job in League One or Two now and find that his tactics were a la mode.

IMO it will get worse as FFP kicks in- except that it will spread up the Leagues. Ok, maybe fewer teams will go into administration, but the quality of the product will decline and so will public interest. It is not an appealing prospect.

That is in no way to criticise DRFC's owners or management who are trying to play within the new rules. Just to say that it would now be virtually impossible to construct the sort of team we had in 2007/08, because we can't pay the wages that would attract players of that quality.

[BillyStubbsTears]

TRB.

I understand where you are coming from on the financial aspects, but presumably, the same argument applies to more or less everyone. So, if the same overall quality of players is available even in more straightened times, there's no reason per se why the quality of teams should have reduced.

My take, for what it's worth is that over the last decade or so, there have generally been 3-4 clubs in L1 who could command 20k+ crowds if they were at the top of the table.

There are probably none this year. Sheffield Utd maybe, but it is debatable if they could do that week-in-week-out given how jaded their fans are. Portsmouth and Coventry, just about, but they are both basket cases and so don't count.

There are no Sheff Weds, Leeds, Norwich, Leicester, Forest, Soton etc who have been in this division over the last few years.

And even the 12-15k+ teams have evaporated this year. The likes of Huddersfield, Swansea or Millwall.

So, off the contenders, basically you have Sheff Utd as the stand-out big club, Swindon and Preston as the next level at 9-10k crowds, then a group including us, Notts C, MK Dons and maybe Shrewsbury in their new-ish ground and with their recent promotion as 6-8k'ers whi might perk up to 10k in a good run-in.

All of which means that this year is probably the weakest L1 for a decade or so. Which means that we are unlikley to see a side buying in the resources to succeed as we did to some extent in 07-08. We'll see some good old-fashioned football from straightforward, uncomplicated sides with the chance for canny managers on limited budgets to make a mark.

And whoever goes up will probably get arseholed in the Championship...

[Chris]

We've been told on here that this year's budget is greater than the budget we had in 2007/8. Has the average budget at this level increased or was this bull?

[The Red Baron]

BST- you have a fair point about the lack of big teams in L1, but also I think the general shortage of available cash (and hence lower wage budgets) means that we will have to get used to a lower standard of player in L1.

I do agree that those who go up this season wil probably struggle badly in the Championship.

[bobbymax]

If the Blunts and Stevenage are genuine promotion candidates this season, I think we'll more than hold our own.

[CusworthRovers]

I was thinking along those lines too, Andy. The dates are significant, though. After 2007/08 the Western economies started to fall off a cliff and we now have a kind of "post-recession nuclear winter" for those clubs who don't have Sky TV money, Champions League payouts or ownership by foreign billionaires.

The football I see now reminds me a lot of the mid-80s, when football was unfashionable and when the English clubs were banned from Europe. Lots of functional teams built on small budgets playing long-ball stuff. An unreconstructed long-ball man like John Beck could probably take a managerial job in League One or Two now and find that his tactics were a la mode.

IMO it will get worse as FFP kicks in- except that it will spread up the Leagues. Ok, maybe fewer teams will go into administration, but the quality of the product will decline and so will public interest. It is not an appealing prospect.

That is in no way to criticise DRFC's owners or management who are trying to play within the new rules. Just to say that it would now be virtually impossible to construct the sort of team we had in 2007/08, because we can't pay the wages that would attract players of that quality.
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Excellent post Mister