How much

[esdailles left foot]

Did the end of last season's capitulation effect this season's form. Massively in my opinion

[anne honemous]

If we had won the league as we probably should have done, I think expectation levels would have gone through the roof even more than they already have with some supporters.

At least that dip in form/complete bloody catastrophe made us all realise that we weren't as invincible as we'd like to think and lowered expectation levels from what they otherwise would be.

Last season, for me, is over and done with now though. Promotion was the aim and we achieved it. The title would have been nice, and we should have had it, but we still achieved our ultimate aim before a ball was kicked.

[dickos1]

Not at all in my opinion,

We started this season well

[mrfrostsdad]

Not at all in my opinion,

We started this season well

Do you know Dickos, I do actually PMSL at you sometimes!!
To use your maxim of 8 games as a measure of form - unless you want to change it again to suit your own purposes - we actually picked up 6 points from those 8 games, so we actually started the season very badly.
Now if you want to reduce it to 3 games, we picked up 5 points from 3 games which was not bad at all.

But that means if course that we've picked up 15 points from our last 16 games. So, which is it to be today??

[Chris Black come back]

4 April 2017.

“Rovers will now turn their attention to securing the League Two title. And Ferguson insists he will have no problem making sure his players remain focused for the final five games.

“The first thing’s done - promoted,” he said. We can now focus on the next five games and make sure we win the league...We’re six points ahead with five games to go. We want to go unbeaten for the rest of the season.”

14 April - drew 0-0 vs Mansfield
17 April - lost 1-0 vs Blackpool
22 April - lost 2-1 vs Wycombe
29 April - lost 3-1 vs Exeter
6 May - lost 2-1 vs Hartlepool

[BigKeif]

4 April 2017.

“Rovers will now turn their attention to securing the League Two title. And Ferguson insists he will have no problem making sure his players remain focused for the final five games.

“The first thing’s done - promoted,” he said. We can now focus on the next five games and make sure we win the league...We’re six points ahead with five games to go. We want to go unbeaten for the rest of the season.”

14 April - drew 0-0 vs Mansfield
17 April - lost 1-0 vs Blackpool
22 April - lost 2-1 vs Wycombe
29 April - lost 3-1 vs Exeter
6 May - lost 2-1 vs Hartlepool

We beat Mansfield and drew with Colchester 0-0 didn’t we?

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

I think there's an impact. Some of it is confidence some of it is lack of talent some of it is learning and some bad management.

The most prevalent thing is we can and will improve.

[drfchound]

4 April 2017.

“Rovers will now turn their attention to securing the League Two title. And Ferguson insists he will have no problem making sure his players remain focused for the final five games.

“The first thing’s done - promoted,” he said. We can now focus on the next five games and make sure we win the league...We’re six points ahead with five games to go. We want to go unbeaten for the rest of the season.”

14 April - drew 0-0 vs Mansfield
17 April - lost 1-0 vs Blackpool
22 April - lost 2-1 vs Wycombe
29 April - lost 3-1 vs Exeter
6 May - lost 2-1 vs Hartlepool

Not quite right mate, the 14th April game was a 1-1 draw at Colchester.

If i remember correctly, after the Mansfield game we had players who were "not available" for various reasons for the rest of the season but they suddenly were available again after it became apparent that winning the title was not going to be as easy as had been thought.

[dickos1]

Not at all in my opinion,

We started this season well

Do you know Dickos, I do actually PMSL at you sometimes!!
To use your maxim of 8 games as a measure of form - unless you want to change it again to suit your own purposes - we actually picked up 6 points from those 8 games, so we actually started the season very badly.
Now if you want to reduce it to 3 games, we picked up 5 points from 3 games which was not bad at all.

But that means if course that we've picked up 15 points from our last 16 games. So, which is it to be today??

As you've already proven stats can be displayed anyway you want to back your own argument so it's really a daft conversation

[idler]

It doesn't matter which statistics you use or which side of the fence you are on we are far too near the bottom.
Anybody that isn't concerned should be. The level of concern will vary with individuals but our tendency to shoot ourselves in the foot or collapse over the last few seasons mean that we need some daylight sooner rather than later.

[since-1969]

Did the end of last season's capitulation effect this season's form. Massively in my opinion

No !!! It was the events of the clear out or lack of it . Williams being asked to leave then asked to stay ! Marquis procrastinating of a new deal , Middleton not going when DF wanted him to , Alex Kiwomya falling ill etc etc ...so it was quite a lot of things and for what it’s worth ‘imo ‘ the lack of for sight of the club by not securing signings early enough when  they discovered that 2 of their targets were going elsewhere . We are left with a team predominantly made of League 2 experienced players and not enough quality.

[Chris Black come back]

It doesn't matter which statistics you use or which side of the fence you are on we are far too near the bottom.
Anybody that isn't concerned should be. The level of concern will vary with individuals but our tendency to shoot ourselves in the foot or collapse over the last few seasons mean that we need some daylight sooner rather than later.

That is a reasoned summary that I hope most people would share. What is most concerning is that there seems to be little progression on the pitch and little seems to ever change. Have we actually moved on in two years? (noting we went backwards to League Two).

[silent majority]

How can Alex Kiwomya be a lack of foresight?

And which two of our first choice players went elsewhere?

[wing commander]

  We were really unlucky with Kiwomya,nobody could have predicted that.We were also unlucky with Danny Andrews which for me has been the biggest blow.I wasn't that convinced of him to start with but he looked real quality before his bad injury..
   As for Williams nobody really knows but the suspicion is he couldn't get a deal close to what he was on here and didn't want to go..Nobody can moan about the amount of budget used to secure the Marquis  deal.Everybody on here was demanding it was done..

     In a parallel universe Kiwomya would be flashing down the wing.Andrews would be making us hard to score against and Marquis and Williams would be banging them in for fun.So I don't think we are paying for last season's finish at all.We've just been really unlucky on how things have panned out with our key players..

[drfchound]

I am not really sure that since1969 was saying that Kiwomyas' situation is being included in his "lack of foresight" views.

[RoversAlias]

We definitely missed out on a striker in the summer, Fergie brought it up as one of the reasons for the Williams U-turn.

[since-1969]

I am not really sure that since1969 was saying that Kiwomyas' situation is being included in his "lack of foresight" views.

No . But I was saying the lack of foresight with regards to not signing two players who changed their minds about coming to the Rovers and not having possible replacements . Alex was just unlucky and Williams too as he was asked to stay.

[silent majority]

I am not really sure that since1969 was saying that Kiwomyas' situation is being included in his "lack of foresight" views.

No . But I was saying the lack of foresight with regards to not signing two players who changed their minds about coming to the Rovers and not having possible replacements . Alex was just unlucky and Williams too as he was asked to stay.

So I'll ask the question again, which two players changed their mind about coming to DRFC? And how can you possibly be sure that we didn't have replacements in mind?

[Chris Black come back]

An unrelated question SM if I may.

Is your assessment that our budget this season is give or take in the top half for this league, or the bottom half?

[silent majority]

An unrelated question SM if I may.

Is your assessment that our budget this season is give or take in the top half for this league, or the bottom half?

My assessment, and information from other sources, is definitely top half!

I have a meeting with Shaun Harvey next week, should I ask him? 😉

[Chris Black come back]

Thank you. Most would I am sure concur that top half is certainly “competitive”.

[dickos1]

Budgets certainly aren't the be all and end all. Just a quick look at the league tables throughout the country shows that the budget isn't a clear indicator of where sides will finish.

Examples, Burnley, sheff Utd, Shrewsbury, bury, Brighton, West Ham, Everton, Cardiff, chesterfield, Accrington Stanley. Etc etc etc

[drfchound]

Well, none of them have finished yet have they.

[dickos1]

Hound that's what I've been telling
You for weeks, about our league position

[Lifelong supporter]

Thank you. Most would I am sure concur that top half is certainly “competitive”.

Depends what you mean by 'competitive'.
Competitive for finishing 7th or 8th, or competitive for finishing 11th or 12th?
It's quite clear now that DF wasn't given a budget to finish top two, or even top six.
I think he's made that plain himself with subtle hints about how much some League 1 sides have had to spend this season.
It was also obvious that the well was dry when it became clear Kiwonya was going to miss most of the season well before the campaign started and nobody was brought in on loan to replace him.
We are now left with just two strikers (Beestin is supposed to be a creative midfield player in the words of DF) - one who is out of form when it comes to scoring goals and one who seems to be out of favour with Fergie.
How he could rotate him off the bench at Wigan is a mystery.   
Kiwomya's illness has been a massive blow not only to the lad himself but also to the club.
Much was expected of him and his pace.
So if there was a lack of foresight, for me it was not replacing him.
And was that Fergie's fault or the board's?

[drfchound]

Hound that's what I've been telling
You for weeks, about our league position

I won’t disagree about that...........we could yet finish in the bottom four, we are certainly heading that way just now.
Now if SM is right about us having a top half budget, in my eyes our current position or worse at the end of the season would be abject failure.

[dickos1]

I agree, but I don't think using solely the budget to determine where everyone should be finishing is a very intelligent way

[drfchound]

I agree, but I don't think using solely the budget to determine where everyone should be finishing is a very intelligent way

Jus o confirm this, I haven’t said that.

[idler]

A good manager will over achieve with his budget, a bad manager's team will under perform. It sounds simplistic but some managers do always seem to cope with a small budget and others fritter away theirs.

[BillyStubbsTears]

I wonder what was the last time that we had a bad run of injuries and still exceeded expectations?

This year, we're not into Winter and we've already had the following be injured for substantial lengths of the season.

May
Andrew
Kiwomya
McCullough
Baudry
Williams

I suspect there aren't many clubs at this level who do well when more than a quarter of their first team squad are out for extended periods.