3 wins

[MrFrost]

Here is an interesting question:
How many other managers would still be in a job if their team had only managed 3 wins since the turn of the year, and only scoring 3 goals at home in this period?

Now this is no way implying that SOD should be sacked, just a question.

[RobTheRover]

Possibly the daftest, most one-dimensional question ever posted on here.

Sorry to be stuck in a FOR-NEXT loop, but look at the bloody injuries!

[BillyStubbsTears]

Here is an interesting question:
How many other managers would still be in a job if their team had only managed 3 wins since the turn of the year, and only scoring 3 goals at home in this period?

Now this is no way implying that SOD should be sacked, just a question.

It's a perfectly valid question. He's had three runs that would have got any other manager the sack

1) Feb-Dec 2007 when we won 45 points from 38 games with the (then) most expensive squad ever assembled in the club's history.

2) Aug-Dec 2008 when he steadfastly insisted on picking anyone with two functioning legs at centre forward rather than Heffernan and we won 18 points from the first 24 games in the Championship. That included a run of 2 points from 12 games which is probably the worst in the club's entire history.

3) The current run of 10 points from 16 games or 17 points from 21 games depending on where you fix the start of the downturn.

I struggle to believe that any manager at any other club would survive any of those runs, nevermind three such ones in 4 years. It's to the enormous credit of Ryan that he has shown patience and understanding during those runs and it's equally to the credit of O'Driscoll that each time he has turned things round in the medium term.

There are mitigating factors in all three runs of course.

In the second one, we were finding our feet in the Championship (although most promoted clubs don't struggle as dreadfully as that and the striker decision was entirely O'Driscoll's).

In the first and the third, we were devastated by injuries (although that raises its own question of course - WHY are we so regularly devastated by injuries? Once is unfortunate. Two or three times starts to look like a pattern). One particularly worrying feature of the response to those injury blights was that as a result we signed loan players who, it turned out, weren't good enough to turn things round. Cadamarteri and Worley in 2006-07 made a bad side even worse while expensive loanees like Euell and Kilgallon aren't able to get into a losing side at the moment.

Fingers crossed that the O'Driscoll magic works again over the summer and we flip into one of the sudden reversals of form that he excels in.

[Viking Don]

I think we might get a result against Cardiff, but I'm more confident of picking up 6 points against Palace and Preston, two games I'd earmarked weeks ago. We're not going down this season anyway, I'll bet anyone.

[CusworthRovers]

I'm still not sure why people are panicking. We are safe, trust me. We will be safe sooner rather than later. The time to worry and seriously worry (legit reason to worry) is when we are in the current position of Preston, Scunny and Sheff Utd with 7-8 games to go. We are still well well clear.

As for the Championship Club analogy, I agree with Bob......I don't think we are a Championship club at all. I do feel we are playing Championship football, have a Championship Manager, Chairman and some players, but I do not see DRFC as a Championship Club yet. When we are getting 13k+ crowds, I'll feel more at home then. I suppose it's how you look at it really and opinions......in the same way I do not see Blackpool a Prem Club, infact I do not see them a Championship club neither. Silly really

[steve@dcfd]

I'm still not sure why people are panicking. We are safe, trust me. We will be safe sooner rather than later. The time to worry and seriously worry (legit reason to worry) is when we are in the current position of Preston, Scunny and Sheff Utd with 7-8 games to go. We are still well well clear.

As for the Championship Club analogy, I agree with Bob......I don't think we are a Championship club at all. I do feel we are playing Championship football, have a Championship Manager, Chairman and some players, but I do not see DRFC as a Championship Club yet. When we are getting 13k+ crowds, I'll feel more at home then. I suppose it's how you look at it really and opinions......in the same way I do not see Blackpool a Prem Club, infact I do not see them a Championship club neither. Silly really

We do not have the support hence the funds to be a Championship club. I hope we can survive again this year and if we do our board and JR have to decide to provide the funds to improve our squad with quality players. We have not done that this season we have resigned our best players and not all them are consistent quality championship players. We have a Championship manager who had said this season we do not have the quality despite the injuries which have disguised the problem that although JR said we gave the manager the biggest budget it has not been good enough. The players the manager has been able to bring in either bought on short term contracts or loaned have not been any better than what we have and did not have the same quality has the ones we lost. We will not improve the crowds without success whether we like it or not. We will not keep the young following without success. I am 60 this year and over the last few years seen the best football from the club for many a year. But I will not follow the club with rose tinted glasses either. Our football this year has not been the same quality has the previous two years. Th board has failed to improve the squad. Although supporters on here will say the manager has been given the funds but we are no longer in the Conference, league 2 or League 1 we are in the Championship. Two Championship strikers, two Championship midfield players and one Championship defender we need extra quality we make up the difference or have done with team work.  When you stand still you go backwards in football. Therefore it is absolutely ridiculous to say with only just 3000 taking up the season ticket offer the board will feel they have taken the club has far has it can and financially may feel better in league 1.We will need at least six more points to have a chance of staying up but we are failing to score we have not brought in a striker to replace Billy and we did not when James Hayter was injured. Its down to money so if we fail to stay up that will be the reason Money.

[Mr1Croft]

On the Brooker subject, it doesn't make sense as to why SOD has kept him, he normally chops the injured players after lengthy stays on the sidelines.

Horlock, injured under penney then SOD released him after he recovered
Gordon Greer, looked okay for the 6 or 7 games he played, was out for 18 months, came back, we offloaded him, he has since cpatained Swindon to the play off final and captained Brighton to the top of league one, and he plays CB, obviously something we have struggled to get one knuckled down (except maybe Lockwood)
Sean McDaid, a big hit player who could just about play anywhere got offloaded after his injury.

This has been a dismal season in terms of our last 3 or 4 seasons. However we knew the risks of buying a big named striker like Billy and not really bolstering the defence would bring, it was always a either or situation, the VSC made a Billy Sharp fund and many people supported it and made contribution, we was all for bringing him to the club, but it hasn't really benefited us and after a string of low confidence, bad luck and injuries we find ourselves where we are. Tbf Sky Bet had us faviourites to finish 21st, at least its not all doom and gloom

[CusworthRovers]

Pray tell where we would be now without Sharp's goals. I would suspect we would be crapping ourselves ala Preston, Scunny and Blades. Whilst I'm not suggesting we are a 1 man team, I'm convinced we would be safe now had we not lost Sharp. You need a genuine quality striker/finisher or two in this league. We only have 1.

I could cite a few games where Billy would have made a difference. Even up to the last game. 1 moment of class/quality was all Bristol needed from Maynard and it rescued 3 points and robbed us of 1. Had Billy played, Maynards would have been mere consolation.

I would never under estimate the value of Sharp to this team

[VixDRFC]

Pray tell where we would be now without Sharp's goals. I would suspect we would be crapping ourselves ala Preston, Scunny and Blades. Whilst I'm not suggesting we are a 1 man team, I'm convinced we would be safe now had we not lost Sharp. You need a genuine quality striker/finisher or two in this league. We only have 1.

I could cite a few games where Billy would have made a difference. Even up to the last game. 1 moment of class/quality was all Bristol needed from Maynard and it rescued 3 points and robbed us of 1. Had Billy played, Maynards would have been mere consolation.

I would never under estimate the value of Sharp to this team

Well said! the point against Bristol City at home,the 3 points against Derby away, the point against Sheffield Utd away and the 3 points his goal and assist against Sheffield Utd at home for starters

[RobTheRover]

Had he stayed fit, I suspect our GF column would be a damn sight better too.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Pray tell where we would be now without Sharp's goals. I would suspect we would be crapping ourselves ala Preston, Scunny and Blades. Whilst I'm not suggesting we are a 1 man team, I'm convinced we would be safe now had we not lost Sharp. You need a genuine quality striker/finisher or two in this league. We only have 1.

I could cite a few games where Billy would have made a difference. Even up to the last game. 1 moment of class/quality was all Bristol needed from Maynard and it rescued 3 points and robbed us of 1. Had Billy played, Maynards would have been mere consolation.

I would never under estimate the value of Sharp to this team

It'd be daft to argue with any of that. Sharp is a magnificent player and is clearly a vital player for us and an influential one too. That said,  I should bloody well hope  he would be given that he cost 4 times the amount that we have ever paid for any other player.

We'd expect him to score important goals, but then again, other players have donned the hoops at this level and scored vital goals, and have done do without costing our entire transfer budget. Are we saying that if we didn't have Sharp, a different, cheaper player as centre forward would have contributed NOTHING to the side?

In anticipation of the inevitable replies, I still struggle to see why even the merest questioning of the use our the majority of our very limited resources on one particular player, leaving us with filler-ins across the rest of the squad causes such a knee jerk reaction from so many on here. It seems to me to be a perfectly valid and apt question, given how badly we have ended up faltering when that particular player ended up getting injured.

[Mr1Croft]

Just to clairfy I was not questioning Sharp's conrtibution, I was mentioning for the reason as to why we have struggled this season IMO, there is no denying Sharp's ability, he has been everything we could have dreamed of for the money (possibly minus Wolves away). Question marks do however hang over whether the money would have been better getting a defender, one on a permanent basis, a Shackel/Mills type CB, but as I said everyone made it clear last season that we wanted a contract with a big fat signature at the bottom saying B.Sharp and by god we got it, thats what I wanted and i'll still defend the decision, but I am within my right to question it as a possibility as to why we have had such a leaky defence. Hopefully we can stay up this season and then look to bolster the side with a decent centre back. I still say bring back Gordon Greer!

NB: A CB wouldn't solve everyone problems as many want to improve the squad in other areas e.g. offload stock and his bad back and look for a more Wellens type player who benefits how we play. Stock is a great player but in the last 2 seasons he seems like his best is behind him and in some of the games he's played, he has disapeared orr the radar. e.g. Leciester away, Cardiff away etc.,

[steve@dcfd]

lets not forget when we signed Billy it was said by JR that it was done outside the biggest budget the club had given a manager. The signing was completed from the directors pockets. What he failed to say that the intial transfer money was payed by the directors but it appears his wages came out the budget hence  putting pressure on other spending. Therefore we could not achieve other  quality spending yet we had a bid accepted for Shackell but could not agree wages, we went after Ward but could not agree wages simoney at that was available.

[CusworthRovers]

Billy you tinkers dog, your posts with references to or related to Sean, Heffs or Greeny always increase when we are on a bit of a slide.

Under Sean we have effectively seen Pricey, Cammo, Hayts, Lewis and Heffs. Whilst all those have individual excellent qualities, some even have more attributes than others, I do feel (opinion only, of course) William Sharp has everything those others possess and equal or better than what their talent may have been. Therefore he could be deemed 5 x the player of these at a cost of 5 times more. At this level and above you have to have a striker who can make 1 or 3 points off his own back, if you want to be taken serious. In our case, you then need that striker to make the team tick and give us an out ball, link up play to a standard that is in comparison to our passing skills of the midfield. Billy is that player, Hayts capable but not to the level of Billy IMO.

I do feel had we not bought a quality striker this season.....or instead stuck with Hayts (and bear in mind he's also been out injured) plus another striker of his calibre (and he also may have been injured, as per the rest), then I feel we would have been in a worse position IMO. That's also bearing in mind we would have maybe bought in Shack (who does get injured and did leak many goals as solid and good as he was). Would Shack have gone through this season uninjured, would his game have been effected by all the changes around him.

We've not really had the chance to buy 1 quality defender, as we've needed loads in due to injuries. That said, is Killa not deemed quality. Maybe we took a gamble on Thomas and it never paid off.

I'd love us to have Mills and Shack at CH, but it won't happen even without the cost of Sharp. I'd love Nicky Bailey, I'd love many a player here, but we simply cannot afford it

[Berkshire Rover]

Completely agree Cussy, and I would add that if Billy stays he will always get us 15 goals plus a season and if he leaves any time soon, we'll get more than we paid for him.

Every team has it's key players and Without question, Billy is one of ours.

Thought I'd better get this in before my untimely (at least I think so) demise on Thursday.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Billy you tinkers dog, your posts with references to or related to Sean, Heffs or Greeny always increase when we are on a bit of a slide.

How dare you do me such a disservice? I'm a miserable argumentative t**t ALL the time.

At this level and above you have to have a striker who can make 1 or 3 points off his own back, if you want to be taken serious. In our case, you then need that striker to make the team tick and give us an out ball, link up play to a standard that is in comparison to our passing skills of the midfield. Billy is that player, Hayts capable but not to the level of Billy IMO.

But that is demonstrably not correct. We've been in this division for just about 3 years now. In all that time, there is one period that jumps out as by far and away our best both in terms of quality if football and results. From Boxing Day 08, we won 37 points from 20 games. That was a phenomenal record, bettered only by the side who won the league. We haven't come remotely close to that form since and to be honest, few clubs do - that was automatic promotion form fir nearly half a season. And yet, the centre forward for 17 of those 20 games was a player who isn't fit to lace Sharp's boots. In fact there are plenty on here who reckon that the rest of the side was such a well oiled machine that we could afford to carry a centre forward who was fundamentally not good enough for this level. So it's patently and unarguably the case that you DON'T have to have a top quality centre forward above all else to flourish in this division. That's not opinion, it's demonstrable fact.

The point was, of course that during that period, we had a superbly balanced side with a spine of quality right down the middle of the side and we haven't had that since.

Unfortunately, over the last four years, we've regularly had key players poached off us. We've never properly (ie with our own contracted players) replaced Roberts, Green, Mills or Wellens. We didn't have the money to keep them or replace them with equivalent quality. And yet we DID have the money to smash all our records on one player. A superb player, no doubt, but we've been left scratting about for bits and pieces filler-ins everywhere else on the pitch and the lack of quality and cover is painfully obvious.

As I said, asking the question of whether that was a sensible strategy was pertinent at the time and us even more so given how things have panned out.

[BigH]

Much as I've loved watching Sharp in a Rovers shirt, this season has been such a drag that there'll have to be consideration given to a more balanced budget over the summer. This should also involve Sullivan and, perhaps, Stock. Collectively, these 3 account for well over £20k a week in wages, decent money that could use to make 4-5 decent signings (full time or loan); up and coming youngsters who'll run all day and will be less likely to sit out a third of the season through injury.

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

Bear in mind SOD is aware of the lack of balance in the squad and has already said he'll be sorting that as first priority this summer.  He's aware of the need for an attacking midfielder for example.  But I don't expect much, shocking ST sales will see to any spending we'd like to see in the morning being tiny.

2 wins will do it, it might not even take that.