Ross Etheridge signs

[The Red Baron]

Has Gary Mac signed yet bloody rubbish board

He's on a coaching course at the moment. Hopefully he will dot the is when he comes back.

[Nudga]

But does Blairo rate him?

[jonnydog]

Apparently him leaving effectively leaves Accrington without a keeper. All but 1 of their fans on the forum think it'll be a massive loss.

Let's hope their loss is most definitely our gain.

[Copps is Magic]

From an Accrington Journalist relating to compensation. Doesn't sound like its been agreed.

Dan Jewell ‏@danjewellmedia  9m9 minutes ago
@sidlee01 @drfc_official looks that way but as I understand it Donny didn't respond to Accy's suggestion for an amount & announced

[DonnyOsmond]

If we can't agree it'll go to a tribunal.

[Donnywolf]

Apparently him leaving effectively leaves Accrington without a keeper. All but 1 of their fans on the forum think it'll be a massive loss.

You can see their point - it makes a hell of a target !

[Sammy Chung was King]

Any keeper that can grow three inches in a matter of days, will do for me!. Give him a week and he will be taller tham Michael Jordan!.
Good signing if it is confirmed, it looks like finally the club is trying to build it's own squad!.

[jonnydog]

Hopefully he's better between the sticks than he is at interviews. This is shocking

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeVFRjyacyI&feature=youtu.be

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Well that bodes well as he's clearly a better keeper than a conversationalist.

[roversron]

That was painful to watch

[GazLaz]

He's an absolute dope.

[Donnywolf]

Question  Hands up out there how many people have given a Best Mans speech - a Grooms Speech - or had to do Public speaking in front of a big crowd / video Camera

Answer. 112 of you have put your hands up.

Question . Of you 112 how many of you were s******g your pants before doing it and during it especially. How many of you thought god I did that badly and given my time again I could do that better or did you think you nailed it ?

Answer. Just 1 of you out of 112 thought they nailed it

I really felt for the bloke and hopefully he will learn and his next interview will be better - but remember his JOB is as a Pro Footballer not an Orator

[The Red Baron]

He's clearly very nervous- you can tell by the constant playing with his sleeves- and probably hasn't done many interviews. I get the impression he's been sat down and then asked the questions and it's all been done in one take.

If I'd been interviewing him I would have asked him a few questions - not about football but about things like what was the last film he'd seen, where did he like to go to eat (probably Nandos) before we started the camera rolling. Then we could talk football and hopefully it would be like two old chums having a yarn over a beer.

[idler]

If every time we interview him to congratulate him on a clean sheet he is like that I'll settle for another 30. It's a big thing to move at his age and that was possibly his first ever televised interview. Hopefully Copps or one of the other senior pros will give him a guiding hand.

[Metalmicky]

Hopefully he's better between the sticks than he is at interviews. This is shocking

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeVFRjyacyI&feature=youtu.be

That made me squirm - however, at 21 years old I may have possibly been similarly awkward....

Thankfully we signed him as a keeper and not as a press officer, so I hope he proves himself between the sticks.  I seem to remember one D. Beckham wasn't the best of orators in his formative years - but as with anything experience helps..... not that Beckham excels at it even now.

[RoversAlias]

On the subject of the interview, who is conducting the interviews for Player here now?

Noticed him a few times, sounds a familiar voice. Says 'erm' a bit too much himself so I'm not surprised young Ross wasn't put at ease for this one!

[Donnywolf]

He's clearly very nervous- you can tell by the constant playing with his sleeves- and probably hasn't done many interviews.

Agree ... he could not stop with the sleeves and its something I see all the time

I have always wondered / wanted an answer to why people do such things ? It must be a "known" trait ti Psychologists. Watch any Sportsman interviewed whether they have done well or badly and they always answer but cant resist scratching themselves behind the head, or under the eye or their nose

Regular interviewees even like Federer, Murray, Vettel, Rosberg and almost every Footballer does it. It is obviously a technique or coping mechanism so are there any Psychologists on here to mark my card ?

[Copps is Magic]

While we're on the subject (never one to miss an opportunity to slate roversplayer), I did find it kind of the funny that the club released the following tweet;

WATCH: Ross Etheridge talks exclusively to Rovers PlayerHD after joining on a two year deal

One or two days later and the interview still isn't even on Roversplayer (you know the service some of us muppets still pay for) and has been uploaded to youtube (you know the free one with all the nice comments under videos).

It sometimes feels that when you give money to rovers its a charitable endeavour. But at least when you give your £2 a month to save the dolphins, you at least get a picture back ever so often of little Jimmy the Dolphin out there swmming in the sea to check on his progress.

[Donnywolf]

Are they doing it on porpoise do you think 

Sorry too predictable - and that's before Ive had a drink

[Canadian Rover]

I've stopped my rovers player subscription  (will likely have to renew for live games again) and the youtube channel is part of the reason. Almost everything  (including highlights) is uploaded to youtube before it is rovers player. Only advantage to rovers player is the commentary for me. And the last few games of the year were painful to the ears!

[Pancho Regan]

Back to topic.....my mate is an Accy Stanley STH and says of Etheridgey:

"Ross is a good keeper rather than a great one. Very good shot-stopper but very poor on distribution. One-footed when dealing with back-passes!"

That sounds to me like the lad's weaknesses can be worked on with some good coaching.

[GazLaz]

DF likes him because of his good distribution. Make of that what you will.

[jonnydog]

He's clearly very nervous- you can tell by the constant playing with his sleeves- and probably hasn't done many interviews.

Agree ... he could not stop with the sleeves and its something I see all the time

I have always wondered / wanted an answer to why people do such things ? It must be a "known" trait ti Psychologists. Watch any Sportsman interviewed whether they have done well or badly and they always answer but cant resist scratching themselves behind the head, or under the eye or their nose

Regular interviewees even like Federer, Murray, Vettel, Rosberg and almost every Footballer does it. It is obviously a technique or coping mechanism so are there any Psychologists on here to mark my card ?

It's essentially to do with nerves. The scratching of the head or playing with sleeves etc... is the persons way of trying to keep control (all be it on a psychological level) when they are out of their comfort zone. It's the same kind of thing when someone has a learned response which they start a lot of their answers with or drop in to sentences regular. Like starting with "obviously" or more commonly with footballers "at the end of the day" etc... although I do hear players at interviews start by saying "yeah, no" or vice versa.

Equally, those who may be fibbing about something might end their sentence with "actually" (i.e. I didn't say that, ACTUALLY).

Everyone has these comfort triggers/learned responses.

[Donnywolf]

Back to topic.....my mate is an Accy Stanley STH and says of Etheridgey:

"Ross is a good keeper rather than a great one. Very good shot-stopper but very poor on distribution. One-footed when dealing with back-passes!"

That sounds to me like the lad's weaknesses can be worked on with some good coaching.

Yeah .... I'll coach him with my usual "aim for the green bit between the Stands"

[Pancho Regan]

Perhaps he's talking generally, that this is his preferred method of play, notwithstanding the state of the pitch at Morecambe or Newport.

Perhaps he has enough sense to instruct his players to adapt to the prevailing conditions.

Just a thought.

[Sammy Chung was King]

DF likes him because of his good distribution. Make of that what you will.

Good management that, he has pinpointed his weakness as a strength, so already he feels supported and valued!.
If he needs any work on it, i'm sure they won't make a big deal of it. That can be improved, just improving his movement of his feet and body shape as it comes to him, and learning to be calm on the ball, it all comes with experience.

[Jonathan]

This is the right stage to bring in this kind of player. He's a young keeper that's played in the league and obviously has some potential (you don't keep the number of clean sheets he has by being a mug). So, for a club like us, we either take that chance to bring him in now and develop him further, or we wait and watch while he becomes more proven, at which point we'd probably have to pay over the odds and risk losing out to a bigger club.

Pleased to see us doing this kind of business.

[graingrover]

Too right Jonathan ... I also think Lund, Middleton and Pugh will get good development coaching this coming season as DF embarks on the new development régime for the youngsters in the squad.