Quality (part two)

[Bentley Bullet]

After hearing what I thought was a sad day for Rovers when it was announced that Rob Jones had left the club, it made me realise the quality we had in the side that beat Brentford at Griffin park, to win the league one title.

Reflecting on that, I wondered if any of the present side would get a game in front of this lot.......

Neil Sullivan
Paul Quinn
Rob Jones
Jamie McCombe
Tommy Spurr
Dean Furman
John Lundstram
James Coppinger
Dave Cotterill
Chris Brown
Iain Hume

Bench;

Gary Woods
James Husband
Liam Wakefield
Kyle Bennett
Paul Keegan
Dave Syers
Billy Paynter

[MrFrost]

What I find alarming is that 2 and a half years on we only have one team member left from that squad.

[MrFrost]

Sorry two

[DonnyNoel]

Williams would get in there I'd say given the solid but unspectacular returns of the 3 strikers in there.

If you count Conor Grant as part of the current side then he'd be in there too.

Tyson would push Chris Brown close for me depending on how you were setting up tactically.

I immediately thought Butler over McCombe but then if you're judging McCombe on how he was in that side before his injury then I'd guess thats a close one too.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Yes, but that was inevitable given the fact that that squad had been thrown together following the catastrophe of:

1)the awful squad that O'Driscoll left us with, many of whom were not particularly decent L1 standard (Woods, Woods, Dumbuya, Lockwood, Hird, Naylor, Barnes, Martis, a rapidly-fading Oster, etc)

Which led to:

2) The Experiment. Ahem...

Which led to:

3) The highest wage bill and probably worst wage bill to quality ratio in the club's history.

Which led to:

4) The need to divest ourselves of all high earners and pretty much start from scratch in Summer 2012.

With that background, it was astonishing that Saunders and the Board could put together a title winning side so quickly. And not surprising that many of those (McCombe, Furman, Paynter, Hume, Wakefield, Bennett) weren't up to the next level and have been let go over the past 2 years.

[Copps is Magic]

Gary Woods in a thread titled 'quality'. What a day to be alive.

[Bentley Bullet]

Gary Woods in a thread titled 'quality'. What a day to be alive.

Who said Woods was quality? He wasn't even in the side that beat Brentford! 

[RedJ]

Williams would get in there I'd say given the solid but unspectacular returns of the 3 strikers in there.

If you count Conor Grant as part of the current side then he'd be in there too.

Tyson would push Chris Brown close for me depending on how you were setting up tactically.

I immediately thought Butler over McCombe but then if you're judging McCombe on how he was in that side before his injury then I'd guess thats a close one too.

Aye, but Williams would've been shite in that side, judging by how he plays when we hoof it to him so far.

[drfchound]

Amazing that Hird is being feted as a good player on another thread.

[idler]

Are you saying that he was worse than some of those that we have now?

[Sammy Chung was King]

Saunders for all his bluster, did a very good job putting that squad together in such a short space of time.
 Can you imagine getting stuck in a lift with him?, you would be doing a Bruce Willis climbing the lift shaft to get out of his way!. The players must have had headache with him, he never stops talking.

[Chris Black come back]

On Sam Hird let's not forget he was only 20 at the time of the Wembley match and was up against Beckford and Freedman. Both very good strikers at that level. Barely put a foot wrong.

[drfchound]

Are you saying that he was worse than some of those that we have now?

Idler, i was just making a point.

I actually liked Sam as a player.
As is usual though, when he left us there were many slagging him off and saying he was rubbish.
Also, as usual, when he did well elsewhere he has been feted as been a good player.
Sometimes you dont know what you've got until it is gone.