Is it time to......

[Nudga]

Officially put the club up for sale and invite serious offers?

The club has totally gone stale and not even the early Grant McCann buzz has managed to stop the alarming slide.

We've been lied to about budgets etc and it's obvious that budgets have been piss poor. I know for a fact it was bad last season when Schofield told his dad he couldn't sign better than Sunday league players.

TB hasn't got it in him to drag this club up by the scruff of its neck, that much was obvious from the latest MTO event. He didn't fill me with confidence and still gave the impression that a serious playing budget wasn't forthcoming.

It's time to get the feelers out and see if there are any serious people out there who have the nous, finances, passion and massive b*llocks to unlock our potential.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Nudga.

We've got 35 players in the first team squad!

How much do you reckon that is costing Bramall?

[Nudga]

A lot more than last season granted, what were his words, "out performing the budget" or something along those lines.
McGrath, Sotona, the loanees, Bailey and a chunk of that 35 being kids won't be on a great deal.

We have though, wasted valuable budget on Wood, sterry, Broadbent, Lawlor new deal for Anderson and a couple of others who I forget now.

Yes we have 35 players but I bet it's (the budget) still nowhere near Notts County, Mansfield or Stockport. There's a lot of shite in that 35.

[GazLaz]

Nudga.

We've got 35 players in the first team squad!

How much do you reckon that is costing Bramall?

The fact that the squad has got so inflated shows there’s been no coherent plan for a long time. We brought in a HoF to stop things like this happening. We had a great chance to change the ethos around the club, a great reset to use a bit of a cliche. We blew it. We were so close to implementing a structure that could have worked for us and we gave the job to the wrong man. Even after that, we had to keep faith with the plan and find the right man. Scrapping that structure all together yet another sign of lurching from one disaster to another.


I agree with Nuga. Bramall has to go if a credible bidder comes in. Pretty sure Blunt will want some £ out of the club though which will put a cloud over any asking price.

[TonySoprano]

Brammall has taken over as Chairman because he felt the club was underperforming.
Right, but what specifically is he planning to do ?
Because he certainly didn't say it at the MTO event.

My feeling is that he can't do anything, the damage has been done, by blunt and himself.

This club is f**ked.

[normal rules]

The club has always been up for sale .
For the right buyer.

[pib]

If TB will only relinquish control to a “genuine Rovers fan” then he’s not going to sell it in his lifetime. If there was a genuine fan out there with boat loads of money to buy the club surely they’d have done so by now.

[Nudga]

The club has always been up for sale .
For the right buyer.

But it's never been advertised widely as such.

[McCammon egg n chips]

Nudga.

We've got 35 players in the first team squad!

How much do you reckon that is costing Bramall?

This is such a poor point. Serious question back to you - how much do you think it's costing him?

The answer is nowhere near enough to get us fighting for promotion. Or even fighting for midtable.

[pib]

Whether he’s spending money or not, things clearly aren’t working. But I’m not hearing any admission from the board/chairman that the way we operate isn’t very good and needs changing, just that we need to spend more money.

I really don’t understand why he’d want to see his money continue to be wasted? It appears to be a huge blind spot.

[normal rules]

The club has always been up for sale .
For the right buyer.

But it's never been advertised widely as such.

Every football club is up for sale.
For the right buyer.

[DonnyNoel]

The club has always been up for sale .
For the right buyer.

But it's never been advertised widely as such.

Doesn't need to be. Plenty of messages over the last decade. If someone is dumb enough to want to buy us they will.

[Sammy Chung was King]

He doesn’t want any outside investment, but what he puts in isn’t enough, to challenge for promotion. The quality of players coming in has dropped and so have the performances. Time for the club to be sold.

[Pliskin]

When JR left 10 years ago we were in the 2nd tier, and now we're circling the plughole of the Football League - the level we were at 30 years ago when we didn't have a pot to piss in and were getting crowds of just over 2000.

The way the football club is being run by these people clearly isn't working. How many more leagues do we have to fall through before they realise that maybe they're part the problem?

There has been a serious lack of direction, drive and ambition at the club for years, with any money that is put in getting immediately swallowed up firefighting previous bad decisions.

This is a zombie ownership - existing, but mindlessly stumbling around without purpose. If nothing changes I don't see us getting out of the rut we're currently stuck in.

[colincramb]

The budget for this season is more than enough to have us challenging for the top 7. But yet again our recruitment has been terrible, plus the fact we are still carrying rubbish signed by the previous regimes.

Fact is McCann is massively underachieving with the resources he has. You could point to injuries as an excuse and that’s some what true, but with most now finally coming back to fitness this theory will be tested in the next few months.

[Spilsby Red]

I welcomed GM back and thought yes, he will turn it around, maybe not straight away. But I now think he is out of his league.
Yes we have had injuries but to moan he has 29 players to work with in training when he only likes to work with 22 max.
Faal leaving, was there more to this, did he have issues with GM and the management? Have our players got issues with the management? As I said on another post, to me it looks like the players are not playing for him.
Playing Rowe at LB when Maxwell is on the bench? Awful decision. If Maxwell is on the bench he is fit enough to start.
Front 3, ineffective. Even Ironsides body language wasn’t good yesterday. Tells me something is not right.
Can’t blame TB. Has backed GM in this window. But why get so many new faces in if he knew players would be back? Then moan he has to many to work with in training.
Can’t blame Jones. If he hasn’t got a settled 10 never mind defence in front of him, it will be hard. He makes the odd mistake but has come a long way and will continue too.
It’s already been said by others, GM doesn’t know his best 11 and that doesn’t help with continuity or progress.
Why has he not played Faulkner. Again is there issues with management.
Probably will win at Bradford now. But to me the Sutton game is now GM game of the season. Lose and i think he should go. People say there is no one out there. Flynn knows this league and has done ok esp when Newport.
I might get shot down by some people but they are just my thoughts.

[ncRover]

With the money freed up from letting the losers and crocked players go in the summer I would invest the money in the infrastructure on the footballing side before attempting to sign quality. Or else how will we attract it?

Strength and conditioning needs upgrading in the same way the medical department did. Every opposition player has seems to have an extra zip about them.

Then invest more money in to recruitment / long term strategy. Coppinger, whilst he has been a legend for the club epitomises the head in the clouds wishful thinking that has got us to the point.

There needs to be a top football brain between Bramall and the coaching staff. Not just an ok one for the level. This is another thing we do. We sign average players or offer them extended deals for the sake of continuity or because they’re nice lads rather than trying to be one step ahead of the pack. Other teams sign decent players and have plans in place as well you know.

We see that attitude on here. “Moly works hard” “Olowu put some good blocks in” “Close can pick a pass”. THAT’S THEIR JOB.

We need some serious individuals recruited in the summer. Players who understand what it takes to deliver success day in day out and the effort and planning that has to be put in both on and off the pitch to do so. These lot just go through the motions. McCann said “best week in training” then they just can’t be arsed to concentrate for 90 mins. Then a goal goes in and they hide behind the collective team being poor rather than taking responsibility for themselves or demanding better from each other.

Someone asked if McCann has lost the dressing room. Whilst he has been a disappointment this year, I think rather than the manager losing the dressing room, the dressing room is losing the manager.

[Chris Black come back]

Knows the club. Knows the area. These can no longer be recruitment objectives.

[drfcsteve]

I don’t see what changing ownership would do, we’re not gonna get anyone richer than Terry. We obviously haven’t got a bottom 3 budget, but somehow Grant and his team have used what budget they have to make us a bottom 3 team.

Unless Terry has been the one taking training and signing all these useless players, I can’t see how he’s the problem.

[GazLaz]

I don’t see what changing ownership would do, we’re not gonna get anyone richer than Terry. We obviously haven’t got a bottom 3 budget, but somehow Grant and his team have used what budget they have to make us a bottom 3 team.

Unless Terry has been the one taking training and signing all these useless players, I can’t see how he’s the problem.

Do the owners of the club not make critical decisions in regards to the running of the club and its strategy?

[Chris Black come back]

It’s understandable to an extent in that the core, senior figures in this squad have been at the heart of the total failure of the last few season. As a result they are going to be psychologically damaged by what has happened. Anderson, Olowu, Close, Rowe, Taylor. All on good money and all fatally damaged by what has happened. It’s best for them and us if there is a clean break. Those lads deserve the chance to rebuild somewhere else without the baggage.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Taylor's now responsible for the performances of the last 3 years?

[silent majority]

The club has always been up for sale .
For the right buyer.

But it's never been advertised widely as such.

Every football club is up for sale.
For the right buyer.

Yep.

As Ive said before, selling a football club isn't like selling a house, or selling a typical business. Most clubs are up for sale, after all owning a loss making business isn't an ideal or attractive proposition for anybody.

We do have some things going for us though, we're debt free, a decent stadium (no need to invest too much there), a community club which helps when attracting sponsors etc., and a business model that generates significant income. We just need to make sure that we don't attract sharks or asset strippers.

And that's why TB has always said he would sell up if the right people came along, why wouldn't he? He doesn't need to massage his ego, he gets no direct benefit from owning the club, he doesn't run around telling everybody he's Chairman of a football club and enjoying the hospitality of the EFL, FA, etc at all their monthly shindigs.

There are agents in football who deal in buying and selling of clubs, much like they deal with players, and of course we're on their radar (who isn't) but as yet nothing beyond casual enquiries. So, as TB said at the MTO, he doesn't need a financial partner, but that doesn't mean he'd turn one down if somebody offered.

[ChrisBx]

The club has always been up for sale .
For the right buyer.

But it's never been advertised widely as such.

Every football club is up for sale.
For the right buyer.

Yep.

As Ive said before, selling a football club isn't like selling a house, or selling a typical business. Most clubs are up for sale, after all owning a loss making business isn't an ideal or attractive proposition for anybody.

We do have some things going for us though, we're debt free, a decent stadium (no need to invest too much there), a community club which helps when attracting sponsors etc., and a business model that generates significant income. We just need to make sure that we don't attract sharks or asset strippers.

And that's why TB has always said he would sell up if the right people came along, why wouldn't he? He doesn't need to massage his ego, he gets no direct benefit from owning the club, he doesn't run around telling everybody he's Chairman of a football club and enjoying the hospitality of the EFL, FA, etc at all their monthly shindigs.

There are agents in football who deal in buying and selling of clubs, much like they deal with players, and of course we're on their radar (who isn't) but as yet nothing beyond casual enquiries. So, as TB said at the MTO, he doesn't need a financial partner, but that doesn't mean he'd turn one down if somebody offered.

Why can't he hire someone qualified to run a football club... as was the plan prior to inexplicably giving the job to Coppinger?

[i_ateallthepies]

Nudga.

We've got 35 players in the first team squad!

How much do you reckon that is costing Bramall?

The fact that the squad has got so inflated shows there’s been no coherent plan for a long time. We brought in a HoF to stop things like this happening. We had a great chance to change the ethos around the club, a great reset to use a bit of a cliche. We blew it. We were so close to implementing a structure that could have worked for us and we gave the job to the wrong man. Even after that, we had to keep faith with the plan and find the right man. Scrapping that structure all together yet another sign of lurching from one disaster to another.


I agree with Nuga. Bramall has to go if a credible bidder comes in. Pretty sure Blunt will want some £ out of the club though which will put a cloud over any asking price.

100 percent agree with your first paragraph less so with the last one.

[Metalmicky]

Everything will be fine after we beat Bradford on Tuesday....

[sedwardsdrfc]

Maybe it does need a change in owner to just come in and shake things up off the pitch. A fair few people need to go and that’s before we get to the players where pretty much to a man we want shot of them.

A new owner might be attracted that we are rock bottom and in theory their money will go further.

[Nudga]

Maybe it does need a change in owner to just come in and shake things up off the pitch. A fair few people need to go and that’s before we get to the players where pretty much to a man we want shot of them.

A new owner might be attracted that we are rock bottom and in theory their money will go further.

Like Wrexham. They bought them because it's cheaper to get to the PL with them than buying someone like Leeds, Wolves, Sheff Wed.

[drfchound]

People keep saying what if the wrong people get control of the club.
Well what happens if the right people get it.
We won’t know of course until it happens but I would have loved it if those Hollywood lads had taken over at Rovers.

[sedwardsdrfc]

A new owner would improve the club no end by removing Copps from any position to influence recruitment etc. wouldn’t have to spend a penny.