Do we really need a replacement for Robbo?...

[Woodhead Passer]

James Chambers fills in Robbo's position
Jimmy O'Connor fills in Chambo's position
Sam Hird/Byron Webster/Elliot Ward (if signed) fills in for Jimmy

Surely thats still a strong team with no roberts

[DonnyOsmond]

What if Chambers gets injured?

[Woodhead Passer]

Then we're stuffed

well we've said that o'driscoll has made useless decisions before with signings but he got wellens, mills etc. Im sure he'll get a decent replacement

[vaya]

Bung us 20 quid and I'll do it.

In fact I'll pay 20 quid - or injuries become positive cash-generating excercises.

Job done.

[Harrogate Rover]

DEFINATLEY!

Chambers is a good replacement for a odd game, but over a full season we need a 'proper' left back.

[Woodhead Passer]

He is a proper left back, he plays out of position for us

[ruby12345]

a proper left back would be able to kick the ball with his left foot.chambers is very right footed

[VikingJames]

adam3rovers wrote:

He is a proper left back, he plays out of position for us

No, he's a right back. He is crap with his left foot.

And yes we do need to replace Roberts. Playing Chambers over there for a whole season isn't the answer, plus, as many people have already said, we need back up for the full back positions aswell.

[The_Rooky]

Harrogate Rover wrote:
DEFINATLEY!

...agreed.  Bit of a stupid question really!!!

[kybone]

What a ridiculas question. Great idea to start the season with effectively 1 right back and 1 left back who isnt really a left back. For me we could do with 2 new left backs. Obviously 1 as an immediate replacement for robbo and a backup.

[phil o sophical]

We had one until he was released. Always gave 100%, quick,reliable, got forward, used the ball well and considering he had been out injured for so long i dont think he would be asking a kings ransom for a wage. I can only think that McDaids injury was perhaps a major factor

[DRFC MYERS]

why would you want to take jimmy out of the center... he had a brilliant time near end of season there

but if youre talking about it we are lacking in full backs def need some speed/height down the left

[RoversAlias]

phil o sophical wrote:

We had one until he was released. Always gave 100%, quick,reliable, got forward, used the ball well and considering he had been out injured for so long i dont think he would be asking a kings ransom for a wage. I can only think that McDaids injury was perhaps a major factor

Although he didn't actually get a chance I don't think McDaid was good enough for this league. I didn't rate him for us in League One, Robbo was and is streets ahead.

[danrover82]

RoversAlias wrote:

Although he didn't actually get a chance I don't think McDaid was good enough for this league. I didn't rate him for us in League One, Robbo was and is streets ahead.

To be fair, Mcdaid rightly or not didn't get a chance to prove himself at this level. Roberts was not the best defender when we came up (I remember him being cuaght a few times on the left in our first season) but with the consistency of being in the team he grew into the role and became a big loss. To say he was streets ahead Isn't justified as he wasn't given the chance due to unfortunate injuries.

I just wish that Rovers would learn the mistake from Greeny and sign up players that would bring in more money for the club than £0-00. All the players that have been released would have brought money in sales. If the board are not going to go for bust and splash the cash then we need to make sure we get money where we can ie selling the players we no longer require. I am not questioning the fact they dont want to be held ransom by agents or risk security of the club by paying large wages, but we're letting players go without getting replacements in first.

[kybone]

Its not the fact that we dont have ready made replacements that i find annoying. its that we let £x worth of players leave for free. i know that in some cases its down to the player not the club but surely we should be looking at contracts when they get into the last year not in may when the contracts have 6 weeks or so to run. by doing that the players hold all the cards and often the club is left with nothing. if a player refuses to sign when hes still under contract then we can slap him on the transfer list and get some cash even if its not the full valuation. I cant help but think that the likes of heff have been out of favour for about 2 years now really and if we had sold him this time last year we'd have got £300-£400k for him. we could also have got fees for the likes of guy and spicer. even if it was only £100k apiece thats £500-£600k for those 3 alone. That pays for a quality signing. I know in most players cases we signed them for little or nothing so in effect we haven't actually lost anything but we could have made something on them. We dont know what goes on behind the scenes but it just seems very lax to me and from a businessman like john ryan. strange!

[Mike_F]

danrover82 wrote:

All the players that have been released would have brought money in sales.

I can see where you're coming form and in general agree with your points e.g. Gaz Roberts should have been offered a new deal six months ago. In the case of Guy, Spicer etc. we could've paid out £10-20k in signing fees for new deals and recoup not a great deal more in transfer fees (if any). I would've liked to think that we could've realised a fee for Heff but I can only assume that as he wasn't part of SO'D's plans that nobody made an offer for him last close season following his excellent scoring run in the Champpionship so we would be lucky to find a paying bidder this time around.

[steve@dcfd]

Yes we do need two players who can plat left back. Yes we have cover. But we have lost the best left back at the club and also a player who when in division one was a good cover. So we need to replace two, one a left back and one who can play there but also could be utilised in midfield.

[CusworthRovers]

By getting Roberts on a contract 6 months ago, would probably have kept him here. Although we will never know the inner sanctum thoughts of this saga. If we had offered Roberts a 1 year extension, he could have said 'tittle' and I'll review it at the end of the season (or in other words to see what else is available).
If he had agreed to a 1 year extension, then I doubt Derby or any other would have signed him due to a fee. I suspect Derby et al in their huge cut backs scenario are releasing high earners and replacing them with equal proven quality that involves no fee and half the wages.