Willie McKay

[roverstillidie91]

Wonder if he's still on the lookout for us ? 

Could probably get us 1 or 2 gems whilst we balance the books in on loan or something

And i know a minority of fans dont like him but i think he's alright and tried to help us last season but was too late unfortunetly and would have gone down under SO'D anyway

[drfcsteve]

I don't know why everyone always says "we'd have gone down under SO'D anyway", we survived in the championship enough times with him as manager.

[roverstillidie91]

And so did nottingham forest under Brian Clough

As good a manager he was they still went down, losing there key players like ourselves

Plus we was lucky as if sheff utd had regained some form when we finished 21st we'd have gone down

[danrover82]

Doesn't it show how much faith he had in the players , when hes not come in for anyone and even had to give Gilly a trial.

 The man went stale and we needed the change!

[Alan_Rovers]

A minority. I think you'll find its a majority of fans who don't like McKay with everyone in agreement that the experiment failed.

[roverstillidie91]

If we had stayed up everyone would have praised him and wanted to knight him

it's just because we had run our course in the championship and rovers fans had to understand that our wage bill was too high for the championship hence the reason we got all these players in as our attendances couldn't support the wage bill as the buzz from getting into the 2nd tier had gone then

we should have run things prudently such as Scunthorpe which would have included selling Sharp & Copps when we had chance, hence the reason we are in the situation we are in now, trying to spend beyond our means accruing a 9 million wage bill and still 1 million over budget

[southwestexile]

If we had stayed up everyone would have praised him and wanted to knight him

it's just because we had run our course in the championship and rovers fans had to understand that our wage bill was too high for the championship hence the reason we got all these players in as our attendances couldn't support the wage bill as the buzz from getting into the 2nd tier had gone then

we should have run things prudently such as Scunthorpe which would have included selling Sharp & Copps when we had chance, hence the reason we are in the situation we are in now, trying to spend beyond our means accruing a 9 million wage bill and still 1 million over budget

looking at the league as it stands, I'm fairly content not to be things the Scunny way

[Alan_Rovers]

The only way we had stayed up would have been if there were three absolutely appalling teams in the Championship with us last season. In hindsight that is the only reason we stayed in the Championship for an extra season anyway, because in 10/11, Sheff Utd, Scunny and Preston were all atrocious.

[The Beast]

Willie has got money, contacts and influence, I would think it beneficial to have him on our side than against us. Met him a few times seems a nice bloke.

[roverstillidie91]

If we had stayed up everyone would have praised him and wanted to knight him

it's just because we had run our course in the championship and rovers fans had to understand that our wage bill was too high for the championship hence the reason we got all these players in as our attendances couldn't support the wage bill as the buzz from getting into the 2nd tier had gone then

we should have run things prudently such as Scunthorpe which would have included selling Sharp & Copps when we had chance, hence the reason we are in the situation we are in now, trying to spend beyond our means accruing a 9 million wage bill and still 1 million over budget

looking at the league as it stands, I'm fairly content not to be things the Scunny way

They sold players though such as Sharp, Keogh, Hooper etc

Only problem i felt we should have signed more up and coming players such as Bennett then i think we might have found things easier and had more assets to offload

When we had that double bid from Ipswich for BS and Copps we should have said, lets just do it and cut the wage bill and get cheaper players in. Think thats where we screwed up in all honesty

And the reason why we find ourselves over budget because we tried to keep ourselves up by spending too much which we shouldn't have

[Chris Black come back]

I don't know why everyone always says "we'd have gone down under SO'D anyway", we survived in the championship enough times with him as manager.

We hadn't won in 18 games when SOD was sacked. This I would suggest is perhaps a pointer towards why were unlikely to have survived in the Championship under him - or a least stay clear of danger until he was approached by another club again and then left.

[hoolahoop]

I don't know why everyone always says "we'd have gone down under SO'D anyway", we survived in the championship enough times with him as manager.

We hadn't won in 18 games when SOD was sacked. This I would suggest is perhaps a pointer towards why were unlikely to have survived in the Championship under him - or a least stay clear of danger until he was approached by another club again and then left.

Absolute nonsense .........you like me don't know what would have happened either way.
 

[intake rover]

sick of hearing this about not winning all those games under sod, the reason was we had an appalling injury list and look what happened at brighton first game of the season. if he was given a chance when all were fit then we would have stayed up.

[Chris Black come back]

I don't know why everyone always says "we'd have gone down under SO'D anyway", we survived in the championship enough times with him as manager.

We hadn't won in 18 games when SOD was sacked. This I would suggest is perhaps a pointer towards why were unlikely to have survived in the Championship under him - or a least stay clear of danger until he was approached by another club again and then left.

Absolute nonsense .........you like me don't know what would have happened either way.
 

No,we wouldn't have known - which is why I said the fact that we hadn't won in 18 games was [on any objective measure] a "good pointer". I would also note that SOD himself told JR that he didn't think he could turn it around. Again, this would seem to be a fairly strong pointer towards impending relegation.

We are also not talking here about whether SOD was a good/bad/indifferent manager or whether he did or did not have a massive injury list (he did, but there were clearly also underlying problems with the preparation of the team physically) but whether or not we would have gone down. He DID have a dreadful injury list which I would again suggest served as a good pointer towards our impending relegation.

[Glyn_Wigley]

I think you'll find its a majority of fans who don't like McKay

Really? And where does this 'fact' come from apart from your imagination?

[Dagenham Rover]

and the interesting fact that the fowls had a massive injury list while Dr Death was with them

[RobTheRover]

Bloody hell,  lads and lasses, that "line in the sand" didn't last too long did it.

We'll all do a lot better to look forwards than backwards,  you know. Focus on the here and now and how we get to our target rather than what could/might have been one way or the other.

[southwestexile]

I have to agree/dream with you Sammy, it could have been glorious.  And the one's that got away were key losses, Ward and Shackell would have been great assets, as would Greeny, Wellens and Mills - with that side AND Sharpy we'd have easily made mid-table and hit the play-offs with a few lucky results here and there,

What will be interesting this year is the quality and desire of any loanees we pick up.  The keepers were good for us last year in a desperate team, Mason was unlucky and I think a turning point was when Fortune retturned to WBA, he was just starting to do it for us.

[RedJ]

I'm still convinced if we'd beaten Blackpool at their place that Easter, it would have been us and not them.

But we'll never really know now, will we?

[scotlandsbest]

alan rovers the only reason you think it failed was we got relegated if it worked youd b happy it didnt and we have a manager with his own team and directive but hes being upheld by the board this is the reason it failed !!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE BOARD O( think about what i just said )

[DC-]

I don't think the problem was with SO'D becoming stale. I think it was more because he'd been to a few job interviews elsewhere. That shows intent enough that he was thinking of leaving, so why would JR want to put his money and faith into someone who could jump ship at the 11th hour?

[roverstillidie91]

Saw forest play last night

Played some good as did wigan

Felt we would have lost by 3 or 4 had he been in charge

Plus it reminded me last night of the rovers tottenham and bolton cup match when we lost 5-1 and 4-0 respectively

[donnybez]

Guys and gals.... this has been done to the death lets face the one true fact that majority of fans are sick of the same ol argument and thats becoming more stale then the supposed 10/18 games in SOD theory...


Now i will agree Willie McKay has given us the option on some great talent over the years so theres no reason to not work with him in similar vein again, but this time get him to get us young hungry brit talent. Or even help bring in new recruits to the academy! But not the mercs again as that tore a huge divide in the fan base

[Alickismyhero]

Chris _black,
I would like you to stand back and think for a moment about JR's statement that Sean supposedly said that "Sean could no longer cope and that we would go down". That is JR's explanation and I can assure you that is not the opinion of Sean. Why has Sean not contradicted it, it may have something thing to do with the conditions of his pay off.

The only statement Sean made was through the league managers association where he said   “I could see no reason why we couldn't avoid relegation”.

I am not saying JR is lying just being economical with the truth to justify the McKay regime and Sean getting the sack.

I agree that we should move on but I get very angry when I know the facts were distorted to explain what actually happened.

 Even supporters who wanted him gone would never say that Sean was a liar.

[pubteam]

Well if O'Driscoll couldn't see why we couldn't avoid relegation, he must have been a lot more stupid than we thought!

[Alickismyhero]

You are right he was stupid he should have left well before he was sacked, misplaced loyalty. I think he learnt his lesson.

[Not Now Kato]

You are right he was stupid he should have left well before he was sacked, misplaced loyalty. I think he learnt his lesson.

Misplaced loyalty?  Remind me, how many interviews did he go on to try to get away?

[Alickismyhero]

At the time Sean was not getting anywhere with Bramall and Watson. They wanted him out before he went for any of the other jobs. In a way Sean was just making it known that other clubs wanted him and see what was on the table. JR was still very loyal to him before and after the interviews. You must admit if your bosses wanted you out would you not look for other jobs? I think it was eminently sensible to look at the options in his position. Loyalty don't pay the bills, he made a big mistake hence the quick move to Forest.

[Not Now Kato]

I seem to recall him making a rather swift move from Crawley recently when a 'better opportunity' came up.
 
Loyalty? I don't think so. 

[DRFC MYERS]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4511040/Joey-Bartons-agent-in-car-coke-bust.html