Managers & players.

[Colin C No.3]

Surely to gawd there must be another Mark Albrighton 'out there'? Along with a Gordon Greer, Adam Lockwood, Sean McDaid, James O'Connor, Gareth Roberts or players to bring in on loan of the calibre of Kevin Horlock? Granted Horlock & McDaid had their injury problems, but you catch my drift? It needs a manager who can spot this type of player & I don't believe PD can. Do you not think we'd be in a 'different place' with the likes of those players in the hoops?

Jason Price. Here's a player who Penney brought to the club as a winger. He's was in & out of the side, but what a lease of life he got when SOD played him in that 'No.10' spot. He was a real nuisance to opposing defenders, knew how to 'draw a foul', made space for others to do 'their thing', what a revelation! Do you truly believe PD has the foresight to rejuvenate a player (& in doing so a team) in this manner?

PD is the worst manager we've had at the club since Steve Wignall, IMO. No imagination, no vision, no motivational skills, no tactical nouce, a poor judge of players & their abilities. Don't leave it until December because I fear by then we will be in a situation where not even a Dave Penney or Sean O'Driscoll could turn it around.

[DonnyNoel]

I don't rate PD's tactical ability and I'm curious as to what we do in training to look so disjointed at times but I wouldn't say he's a poor judge of ability at all - pretty much all the signings he made last season improved the team and you could say the same about a few this season given the short windo he had to bring players in. If he's given money (not saying he should/shouldn't be or has/hasn't been) I'd back him to bring quality in. For me the squad depth/weaknesses have been mainly brought about by the farcical pre-season situation for me thats the main reason we won't get near promotion. Whether he's getting enough out the current team is obviously a completely different debate of course...

[RedArmy]

On the Jason Price note.

One of SOD's most tactical genius moments he had with us was changing pricey around, as you say before SOD he was in and out the side and was an average at best, played with 110%every game no doubt but when Sean changed him to the no10 he was a new player with a new lease of life, never the best player in terms of ability but my goodness did he put bums on the edge of seats, cracking player one whom we could do with right now, bring a bit of excitement to the place, not this long ball and chase down with pace crap rather stick pins in my eyes

[Copps is Magic]

We are yet to see, but I think Main could be that type of player.

[RJHeader]

Great post. I think it really hit home for me when PD said we had been class in training during the international break, really sorted out our problems. And then came and got pulled apart by Bristol City. Which in itself, isnt that bad as theyre a good team. However when you look at the manner of the goals. The lack of leadership, the lack of heart throughout the team and the inability to defend a set piece.

He comes out and says the same thing after every defeat or poor performance and how the players 'will really get it in training'. Well im afraid its wearing thin with me and a poor performance/result Saturday and i cant see him lasting. Disappointing as i like him, but unfortunately we aren't winning games on him being a nice, media savvy manager.

[steve@dcfd]

I don't rate PD's tactical ability and I'm curious as to what we do in training to look so disjointed at times but I wouldn't say he's a poor judge of ability at all - pretty much all the signings he made last season improved the team and you could say the same about a few this season given the short windo he had to bring players in. If he's given money (not saying he should/shouldn't be or has/hasn't been) I'd back him to bring quality in. For me the squad depth/weaknesses have been mainly brought about by the farcical pre-season situation for me thats the main reason we won't get near promotion. Whether he's getting enough out the current team is obviously a completely different debate of course...

Even with the quality players we got relegated.

[bpoolrover]

Lockwood and albrighton were ok at best would you have them in the team now even at there best?

[pib]

Lockwood and albrighton were ok at best would you have them in the team now even at there best?

They were organisers and leaders though. This side lacks those kinds of players without Jones involved.

[Tiddysdad]

This guy [PD] has arrived at the club under a takeover farce and then gone through another summer break with another crap takeover farce. If I was him I would feel quiet Sh*t about his job. How many of us have gone to work and given 100% after being Sh*t on by our bosses. I believe he has tried and is still trying his utmost. If senior players can't be motivated or encourage the youngsters we should look at binning them. Wellens must realize no one wanted him except us so give us your all. I just want passion that's what we are all about. We are a pub team having a laugh - out to prove the know it alls' wrong - but I feel that some of the main players are just treading water.
it should be ROVERS TILL I DIE - Dickov needs support by no means is he the worst manager he's had the worst conditions to work under. The others mentioned had know where near the crap he's had to deal with.

Stop moaning and look at the positives. Tyson had never scored for 2 seasons till PD got hold of him. Husband was an inevitable departure but to get Main in exchange was a master piece. I could go on but feel that I would be typing for ever. PD is who we need but everyone - Including the senior players [which I feel may not be] must play for the club. 

[The Red Baron]

Two points about Paul Dickov:

1. Someone has already mentioned our problem as regards winning back-to-back victories. However, it goes deeper than that. Rovers seem incapable of following up one good performance, whether in victory or defeat, with another one.

Last Saturday's display at Walsall took me back to the turn of the year. We played well at QPR and were unfortunate not to take at least a point from that game. Yet a few days later we turned in such an abject effort in the FA Cup tie with Stevenage that for the first time I began to question Dickov's ability to do the job. Walsall followed on from a stirring second half display at Fulham and a (long-awaited) home victory over Chesterfield. For the benefit of anyone who wasn't there, think Stevenage in the FA Cup!

And there's more. The wretched display at home to Port Vale followed two wins on the road (confidence should have been high) and we were outplayed by Oldham after a week that also saw two away wins, one at a team from a higher league.

The reporter from Radio Deedar gave Dickov a real leg-stump half-volley, asking him if Saturday was a "game too far." To be fair, Dickov didn't want to go down that route, but a better question might have been "why does this keep happening, Paul?"

2. For all Dickov's talk about "working hard in training" I don't believe his sessions are challenging or interesting enough. I believe the players were worked much harder under Saunders and did more varied tasks under O'Driscoll. After the defeat at Fulham the players were given two days off, although they had the option of training on Thursday. This meant that they had one day to prepare for the Walsall game. For me, training should be about a lot more than a bit of fitness work and a few games of seven-a-side. Players should be working on set pieces, formations and should be looking at the challenges their next opponents are going to be throwing at them.

Dickov said that the players will be working hard in training this week, but we've heard that before. I'd hope that "hard work" will involve some analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of Scunthorpe, but I have my doubts that it will.

If he doesn't address some of these weak points soon either (a) he'll find himself out of work or (b) he'll take us down to League Two.

[The Red Baron]

This guy [PD] has arrived at the club under a takeover farce and then gone through another summer break with another crap takeover farce. If I was him I would feel quiet Sh*t about his job. How many of us have gone to work and given 100% after being Sh*t on by our bosses. I believe he has tried and is still trying his utmost. If senior players can't be motivated or encourage the youngsters we should look at binning them. Wellens must realize no one wanted him except us so give us your all. I just want passion that's what we are all about. We are a pub team having a laugh - out to prove the know it alls' wrong - but I feel that some of the main players are just treading water.
it should be ROVERS TILL I DIE - Dickov needs support by no means is he the worst manager he's had the worst conditions to work under. The others mentioned had know where near the crap he's had to deal with.

Stop moaning and look at the positives. Tyson had never scored for 2 seasons till PD got hold of him. Husband was an inevitable departure but to get Main in exchange was a master piece. I could go on but feel that I would be typing for ever. PD is who we need but everyone - Including the senior players [which I feel may not be] must play for the club. 

I agree with you that the senior players need to take more responsibility and are as much at fault as the management team. However, as per my earlier post, I feel Dickov does not learn from his mistakes. He's going to have to start doing so PDQ.

Oh, and I am "Rovers till I die," not "any particular manager till I die," although I think some of them would have been the death of me if they'd carried on much longer!

[pib]

Two points about Paul Dickov:

1. Someone has already mentioned our problem as regards winning back-to-back victories. However, it goes deeper than that. Rovers seem incapable of following up one good performance, whether in victory or defeat, with another one.

Last Saturday's display at Walsall took me back to the turn of the year. We played well at QPR and were unfortunate not to take at least a point from that game. Yet a few days later we turned in such an abject effort in the FA Cup tie with Stevenage that for the first time I began to question Dickov's ability to do the job. Walsall followed on from a stirring second half display at Fulham and a (long-awaited) home victory over Chesterfield. For the benefit of anyone who wasn't there, think Stevenage in the FA Cup!

And there's more. The wretched display at home to Port Vale followed two wins on the road (confidence should have been high) and we were outplayed by Oldham after a week that also saw two away wins, one at a team from a higher league.

The reporter from Radio Deedar gave Dickov a real leg-stump half-volley, asking him if Saturday was a "game too far." To be fair, Dickov didn't want to go down that route, but a better question might have been "why does this keep happening, Paul?"

2. For all Dickov's talk about "working hard in training" I don't believe his sessions are challenging or interesting enough. I believe the players were worked much harder under Saunders and did more varied tasks under O'Driscoll. After the defeat at Fulham the players were given two days off, although they had the option of training on Thursday. This meant that they had one day to prepare for the Walsall game. For me, training should be about a lot more than a bit of fitness work and a few games of seven-a-side. Players should be working on set pieces, formations and should be looking at the challenges their next opponents are going to be throwing at them.

Dickov said that the players will be working hard in training this week, but we've heard that before. I'd hope that "hard work" will involve some analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of Scunthorpe, but I have my doubts that it will.

If he doesn't address some of these weak points soon either (a) he'll find himself out of work or (b) he'll take us down to League Two.

Good post, as ever TRB.

I've been wondering for a while what it is they actually do on the training ground. The side, to me, seems devoid of a distinct 'style' to speak of. As I've said before, you could watch a SOD/Saunders (and to a certain extent Penney) side, and for the most part be able to identify what they were trying to do and what they'd been working on. Even if the game wasn't going to plan or the result wasn't what we wanted, you could usually see what the 'building blocks' were. Dickov's been here over a year now and I'm struggling to put my finger on what he actually wants from the team or what the style actually is, because the team doesn't seem to display any defining characteristics on a consistent basis.

[Chris Black come back]

Nobody, probably including the players and perhaps even Dickov himself, have any idea what tactics, formation or style his team is meant to be playing. Bit like one of those impossible to answer philosophy exam questions: define the Dickov doctrine?

We really need a wake up call. Perhaps Dickov can issue a wake up call to the team. That usually does the trick.

[les@donr]

Maybe PD does not have the support of  the dressing room. He might tell the players what he wants them to do, and they don't carry it out. More likely he has a plan A, when that doesn't work he doesn't have a plan B, so the players are tactically clueless what to do when the match doesn't go by plan A.

[Viking Don]

If plan A is a good one and you have the players to carry it out you don't need a plan B, as Barca prove.

[Sammy Chung was King]

We haven't got enough ''Solid Citizens'' in our side as Big Ron used to say,we need a centre half that dominates at the back,a midfielder that has a touch of nastiness but can play.
Attacking Central midfield i think maybe Forrester could ''Make this Role his own'' as they say on the XFactor,and we need a good striker adding to the one's we have.

I Don't agree on Dickov not being able to judge a player,he hasn't hardly made a mistake in that area,it's once he's got them,he doesn't get the best from them.
I Honestly wouldn't bother with loans,i would be looking in non league,Scotland,the lower league's in this country,and smaller foreign nations,and taking a chance or two,and integrating them in to the squad for this season and the future.

Scotland at the minute are developing some good young players,we could do worse than look at some coming from Celtic's youth team,they are bringing a few very good players through,and they won't all stay at Celtic,it worked for King Billy,i see Scotland as an improving nation in football.

[dickos1]

If we don't look at loans then we won't be making any signings for another 3 months.
Which would be ludicrous

[The Red Baron]

If we don't look at loans then we won't be making any signings for another 3 months.
Which would be ludicrous

As I said in another thread this is the $64,000 dollar question for me. If we are not going to bring in loans then there can only be three explanations.

1. No-one currently available is better than what we've got, which I find difficult to believe.
2. The manager genuinely thinks his squad is good enough/ strong enough, which would reflect poorly on his judgment.
3. The Board has refused to allow the manager to bring loans in, which means either they're not prepared to spend any more money on the team OR they believe the manager is not capable of bringing in the right players.

The answer to the question "why aren't we bringing in any loan players?" would tell us a lot about our future prospects this season.

[wilts rover]

TRB, have your factored into your thinking the stated long-term aim of the board to develop a younger squad of Rovers players? Which I always presumed was picking up players from other teams acadamies as well as developing our own. I have no idea when these players become available, presumably during transfere windows.

[The Red Baron]

TRB, have your factored into your thinking the stated long-term aim of the board to develop a younger squad of Rovers players? Which I always presumed was picking up players from other teams acadamies as well as developing our own. I have no idea when these players become available, presumably during transfere windows.

I agree that I expected that we would bring in young players from other clubs as well as our own "home grown" ones. If they are free agents then we would be able to bring them in any time we like. If they are on other clubs' books, they can be brought in on loan. There is also the "Youth Loan" system that we used with Jordan Mutch and allows the player to spend time with his parent club as well as with the loaning one.

At the moment, though, the priority would seem to be to bring in a couple of more experienced players.

[Colin C No.3]

Just as a postscript, Pricey now plying his trade at Prestatyn. 11 goals in 22 games, 5 assists, won player of the month for September.

He says "I realise my playing career is coming to an end. I've been doing some plumbing with my brother-in-law. It's the first year I've not had a holiday. Seems funny mates are texting me from Marbella while I'm messing about with pipes!"

Good luck for the future Pricey. Don't be tying them pipes in knots!

[Sheepskin Stu]

In league one I think it's essential that clubs work the loan market. It would be great if we had 22 senior pros but obviously that's never going to be the case. Rovers have had some real gems in the past. Dickov needs to follow suit.