Max Watters

[RobTheRover]

To be fair Rob we don’t see him everyday in training there’d be no reason for supporters to call for him to be getting more games.

Exactly my point. And yet all the "experts" think we've dropped a bollock. Based on what, exactly?

Good luck to the lad, but if he didn't show enough here I've no issues with him taking his chance elsewhere.

[tyke1962]

Just my opinion but I think the way to judge this and if Rovers made a mistake letting the lad go is to see if he scores goals in the championship .

Absolutely huge step up from league two to the Championship and Rovers are clearly wanting to attain championship status .

Lads who can only score goals in league two or even league one wouldn't be much use in the championship to Big Daz .

I do however take the point the million pound fee must sting after the events at Rovers this week but that said it's unlikely the lad would have got the opportunity at Rovers to earn a million pound move to the Championship and it's debatable he'd have scored enough goals either .

I'm far from convinced Rovers have done much wrong here with championship ambitions going forward .

[RobTheRover]

Just my opinion but I think the way to judge this and if Rovers made a mistake letting the lad go is to see if he scores goals in the championship .

Absolutely huge step up from league two to the Championship and Rovers are clearly wanting to attain championship status .

Lads who can only score goals in league two or even league one wouldn't be much use in the championship to Big Daz .

I do however take the point the million pound fee must sting after the events at Rovers this week but that said it's unlikely the lad would have got the opportunity at Rovers to earn a million pound move to the Championship and it's debatable he'd have scored enough goals either .

I'm far from convinced Rovers have done much wrong here with championship ambitions going forward .

Ah, but Tyke, you are forgetting that Rovers have an imbalance in the supporter base for whom Rovers can't do right for doing wrong.

TDFs they are called. Typical Donny Fan.  They love a good moan.

[turnbull for england]

Shows the state of football finance when a young lad with half a good div 2 season in the bank is worth that sort of money - although having not seen details there might not be so much up front and  more in add ons if he makes a go of it. Imagine the fuss here ifwed spent  that sort of money on Alfie May

[idler]

Strikers always go for more money though.

[DonnyOsmond]

Some players just don't perform as well on loan. You give them responsibility and they'll step up.

[Glyn_Wigley]

Sell whiteman for barely 1.5 let waters go for nothing.... says it all I’m afraid,

Where were you to praise Rovers for signing Whiteman in the first place, or moaning about Watters being released at the time that he was? Says it all, I'm afraid.

[Filo]

I don’t know if he performed out on loan to be honest.
But if we’ve a player that’s good enough to play championship football within 7/8 months and you’re seeing him train everyday I’d have thought he would stand out and definitely worth keeping hold of

How do you know he’s good enough to play Championship Football, given he’s never played at that level?

You could say the same about whiteman
But championship teams have just spent a lot of money on them both

You could but this thread is not about Whiteman

[Chris Black come back]

Whiteman has been playing week in and week out at the top end of League One for last few seasons. Watters has 12 starts and 3 sub appearances in League Two on his CV for Crawley.

[podrover73]

I saw watters playing for the development squad, never really impressed that much. Then again I'm not a football league manager. If he cuts it in the championship then maybe we made a mistake

[Butchers Red]

Keep it in perspective - I saw Brian Deane in his last season at Rovers,wandering around like Bambi on ice, then when he arrived at the Lane -god knows what Bassett did but the kid was just in a different league. Well done Max Watters, pleased to see him doing well

[dickos1]

To be fair Rob we don’t see him everyday in training there’d be no reason for supporters to call for him to be getting more games.

Exactly my point. And yet all the "experts" think we've dropped a bollock. Based on what, exactly?

Good luck to the lad, but if he didn't show enough here I've no issues with him taking his chance elsewhere.

Of course
My point was nothing to do with what supporters think though, more so the people working with him everyday and missing the potential.
Playing Bingham and the other chap last season instead of watters seems more remarkable when you look where they all are now

[dickos1]

Whiteman has been playing week in and week out at the top end of League One for last few seasons. Watters has 12 starts and 3 sub appearances in League Two on his CV for Crawley.

Yes but still not proven in the championship

My point is clubs don’t just buy players for their league that have played their before.
Just because a player hasn’t played at a particular level before doesn’t mean he’s not good enough

[RoversAlias]

More than half of that *£1million* will be in potential add-ons.

I compared Watters having a good half season in League 2 to Omar Bogle at Grimsby recently. He also ended up at Cardiff and did basically nothing. It's a lot of money for a "maybe" signing.

[dickos1]

I suppose clubs like Cardiff, Rotherham, us, need to take gambles on players like this in the hope it’ll come off

[NickDRFC]

It’s not a big deal to say that the club have made a mistake here. We released a player who a few months later has been sold for seven figures. It happens all the time in football and will happen again - it’s happened to our benefit in the past, like with Marquis -  but it’s not unfair for people to suggest that we’ve dropped the ball on this one.

[dickos1]

It’s not a big deal to say that the club have made a mistake here. We released a player who a few months later has been sold for seven figures. It happens all the time in football and will happen again - it’s happened to our benefit in the past, like with Marquis -  but it’s not unfair for people to suggest that we’ve dropped the ball on this one.

Exactly too many on here get their knickers in a twist about any form of criticism even if it’s minimal

[Filo]

The club can’t win can they?

Imagine if we had kept the lad then sold him now for £1m, the naysayers would be screaming no ambition

[GazLaz]

The million quod wouldn’t have made any difference to us. Glad a club that may need it have got it.

[ravenrover]

Odd that someone with that amount of potential and we couldn’t spot it

Didn't they let you go ? 

[dickos1]

 

Odd that someone with that amount of potential and we couldn’t spot it

Didn't they let you go ? 

Yeah beaglehole obviously couldn’t spot potential either 

[DonnyBazR0ver]

The Watters story is a bizarre twist of fate.

One of a few promising youngsters. From the fleeting glimpses of him in the development squad yes, there was some promise. I trust the judgement of Alan Southstand and others Inc podrover, who all say the same. He didn't look like our solution.

He wasn't prolific in his loan spells and there was no big calls to being him back to solve our striking issues. Those giving it big now probably never even saw him play.

But then of course Covid comes. The curtailed season. Would we have seen more of him had the season concluded? With the players we had then probably unlikely. Maybe the odd cameo. I think he came on once or twice in a league game?

Had we not had to sack off the development squad then it could have been a different story but for him, he needed to be playing games and again, I'm not sure he would even have got much of a shout at the beginning of this season.

Fair play to Crawley for taking the gamble and even bigger praise for Max for taking his chance. It's a funny old game.

[ravenrover]

Sell whiteman for barely 1.5 let waters go for nothing.... says it all I’m afraid,

What does it say? 1.5m where does that come from? Admit it you haven't  got a clue just another very poor attempt to to put down the club you claim to support. Oh and lot's of women let their waters go for nothing

[roverstillidie91]

Sell whiteman for barely 1.5 let waters go for nothing.... says it all I’m afraid,

What does it say? 1.5m where does that come from? Admit it you haven't  got a clue just another very poor attempt to to put down the club you claim to support. Oh and lot's of women let their waters go for nothing

Some fans think they know everything but in hindsight really they know sod all

[rich1471]

I think Crawley got a great deal for a player who scored most of his goals From the bench , he was not a regular starter for them

[EasyforDennis]

I always find it funny to see the posts about lower league strikers who are a big risk and just because they can score in the lower doesnt mean they can do it at a higher level. Strange that the likes Jamie Vardy and Ian Wright never get a mention.

[Filo]

I always find it funny to see the posts about lower league strikers who are a big risk and just because they can score in the lower doesnt mean they can do it at a higher level. Strange that the likes Jamie Vardy and Ian Wright never get a mention.

Gary Birtles, Long Eaton to two time European Cup winner with Forest

[Metalmicky]

I always find it funny to see the posts about lower league strikers who are a big risk and just because they can score in the lower doesnt mean they can do it at a higher level. Strange that the likes Jamie Vardy and Ian Wright never get a mention.

There are a few that made it....... however, I bet there are a few hundred more that didn't.  Saying that, I wish the lad well - will be interesting to follow his progress.

[Wade Falana]

I saw watters playing for the development squad, never really impressed that much. Then again I'm not a football league manager. If he cuts it in the championship then maybe we made a mistake

All about opinions really. I do a lot of non league and development scouting and IMO Max Watters was head and shoulders above anything we had.

A little story about Max Watters. I'm friends with the Micklover manager and helped get Max the loan move there until we recalled him, likewise at Gainsbrough when Curtis Woodhouse took over. I got James Baxendale a trial there and when asked about any other players the first name was Max Watters, went on loan there and did really well until again we recalled him.

The main club I work with is Harrogate Town and Max Watters was one player I've probably bored the manager to death about, when he got released for me it was a no brainer to get him in at least on trial. Again its opinions and they went in another direction, fair play to Crawley for taking a chance on him.

Got a text off the Harrogate manager a couple of weeks ago saying "you were right about that Watters, I'm after a couple of strikers if you can think of anyone suitable"

Don't get me wrong I've seen plenty of players over the years who I never thought would make it as a professional (I didn't think George Friend was a footballer when he first joined) but the Watters story has made me smile until I think about the 10% finders fee I would have been entitled to.

[elmsallrover]

Who was that sheff wed player that they gave a free to then a few years later was sold to one of the Milan clubs for over 20/30 million