13 Teams

[Ronnie Dovers]

I just had a quick look down the table, and I'd guess that there are currently 13 teams above us in the table who have a smaller budget than us. We also have a proven, top end league one manager. What the hell is going so wrong?

[Dagenham Rover]

Grant and Cliff are a proven pair with a good few of their own players now, I don't know whats going off the total utter inconsistency is baffling, but I know nothing

[BillyStubbsTears]

We absolutely do not have a manager who is proven at rebuilding a club from the shite that we are in.

When you are in a crisis, the very, very, VERY first thing you do is make yourselves hard to beat.

McCann presides over a squad that has 7 centre backs, and not one of them is above National League level.

He played Rowe at left back today. After 15 minutes, Rowe popped up on the right side of midfield.

There is zero structure or organisation to our side as a defensive unit. We are opened up easier than a can of beans, week after week. That is down to our recruitment, selection and tactics. That's the manager's responsibility.

[lee.j09]

I just had a quick look down the table, and I'd guess that there are currently 13 teams above us in the table who have a smaller budget than us. We also have a proven, top end league one manager. What the hell is going so wrong?

Yes but what about sizes of squads?

We have a massive squad full of shite players. They’ll have smaller squads but better players.

Quality over quantity.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Correction. One centre back might be above National League level. He was signed as a midfielder, played there today and looked National League level.

[Padge_DRFC]

Bailey is better at CB than he is midfield

[GazLaz]

We absolutely do not have a manager who is proven at rebuilding a club from the shite that we are in.

When you are in a crisis, the very, very, VERY first thing you do is make yourselves hard to beat.

McCann presides over a squad that has 7 centre backs, and not one of them is above National League level.

He played Rowe at left back today. After 15 minutes, Rowe popped up on the right side of midfield.

There is zero structure or organisation to our side as a defensive unit. We are opened up easier than a can of beans, week after week. That is down to our recruitment, selection and tactics. That's the manager's responsibility.

I say it all the time and it’s true. Football teams are only as strong as their weakest few players. We need to approach selecting teams with that in mind. McCann said Craig is a “sensational player”. He might be in training but he doesn’t look ready yet to me. We could rue these January signings come May.

[BillyStubbsTears]

I just had a quick look down the table, and I'd guess that there are currently 13 teams above us in the table who have a smaller budget than us. We also have a proven, top end league one manager. What the hell is going so wrong?

Yes but what about sizes of squads?

We have a massive squad full of shite players. They’ll have smaller squads but better players.

Quality over quantity.

I said this after the first match of the season and got bawled out for it.

We have signed a shit load of players who, barring a handful of exceptions, haven't improved the squad. And we are incapable of organising what we have got.

I've also said before, we never got tanked like we have 4-5 times this season under Schofield. There is a massive lack of organisation and basic f**king pride in this squad. It's shocking to see.

[Dagenham Rover]

We absolutely do not have a manager who is proven at rebuilding a club from the shite that we are in.

When you are in a crisis, the very, very, VERY first thing you do is make yourselves hard to beat.

McCann presides over a squad that has 7 centre backs, and not one of them is above National League level.

He played Rowe at left back today. After 15 minutes, Rowe popped up on the right side of midfield.

There is zero structure or organisation to our side as a defensive unit. We are opened up easier than a can of beans, week after week. That is down to our recruitment, selection and tactics. That's the manager's responsibility.

Thats actually an interesting comment Billy  "We absolutely do not have a manager who is proven at rebuilding a club" we have a proven manager with a half decent squad but as to rebuilding a load of garbage...............
 

[BillyStubbsTears]

We absolutely do not have a manager who is proven at rebuilding a club from the shite that we are in.

When you are in a crisis, the very, very, VERY first thing you do is make yourselves hard to beat.

McCann presides over a squad that has 7 centre backs, and not one of them is above National League level.

He played Rowe at left back today. After 15 minutes, Rowe popped up on the right side of midfield.

There is zero structure or organisation to our side as a defensive unit. We are opened up easier than a can of beans, week after week. That is down to our recruitment, selection and tactics. That's the manager's responsibility.

Thats actually an interesting comment Billy  "We absolutely do not have a manager who is proven at rebuilding a club" we have a proven manager with a half decent squad but as to rebuilding a load of garbage...............
 

I said back in 18/19, McCann had a dream of an inheritance when he took over. To be fair, he added to the squad well, but we absolutely didn't over achieve that season, given what he had. I don't understand this obsession with him, and certainly not in the situation we are in now. He inherited a bad situation this time and we have got worse.

[Drover]

80%-90% of our problems are due to our players are extremely poor at making strong aerial challenges defending crosses,highballs and set-pieces,all 5 goals was headers today.Why that is,I don't know,we need to change it pronto.

[Avsuptem]

Lets have a modicum of reasonableness here. We did not expect to win this game its just that we lost it by a few more goals than anticipated.
Having said that its true, we really are shite.

[Ronnie Dovers]

I asked the question at the start of the thread as I genuinely don't have an answer. I agree the recruitment under McCann looks increasingly scattered. I also agree that he's failed to make us defensively solid as a starting point, and I hope he starts to realise we've now reached the point where that becomes a necessity.

With regards to GM and his ability to rebuild a team, did he not rebuild his Hull team who had an absolutely horrific second half of their championship relegation season into a league one title winning team? I'm not entirely sure how much player turnover there was, but I'd assume a decent amount?

[The Beast]

80%-90% of our problems are due to our players are extremely poor at making strong aerial challenges defending crosses,highballs and set-pieces,all 5 goals was headers today.Why that is,I don't know,we need to change it pronto.

I don’t think we are very good at all in defence but our midfield is just woeful, we lose all the physical battles, don’t provide any shield to the defence, don’t keep possession and don’t create a right lot. Westbrooke and Close had a spell where they looked dynamic but that was short and sweet.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

I think we know the squad is too big and it needs to be rebuilt, but the difficult bit is getting from A to B whilst trying to put a team out to compete.

There's been alot of changes  and it must be difficult to integrate new players into a set up that is low on confidence anyway.

January is not the window for major surgery when contracts don't expire until the summer, which should release funds for the better quality we need., particularly down the spine of the team which was woefully exposed by Stockport today.

The way the game started there was only one team that went out with any purpose and desire to be first to the ball. They are a good team, well drilled and work hard  and busted guts to use the space in front of them. Everything you want to see from a football team. We looked like a team of strangers which, by comparison to them, we are.

Unfortunately, after a crushing home defeat, it's hard for any manager to rescue any evaporating confidence. It was the same for Wellens, McSheffrey and Schofield but somehow McCann has to do that and work through the problem.  I just think sacking McCann will just make relegation even more certain and leave the next manager with yet another inherited mess to try and make sense of.

Perhaps the reality is, we have players who are no longer 'owning' or even sharing the problem cos they'll be out of here in the summer so we''ll likely see more going through the motions performances. McCann has to deal with that and be seen to deal with it by the players who do want to be here and are prepared to roll their sleeves up.

The club, including ourselves, have invested alot of faith into McCann, so it's hard to see this unfold in front of our eyes. He will know what's not right behind the scenes so you would hope he can influence sufficiently to recruit better in the summer, unless of course, he is also going through the motions? I can't see it personally as it's got to hurt so there's only one way to rescue his credibility and that's to get enough points to avoid the drop .

[selby]

  Billy, Faulkner was a good central defender at v17 years old in division one, and has had very few poor games for this club and was attracting the attention of much higher placed clubs than Doncaster Rovers.
  He has been unfortunate with injuries, has four MOM's in the few games he has played and was ignored at the start of this season when fit to play our most experienced signings, and has never played alongside any experienced central defender when he has played who were mainly Nelson and Long.
  The one thing you cannot do is lump him with the others as his only appearance in a league game this season was in a 1-0 win when he came on at the end of the game to shore up the defence and made two last ditch clearances.
  Other players seem to have made him a National League player in your mind because you haven't seen enough of him to judge.

[Canadian Rover]

  Billy, Faulkner was a good central defender at v17 years old in division one, and has had very few poor games for this club and was attracting the attention of much higher placed clubs than Doncaster Rovers.
  He has been unfortunate with injuries, has four MOM's in the few games he has played and was ignored at the start of this season when fit to play our most experienced signings, and has never played alongside any experienced central defender when he has played who were mainly Nelson and Long.
  The one thing you cannot do is lump him with the others as his only appearance in a league game this season was in a 1-0 win when he came on at the end of the game to shore up the defence and made two last ditch clearances.
  Other players seem to have made him a National League player in your mind because you haven't seen enough of him to judge.

Without a doubt he's our best centre half for this division followed by Bailey

[Chris Black come back]

I started saying this a few seasons ago and nothing has changed. Conceding a goal and losing a game have become embedded in the team and the club as unfortunate acts of god. Ho hum we go again. Nothing we can do here. Tried but failed. We go again. Nobody looks that bothered or that surprised.

We’re shit because every shit signing we makes leaves a trail of shit in the changing room. It stinks that nobody is going mental at the huge shame of the goals we concede and the matches we lose against clubs with far smaller budgets than us.

[Sammy Chung was King]

We continually sign youth loans when we want players-it is doing it on the cheap.
Is there any ambition left at the club to create a solid, hard working, talented squad, that can go out and win this league.
What the chairman has put in , in the past I am grateful for but you can’t live in the past.

They have been making the same mistakes for years appointing managers, recruiting players.
The whole place stinks of defeat. It would be great if we had interest in someone to buy the club, it’s being run like a hobby.

[Avsuptem]

We continually sign youth loans when we want players-it is doing it on the cheap.
Is there any ambition left at the club to create a solid, hard working, talented squad, that can go out and win this league.
What the chairman has put in , in the past I am grateful for but you can’t live in the past.

They have been making the same mistakes for years appointing managers, recruiting players.
The whole place stinks of defeat. It would be great if we had interest in someone to buy the club, it’s being run like a hobby.

That's exactly what it really is to the owners, a hobby. Owning an EFL club is only ever likely to be a hobby, one that is only open to very rich people. Just like keeping pigeons or playing golf is to us mere mortals.

[colincramb]

So ridiculously easy to beat us. All you have to say as an opposition manager is ‘go at them the first 10 minutes and they will capitulate’. It’s that easy

[DRFC-Hanksie]

80%-90% of our problems are due to our players are extremely poor at making strong aerial challenges defending crosses,highballs and set-pieces,all 5 goals was headers today.Why that is,I don't know,we need to change it pronto.

I don’t think we are very good at all in defence but our midfield is just woeful, we lose all the physical battles, don’t provide any shield to the defence, don’t keep possession and don’t create a right lot. Westbrooke and Close had a spell where they looked dynamic but that was short and sweet.

The last game I went to was Harrogate, the defence was dreadful, like a knife through butter, no fight there.

The question begs, what the f**k are we doing training wise in the middle of the week? GM doesn't come across as a soft touch, but surely there's improvements to be made?

[sedwardsdrfc]

Every manager and every player we sign seems to get worse after a few months with us. Club is rotten.

McCann has to hold his hands up the squad isn’t fit enough and he’s never sorted our defence out which has been glaring all season. If Bailey is our best defender then he should play there every flipping week!

That said changing manager isn’t an option because of point one. Whoever we get will be brought down by the state of what they find.

Money doesn’t feel like the problem for us at this level looking at the squad and its size there’s enough budget there to be a top team in this division imo.

I’ll give McCann the benefit of the doubt on the summer signings who I think may have been lined up by Copps beforehand. Certainly Wood was signing before Schofield left and he is not an obvious McCann player but would have suited the 3 Schofield wanted to play.

So whoever is making the signings needs to go. We’ve all been saying it for years now. Younger left and was replaced by Copps. Does Copps still have any say in signings? If so he has to go. This summer certainly felt like Copps was as involved as McCann.

[Chris Black come back]

Copps is head of recruitment.

[ChrisBx]

Copps is head of recruitment.

This should be changed immediately.

[mrfrostsdad]

Grant and Cliff are a proven pair with a good few of their own players now, I don't know whats going off the total utter inconsistency is baffling, but I know nothing

Inconsistency? With the odd exception we've been consistent all season. Consistently shite

[ncRover]

Copps is head of recruitment.

This should be changed immediately.

This is where “knows the club” really is a hindrance.

Get a proper operator in with experience of working at a proper club and they will be able to compare, contrast and identify the problems.

Copps has nothing else to go off rather than the glory days of the 00s - which the club itself can’t move on from. The heritage stuff with Billy Sharp while we’re getting pumped in front of a half-empty home crowd at the bottom of L2 is embarrassing.

[wilts rover]

Every manager and every player we sign seems to get worse after a few months with us. Club is rotten.

McCann has to hold his hands up the squad isn’t fit enough and he’s never sorted our defence out which has been glaring all season. If Bailey is our best defender then he should play there every flipping week!

That said changing manager isn’t an option because of point one. Whoever we get will be brought down by the state of what they find.

Money doesn’t feel like the problem for us at this level looking at the squad and its size there’s enough budget there to be a top team in this division imo.

I’ll give McCann the benefit of the doubt on the summer signings who I think may have been lined up by Copps beforehand. Certainly Wood was signing before Schofield left and he is not an obvious McCann player but would have suited the 3 Schofield wanted to play.

So whoever is making the signings needs to go. We’ve all been saying it for years now. Younger left and was replaced by Copps. Does Copps still have any say in signings? If so he has to go. This summer certainly felt like Copps was as involved as McCann.

Wood is appalling in a back three. Tyke & the Barnsley fans who came on here were laughing at us when they heard that's how we were playing him.

[wilts rover]

I just had a quick look down the table, and I'd guess that there are currently 13 teams above us in the table who have a smaller budget than us. We also have a proven, top end league one manager. What the hell is going so wrong?

The proven top end League One manager has been sacked twice from a League One team for not being good enough.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Every manager and every player we sign seems to get worse after a few months with us. Club is rotten.

McCann has to hold his hands up the squad isn’t fit enough and he’s never sorted our defence out which has been glaring all season. If Bailey is our best defender then he should play there every flipping week!

That said changing manager isn’t an option because of point one. Whoever we get will be brought down by the state of what they find.

Money doesn’t feel like the problem for us at this level looking at the squad and its size there’s enough budget there to be a top team in this division imo.

I’ll give McCann the benefit of the doubt on the summer signings who I think may have been lined up by Copps beforehand. Certainly Wood was signing before Schofield left and he is not an obvious McCann player but would have suited the 3 Schofield wanted to play.

So whoever is making the signings needs to go. We’ve all been saying it for years now. Younger left and was replaced by Copps. Does Copps still have any say in signings? If so he has to go. This summer certainly felt like Copps was as involved as McCann.

Wood is appalling in a back three. Tyke & the Barnsley fans who came on here were laughing at us when they heard that's how we were playing him.

I thought Wood played in a back 3 at Rotherham for years.