McCann and Doncaster Rovers

[drfchound]

Mmm, well some people keep bringing the last government into conversations.

[Chris Black come back]

Did May depart before they arrived.?

They all left at pretty much exactly the same time. Rakish Bingham signed in November 2019 and left in January 2020. Kwame Thomas signed in October 2019 and left in January 2020. Alfie May left in January 2020.

[Bentley Bullet]

Bingham and Thomas replaced May in the team on several occasions during November and December season 2019/20, during which Thomas played 2 full games and Bingham played 1. May played 0 full games. Both Bingham and Thomas made 3 starts, and May made 1 but was replaced in the second half.

[ForsolongaRover]

It would be interesting to take the Cheltenham view of Alfie May’s development. My memory is that no one doubted his work-rate when he was at the Keepmoat, but it wasn’t difficult to recognise that for all his commitment the end product was inadequate.

That didn’t change until he went to Cheltenham. Should not the probability that it was the coaching he received there which transformed his ability?

If this is so, you could reasonably conclude that Moore’s decision was soundly based.

[ravenrover]

Playing him in the right position helped at Cheltenham

[BillyStubbsTears]

Your regular, boringly factual reminder that the 14 months after Moore sold May were one of the best in our history, in terms of points gathered at the level played at.

[BigH]

Playing him in the right position helped at Cheltenham

Scoring against Man City in the cup helped him at Cheltenham. A massive confidence boost that gave him self-belief. Hasn’t looked back since.

[Bentley Bullet]

Your regular, boringly factual reminder that the 14 months after Moore sold May were one of the best in our history, in terms of points gathered at the level played at.

So we improved as a team because we sold a fringe player who barely played a full match for us?

 

[BobG]

Thus justifying the sale of that fringe player...

BobG

[Bentley Bullet]

Thus justifying the sale of that fringe player...

BobG

Why does it?

[ravenrover]

Your regular, boringly factual reminder that the 14 months after Moore sold May were one of the best in our history, in terms of points gathered at the level played at.

You didn't rate him Billy we all get that, some of us did and it's right we defend our opinion as it is yours, boring as you may find it

[BillyStubbsTears]

Your regular, boringly factual reminder that the 14 months after Moore sold May were one of the best in our history, in terms of points gathered at the level played at.

You didn't rate him Billy we all get that, some of us did and it's right we defend our opinion as it is yours, boring as you may find it

Wrong
I did rate him. I thought he was a model pro and a hard worker. I am genuinely chuffed to bits for the lad that he's done so well, and he seems to be a genuinely good lad.

My issue is with this absolute obsession from some that it was obvious he was going to become a top goal scorer and that Moore made a catastrophic mistake in getting rid of him. I think it's massively overdone.

[turnbull for england]

Theres not a living soul who's not 100% delighted for the career Alfie May is having, but why are some  obsessed he would have done that with us . Nothing is guaranteed. Sliding doors and all that . Football is littered with players who have left one club and gone on to have decent or even spectacular careers. Many never thought Brian Deane had much about him, Jack Lester couldn't have hit a cows arse with a banjo yet  with us on loan yet played at high level for years  after . Man City let deBrunye go and Cole Palmer for that matter . It happens, if we kept every fans favourite on off chance he turned into a world beater  we'd have a cast of thousands

[ravenrover]

But he did, and Moore was wrong. Obsession works both ways Billy JMHO

[BillyStubbsTears]

RR.

In the 13 months after May left, the lad was scoring at the rate of about 1 in 4 in the bottom division.

Meanwhile, Moore's team had the following form at the top of L1.

P38 W23 D5 L10 PTS74 PPG1.95 (equivalent to 90 points over a season).

I suspect that, outside 1946/47, we've never had form like that in tier 3 for such a long time.

I look at that and find it very difficult to conclude Moore made a serious mistake.

What are we supposed to do? Hang on to EVERY peripheral player in case they turn their career around?

[Barmby Rover]

In the end it is one of those that we will never know the answer to. Alfie has done extremely well since he left us, whether he would have become as good if he stayed who knows? We wish him well and move on, just as we did when Heffernan, Billy and Marquis left. I am happy with our present squad for this season and will enjoy it when we beat Chesterfield tonight with a semi-competent ref in charge I hope!

[Plumbster]

Well said, love what Alfie has done but I hope this is the last time it triggers the usual suspects

[BobG]

A very pious hope that Plumbster... Just look at #38, 39 and 40 above. On the one hand he is alleged to be a fringe player who had no impact on the squad that performed better than any squad since 46/47 and on the other we should have kept him all along. Talk about having your cake and eating it...

BobG

[drfchound]

And look at reply 44.
Of course we will never know, but we might have had an even better run of form and points collection had Alfie been retained.
Some people are obsessed with trying not to give Alfie any credit and will just keep arguing Moore knew best.

[Alan Southstand]

Horses for courses ‘hound, I’m afraid. There was also the Chairman’s influence on finance at the time - we certainly can’t dismiss that.

I’m in both camps, I’m afraid % full of admiration for how Alfie has progressed his career and also I thought DM was a genius for getting us to the level of football we were churning out, when you consider what he was left with!

Also, special mention for DF, as it was him that spotted something special about Alfie in the first place.

[MachoMadness]

I think we improved as a team because Moore made canny use of a shrinking budget by getting rid of fringe players so he could bring in high quality players like Jacob Ramsey, Josh Sims, Taylor Richards, Ben Whiteman on a better deal, John Bostock, etc etc... anyone putting May in front of any of those lads at the time would've been laughed out of the town (we were still a town back then!).

The way Moore left stinks but he had us operating levels above where we are now, on a relative shoestring budget. May turning out to be a great player two years after he left us doesn't change that. As BST says, we can't keep every player just in case they come good.

May obviously needed a completely different environment with different players, coaching, and a style of play to develop his game. Should Moore have torn up what was a ruthlessly efficient winning system just to suit one fringe player?

[Bentley Bullet]

And look at reply 44.
Of course we will never know, but we might have had an even better run of form and points collection had Alfie been retained.
Some people are obsessed with trying not to give Alfie any credit and will just keep arguing Moore knew best.

This.

Of course, it doesn't suit BST's argument to look at the bigger picture of how much May could have improved the team had he stayed, and instead insinuates that the team improved BECAUSE he left, and not DESPITE it.

His obsession with Darren Moore, combined with his bitterness towards those whose talent-spotting skills have been proven to be somewhat significantly better than his, has left him so wounded he still can't admit it to this day that he was so very, VERY wrong to support his hero's decision to get rid of May so cheaply.

[IDM]

A very pious hope that Plumbster... Just look at #38, 39 and 40 above. On the one hand he is alleged to be a fringe player who had no impact on the squad that performed better than any squad since 46/47 and on the other we should have kept him all along. Talk about having your cake and eating it...

BobG

Point of order..

What is the point of cake, if not for eating.??

[Bentley Bullet]

You are what you eat.

BobG likes his fruitcake.