Wellens

[Metalmicky]

On shortlist for Blackburn job apparently...

https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/football/blackburn-rovers-shortlist-former-doncaster-rovers-and-leicester-city-man-following-john-eustace-exit-4989305

[grayx]

Be a good move that.

[The Dav]

Makes you wonder what we could have achieved if he’d not had to entertain that clown Blunt, and instead had the same resources what Grants had?

[Sven Vath]

There are a few on here with egg on their face.

Throwing dirt at him at every opportunity.

[sedwardsdrfc]

Yeah we were a difficult club to manage with the tight attitude that seemed to prevail. Wonder what we told managers when interviewing for them to take the job on. They must have either thought the club would budge on money when they got through the door or were just naive to think they could produce on a shoe string.

For our budget back then we shouldn’t have been hiring anyone wanting to play football. Proper attrition managers are needed if you can’t afford the players.

[jmt23]

And the other managers we went through, people made personal attacks thinking it was all the managers doing. The actual reality is they were probably over achieving, and could have done decent jobs given the chances.

[sedwardsdrfc]

I’d say some didn’t help themselves by trying to be a footballing side when we didn’t have the players. But if that was the brief from the top it’s understandable. For me the manager should try get 3pts by any means when the club is struggling.

[Bentley Bullet]

Wellens said he was specifically employed to return Rovers to the style of football created by SOD when we had an identity of being the Arsenal of the north.

He admitted he was often cutting his nose off to spite his face in his team selection and tactics.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Good manager, wrong time,. He was screwed by injuries but then didn't help himself with the Bogle and Williams situation.

[Bentley Bullet]

If the team needed Bogle and Williams to improve it, it just shows how poor the quality was.

Like Wellens said there have been far better players than Bogle and Williams who have been consigned to training away from first-team squads elsewhere.

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

He's done brilliantly at Leyton Orient. But that doesn't mean he was poor here. Yea the budget wasn't great but he was a poor manager for us, signed poor players and didn't play his best team.  It didn't work, but good on him for making it work elsewhere.

[Move DRFC]

Barely had a pot to piss in when it came to signing players. Proven himself to be a top manager.

[Bentley Bullet]

He's done brilliantly at Leyton Orient. But that doesn't mean he was poor here. Yea the budget wasn't great but he was a poor manager for us, signed poor players and didn't play his best team.  It didn't work, but good on him for making it work elsewhere.

You don't often get good players by offering them poor pay. Of course, you can come across the odd bargain who turns out to be a steal, but it would be nye on impossible to fill a team up with such signings.

Wellens tried to do the nye on impossible.

[Prez]

If the team needed Bogle and Williams to improve it, it just shows how poor the quality was.

Like Wellens said there have been far better players than Bogle and Williams who have been consigned to training away from first-team squads elsewhere.

I thought he needed them off the wage bill although i could be wrong. He was dealt a poor hand but played it badly. Pleased for him to be doing well at Orient.

[Bentley Bullet]

If the team needed Bogle and Williams to improve it, it just shows how poor the quality was.

Like Wellens said there have been far better players than Bogle and Williams who have been consigned to training away from first-team squads elsewhere.

I thought he needed them off the wage bill although i could be wrong. He was dealt a poor hand but played it badly. Pleased for him to be doing well at Orient.

He did need them off the wage bill. Bogle turned down two offers, which meant there was no cash available for Wellens to buy another striker.

[Chris Black come back]

Difficult budget absolutely undoubtedly but he presided over the worst transfer window in our recent history. Absolutely diabolical business.

[pib]

Joe Wright being another case of someone being given 12 months contract for being injured who then promptly got himself fit and pissed off

That's not true. He made 39 appearances in his last season contracted with the club (2020/21), picked up an injury in the last game of the season and wasn't given a new deal. He just did his rehab with the club the following season.

[BobG]

Smyth strikes again! Lol

BobG

[pib]

Joe Wright being another case of someone being given 12 months contract for being injured who then promptly got himself fit and pissed off

That's not true. He made 39 appearances in his last season contracted with the club (2020/21), picked up an injury in the last game of the season and wasn't given a new deal. He just did his rehab with the club the following season.

Ah, part of everyone's contract in football,  sorry I didn't know that.
Given a contract because he was injured playing,  you didn't write that but that's the inference of your post.
 
Of course were T.Bramall to say at the next M.T.O that getting better use of the budget is going to be central to the clubs decision making in future BobG would be first cheering and saying it's long overdue.
Smyth strikes again.

Eh? No inference, that's just what happened. He wasn't given a contract.

[BobG]

Smyth now vainly attempting to defend the indefensible...

BobG

[TonySoprano]

Makes you wonder what we could have achieved if he’d not had to entertain that clown Blunt, and instead had the same resources what Grants had?

Wonder how the clowns who kept defending the board and blunt during that period feel now? 

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Joe Wright being another case of someone being given 12 months contract for being injured who then promptly got himself fit and pissed off

That's not true. He made 39 appearances in his last season contracted with the club (2020/21), picked up an injury in the last game of the season and wasn't given a new deal. He just did his rehab with the club the following season.

Ah, part of everyone's contract in football,  sorry I didn't know that.
Given a contract because he was injured playing,  you didn't write that but that's the inference of your post.
 
Of course were T.Bramall to say at the next M.T.O that getting better use of the budget is going to be central to the clubs decision making in future BobG would be first cheering and saying it's long overdue.
Smyth strikes again.

Eh? No inference, that's just what happened. He wasn't given a contract.

My recollection was he wanted to leave at the end of the season and try pastures new. Unfortunately he got injured in the last game so Rovers allowed him to rehab with us as a gesture of goodwill, seeing as he  got injured wearing the red n white hoops.

[ForsolongaRover]

My Orient ST Holder friend is full of praise for him and what he has done there was basically what he was hired to do for us. What is probably not generally known is that he has done what he has despite big injury problems.

Although he did not really get the players he wanted here, he probably did not manage those he had as well as he could and perhaps that’s a lesson he took to Orient, but their situation when he took over was probably worse than what he inherited at Rovers.

[ncRover]

It’s interesting that we felt (maybe still do) feel wedded to the footballing philosophy of the SOD days. Particularly because 4 of our 5 promotions since the early 2000s have been achieved without it.
It was the brief given to Wellens, McSheffrey and Schofield. Why was it so important? Particularly when the budget and recruitment strategy wasn’t there for it.

[Pancho Regan]

I have mixed emotions regarding Richie. I am chuffed to bits for him that he's succeeding so well at Orient.
And in equal measure I'm sad and frustrated that it didn't work out for him with us.

He could / should have been the 'dream' appointment. One of the best players in the best team I've ever had the pleasure to witness during my 50+ years as a Rovers fan.
He spoke so well when he was appointed, about his desire to build something in the image of that SO'D team and his hope that this was a long-term project.

So sad that the wheels came off, but I would still have stuck with Richie (albeit I know I'm speaking with the benefit of hindsight).

So I'm delighted for him, but that will always be tinged by a feeling of what might have been.

[jmt23]

My take on why they wanted SOD style football was, potentially twofold.

1. It was a fantastic run up to the championship, and playing some of the most pleasing on the eye football I have witnessed at DRFC in my 40+ years attending. Essentially success and style.
2. SOD did it on a relatively low budget, he understood if we want to get where we wanted, we had to play differently. Other clubs could afford much better players at the “standard” style of play.

[Plumbster]

Agreed I think the SOD style, getting beautiful football from so-called lesser players, was the only way we could compete in the Championship for as long as we did,- it really was an amazing achievement.

[ForsolongaRover]

My take on why they wanted SOD style football was, potentially twofold.

1. It was a fantastic run up to the championship, and playing some of the most pleasing on the eye football I have witnessed at DRFC in my 40+ years attending. Essentially success and style.
2. SOD did it on a relatively low budget, he understood if we want to get where we wanted, we had to play differently. Other clubs could afford much better players at the “standard” style of play.

It took SOD a long time to develop what we became and unlike Copps, Richie was never actually part of the finished product. It was probably an unrealistic ideal considering where we were (and still are). The model was for another time, faded into history.       

[andyst79]

Didn't do himself any favors spunking a chunk of his budget on Ben Close!

[Bentley Bullet]

Grant McCann signed a two-year contract extension for Ben Close in March 2024. This extension will keep Close at the club until the summer of 2026.