It’s annoying that we’re going down with a whimper - no fight or pride. Very disappointed in the players and Barton.
Northampton 2 up Portsmouth have pulled one back Westbrooke, Oztumer, Baldwin on. Harries Walker and Hanlon off
31% possession at home to MK Dons who have nothing to play for. It’s a pretty shameful capitulation - it sounds like the players have given up.
We can’t even score a 96th minute penalty! Deary me - we really do deserve relegation. One of the worst Rovers teams in living memory.
Have Rovers ever actually finished rock bottom? Can't remember being virtually down with so many games to go. Also, compare Clark's reaction to Barton. We need a manager with a lot more passion than Barton.
Must admit I had high hopes for Barton - thought he would be the strong, no nonsense type of manager to keep us fighting to the end at the very least, if not actually keep us in lge 1. I think the most disappointing aspect of this shambles is the lack of passion and fight that seems to be running throughout the team. To some extent, I can accept that they aren't good enough for the division we are in - that damage was done far earlier in the season by others, and there was nothing Barton could have done about that. It's the apparent lack of motivation and fighting spirit that is the biggest disappointment for me, most of them don't appear to give a toss, and as far as I am concerned, if they don't want to play for us in league 1, they needn't bother thinking they'll get the chance to in league 2 - clear them all out and let's start afresh with passionate players who care. Be very interesting to see what Barton does now - if he stays, he'll get my full support as I think he deserves a chance to build his own squad, before being judged on other peoples. Having said that, it won't surprise me if he resigns at the end of the season anyway, as next season is going to be an uphill struggle for us, whoever our manager is!
I think Barton will stay, he is probably getting a decent wage and no one is going to employ a manager that cannot get most of the players to put a decent shift in, McCormick who is not even one of our players shows more enthusiasm than most of the others put together
I thought Rodman did well, and he's one player who's shown a lot of commitment throughout. Apparently there's a good chance Ansi will stay, which would be great. I've got high hopes for Daly too, because every time he plays he makes things happen, and he will definitely do well if he can stay fit. Hanlan's never been an out and out striker, and that's been quite a big part of the problem. On his day, Ayunga looks a handful, but apart from a couple of games he hasn't been that effective either. I think we've had some of the most technically gifted players I've seen for a long time, but the trouble is, there isn't much end product with a lot of them. Westbrook looks brilliant sometimes with his trickery, but then how many wasted balls and free kicks have there been? Is it time on the training pitch, is it fitness, is it filling players heads with too many tactics, when the simple pass is best? The season would have been a lot different if we had converted some of those 1-0 score lines into draws or wins, and I guess that's the problem.
The loss of JCH was a major problem particularly as we never replaced him with an out and out striker. I'm not saying the defence has been fantastic but goals have been a major issue and we really need to address this in the summer. I would like to see Barton stay as his 'football' experience may well count in the long run and after the last couple of managers we need a bit of stability.
Before Barton joined, I was vocal on twitter about not wanting him. I was shouted down and was told that Barton will easily keep us up. I read the same on the other forum too. Look how that turned out! Forget his off field anger issues, which was my main reason why I didn't want him, but I also didn't want him as I wasn't sold on the experience line either. As a footballer, yes bags of experience. But as a manager, he has just been with Fleetwood for 2 seasons and never experienced a relegation battle as a manager. We needed someone who knew how to beat a relegation battle. People thought that Barton would send rockets up the players backside and get them all fighting for the shirt again. But he has failed miserably. We have got worse under him. Last night, a home game against a team with nothing to play for, was a must win game where the players had to give everything and leave nothing behind. It was poor apparently. One of the worse games under Barton to date, I was told. If he can't motivate players to give their all for the club to help the club survive then he ain't good enough. He can't motivate players. He can't deal with a relegation battle. He has made us worse. And he has publicly criticised the players many times so no wonder they are not fighting for him. Yes this is not his team. He has inherited the crap lot. But he has had so many games to get the best out of these players and just made excuses why he hasn't been able to do so. I don't like him as a person but I don't trust him either as our manager with our funds to fix our club in the summer because I just don't rate him as a manager either. He has not played or managed in L2. Him as manager is the same as relying on a bunch of kids in the starting 11. For me he has to go and I think he wants to go too.
Remember, last night, we had to win. It was a must win game against a team with nothing to play for. The least we should see was 100% from every single player. No exceptions. And I fully expect to see our manager doing the same, with motivating the players to keep going and not give up. What I didn't expect to see was this from Barton on 80 minutes. A manager who has given up. He is just as bad as the team. please log in to view this image
I saw him standing around looking bored and wondered how he expected the players to perform, however there doesn't seem to be any pride in putting on the shirt and playing for it. Our best player b a mile yesterday was not even one of our own. We know we are going down and most of us had realised this fact weeks ago but Luke McCormack has played his heart out for us and been a credit to his parent club. Why when we are leaking goals with a defence that has more holes in it than a colander do we insist on playing three at the back when only Kilgour seems to have any idea about defending and yes I do know he has made mistakes. We need four defenders who want to defend, Martinez has done a good job in Grants absence but with know Nicholson out injured we have only had Rodman in spells When not injured who wants to try and play to get us the points we need. Upson has also put in a good shift. We have 13 defenders and twelve midfielder's on the books and three strikers of whom 1 being Daly doesn't seem to get a look in. He keeps saying that the senior players are not performing so why will he not play Tomlinson and Hargreaves alongside Zain Walker. Is Ben Liddle injured or not not just being considered. As i have previously said I think it is going to be a long summer transfer window with much disappointment.
Performance enhancing chewing tobacco!! Having read JB's full interview yesterday, he made some astonishing remarks about a linesman being more worried about the time so he could eat something due to Ramadam ending, or some such bollocks, large numbers of the squad chewing some kind of tobacco that is meant to enhance energy and performance. Made me smile when I read the last part - if the tobacco improves energy and performance, then the team members involved need to get a refund, cos there hasn't been much evidence of either for the majority of the season. The bottom line I feel is quite simple - the bulk of the team simply aren't good enough for league 1 (possibly even league 2 in some cases). JB soon realised this after only a few games in charge, he knows he can't change the personnel involved until the end of the season, and has now been given the green light to bring in his own players, and somehow get shot of the dross. Whether he will be given the opportunity to fulfill his plans remains to be seen, but whatever happens in our last 3 games, it's going to be an interesting Summer to say the least!
I say play the kids. Where is Hargreave? Mehew? Tomlinson? Give them a chance. Can't be worse than what we've seen from the so called 1st teamers.
In an article on Bristol Live Barton has stated he will be in charge of recruitment this Summer, an interesting summer lies ahead I think
Well he is the manager so I prefer it to be him over Widdrington. But I rather Barton wasn't here full stop.