Mixed Emotions.

GreatWesternGas

GreatWesternGas

Well-Known Member
May 13, 2014
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Saturday teatime: Depressed, worried, despairing at trying to fathom out what has gone wrong, and where the hell are any more points going to come from, even found myself studying the bottom third of the table, trying to convince myself that we've already done enough not to have to worry about possible collapse to relegation. Sunday lunchtime: Shocked to read that BG has left on indefinite leave, due to a family illness/crisis. Best wishes and genuine sadness for him having to deal with whatever he is facing. Reality check that family must come before football for all of us. Genuine embarrassment for many of the cruel, harsh comments that were made towards and about him (particularly on Gas Chat) which if he was aware of, must have been very hurtful. Sunday evening: Slightly guilty now, as I find myself much more optimistic that we can get a result at Coventry on Tuesday evening with Kevin Maher in charge now. I had no expectation of us getting anything but a hiding earlier, but he did ok during the 3 games between GC and BG taking charge, and if he allows the team to do like they were doing pre BG, I reckon we can get a result. Sadly I feel the changes he made were too much too quickly for our players to adapt to, and I would rather see them revert to less attractive football, grinding out results, for the time being. or until we can get a few stronger, more gifted players to the club. (I hope to experience a new emotion to deal with on Tuesday at 10.00pm, 'Relief and happiness following a victory', - it's been a while!)
 
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It was sad to hear about BG family member. Hopefully he returns soon and gets to work with the team to get them working on his plan. I actually believe in BG. Just needs time. We've been punching above our weight and the xmas period was just too much for our players playing that many times in a short period of time and under the circumstances of Coughlan walking out on them straight after the Ipswich win where the players should have been on cloud 9 but were down about Coughlan. Then losing Dunne after 1 game. Then having to work under Maher for 1 game and now BG and he is not around now. I bet our players have no idea whats going on and its situations like this where you could see some players getting restless and want to leave.

Also, who is now in control of buying and selling? If BG is not on the scene, does this mean no more signings? What happens if someone comes in for JCH? It is literally like a soap opera!
 
Captain Jack Sparrow said:
It was sad to hear about BG family member. Hopefully he returns soon and gets to work with the team to get them working on his plan. I actually believe in BG. Just needs time. We've been punching above our weight and the xmas period was just too much for our players playing that many times in a short period of time and under the circumstances of Coughlan walking out on them straight after the Ipswich win where the players should have been on cloud 9 but were down about Coughlan. Then losing Dunne after 1 game. Then having to work under Maher for 1 game and now BG and he is not around now. I bet our players have no idea whats going on and its situations like this where you could see some players getting restless and want to leave.

Also, who is now in control of buying and selling? If BG is not on the scene, does this mean no more signings? What happens if someone comes in for JCH? It is literally like a soap opera!
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Its hard to think how things could have gone much worse in the last few weeks, to be honest. One minute we are chipping along picking up unlikely points (somehow), sitting in a good position in the league and still in 2 cups, one of which was only a couple of games away from a possible Wembley day out. In the blink of an eye, we're sliding down the table, struggling to have a shot on target in repeated games, we embarrassed ourselves in one cup against Stevenage, and unless we have a remarkable turn around tonight, we are about to exit the second cup. Its half time now and once again, we are yet to register a shot on target! I know people say we wont go down this season, but I must admit to being a little concerned if our current form doesn't improve significantly, and quickly.
 
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I to believe in BG, Widdrington is in charge of transfers as I understood the interview on the Rovers tw feed on yesterdays press call pre Coventry match, though they are in contact on a regular basis about transfer targets with BG
 
GreatWesternGas said:
Its hard to think how things could have gone much worse in the last few weeks, to be honest. One minute we are chipping along picking up unlikely points (somehow), sitting in a good position in the league and still in 2 cups, one of which was only a couple of games away from a possible Wembley day out. In the blink of an eye, we're sliding down the table, struggling to have a shot on target in repeated games, we embarrassed ourselves in one cup against Stevenage, and unless we have a remarkable turn around tonight, we are about to exit the second cup. Its half time now and once again, we are yet to register a shot on target! I know people say we wont go down this season, but I must admit to being a little concerned if our current form doesn't improve significantly, and quickly.
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In Nick Higgs words..... relegation is not an option <ok>
 
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To be honest any decent new manager would have come in, kept things on an even keel for a bit while they worked out the lie of the land and then work with everyone to change things gradually. He seems to have come in, told everyone they're not good enough and then immediately set about changing everything. I'm not hopeful. I think they knew they were taking a risk and with the team in a decent position he can afford a shortish poor run. But he needs to get his act together and get points on the board very soon or he'll be out of the door. They were doing ok a few weeks ago, so it's definitely not the players.
 
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Gastronomic said:
To be honest any decent new manager would have come in, kept things on an even keel for a bit while they worked out the lie of the land and then work with everyone to change things gradually. He seems to have come in, told everyone they're not good enough and then immediately set about changing everything. I'm not hopeful. I think they knew they were taking a risk and with the team in a decent position he can afford a shortish poor run. But he needs to get his act together and get points on the board very soon or he'll be out of the door. They were doing ok a few weeks ago, so it's definitely not the players.
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Yes, it is difficult to take in at the moment.
Obviously the Coughlan method was working and getting to 4th in the table was great but since then we seem to have lost our way and badly need a win.
 
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Gastronomic said:
To be honest any decent new manager would have come in, kept things on an even keel for a bit while they worked out the lie of the land and then work with everyone to change things gradually. He seems to have come in, told everyone they're not good enough and then immediately set about changing everything. I'm not hopeful. I think they knew they were taking a risk and with the team in a decent position he can afford a shortish poor run. But he needs to get his act together and get points on the board very soon or he'll be out of the door. They were doing ok a few weeks ago, so it's definitely not the players.
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I agree 100% with this - why change something that is obviously working? The players were on board with the system and way they were playing, it was winning us points and making us a very hard team to beat. 'If it aint bust, don't fix it' - can't fathom why most new managers nowadays can't leave well alone if it's working. They seem obsessed with bringing their own backroom people in, stamping their own mark on the way the team plays, and usually making a right mess of things because it's too much, too quick. Why couldn't he have just left well alone for the time being? With all respect to our players, they play for Bristol Rovers, not Barcelona, so they need to be left alone to do what they have found works for them.
 
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I kind of disagree here as im not sure he has changed much to be honest. And with so many games in a short period of time, the use of the same players who have been punching above their weight (performances during the season suggest so - hence reduced atendances), it was only a matter of time where these recent bad results and form was going to happen.

Also after a great win at Ipswich, the players should have been on cloud 9. But Coughlan walked out on them and for what? L2 football at a struggling side. How did that make the players feel.

Then when they needed some consistency after losing their manager, 1 game later after a solid defensive display at Plymouth, Dunne then walks out on them.

Then 1 game later after another impressive defensive performance at the leagues top scorers - Peterborough, with Maher in charge (3rd manager in 3 games), Garner then gets the job and becomes the 4th manager in 4 games. Has this ever happened before - 4 managers in 4 games?

There is only so much the players can take and with them all playing lots of games (due to a lot of injuries) in a short period of time, they are all mentally and physically fatigued. Players and staff have all been saying this.

Any manager would struggle coming in at the same stage as Garner did, and Garner himself even said this himself that the timing of his appointment was not ideal as he would literally have no time to have proper training sessions with the players. And he still hasn't had a single full week yet to work with the players and it doesn't look like it will happen any time soon after being off on leave at the moment. Is it any wonder we are off form, players fatigued so struggling to keep the goals out and struggling to score goals?

I personally don't blame Garner for anything. He has been upfront and explained everything and hasn't been able to change much due to so many injuries. Of course its frustrating to see us go from 4th down to 12th but we need to be patient. I think he is a very good coach and probably the best coach our club has had (on paper) and that will only benefit the players and club in the long run. With no managerial experience makes his appointment a gamble but he needs time and he hasn't had that yet but any appointment is a gamble. The new signings look good too, wingers with pace and knows how to take on players. Win 1 game and I can see us going on a good run.

Keep your chins up gasheads. The club needs your support <ok>
 
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Captain Jack Sparrow said:
Then 1 game later after another impressive defensive performance at the leagues top scorers - Peterborough, with Maher in charge (3rd manager in 3 games), Garner then gets the job and becomes the 4th manager in 4 games. Has this ever happened before - 4 managers in 4 games?
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That's an excellent point about 4 managers in 4 games - an amazing statistic that I'm sure wont ever be equalled, and no club would want it to be! At least we will be in the record books for something! Probably crop up on the TV in a sports quiz show sometime in the future. I guess patience is difficult to master for many of us, and its easy to hit the panic button when things look like they're starting to unravel. I sincerely hope you're right about our future prospects under BG, I'm sure he's a very capable coach, and I must admit the pace and youth that he has recently brought in, fills me with optimism for our future games. Although we have dropped to 12th in the table, the points are very close, and a couple of good results will see us back on track, so here's hoping for much improved performances starting this afternoon at Rotherham, although personally, I'd take a deflected, disputed, lucky 1-0 victory against the run of play, if we bring home the points!
 
Another 3 - 0 hiding, why are we playing wing backs and signing wingers as we don't play with wide men what is the point. either we need to change the system or get players in that fit the system we are using. just outside the bottom three is where we are heading for at this moment in time. I hope that BG is soon back and hopefully he can then get his ideas across and we can start climbing the table
 
GreatWesternGas said:
couple of good results will see us back on track, so here's hoping for much improved performances starting this afternoon at Rotherham, although personally, I'd take a deflected, disputed, lucky 1-0 victory against the run of play, if we bring home the points!
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Well that worked out well, didn't it! Reckon we need to get shot of our strikers as none of them can strike, bring in as many defenders as we can get hold of, and play 10 across the back for the remainder of the season. If we can finish each of the remaining games 0-0, we should be alright!!<doh> Sorted!
 
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JCH last scored a goal from open play was back in September apparently! <yikes>

With that record, along with Nichols who cant score, along with Victor who cant score and now with Reilly - who couldn't score in L2, I think it could be pretty good to change our strikers. Clearly none are good enough apart from JCH but he just aint getting the service. And because of this, JCH shoots at every opportunity - even from distance, because he aint getting a chance any other time. Although he had a great chance at Rotherham after 3 minutes. I am just worried about JCH because he is showing a bad attitude on the pitch waving his arms around in frustration. I know its passion from him but it doesnt look good to see.
 
Captain Jack Sparrow said:
JCH last scored a goal from open play was back in September apparently! <yikes>

With that record, along with Nichols who cant score, along with Victor who cant score and now with Reilly - who couldn't score in L2, I think it could be pretty good to change our strikers. Clearly none are good enough apart from JCH but he just aint getting the service. And because of this, JCH shoots at every opportunity - even from distance, because he aint getting a chance any other time. Although he had a great chance at Rotherham after 3 minutes. I am just worried about JCH because he is showing a bad attitude on the pitch waving his arms around in frustration. I know its passion from him but it doesnt look good to see.
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Which probably makes him think he would be better off elsewhere.
 
If I was looking for a striker I'd probably go for one of the Posh strikers before JCH, who's definitely gone off the boil and may even be carrying an injury.
 
Gastronomic said:
If I was looking for a striker I'd probably go for one of the Posh strikers before JCH, who's definitely gone off the boil and may even be carrying an injury.
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Do you think with the new players that have come in - all attacking players, JCH on his own up front is the better option, providing we have are attacking players up in support like our new wingers providing service to him and the likes of Barrett and Sercombe arriving behind - feeding off of JCH's knock downs? And then use Victor as his back up. Even Nichols could play that attacking midfield role like Sercombe and Barrett.
 
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Did you know?......Bristol Rovers are the only team in the Premier & Football League not to have scored a league goal in 2020.
 
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