Not sure whether Stuart Campbell was quoted correctly in last week's Evening Post, but if he was then he sounded really unprofessional. Campbell's been one of my favourite players over the years. But no player is bigger than the club and it is probably time that he moves on.It is probably very difficult for any former manager to get their head right when a new manager comes in.But if the Bristol Evening Post interview with Campbell is accurate, then Campbell needs to recognise that he needs to get away from the club rather than showing this sort of resentment, which will only unsettle the dressing room. If the paper reported Campbell correctly Campbell only said that going out on loan was a waste of time to the reporter. The paper reported that Buckle actually asked Campbell whether he minded having his details circulated.Campbell said this was up to Buckle.Apparently Campbell's agent is stalling on Campbell's new contract, leaving Buckle little option but to try to move Campbll on. I think the red side suffered from showing Keith Millen loyalty for a bit too long. Campbell has been a great servant, there is only one Stuart Campbell, but it is also time for him to move on for the good of the club.
he has to stay for me. nothing said in the evil post (if reported correctly) came across as unprofessional to me. he clearly wants to stay. he loves the club and letting him go will be bad as we need his spirit. especially if buckle keeps up making ****e excuses and blaming the fans and playing players out of position meaning losing more games, he wil be sacked and cams will be ideal to take over. its obvious reading both buckles and cams interviews that cams wants to stay, buckle offered unacceptable contract (apparently only a 1 year deal and cams want more as coaching role involved a 1 year deal is pointless) and instead of negotiating any deal, buckle is trying to get rid using cams contract rejection as an excuse to move him on. only a few weeks ago cams was by far our better player on the pitch and buckle was quoted saying cams was a shining example. and now he has circulated his info to other clubs. obviously being 33 a loan deal would be pointless as end of season when loan deal finishes he will be out of contract and being 33 will make it hard to find another club. the whole time cams been here with the gas, i have never seen him in the press for the wrong reasons or falling put with a player or manager. never complained or threw his toys out the pram. instead he has always given his all in every game and got on with every situation. he is very professional. he dont deserve the treatment shown by buckle. bucks on the other hand has been the unprofessional one. publically falling out with stanley, kuffour and now cams. also falling out with harrold, carayol and virgo. thats 6 players in under 3 months. averaging a fall out with a player every 2 weeks. then he has also publically slated the fans on numerous ocassions as well. that alone is a no no as falling out with the fans will give him less revenue as the fans wont come. told us start of the season a big club like rovers need to be aiming for promotion at 1st attempt. few weeks ago higgs next to buckle said we will be going for promotion. but after our loss vs aldershot bucks said we have to lower our expectations! telling us that on our tickets it dont say to come and jeer. telling us he was headhunted and didnt have to come to rovers. just who does he think he is. a fooking arrogant **** thats who. my opinion, im on cams side and hope he stays but buckle to go.
With cjs on this one. Buckle not turning up for a Press Conference after the Port Vale defeat was unprofessional (and showed a weakness of character), describing the club as having a 'losing mentality' was unprofessional, upsetting off-field Rovers staff is unprofessional, telling us to lower our expectations was unprofessional, saying one thing on numerous occasions and then doing the opposite was unprofessional.................. I think the man is a disgrace to the club and to the profession of football management. As regards Campbell staying or going, I'd sadly have to say that the best thing for him now is to go and do the best for his family. He owes us nothing, and should go with head held high.
Sorry Gastro I agree 100% with CJS Cams should stay at the club we already have a crap centre midfield,Craig Stanley works hard but is sooooooo slow,Gills needs continuity with Cams behind him. Cams is more than just a player to the team and wishes to repay Rovers with coaching and mentoring the youngsters Chuckle(s) is always airing his views in public unlike Sir Alex who manages the players in the confines of the club not the papers.....................he really needs to wake up and keep it simple little comment and get on with the coaching and management of the team otherwise as CJ rightly states he comes across arrogant and self serving. Chuckle(s) needs to be able to manage all types of characters not just yes men who he has brought to the club and blend existing players with new ones to be successfull. I have laughed at some of the comments attributed to him ie He is not used to losing.......get over yourself we have lost more than 45% of our matches already this season and Torquay 25% did not win them all. We are are targetting 10th? where did that come from! So enough waffle Cams to stay,Chuckles to get on with his job and embrace some of the players in the squad dont intimidate and manage by fear get them to want to play for you and the club above all I agree that no one person is more important than the club and its success on and off the field. COR
As the Bristol Evening Post isn't available up here in Cheltenham I haven't read Campbell's comments but have felt for a couple of months now that Buckle has decided to get rid of everyone connected with the playing side of the club before he was "head hunted" by our board and has no qualms about how he goes about doing it. I could see Campbell following Elliott to Cheltenham Town. Considering before the start of the season Buckle was making all sort of grandiose statements about us winning the league and promotion was the only thing on his mind has become the fans having to be more realistic about where we're at and where we're going to be at the end of the season. Our hopes for this season were raised by this man so who was being unrealistic? I think both should stay but if one of these has to go it should be Buckle. His man management skills are so poor he shouldn't even manage a kiddies Under 11 side. Whilst no man is bigger than the club, Campbell has been there for 7 years and a leader on the pitch. Buckle hdid a good job at a small club (no disrespect to Torquay United) but appears to have an ego problem which is getting in the way.
I'd very much like to see Campbell stay, however, if his spat with Buckle is causing rancour in the dressing room then he should go. Obviously, I'd prefer Buckle to go at the moment, but that ain't gonna happen.
I think Campbells time has come now. He should leave with his head held high though as he is a gas legend. Buckle should go with him though for the way he has treated Campbell and our fanbase
Must admit that Buckle has an uncanny knack for getting people's backs up. The best leaders read the players and read the fans and get everyone pulling in the same direction. The fans will be won over when we start winning a few games and moving up the table. A decent cup run would be good too. The players will probably be won over when the starting line up is a bit more settled and Buckle settles on the plan A with wingers and plan B with Rendell or Brown playing behind the front two.I'm sure Buckle has been a bit rattled by the fans and chants about Campbell, but he needs to rise above that and deliver the results and at least a playoff place.The run up to Christmas will be crucial as usual.I'm still quite optimistic - we could have scored five agains Daggers, and we scored five against Rotherham. It's just these wierd off days that he needs to eliminate if we're going to get anywhere.
The wierd off days appear to be the games we win though Gastro. We seem to be getting beat by teams that really shouldn't be beating us. That is not to say we are too good for them, far from it, but we should be strong enough to get into at the very least the top 7 for majority of the season.
I've followed Rovers long enough to know that we usually flop against the teams we should beat and then play heroically against bigger clubs. Even Trolls, Lambert and co didn't get us into the top 7 for most of the season. I think we'll get better as te season progrsses and then do the business when it really matters.
Feel sorry for Buckle over this Campbell business. I'm sure he's come here to try to do the right things. From Higgs' statement, it is clear that Campbell was out of line. He may have been badly advised, but he's also burnt his bridges and has to move on. When you think that this business has been rumbling on in the background since Buckle arrived I think Buckle has done pretty well and handled some tricky personnel issues quite well. Campbell's been a great servant, but I'm afraid he's blotted his copybook with his statements to the press and I still think he could have pulled his finger out when Penney was here.
Sometimes forcing the two at loggerheads to sit down and clarify their positions can result in an amiable atmosphere. Lets be optimistic and hope that the result will be a positive response. There have been some strange vibes coming out of the club at the start of this season and a lot them have not made a lot of sense.
My heart says Buckle can **** off and I back cambs 100% but head says other way round. ps Keeping an eye on the replay tonight hoping Corby win. I got relatives in Stamford not far away and will invite the ****s to the Mem for 1st round.
I was in Stamford a few weeks ago. They tend to be Leicester fans around there - Tigers rather than Foxes!
