Well, now the change begins, Darren Ferguson takes charge of his first game as Rovers Manager. Yesterday he had the squad players and those who did not start on Saturday in for training. Today he is having them all in for afternoon training prior to tomorrows game.
The morning was spent looking back at Saturdays game and picking out the good and the bad. He spoke about Gavin Strachan as his Assistant and says he first had him as a player followed by Youth coach, first team coach and Assistant. Gavin knows how I work and I trust him.
That does not rule out opinions from players, they are all free to come to me and give me their opinions, in the end I will make the decision, but I don't want players to just tell me what they think I want to hear.
On Saturday I was very impressed with the atmosphere in the ground and then, before I even sat down, we were a goal down and the atmosphere changed just like that.
Asked what he got from watching that game, Ferguson's response was many areas where improvement is needed, but also many good things. " we adapted well after the first 15 minutes and took what Bradford threw at us. We need to attack the goal more".
" It's about winning games and that's what we are here to focus on." "the players now know how I want them to play, which is different from what it has been, I want us to have the players on the pitch who can adapt to a change of system without doing that with substitutes."
Initially I shall look at the squad I have before I go bringing in others on loan. We are in the process of extending Keshi Anderson's loan period, he likes it here, he came to play football and I like what I see from him.
We have to put things right quickly, start the game right and get an early foothold. We cannot afford to concede early in any game.
I enjoyed listening to Darren Ferguson's interview, far more positive than what we got from Paul Dickov, but even though they are both Scottish, they are totally different personalities. Whether he can get through to some of our players and get them to change remains to be seen, but I for one am looking forward to the new regime.
Shrewsbury Town v ROVERS.
posted on 21/10/15
Exactly hound..
It was a good header for their goal but we do look suspect at near post.
The pace picked up again when Middleton came on for a very poor chaplow
posted on 21/10/15
Off the track a little bit, I have a couple of comments about the new Rovers player for those who have it.
Do you find that Tom Biltcliffe has really come on and is more professional as a commentator?
I remember a couple of years ago complaining about him being
poor.
I now find him to be very professional and think he could go far in sports broadcasting. He does however still have one thing to sort out, that is the overuse of "it must be said". This, "it must be said", is driving me crazy and needs to be curtailed.
Secondly, I have noticed that a 20 minute interview with the Manager could be reduced to 10 to 12 minutes if the BBC, Goodwin and Catt, got together and decided who would ask which question. At the moment they ALL ask the same questions and usually in the same order so all we get is repetition.
If you agree about Biltcliffe, please leave a comment as I am sure he sees the site and it would be of value to him.
posted on 21/10/15
I dont listen to RP yankee but it must be said that xon always comments about how Biltcliffe screams and virtually celebrates when our opponents score.
posted on 21/10/15
He has toned that down considerably Hound, maybe someone had a word with him, he is far more professional now.
posted on 21/10/15
Again NY I'm with you about Biltcliffe and I did compliment him earlier in this thread I think; also I mentioned his progress directly to the club in an email too not all that long ago. Normally he does react more appropriately to opposition goals these days, although he did enthuse a bit strongly over their's last night. However when I saw it on the highlights I had to acknowledge that it was very good.
He is not quite as good descriptively as Glenn Wilson, the gifted amateur from Popular Stand, but he is probably better now than some BBC professionals on local radio.
posted on 21/10/15
The Radio Sheff commentator last night was really poor.
His description of the action wasnt particularly good and when they had the disallowed goal late on he described it as a goal and went on to say how donny had thrown it away until someone tapped him on the shoulder and explained that the linesman had flagged for offside.
He was very derogatory towards us in general throughout the game.
posted on 21/10/15
Maybe worth getting player Hound. You do get far more than the commentary and in my view it is well worth the outlay even allowing for the glitches.
posted on 21/10/15
Yes - before it was the only way we exiles could get commentary because there are no local radio football commentaries via the internet. The highlights used to be very short and poor video quality and now they are HD and 10 minutes or more. You get each half of the full match too later if you want it usually with the Player commentary.
They'll probably put the price up next year!
posted on 22/10/15
Hound the linos flag went up b 4 the ball crossed the line.Years of watching the game my eyes always go straight to the lino.
posted on 22/10/15
Yes Lanza, me too, especially after years of playing up front as well.
I have seen the highlights clip and their player looked well offside.