Bamogo

[pubteam]

Bloody hell, it's depressing on here isn't it?

[Akinfenwa]

Rotherham, Plymouth, Gillingham, Walsall, Luton and Southend have all been in League 2 shortly after a spell in the Championship. Most of those got to the Championship as a result of a couple of quick promotions from L2 to start with.

I'd like to think that we wouldn't fall that badly but it doesn't make good reading does it? If we can get the finances sorted pretty quickly upon relegation then I think we'll be OK. Also Saunders has gradually built an impressive team at Wrexham, he might be able to do that for us in L1.

[Rosey]

We are not down yet
There is still a lot that can happen this season
Portsmouth ,Coventry and Notts Forest will all finish below us
RTID

[BobG]

BobG[/quote]

Jeez, I wish I'd never led your resurrection now Bob! Nothing of that comment above is either supportive or constructive, is it?[/quote]

Ha ha! Sorry Woking. I hope I've always tried to be a realist though. Or at least grounded in a position supported by evidence we can all see if we open our eyes. Sometimes that does hurt.

Cheers

BobG

[MrFrost]

We are not down yet
There is still a lot that can happen this season
Portsmouth ,Coventry and Notts Forest will all finish below us
RTID

Who's your dealer?

[dickos1]

The negativity on here really does astound me. Whenever something happens everyone goes into meltdown..

Sharps gone- we all knew he would yet were apparently gonna be in league 2 in 3 years now.

We lose a game- we all know we will, yet we scream Saunders out, we're going down, someone please have my season ticket.
 
It's a joke,  you cant disguise your negativity by saying \"oh I'm being realistic\"

[BobG]

Conversely, you could have your head stuck in the sand Dickos. It's a matter of opinion. You're free to have yours. And I'm free to disagree with it - without being insulting.

BobG

[Bristol Red Rover]

I agree with a few of the recent posters on this thread, the preceding negativity is stunning. Its not realism, its really really sad. Ever heard of dare to dream? Its not even that level of optimism thats needed. We're in touching distance of saftey. Portsmouth could easily lose 10 or 20 points. We're Donny Rovers - a steam train if you like needing that Casey Jones spirit, not the feckin Titanic lost in the frozen wastes! Find your b*llocks lads!

[Filo]

The negativity on here really does astound me. Whenever something happens everyone goes into meltdown..

Sharps gone- we all knew he would yet were apparently gonna be in league 2 in 3 years now.

We lose a game- we all know we will, yet we scream Saunders out, we're going down, someone please have my season ticket.
 
It's a joke,  you cant disguise your negativity by saying \"oh I'm being realistic\"

To be fair, I think the feeling is more disappointment than negativity, we all knew it was coming but did n`t want it to happen, at the moment we just seem to lurch from one crisis to the next, it`s all pretty demoralising, but who knows, Bamogo might just hit a hat trick tomorrow (no pressure Habib!) and suddenly everything does n`t seem so bad

[Bristol Red Rover]

The negativity on here really does astound me. Whenever something happens everyone goes into meltdown..

Sharps gone- we all knew he would yet were apparently gonna be in league 2 in 3 years now.

We lose a game- we all know we will, yet we scream Saunders out, we're going down, someone please have my season ticket.
 
It's a joke,  you cant disguise your negativity by saying \"oh I'm being realistic\"

To be fair, I think the feeling is more disappointment than negativity, we all knew it was coming but did n`t want it to happen, at the moment we just seem to lurch from one crisis to the next, it`s all pretty demoralising, but who knows, Bamogo might just hit a hat trick tomorrow (no pressure Habib!) and suddenly everything does n`t seem so bad

No Filo, its negativity. We're little Donny Rovers, the pub team. We've had a few good years, and in \"reality\" very few \"expected\" us to stay up in the Championship. But we did, and again, and again. And so why not again? Jeeez, a little blip of something going not so perfect and people here run looking for disaster. By all means talk about \"what if\" we go down, but to say \"we are going down\" is negative.

[dickos1]

Conversely, you could have your head stuck in the sand Dickos. It's a matter of opinion. You're free to have yours. And I'm free to disagree with it - without being insulting.

BobG

Wasn't aware I was being insulting bob,  my head isn't in the sand but with a current home record better than we have had in a very long time, I can definitely find something to grab hold of.
The negativity in my opinion isn't going to help this predicament we find ourselves in

[BobG]

Never said your head is in the sand Dickos The point is that opinions are exactly that. You can accuse me of negativity on pretty much the same grounds as I could accuse of being an ostrich. lol. The point is, we are both just giving an opinion. I have tried to offer reasons for mine - based on history and track record. Bristol red Rovers view that @we are Donny Rovers' don't cut it for me. What extra does that give us? Sod all as far as I can see. If there are rational and valid reasons for optimism, then I'm all ears. I just haven't found any yet.

Cheers

BobG

[dickos1]

Never said your head is in the sand Dickos The point is that opinions are exactly that. You can accuse me of negativity on pretty much the same grounds as I could accuse of being an ostrich. lol. The point is, we are both just giving an opinion. I have tried to offer reasons for mine - based on history and track record. Bristol red Rovers view that @we are Donny Rovers' don't cut it for me. What extra does that give us? Sod all as far as I can see. If there are rational and valid reasons for optimism, then I'm all ears. I just haven't found any yet.

Cheers

BobG

Our home form maybe? Surely that's gets you a little bid giddy?

[Lipsy]

We only need to double our current points tally. Can't see why anyone would suggest that relegation is nailed-on...

[RoversAlias]

It cheers me up a bit, but all I have to do is look at our truly appalling away form to realise that it is currently not enough to keep us in the league. Consistency is the key, and right now we have none of that.

[MagicMartinoWoods]

I feel the negative people on here are simply picking and choosing their 'evidence' and framing catastraphising as realism.

Your 'realism' is basically a prediction of the worst that could happen, practically. That is catastraphising, not realism. As you mentioned Bob, both sides are opinions and you state that you are attempting to base yours on evidence, yet you are clearly wishing not to view the while gamut of evidence...

Did Wimbledon not rise up the leagues and do well until businessmen got hold of them? Did Blackpool do alright for themselves over the last few years on a tiny budget? Have we not done miraculous things over the last few years with relatively little budget? Aren't Brighton doing alright for themselves this year on, I believe, a smaller budget that ours? How do we know that we don't have another financial backer round the corner?

Who's to say we wont be able to lower our budget and get better on field results, be it in this division or the one below? Sure it might take a transitional period, but what evidence do we actually have that we'll fall to pieces? none. What evidence do we have that we will win the champions league in 5 years time? none.
They are perspectives on the future where people pick and choose their 'evidence' from the past that has little to no bearing on the future. Please don't dress this up as realism, as that implies it has something to o with reality, and predictions are not that.

My stance has always been open mind, why go too far either way when you have nothing solid to suggest anything about the future apart from some ' ooh this doesn't look good' feeling.
There was a small club getting thrashed every week and setting records for worst performance in division 3 a good few years back. Seem to recall there was a coffin procession outside their ground. Things didn't look too good then. Wonder what happened to them?

[Lipsy]

All lovely words and all, but we need double the points we have to stay up. Simples.

[MagicMartinoWoods]

and the games so far this season prove that the second half of the season we'll see the same points per game ratio continue??

wish that'd happened last season! The second half was very different from the first. Why not this season? Oh right because it only works negatively doesn't it? so it could only get worse couldn't it? gotcha

[Lipsy]

All lovely words and all, but we need double the points we have to stay up. Simples.

[MagicMartinoWoods]

I really do pity that perspective mate; convincing yourself to believe the crap before its even happened. Very sad, your choice though pal, enjoy it.

[Mr1Croft]

I feel the negative people on here are simply picking and choosing their 'evidence' and framing catastraphising as realism.

Your 'realism' is basically a prediction of the worst that could happen, practically. That is catastraphising, not realism. As you mentioned Bob, both sides are opinions and you state that you are attempting to base yours on evidence, yet you are clearly wishing not to view the while gamut of evidence...

Did Wimbledon not rise up the leagues and do well until businessmen got hold of them? Did Blackpool do alright for themselves over the last few years on a tiny budget? Have we not done miraculous things over the last few years with relatively little budget? Aren't Brighton doing alright for themselves this year on, I believe, a smaller budget that ours? How do we know that we don't have another financial backer round the corner?

Who's to say we wont be able to lower our budget and get better on field results, be it in this division or the one below? Sure it might take a transitional period, but what evidence do we actually have that we'll fall to pieces? none. What evidence do we have that we will win the champions league in 5 years time? none.
They are perspectives on the future where people pick and choose their 'evidence' from the past that has little to no bearing on the future. Please don't dress this up as realism, as that implies it has something to o with reality, and predictions are not that.

My stance has always been open mind, why go too far either way when you have nothing solid to suggest anything about the future apart from some ' ooh this doesn't look good' feeling.
There was a small club getting thrashed every week and setting records for worst performance in division 3 a good few years back. Seem to recall there was a coffin procession outside their ground. Things didn't look too good then. Wonder what happened to them?

Brighton, small budget? they bought McKail-Smith for £2.5 Million in the summer.

I don't think anyone has said we will definatley go down, people are looking at it as a possibility. Bob produced a list of the teams that have gone down and gone into freefall, he said it might not happen to us but by the looks of it it's a trap waiting to happen.

As for realism; we are in a relegation zone, we are in a relegation zone because over the course of the season there has been at least 21 teams picking up more points than us. Blame it on SOD if you like. But Dean Saunders has guided us out of the bottom three, after Peterborough away we were no longer in the relegation zone and the slate was wiped clean. Since then we are back in trouble. It's look more of a possibility that we will be relegated than us staying up. But he has done it before and were all hoping he can do it again.

As for your closing sentiment, what happened in 1998? We spent 5 years in the Conference after a freefall! we almost went out of existence, we had to dig our nails in deep and cling on! That's what effing happened? Last time we had John Ryan to rescue us, do you see someone waiting in the wings with a huge interest in DRFC because I don't and you want to question why people are concerned?? I'm all for optimism, heck if we weren't in the bottom three I'd be dreaming of a superb run that lead us into the play-offs, however we are in a relegation fight. I want us to stay up I really do, but untill we are 21st or higher I will continue to worry...

P.S. Welcome to the Forum!

[MagicMartinoWoods]

I'm not advocating optimism, simply expressing my stance. One of not choosing a future that hasn't happened yet. Not suggesting optimism or pessimism, you're missing my point, which is why choose one or the other? People have not said we are definitly going down? Have you read some of the forum tonight?

I was referring to the wage budget with Brighton, I believe they do have a smaller wage budget than us no? correct it is a realists view that we are in the relegation zone. It is also a realist's view that the rest of the season has not happened yet, that we are a championship club and that it is mathematically possible that we may be relegated or survive relegation. People seem to be choosing to resign themselves to only one of these possibilities.

You say your working on probabilities to give you likely views of the future? C'mon mate, surely you know that to be folly in football. Like a black on a roulette table, the next spin is still 50/50 on the next colour (discounting zeros )

You talk about investors but because John was a vocal, visible party around the Richardson era, does that mean that someone else would have to be? Did you hear news reports months ahead of the KM2 joining the board? no? well they piled enough into the coffers. So going on your logic, of just what's happened before, then maybe that might happen again eh? If we're going on probability of course

It is not only concern on this forum, concern is perfectly apt in the situation of our top goalscorer being sold, but what I see on this forum tonight is downright pessimism, catastrophising, and negativity. The conference was a great time for the football club, it is by far the most fun i've had following rovers, the club managed to start again and foster a real close family feel with the fans that got lost along the way somewhere. Once John came along we were sound, and that is still the case. Maybe going through that made our fans particularly sensitive to this threat and made some hyper-vigilant for it potentially happening again, but as I've said, it ain't happened yet and there is no evidence to say it will (that JR will leave, and we'll collapse financially without any other investors coming in).

Thanks for the welcome but I'm not new, don't know where my posts have gone, must've been reset, I very rarely come on here any more, was interested today for some reason lol! but I've been around on here for years posting very infrequently spanning back to the days of YAURS and Bifmag, etc.

Good luck with your worry, as mentioned earlier its a choice and not necessarily one that will do much good, but enjoy.

[Thinwhiteduke]

I'm not advocating optimism, simply expressing my stance. One of not choosing a future that hasn't happened yet.

Lets hope the Club itself and those at the top are not blissfully blind to the prospect of relegation then eh?

Failing to prepare for our probable life in League One next season would be as disastrous as this season has turner out to be so far.

[colincramb]

Just want to start by wishing Billy all the best for the future. Top bloke, great player and I'm sure he's going to go a long way. He will be sorely missed.

However, our season isn't over yet. We have got 19 cup finals left before we throw the towel in, starting with hull tonight. Yes, it's been a long, hard season but when did we ever do anything the easy way? We need to fight for every tackle, goal and point. If we do that then we can have no complaints. For the players to do this they need our backing 100%.

John deserves our support, not our criticism right now. I imagine he is feeling as low as 1998 right now.

we have been much lower than this season  in our long existence, there are a lot of short memories on here and we should be all eternally grateful we still have a team to call our own. And that's the main thing. Relegation, IF it comes will mean we cut our cloth accordingly and we will go on, regardless of what league we play in in 3 years time.







IF we go down it's not the end of the world.

[Monkcaster_Rover]

Good post Colin Cramb. Season isn't over yet.

[MagicMartinoWoods]

I'm not advocating optimism, simply expressing my stance. One of not choosing a future that hasn't happened yet.

Lets hope the Club itself and those at the top are not blissfully blind to the prospect of relegation then eh?

Failing to prepare for our probable life in League One next season would be as disastrous as this season has turner out to be so far.

There is a difference between preparing for all possibilities and choosing to convince yourself that one has already happened (and the worst one at that!).

Some people on here seem to be positively suicidal.

[DearneValleyRover]

I'm not advocating optimism, simply expressing my stance. One of not choosing a future that hasn't happened yet.

Lets hope the Club itself and those at the top are not blissfully blind to the prospect of relegation then eh?

Failing to prepare for our probable life in League One next season would be as disastrous as this season has turner out to be so far.

The Club is preparing itself for the future by removing the top earners and reducing the wage bill whethet we are in the Championship or League 1. The fact that plenty of people on here have resigned themselves to relegation already is very sad. 19 games left, yes our away form is abysmal but who's to say it can't be turned around? Our home form wasn't too clever but that has improved. Let's see what the rest of the season brings before resorting to

[scuzzer]

It cheers me up a bit, but all I have to do is look at our truly appalling away form to realise that it is currently not enough to keep us in the league. Consistency is the key, and right now we have none of that.

To the contrary we're actually very consistent away from home, unfortunately its the consistent that nobody wants as we're consistently shit.

I'm afraid i'm with the rest of the 'half empty' gang on here, like Rotherham and the other examples mentioned earlier all i can see is a plummet through L1 that we worked so hard to build the club to get out of only to blow it out of the water last October when we went all out in to short-term panic mode. We may well have gone down under SoD but we'd have had some foundations to build on rather than what would be left after this change of direction.

[dickos1]

What a load of rubbish.. For every example there is another one of a side that has grown and even moved on further.
Wigan, fulham, stoke, Blackpool, Swansea, to name a few

[Mr1Croft]

I think Blackpool is (at the moment) the only exception, Swansea and Stoke have terrific levels of support (like Norwich), actually the supporters trust at Swansea is one of the most successful, and to to their levels of support and membership they stand to make a substantial amount. which in terms helps the club to run at Premiership level.

Considering the pub team mentalityThe thing is who do you concern Rovers to have more in common with the teams on the plus half, or the teams on the 'negative half'?