Dean Saunders.

[Colin C No.3]

He was one of the pundits on MOTD FA Cup coverage of the Reading v Brad. City game & I thought, what a lot of sense this guy speaks. He analysed the game, the formations & playing style & strength of both sides simply, clearly & with impressive footballing knowledge. It got me wondering on what sort of terms, amicably speaking, he left the Rovers at.

As my bruv said, when we turned Crawley over he must have thought to himself on the quiet 'I wonder where we'd be if I'd never left this club?'

?

[acko]

as I said on my own post regarding deano the job hes doing at crawley as put him back in shop window for decent job

[acacia94]

Given the choice (and I know, we're not) I'd take Dean Saunders in preference to Paul Dickov. DS came straight after the silky smooth O'Driscoll years so inevitably felt a bit basic and sometimes clumsy. In retrospect Dean did a pretty good job and I think is a better tactician and thinker than PD. We'll never know as he moved on when the prospect of a better job came calling. Can't knock him for that.

[rtid88]

I would have Deano over Dickov any day!

[GazLaz]

I wouldn't choose DS over Steve Wignall. He's useless.

[Draytonian III]

Dean Saunders talks a good game,I bet he's quite good at after dinner speaking etc , but as a manager he could well be taking 3 teams down in 4 years

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Well, he was in charge during the experiment but he was happy to ditch that and assemble the squad that got us promoted back to the Championship.

I wouldn't mind if he had a crack at repeating it.

[Sammy Chung was King]

He is no more proven at Championship level than Dickov, but he showed he could build a side with very little funds with us, though he didn't finish the job, it was his team.
Crawley have a very poor team improved since he went there with a few signings, not many would have gone there and turned them around form wise.

The football he played was old fashioned, functional but it succeeded, he is one of those managers who tells the press everything, and how poor his funds are, that gone on my nerves.
The arrogance pervades through the screen, but if he had this set of players i am almost certain, we would be in the play-off's bare minimum.

He has a team at Crawley with half the ability of ours and he has made them a team many don't want to face, so yes i would have him back at the club, i don't need to like him as long as he get's results for the team.

[Donnybax]

I'd much prefer Dickov to Saunders

[bobjimwilly]

I'd prefer SOD

[Lincoln Rover]

Sir Sean every day for me over DS.
Watch his body language when he's on a pundit show with others. He's clearly listening to others comments and agreeing. To me he deflects away from talking formations etc by cracking little jokes and praising the clubs fans. I personally think he's been found lacking. Yes I admit I dellored the experiment and associate DS with it. Tactically weak I believe in my humble opinion.

[southwestexile]

Saunders knew how to frustrate sides, bully them and hope for a smash and grab, if he had stayed I wonder whether he had a plan B as sides figured us out.

At least Dickov tries to be progressive and attack, albeit a bit too much early on in the season.  I'd say that we're in a better position now building for the future and hopefully without the spectre of summer takeover happening.

[aidanstu]

Dean Saunders got the side playing some awful boring football. No thanks

[RJHeader]

Dean Saunders got the side playing some awful boring football. No thanks

Yes because the football being served up currently is so enjoying to watch 

At least under Saunders (in League One) he got the side winning and hard to beat. Cant say that about PD's sides

[GazLaz]

We've played some great stuff at times this season. We are just inconsistent under PD.

[timdrfc]

Dean Saunders top manager at our club , shame he was enticed away. Don't know why a vocal few hate him as IMHO he did nothing but good for our club.

[acko]

god forbid the crab man SOD ever comes back,theres a man what never had a plan b,and didn't have a clue how to stop a losing run,rovers know,so did Bristol and bournemouth

[Lincoln Rover]

Sir Sean crab like. Don't think I've laughed so much in ages.
Never had a plan B?
I think the expression no plan B is totally over used.
Let me ask." What was Sir Sean's plan A then ?

[The Red Baron]

god forbid the crab man SOD ever comes back,theres a man what never had a plan b,and didn't have a clue how to stop a losing run,rovers know,so did Bristol and bournemouth

Yes. Rotten manager. Only won the JPT and kept us in the Championship for 3 years. And gave me one of the best days of my life at Wembley.

[The Red Baron]

The football under Saunders was not pretty to watch but he built a team with bottle. We could do with some of that now.

[grayx]

The football under Saunders was not pretty to watch but he built a team with bottle. We could do with some of that now.

True..
He would fill the squad with players 6' plus and play the ugly long ball game. It could well be enough to get us out league 1, but then we'd probably need a complete rebuild for the championship.

[RJHeader]

To get out of this league you need to have bottle and be tough to beat. We most definitley were that 2 years back. We most definitley arent that now.

[dickos1]

Well he's transformed Crawley since we beat them. Must know what he's doing in this league

[acko]

saunders took over a team in decline and after probably our worst start to a season in our recent history,it was virtually an impossible task to keep us up,but after that and with the help of pre season assembled a team to get us promoted back to the championship,his only fault he never seen the job thro just like he did at Wrexham but in both occasions ambition for a bigger club was the lure he couldn't resist,and if we all had the same chance we would do the same,SOD took over a team that had just had two promotions built by d,penny and m walker in fairness finished the job off but his ability to end losing runs is well documented and his stubbornness to change his ideas led to his downfall both here and at Bristol,i have said on here before the job he as now is well suited and he will do well

[Colin C No.3]

I didn't make any comparisons with managers past or present in my op, but admit to 'dangling the bait'.

Don't mention SO'D & PD in the same breath, it's like comparing Zidane with Furman. I've supported Rovers from McMenemy to Dickov & will always consider Sean's reign to be the halcyon days, only Penney's time comes anywhere close. Anyone who disagrees doesn't know their arse from their elbow, so they can huff & puff all they like because their 'opinions' aren't worth a fig, they only go to emphasise how little they know about football, life, people, the universe. In fact I'd go as far as to say that I feel their arguments to the contrary have just been totally eclipsed.

[Chris Black come back]

SOD era was fantastic, amazing, brilliant....and fuelled by a load of money we just didn't have. Nobody else has had that budget. If they did, they too may have achieved success - although I do think SOD was a one-off.

[grayx]

saunders took over a team in decline and after probably our worst start to a season in our recent history,it was virtually an impossible task to keep us up,but after that and with the help of pre season assembled a team to get us promoted back to the championship,his only fault he never seen the job thro just like he did at Wrexham but in both occasions ambition for a bigger club was the lure he couldn't resist,and if we all had the same chance we would do the same,SOD took over a team that had just had two promotions built by d,penny and m walker in fairness finished the job off but his ability to end losing runs is well documented and his stubbornness to change his ideas led to his downfall both here and at Bristol,i have said on here before the job he as now is well suited and he will do well

 I Think you could be right..

[dickos1]

I didn't make any comparisons with managers past or present in my op, but admit to 'dangling the bait'.

Don't mention SO'D & PD in the same breath, it's like comparing Zidane with Furman. I've supported Rovers from McMenemy to Dickov & will always consider Sean's reign to be the halcyon days, only Penney's time comes anywhere close. Anyone who disagrees doesn't know their arse from their elbow, so they can huff & puff all they like because their 'opinions' aren't worth a fig, they only go to emphasise how little they know about football, life, people, the universe. In fact I'd go as far as to say that I feel their arguments to the contrary have just been totally eclipsed.

I agree about sod, but were 18 months into dickovs reign. 18 months into sods there were just as many people on here wanting him gone as there is now wanting Dickov gone

[Cramby10]

I didn't make any comparisons with managers past or present in my op, but admit to 'dangling the bait'.

Don't mention SO'D & PD in the same breath, it's like comparing Zidane with Furman. I've supported Rovers from McMenemy to Dickov & will always consider Sean's reign to be the halcyon days, only Penney's time comes anywhere close. Anyone who disagrees doesn't know their arse from their elbow, so they can huff & puff all they like because their 'opinions' aren't worth a fig, they only go to emphasise how little they know about football, life, people, the universe. In fact I'd go as far as to say that I feel their arguments to the contrary have just been totally eclipsed.

I agree about sod, but were 18 months into dickovs reign. 18 months into sods there were just as many people on here wanting him gone as there is now wanting Dickov gone

at least you could see what sod was trying to achieve in the teams play. Please enlighten me what Dickov is trying to do? Apart from stumbling from one performance and formation to another until he may get one right for a couple of games or so.

[dickos1]

Not many could see what sod was upto, he was getting dogs abuse