Gary Woods

[roversam]

He's just signed a 2yr deal with Oldham, good luck to them 😊

[bobbymax]

He's just signed a 2yr deal with Oldham, good luck to them 😊

I know the lad has to earn a living but how could a professional club not have done due diligence before offering him a contract? I cover the SPL and he's not improved since he left us, in fact he's probably worse!

[dijit8]

I know what you mean.  Not that I rated him but he was in goal for most of our league winning season.
Didn't he win the Scottish cup with a few other ex rovers players a few seasons ago?

Can't believe SoD picked him in front of Sullivan in championship or Saunders and Flynn for that matter afterwards in leaugue 1 (although it was telling he didn't play at Brentford)

Always looked likely to concede when he played, was dissapointed a couple of years ago when he played against us at Keepmoat and we hardly tested him despite knowing his weaknesses.

League 2 about right for him. He may even only be back up keeper for Oldham

[Retdon1]

Wow, along side Ross Ethridge he’s properly the worst keeper in the last 10/15 years to play for rovers unless I’ve forgotten anyone worse

[drfchound]

I know what you mean.  Not that I rated him but he was in goal for most of our league winning season.
Didn't he win the Scottish cup with a few other ex rovers players a few seasons ago?

Can't believe SoD picked him in front of Sullivan in championship or Saunders and Flynn for that matter afterwards in leaugue 1 (although it was telling he didn't play at Brentford)

Always looked likely to concede when he played, was dissapointed a couple of years ago when he played against us at Keepmoat and we hardly tested him despite knowing his weaknesses.

League 2 about right for him. He may even only be back up keeper for Oldham

Just out of interest, what do you suggest his weaknesses were.

[donnyallday]

It would be quicker to mention his strength.

 He was useless . In the top three worst we've ever had.

1, Weavers mate
2, Etheridge/ Woods.

[drfchound]

It would be quicker to mention his strength.

 He was useless . In the top three worst we've ever had.

1, Weavers mate
2, Etheridge/ Woods.

I knew someone would come on with something like that.
You haven’t actually said what you think he was poor at.
Saying he was useless isn’t really accurate otherwise he wouldn’t be living the dream that most fans would have wanted.......to be a pro footballer.
My question to dijit8 is a genuine one and I am interested to hear what he has to say.

[DRNaith]

He was poor at commanding his area, distribution, talking to his defence, coming out for the ball, reaction time and would seemingly get caught out by shots from distance that were heading straight for him (he'd move).

I'm normally very positive about all Rovers players, but I think Woods is my exception.

[drfchound]

He was poor at commanding his area, distribution, talking to his defence, coming out for the ball, reaction time and would seemingly get caught out by shots from distance that were heading straight for him (he'd move).

I'm normally very positive about all Rovers players, but I think Woods is my exception.

Mmmmmm, so now dijit8 will just say ditto to that.
Ah well, I guess I won’t get his own response now.
I am not arguing against what you are saying by the way but think that if he was as bad as you say he would never have made the grade.
Just being realistic.

[RoversAlias]

Got to be honest Hound, I'm in the 'Woods is dreadful' camp. He has been playing primarily at a poor level in SPFL since leaving us and had a lot of issues with his play when here.

I maintain that we would not have won the title in 2013 if Woods had stayed in goal. Flynn and/or Jones knew that he didn't have the mentality to handle the crunch games and relied on a 43-year-old Sully instead.

My belief remains that Sully chirping in Trotta's ear (earning a booking, his last act as a professional footballer) caused the Italian to miss that penalty as well.

[DRNaith]

Sorry, I glanced over the thread and thought I'd help

[roversdude]

How many times did he get beat from distance. Hats off to him for making a career out of it

[drfchound]

RA, obviously I am aware that GW had his faults but to say he was useless is stretching it quite a bit.
He would not have stayed in the game as long as he has if that was true.
He has been a pro for eleven years.

[drfchound]

How many times did he get beat from distance. Hats off to him for making a career out of it

I don’t know, can you tell me how many times?

[donnyallday]

Ben Smith... How many times did he get beat by long distances.

Every team we played shot from 35 yards plus.. Another useless one.

[drfchound]

Ben Smith... How many times did he get beat by long distances.

Every team we played shot from 35 yards plus.. Another useless one.

Ian Lawlor has been accused of the same if I remember correctly.

[roversdude]

Lost count hound

[drfchound]

Lost count hound

So you don’t know then.   

[roversdude]

You are for once correct sir

[andyst79]

His flaws were protected by a great defence in the title winning season

[NickDRFC]

RA, obviously I am aware that GW had his faults but to say he was useless is stretching it quite a bit.
He would not have stayed in the game as long as he has if that was true.
He has been a pro for eleven years.

Just like in real life, in football you can still get people who bluff through and make a career without really being any good at what they do. Luck, being a nice bloke, being a hard worker etc can mean more than ability. It’s also worth remembering that he left Rovers at 22, still young for a keeper, so he might have improved since then.

He was useless for us though and I can’t recall many players almost completely uniting the fan base with a consensus like that.

[drfchound]

His flaws were protected by a great defence in the title winning season

Agreed we had a good defence, even though players like McCombe were not appreciated at the time, but shots still get through to the keeper.
Woods had fifteen clean sheets that season which is no mean feat.

[andyst79]

McCombe started slowly but was immense towards the latter part of the season. Used to make me laugh how teams would just lump high balls forward and McCombe & Jones would just win every header

[idler]

I appreciate what you say hound but two instances that spring to mind where he could have done better were Brighton away and Shrewsbury away.
I know as a goalie a mistake is more often punished than say midfield.
You can also say that if the midfield/defence close down correctly that there is no opportunity to shoot from distance.
He  never filled me with confidence and seemed to have the same standing with his defence, rightly or wrongly. Sully and Grobbealar made boobs but seemed to command far more respect from their colleagues.
I've no animosity towards him but feel he could have sone far more with his carreer with the right coaching.
I always appreciated Jamie whilst accepting his occasional lapses.

[drfchound]

Yep, agreed with most of that .
We have to remember that they were L1 players and more prone to error than say, PL players.
Having said that, MOTD shows us every week that even top players make errors.
As I said earlier though, Lawlor has been lambasted by our posters for conceding shots from long range.

[idler]

That is why at a professional club you iron out and improve the weaknesses. Surely in all walks of life you look at your mistakes and think that I don't want to do that again.
A professional footballer can always stay behind after training and do extra training even if it's with the youth team. I would want to be the best that I could. If I wasn't Premier League quality then aspire to be the beat in the Championship and so on. They are living the dream hound. Ronaldo used to stay behind at Man U practicing free kicks. Good enough for him then a good guideline for lesser players.

[drfchound]

That is why at a professional club you iron out and improve the weaknesses. Surely in all walks of life you look at your mistakes and think that I don't want to do that again.
A professional footballer can always stay behind after training and do extra training even if it's with the youth team. I would want to be the best that I could. If I wasn't Premier League quality then aspire to be the beat in the Championship and so on. They are living the dream hound. Ronaldo used to stay behind at Man U practicing free kicks. Good enough for him then a good guideline for lesser players.

100% right.
I still don’t understand why players don’t use their “wrong foot”.
They shouldn’t have one.

[idler]

When you see the effort and commitment that the world class Man City and Barcelona players put in to make their system work, it should be a lesson to players of all levels and skills.
Then you look at the likes of Sanchez, Pogba and various others and they are no example but financially secure but no soul.

[Chris Black come back]

He wasn’t great, was he?

[dijit8]

I know what you mean.  Not that I rated him but he was in goal for most of our league winning season.
Didn't he win the Scottish cup with a few other ex rovers players a few seasons ago?

Can't believe SoD picked him in front of Sullivan in championship or Saunders and Flynn for that matter afterwards in leaugue 1 (although it was telling he didn't play at Brentford)

Always looked likely to concede when he played, was dissapointed a couple of years ago when he played against us at Keepmoat and we hardly tested him despite knowing his weaknesses.

League 2 about right for him. He may even only be back up keeper for Oldham

Just out of interest, what do you suggest his weaknesses were.

I haven't been on since yesterday but as you asked, he didn't command his area, made poor decisions on when to come for a ball, flapped at crosses, poor handling, the defence didn't appear to have much confidence in him as he couldn't come and take a ball to help relieve any pressure on our goal.  Not sure how tall he was but in the days of keepers being 6ft 3 plus he seemed a bit on the small side for a keeper, maybe he just wasn't good at making himself big. He never really improved in his time with us.  Marosi wasn't great when he first signed for us but improved a lot over the 4 or 5 years he was with us, Woods must have had a similar time but didn't.