2024 Season, Arrivals and Departures

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

I'd like to see Farrugia play centrally, a Thierry Henry type role. He has a great ability to always beat his first man and he has electric pace. Not wholly reliable in front of goal but I think he'd get easier chances running straight on goal rather than cutting in. I think starting from wide deep poisitions weakens his influence.

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He played through the middle very effectively up in Derry in a game we went down to 10 men in. Possibly even 9 men. He was also tried as a striker briefly but that didn't seem to click.

He's come on leaps and bounds defensively this season so I'd keep him at wingback. Would love to see the numbers of goals he was involved in this season. He didn't always get the assist but he helped create so many. If he learns how to bend it into the top corner after cutting in on to his left foot he could finish as top scorer. Fitness willing.

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Originally Posted by Another Bohemia

So Farrugia had significant injury layoff or layoffs this year and Rovers wouldn't have given Curtis
a run in the team? Towell has significant game time and other Rovers fans seem to think that he is signed so no one else has him so the likes of Murphy from Pat's or Clarke from Bohs (who is a former Rovers academy player) wouldn't be better options than a player who is signed so other teams don't have him? Right.

Yes the club's I mentioned have world class academies but Rovers have the best academy facilities in the league. Some of the best academy coaches and a head coach who at least to some degree was involved in how the academy functions even if it was at the beginning of his tenure. This should all lead to at least some more cohesion between the academy and first team and probably more academy products having very regular starts for the first team.

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Sorry, missed this. Towell was signed because he was the leagues best player at one point. He was good this season. Even played well at wing back at one stage. Would I take Murphy over him? Maybe but there are a lot of "ifs" in that scenario. Towell is on a four year deal and better than any of the current academy players we have.

You are right that there seems to be a lack of cohesion though. McDonnell wrote about some of that. Overall though the point is that Pats can bring young lads in a bit easier and so they have. I like what they've done to be fair but I don't know if we would have recovered from our early blip without the experience in the team. We did though and another title is in the bag. You might have stayed top if your young players had a bit more experience. Should have really.

Tom Grivosti’s contract extension at Pats now confirmed. Two serious injuries meant he barely played this season but his partnership with Joe Redmond in 2022 was excellent. I’d imagine that’ll be the first choice pairing.

Tom Grivosti has signed a new contract with Pats. Happy to keep him onboard despite being out with an ACL injury still, he’s a great professional and sound lad to have in the squad, but most importantly a very good centre half that was missed massively this season, only featuring in 8 games. Once he’s back fit he'll be a real addition to the team

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Originally Posted by patsdad

Tom Grivosti’s contract extension at Pats now confirmed. Two serious injuries meant he barely played this season but his partnership with Joe Redmond in 2022 was excellent. I’d imagine that’ll be the first choice pairing.

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Would you rate Curtis higher than Redmond? On current ability.

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Originally Posted by WeAreRovers

Funnily enough Pats fan Dodge get's it right IMO - Gaffney far and away best player in the League again, GON the stand out holding midfielder year after year and Lee Grace the best of our 3 excellent centre-halves.

https://www.balls.ie/football/dodges...-awards-578910

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Dodge ex of this parish!

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Originally Posted by ontheotherhand

Would you rate Curtis higher than Redmond? On current ability.

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In my opinion Curtis was the best defender in the league in 2023. Redmond is outstanding in his position.

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Originally Posted by patsdad

In my opinion Curtis was the best defender in the league in 2023. Redmond is outstanding in his position.

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Based on our head to heads, Redmond is the only one I'd want to sign! He's quality. All about opinions and all that though.

Curtis is an excellent prospect and has more strings to his bow as a player already, but right now Redmond is the more important player in the sense that his absence hits the side harder. They play different positions though so again it's tough to compare. Just hope Sam choses his move wisely, has all the talent but getting that decision right is as important as anything.

Happy with Grivosti re-signing albeit a little surprised. Knew he was out of contract and it was an awful injury he had, which was the third long-term one of his career thus far, so wondered if the club would be hesitant to keep him on. Very good, underrated defender on his day though so fingers crossed he comes back the same player.

Have seen a mention here and there that Pats have been talking to Conor Keeley as well, though he had interest from abroad in the summer so I'd imagine he's not struggling for offers right now.

I've always felt Rovers with their 'best academy' should be based like a dutch model whether it is Ajax, Feyenoord or PSV where there is alway a pathway for their best young players to get game time & develop which they can sell on for a nice profit. There is no way in hell Bazunu would get close to the Rovers team now & the amount of time Razi got this season was shocking given his potential, the same for whatever happend with Ferezaj maybe other reasons there but Rovers played it poorly. These clubs are able to win leagues & promote youth, even a club like Dinamo Zagreb win the league ever year but have one of the most succesful academies in European football for developing talent

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Originally Posted by Bunny Kelly

I've always felt Rovers with their 'best academy' should be based like a dutch model whether it is Ajax, Feyenoord or PSV where there is alway a pathway for their best young players to get game time & develop which they can sell on for a nice profit. There is no way in hell Bazunu would get close to the Rovers team now & the amount of time Razi got this season was shocking given his potential, the same for whatever happend with Ferezaj maybe other reasons there but Rovers played it poorly. These clubs are able to win leagues & promote youth, even a club like Dinamo Zagreb win the league ever year but have one of the most succesful academies in European football for developing talent

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No no you don't understand. There are clubs around the world that manage to integrate their academy players into their squads while winning leagues but it's actually not possible and only teams like Pat's and Bohs with lower expectations can play academy players regularly.

Brandon Kavanagh to us confirmed. Happy with that signing.

You'd swear we had La Masia out in Roadstone the way some of you go on.

We will have more academy players in the squad over time.

Plenty have been sold for profit and are playing at a higher level and plenty are playing with other teams. That's pretty good going for how long it's been up and running.

Bazunu would clearly have played this season by the way Bunny. He'd arguably have dislodged Mannus a few seasons back if Man City hadn't bought him. These hypotheticals with players we don't have don't serve much purpose. Razi maybe should have played more given Jack Byrnes injury but there are others ahead of him. Noonan isn't quite ready yet. Cruise the same. They both looked great at the end of the season with the pressure off but struggled a bit earlier on.

Worrying about the champions age profile in the off season is a strange one to be honest.

The fact Noonan & Cruise got so little game time with Clarke & Farrugia injured for much of the season makes me doubt Bradley would have thrown a 16yr old keeper in no matter how talented. Roadstone may not La Masia but when you look at UCD & Cork this season you telling me there wasn't plenty of spots to get these younger players more involved? Nugent is the only 'younger' player that really got game time & he had a season out on loan & is physically strong before Bradley trusted him.

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Originally Posted by Bunny Kelly

The fact Noonan & Cruise got so little game time with Clarke & Farrugia injured for much of the season makes me doubt Bradley would have thrown a 16yr old keeper in no matter how talented. Roadstone may not La Masia but when you look at UCD & Cork this season you telling me there wasn't plenty of spots to get these younger players more involved? Nugent is the only 'younger' player that really got game time & he had a season out on loan & is physically strong before Bradley trusted him.

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They did play against UCD and Cork. Probably would have played more if we weren't trying to dig ourselves out of that bad start.

Yes Bazunu would have played. Bradley was the one who put him in at 16. Awful example to pick for your point to be honest. He's a better keeper than Mannus was last season so he obviously would have played. Noonan and the others we have now aren't at that level yet.

Bradley built a team to win leagues. We will see over the next few seasons how many academy players make it through as the team ages.

If I had a concern it would be Simon Power getting minutes over Razi and Noonan. That signing was a mistake but I understand why we did it. Frightening pace. Crocked though.

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Originally Posted by ontheotherhand

Worrying about the champions age profile in the off season is a strange one to be honest.

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Dundalk fans were saying the same a few years ago in fairness...

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

Dundalk fans were saying the same a few years ago in fairness...

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But, unlike Dundalk, we COULD play academy players if things go pear shaped with the first team. I don't think we'd be winning the league but at least you would all be happy. And that's all I want really.

Maybe there is a reason I highlighted Bazunu? To quote yourself, 'that is an awful example of someone not getting the point to be honest'. Bradley is acting different now than he did when he built the team, younger players are not getting the same opportunities & as a whole the team seems like it is stagnating, they were just blessed that this season the didn't have any decent competition domestically

Mark Doyle departing Pats for an opportunity abroad….

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Originally Posted by Bunny Kelly

Maybe there is a reason I highlighted Bazunu? To quote yourself, 'that is an awful example of someone not getting the point to be honest'. Bradley is acting different now than he did when he built the team, younger players are not getting the same opportunities & as a whole the team seems like it is stagnating, they were just blessed that this season the didn't have any decent competition domestically

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Bazunu would be good enough Bunny.

I'd agree the team has stagnated a bit and if you want to say Razi and Cruise should have played more over the likes of Power and Kavanagh then I can see where you're coming from. But we are still talking about the four in a row champions. What we did worked.

The reshape will be interesting. We need at least two wingbacks. Nugent was tried there quite a bit and Cruise is the other option. Neither really grabbed it and Nugent for me is a central mid. Cruise looked tidy but maybe not ready to start. Razi looks ready for regular cameos but will he be around long enough? Not sure. Tricky to find players who are good enough play but not so good that they are gone and you're left with a hole to fill.