Pats game

I thought the game changed in our favour after Hughes came on. If we can not hold on to him and build a squad around him, then we are going nowhere. It's up to the MC to really push the business community for real sponsorship. I don’t believe they can do it. Not because they are incapable or anything, but because they are all holding down regular jobs, and they simply do not have the time during business hours to pursue these people.
I really think change in the way we run the club is the next step. We have the manager. We have the basis of a title winning team. We have the ground.
What we don’t have is money.
It's unrealistic to expect part time volunteers to run what is a business.
The present management set up will never get us the money we need. The gates,advertisments etc will not generate the money either.
When did the last major sponsor come on board? Tohers, Jako etc seem to have been there for years. Granted they have been tremendous towards us.
I think we should at least debate a full time management set up. Start off with a CEO of some discription. AFAIK there is a secretary there full time.
We cannot hold on to our best players, if we dont have serious investment.
Turner, Hughes and the likes are what we need if european football is to come to the Showgrounds.
IMO we need a proven businessman to head the running of our club. Keep a voluntry committee to help run the different departments. Grounds, Lotto, Finance, etc etc.

to be honest redzer, adam did decent wnhen he got on the ball, but didnt look arsed to chance and hurry like he usually does, lost it a couple of times and earlier in the season he would have went flying after it..imo

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Originally Posted by biscuit

to be honest redzer, adam did decent wnhen he got on the ball, but didnt look arsed to chance and hurry like he usually does, lost it a couple of times and earlier in the season he would have went flying after it..imo

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thought the same myself

no matter how important a game is, we should still get more than we did last night! no excuses. crowd of sunshiners in this town

poor first half, we lost our way completely. all pats did was get the 3 goals, wernt great otherwise, but thats what wins football matches! hope the season dosnt just fizzle out. if it does we'l probably start off next season on a bit of a low. 2 quality goals, jusdgy looked much better in the 2nd half aswell.

in fairness, we havnt had a performance as bad as the 1st half since we last played pats in the showgrounds...just one of those nights

Dont want to be too pessimestic but we are having "one of those nights " too often. We have won 1, drew 3 & lost 5 of our last 9 games. We have picked up 5 of a possible 21 points in this round of legaue games so far - relegation form. Without Hughsie we have lost our last 3 games. I fear for next year were we to lose himself & Turner. Have any of the decent signings excelled?

I think Cooke is playing a bluff on his last stand Custard call. Alot of the Rovers side seemed disinterested last night. After his rallying call from the Champion last Wednesday I expected a gutsy performance, dont think we got that.

Cant believe no one else has mentioned this on the forum but all of Cook signings have been rubbish and supporters have forked 60,000 grand out for this.

Gordon is like a headless Emu, needs to get his head out of the sand.

Boyd has replaced Hughes in midfield?

Meredith is the missing link.

Ventre is the only have decent signing until he stopped playing him at left back.

Why did Hughes not start if he was fit to come on? I think center midfield is a major problem as in the last three games the opposition have loads of time and space like Fahey last night running almost from box to box without being tackled or closed down which led to a goal. Boyd is too slow and O'Grady can no longer compete against the better teams and his passing is terrible.

boyd has been pretty good imo the last few weeks

I cannot understamd not playing Hughes in the middle, we shoud build the team around this - Boyd is not as effective. He has been scoring regularly in the second half of the season also. The recent signings are not going to bring the club forward by that much. Decent signings at the money we have will not be easily made, hopefully Cookie has some contacts. But despite all the committment shown, 5 points from 21 is worrying.

not many people will go to united park or dalymount and get anything anyway. we've also played derry and pats in those 7 games. not easy either.

I dont agree. We played Waterford twice, Longford, Galway & UCD - not top half teams. Pats have been poor for weeks & should pick up 9 from 9 against us. UCD have beaten Derry in Derry twice this tear - so I dont think results have been great. TBH I think we have played better than the results show & sometimes you dont get the rub, but how long do you ignore the results for. We are in trouble next year without reinforcements. Also dont think ahyone could turn in another season like Faz had this year.

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Originally Posted by red bellied

Ventre is the only have decent signing until he stopped playing him at left back.

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didnt think danny was great at left back. He was all over the shop against waterford.

its getting annoying at this stage the amount of bad vibes on this thing the last week or 10 days. look back to the start of this season. 3 days before our first match, the manager walks out. monaghan beating us at home in front of about 50 people in a pre season friendly, all the commotion that went on around that time. relegation looked a certainty! no one thought for one second, and dont say ye did, that we would finish in the top 6. we have about 19 players at the moment. im sure thats one of the smallest squads in the country. we've had that number all season. we have exceeded our own expectations greatly for this year, with a small budget and a small squad, and plenty off the field problems.
we've brought forward one of the best talents in the country in seamie coleman, i personally have never seen sligo rovers playin more attractive football and i've been coming for at least 12 years. we should be happy with this season. i am. we've faiuled to get many wins in the last few weeks, get real, the players cant keep going week in week out. nobody can perfrom to their best every game. its not possible. with our limited squad, we've done more than enough this season.

i thought when we were winning games, thinking of getting 2nd spot people were over-reacting, ye are definatly over-reacting now. look at the team above us. bohs. they have better players than us supposidly, they've spent so much more money than us, yet we've competed with them and stayed above them the whole season, but have just fallen behind the last few games. thats natural. players get tired. training 3/4 times a week at a high level, then playing in big games at the weekends take their tole. we didnt have the squad to give players a rest here and there, the main 11 have kept on playing everyweek, thats not an easy task.

this season has been an improvment i think, our football has been brilliant when we've been at our best, getting more credit than ever from the media and other clubs and their supporters. we shouldnt be looking into the future and casting a big dark shadow over it. the futures bright, paul cook is the man to bring us to where we want to be. he's been with us 6 and a half months only. when he gets a full pre season with us, we'll see an even bigger improvement i think! dont come saying back anything about money, im talking about our displays on the pitch, if ye want to talk about the money theres the other thread to do that in

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Originally Posted by Rovers fan

didnt think danny was great at left back. He was all over the shop against waterford.

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one game :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by DocRovers

I dont agree. We played Waterford twice, Longford, Galway & UCD - not top half teams. Pats have been poor for weeks & should pick up 9 from 9 against us. UCD have beaten Derry in Derry twice this tear - so I dont think results have been great. TBH I think we have played better than the results show & sometimes you dont get the rub, but how long do you ignore the results for. We are in trouble next year without reinforcements. Also dont think ahyone could turn in another season like Faz had this year.

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Come on down off that hobby horse Doc and start to look at things as they really are. The two against Waterford were in the Cup. Any Rovers fan worth their salt will tell you Rovers played Waterford off the park in the replay and tes we didn't get 'the rub'. We beat UCD three times this season which is a first. Yea UCD beat Derry etc but football is not like that and you're around long enough to know that. The recent games against Bohs and Drogheda were amazing games and our lads were simply supberb in each. We drew with Longford at a time they were on a roll and fighting for their lives. We drew with Derry. The only poor result from our point of view was the loss to Galway but that was only a couple of days after our FAI Cup exit and our lads were dead on their feet that night. Last night we never left the blocks in the first half. Our second half display speaks volumns for Paul Cook in the manner which he turned the players attitude from beaten out of sight to make them believe that at even three nil down the game was still there to be won.
We have four games left to see out this season. A season which started as a total nightmare. Not many nightmares turn out like this one. Lets just reflect on all the good that has come from such an awful start. Paul Cook will continue to build and next season will be better because we'll start afresh. Paul Cook is no quiter.
Rant is over.

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Originally Posted by feo123

one game :rolleyes:

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one game in particular! I think he has played better in a cenral role, was caught out a bit at right back the last night. But its not hi fault he was out of position and that again is down to our small squad. We have been really lucky to avoid injuries this season. Form has not been great recently but obviously lads like judge are going to be tired,they haven't had a rest all season. No matter how the season finishes we will be top 6 or 7 and i would have jumped at that at the start of the season. people might feel disappointed because we had a chance of getting into europe but this has been a good season. The only negative is attendances and lack of finances for next season

thats my fortnightly rant at our own fans over btw ;)

Lads, dont get me wrong - I agree, everyone has done brilliantly all year. The attitude, spirit & football has been excellent - I am NOT criticising. But you keep on saying Bohs have better platers, Derry are bigger than us etc etc. As long as we have that attitude we will remain 6th/7th & be a 'feeder' club for Bohs! The performance in Dallymonut was great but we never troubled them & to be 3-0 down after half an hour to Pats at home in a crucial game (last European chance) shows that maybe we dont have the quality we need.

I think its a little simple to say everybody is tired, though granted we have a small squad. But small squad more money per man! I do fear that our midfield is very dependent on Adam, esp since Turner left. Plus Faz has carried us at times, as he is the one who has the ability to open teams up. Before you all shout "Judge" - I agree he does also, but Faz has done it every week, Matt is not as consistent. We need to build on this year now, by getting organised for next term & holding on to those players that have done so much for us. But the results dont lie we have been struggling of late.

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Originally Posted by clubman

Com. Paul Cook is no quiter.

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Did he not quit at Southport?

On the subject of Hughes looking disintersted on Saturday night, I am sure Cook told him to stay up front as a third striker. Boyd and O'grady were poor in the first half but I thought Boyd got on the ball more in the second half and started quite a few moves with his passing.

We certainly looked a stronger team with the introduction of Hughes and Cash. My only gripe was why was the switch made at half time rather than into the 2nd half.