Originally Posted by
WeAreRovers
No surprise I disagree completely with Nesta too. Bradley is bizarrely maligned/under-rated by fans of other clubs possibly down to simple if understandable anti-Rovers sentiment. The view from within is that he has, along with Stephen McPhail, done and continues to do a stellar job. The much-mocked 'project' has born fruit exactly as planned.
To take one of Nesta's points, succession planning at Rovers is constantly ongoing, of the older players Nesta mentions - O'Brien, Finn, Gannon, Mannus - only Mannus doesn't have a replacement lined-up. Gannon has Max Murphy chomping at his heels, Joey has Hoare, Pico, Grace and Scales all competing for 3 CH berths while Finn is now largely a squad player with a leadership role.
Bradley has also built that squad painstakingly over the last few years bringing kids through, utilising players versatility - Scales at LWB, Greene up front, Finner - rehabilitating players with bad reputations - Jack, Burkey and now Mandriou. As for fans being unhappy with the midfield chopping and changing it's much more of a case that we are all wondering what our best CM pairing is. Looking more and more like it's Watts and Gary O'Neill who incidentally is also very, very under-rated, best player in the league for my money but his unflashiness means he goes unnoticed.
Bottom line is that we are very happy with Stephen Bradley but non-plussed at the constant under-mining of his achievements, even the all time unbeaten record of 31 league games which is a phenomenal achievement has been under-played. Ah well, we'll live.