Ex-Staff Gary Rowett

[Carpy]

1.Gary Rowett

Position: Head Coach

Nationality: England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Signed: 20th December 2024

Departed: 23rd December 2025 | Departed Posts: 1st Post

Previous Clubs: Birmingham City (Interim), Millwall, Stoke City, Derby County, Birmingham City, Burton Albion

Stats: TransferMarkt

Instagram: garyrowett1

 

[Old Man]

There is an old saying, best the devil you know than the one you don’t !
Pure and simple, we haven’t got the money to match other teams when it comes to transfers. Unfortunately but true we have got to go with the flow , if you think we are doomed to relegation then so be it but a change in management at this stage is a real gamble . My opinion, for what it’s worth, our supporters must stick together, yes we live in hope , but it must be our turn soon to hit a purple patch of results and if and when we do hopefully we will be out of the relegation zone, it’s hard I know but believe!

 

[bazzer9461]

Unlike you I actually go to away games. I’m saying what I’m seeing.

Hardly go to away games anymore especially with the dross we’ve been serving up. Average £100 to travel and attend x 2/3 a month just can’t do that anymore. My wife and I are retired and at our ripe age £2/300 a month could be better spent. But if we were performing better and have a chance then Mrs Bazzer and I would attend but at the moment no I won’t spend that sort of money……. The money spent does not include our hospitality.

 

[PottersRightBoot]

Unnecessary dig seeing as I have been very open about why I'm going to fewer games.

And going to a game doesn't give you exclusive rights to an opinion.

Of course not. But that’s not my point.

In my view, if we change our style and go gung ho we would be cut to pieces. Every week. Without doubt. Definite relegation. A la Des. Based on what I’ve seen.

What Rowett is saying is that he needs better backing in terms of oven ready champ players. We have t got enough of them. They cost money. Give him the money. With that he can keep us up. Again. And he might be able to do this. 50/50 imo.

He’s begging publically for this support.

He’s tried pretty much everything and now reduced to playing one of our worst (record) signings ever, the woeful Romeny, in the 10 position. You know, the guy the owner signed.

It is not bizarre to suggest there is no one better out there. There might be in a few weeks but that is subject to availability. Currently, nada.

My tip? Mousinho. Eventually. He knows the league and he knows this club.

 

[SamLongSlidingTackle]

but it must be our turn soon to hit a purple patch of results and if and when we do hopefully we will be out of the relegation zone, it’s hard I know but believe!

When Des was here I wrote a message that I then cleared and didn’t post that if we fall into the relegation spot, we won’t be getting out - which we did fall into (I think) but we also went up (obvs).

I feel like doing thr same but it’s a different kettle of fish this year. I don’t think it will take much for us to transform and stay up with current players (we did last year) but I can’t see that from GR despite him having done that already. But a new manager bounce does happen because it happened to us.

 

[joshua]

I will tell you why I changed from the last option to get rid now. It is simple. The product on the pitch has become untenable. Giving up points to the worst teams in poor form and giving them a leg up by not trying to win is absolutely unacceptable and unforgivable. We had a run of games that were winnable and folded.

Naming a stronger bench and naming a weaker team in the hope that you stumble on some secret formula to pick up a point is madness. Earlier in the season we lost games that we deserved something from and drew games we might have won. Now we are getting what we deserve. We are not getting hammered (bar Stoke) but we are not setting up to win.

I can’t condone that and I will pick and choose which games to go to now.

Im thinking of doing the same, seems pointless in buying a season though

 

[Shaun Rice]

I’ve taken a little time to take a breath and process everything since yesterday but I also have to say that I think it’s now time to make the change.

I have a lot of gratitude for what GR achieved last season and he seems a decent bloke.

But everything just has a feel of stagnation now. The ideas have run out, and the joke about getting four drawing boards for Christmas suggest that there’s nothing left in the tank.

The club needs a fresh injection of energy, positivity and inspiration.

Make the change now.

I agree but don’t you think it’s the players we have and not Rowett. He has a proven Championship record of working on a budget.
Who is going to come in a turn things around?

I think it’s our recruitment that is costing us. M Harris, Romeny, Prelec, Placheta, Dembele, Krastev are nowhere near Championship level. If you put them up for transfer would they walk in to any other Championship first team? Not a chance. Note there are others but I’ve not included them because they’re not playing. Bradshaw for example.

Then there’s the fact we’re left with only Vaulks, De Keersmaecker and Cam in centre mid. The latter we’re missing badly. Edit: as much as I love him, he should not be captain. Listening to him on the Radio he is not a leader of men.

We have nothing down the flanks except Mills but he can’t manage 90 minutes, it would seem.

I don’t think Cumming is good enough either, maybe controversial. But has cost us too many points this season.

We’ll see if a new manager comes in and they all start looking like world beaters. But I doubt it.

Sadly we are just not good enough, big enough for this level. And we’re screwed because we can’t move these players out and the investment isn’t there to bring in the 4 or 5 + absolute quality players we need. They all need to be head and shoulders above what we have. If I was the boss and my money had been wasted like it has, heads would be rolling in the recruitment department starting with Ed Waldron. Head of Football Operations my a**e!

 

[EastStandKieran]

In my mind sacking Rowett is the easy part no matter who we replace him with are still going to have to work under the same regime as an experienced championship manager has and that regime failed him

It's time the fans started putting pressure on the board we've got dopey Tim dipsy grant useless Ed these all need to go before Rowett imo

It's time Erik stopped having dimmer parties with ex professional football players and started sorting this s**t show out

 

[ECYellow]

I don't think anyone is actually throwing the towel in, or being defeatist, it's just that it's clear we're only heading in one direction under Rowett, and regardless of any recruitment team or boardroom issues, the vast majority of fans are completely fed up with what they're seeing on the pitch, and want to see a change of manager, with new ideas and tactics.

There's nothing defeatist about that, just a desire to see things improve, because if anyone has been being defeatist, it our current manager!

I disagree with your first sentence, MD. There has been substantial noise on this forum and other platforms with phrases like “we are down” “we might as well prepare for league 1” or “it will take a miracle for us to survive”.

All three of those statements are inaccurate, and imo pretty unhelpful, if we are prepared to fight for our championship lives. Goodness it took 25 years to get back here, the least we can all do is give our unequivocal backing to the team in games. I mean, what else can we do?

Having reflected further after Saturday, I do think a change is required in the dug out (all of them). I think it probably does need a fresh voice and some new ideas. Personally, I do not think enough quality was acquired in the summer to give any incumbent a real chance to affect positive change compared to our finishing position last year, where we survived with 1 game to spare. But, survive we did.

If Mark Harris starts on Boxing Day, my hope and spirit will be severely tested, mind you!

 

[uptheus]

Unlike you I actually go to away games. I’m saying what I’m seeing.

Tim, Rowett’s not getting the best out of the squad, making horrendous starting line ups and seems to have lost his way.

His actions and comments almost seem to suggest that he wants out or putting out of his misery. It’s got quite toxic now all round, so I believe it needs a change for the good of all.

 

[Steve Gilbert]

I think one thing is for sure, if we don’t hear anything today then I’d expect that he will be leading the team on Boxing Day.

 

[uptheus]

Of course not. But that’s not my point.

In my view, if we change our style and go gung ho we would be cut to pieces. Every week. Without doubt. Definite relegation. A la Des. Based on what I’ve seen.

What Rowett is saying is that he needs better backing in terms of oven ready champ players. We have t got enough of them. They cost money. Give him the money. With that he can keep us up. Again. And he might be able to do this. 50/50 imo.

He’s begging publically for this support.

He’s tried pretty much everything and now reduced to playing one of our worst (record) signings ever, the woeful Romeny, in the 10 position. You know, the guy the owner signed.

It is not bizarre to suggest there is no one better out there. There might be in a few weeks but that is subject to availability. Currently, nada.

My tip? Mousinho. Eventually. He knows the league and he knows this club.

Against the better teams this maybe the case, but the likes of Norwich, Swansea, Blackburn, Charlton and even Preston they were there for the taking and I truly believe if we’d gone at them we would have picked up more wins/points, but Rowett set us up wrong.

And for him to select Harris in front of Lankshear is criminal.

 

[TailsWeWin]

I’m flabbergasted by the number of posters who believe (with Rowett here or not) that we’ll make any significant progress in the transfer window. GR has already alluded to the fact that the overpaid players here we want to offload don’t want to leave. And which decent game-ready replacements out there would actually WANT to come to a club in the relegation zone and as chaotically run as this one? This nonsense about bringing in Championship standard midfielders, a couple of wingers and a high quality striker is pie-in-the-sky. Even if the money WAS available.

 

[Joey]

Of course not. But that’s not my point.

In my view, if we change our style and go gung ho we would be cut to pieces. Every week. Without doubt. Definite relegation. A la Des. Based on what I’ve seen.

What Rowett is saying is that he needs better backing in terms of oven ready champ players. We have t got enough of them. They cost money. Give him the money. With that he can keep us up. Again. And he might be able to do this. 50/50 imo.

He’s begging publically for this support.

He’s tried pretty much everything and now reduced to playing one of our worst (record) signings ever, the woeful Romeny, in the 10 position. You know, the guy the owner signed.

It is not bizarre to suggest there is no one better out there. There might be in a few weeks but that is subject to availability. Currently, nada.

My tip? Mousinho. Eventually. He knows the league and he knows this club.

There aren't just two styles of football though, gung ho or play for set pieces and hope the other team don't score while inviting a load of pressure because we've got no attacking intent at all. Which camp would Ipswich at home fall into? Or any of our other better performances?

He may Championship players but he's got Lankshear and chooses to play Harris. He admits wingbacks didn't work and then stays with the same system again with Leigh playing ahead of Currie and some decent wingers stuck on the bench. That's his fault, no one else's. Stop making excuses for him. As for Romeny if he's that bad then don't play him, like has been the case most the season. It's back to the bad days of last season when we had terrible runs under him, set up negatively and play almost exclusively for set pieces, we look much better when we try and play some football.

It is absolutely bizarre to suggest no one better is out there and incredibly short sighted. I've given examples of pretty much our exact situation where an unknown manager made an immediate improvement. The narrative is the players aren't good enough and they get worse each time we chuck in a performance like Saturday, despite the fact it's a better squad than last year when we stayed up ok. At what point do you consider it might be the manager? As I said before this isn't even a bad run of form now, his record for the vast majority of his time here is relegation worthy.

As I recall you were one of the last to realise Robinson was complete crap and just look at the turnaround after we sacked him. We're not looking at the same level of underperformance now but this squad is capable of far more than we're showing. Rowett isn't the best we can get, certainly not in this situation where he looks utterly pissed off and demotivated.

The only part I agree with is Mous would be a good option and I suspect if Pompey had sacked him we'd have made a move. Suggested as much before and several people rubbished the idea despite the fact he's been almost a total success so far. I'd certainly rather we had more points from fewer games this season too.

 

[SirAndyOfCrosby]

Why is it a surprise? I suspect many, like me, wanted to see us pick up 4/5 points over the three games and create a bit of consistency.

He hasn’t picked up the points, therefore, my decision has changed from give him time to go.

I couldn’t give a monkeys about his style of football, nor whether he’s upset players, doesn’t develop them, isn’t creating a ‘brand’ or anything else.

It’s a numbers game, that’s all I care about at this point. He didn’t hit the numbers I expected him to achieve. Therefore, it’s time to roll the dice and see if someone else can pick up the points using an alternative method.

OK, so you were just completely unaware that you felt like this, just two weeks ago? You were entirely happy with everything then? And couldn't foresee that you might want him gone within 3 games?

Please answer this - if you wanted to give him 3 games and reassess - why didn't you go for that option on the poll two weeks ago? (And if you  did then my original question clearly wasn't for you and you've gone on a tirade without reading my post).

One more time for added clarity:

If you previously said 'let's see what the next couple of games brings' and now want him gone - logical, sensible, fine.

If you are one of the many who previously said, just two weeks ago, that Rowett should at least be given January regardless of how bad it gets before then - I am curious to know why a couple of highly predicatable results and performances has changed your mind.

I get people are fickle, but it's strange how so many people couldn't have foreseen how they might feel in just a couple of weeks. It would make me question their cognitive reasoning.

 

[Scotchegg]

No one is advocating for a gung-ho, do or die style of play. That would be suicidal at this level.

What I, and I'm sure many others want, is to show some attacking intent, from the off, against a team who had won one point from the last 18.

I've said it in several posts, but we need to be solid at the back, transition quickly through midfield, and attack with pace on the wings.

And do you know who is good at this? Gary Rowett!

It's the exact model that he used when he arrived at the club a year ago. Since then we've added Helik, Davies, Spencer and Currie to the defence to make us more solid. BDK to dictate play and transition quickly. Mills and Krastev to give others options on the wing. And Lankshear and Prelec who both look far more likely to score than Harris ever has since August last year.

(This is why I agree with @ECYellow that its far too early to be writing off this season even without huge investment in January)

But for whatever reason, Rowett no longer seems able or willing to play to his, and our strengths. He no longer appears able to get these players motivated. And he looks lost and confused more often the the confident and assured man that arrived.

IF, he can find a bit of belief in himself and this translates to improved performances and results for the team - great. But there are no signs of him changing and Saturday was the nail in the coffin for many.

 

[dickwalton1964]

Of course not. But that’s not my point.

In my view, if we change our style and go gung ho we would be cut to pieces. Every week. Without doubt. Definite relegation. A la Des. Based on what I’ve seen.

What Rowett is saying is that he needs better backing in terms of oven ready champ players. We have t got enough of them. They cost money. Give him the money. With that he can keep us up. Again. And he might be able to do this. 50/50 imo.

He’s begging publically for this support.

He’s tried pretty much everything and now reduced to playing one of our worst (record) signings ever, the woeful Romeny, in the 10 position. You know, the guy the owner signed.

It is not bizarre to suggest there is no one better out there. There might be in a few weeks but that is subject to availability. Currently, nada.

My tip? Mousinho. Eventually. He knows the league and he knows this club.

Totally agree with this about being cut to pieces each week and I am genuinely astonished that loads of our fans cannot see this. Take the Ipswich game, if we’d have gone at them from the off we’d be 4 down at the break and game over. Our only way of getting anything out of that was to scrap, stay in it and use our subs well late on as the game opened up with Ipswich getting more desperate for the winner - exactly what Rower did. Individually Ipswich were on a completely different level, about 21 or 22 of the teams in the division are so we have to adopt a similar philosophy in virtually every game. All it needs to top off the ridiculousness of sections of our fan base is for the same bunch of numpties singing the anti Rowett stuff on Saturday to start singing ‘attack, attack, attack’ from the first minute when we visit Portman Road in a week or two time.

 

[RgYellows]

OK, so you were just completely unaware that you felt like this, just two weeks ago? You were entirely happy with everything then? And couldn't foresee that you might want him gone within 3 games?

Please answer this - if you wanted to give him 3 games and reassess - why didn't you go for that option on the poll two weeks ago? (And if you  did then my original question clearly wasn't for you and you've gone on a tirade without reading my post).

One more time for added clarity:

If you previously said 'let's see what the next couple of games brings' and now want him gone - logical, sensible, fine.

If you are one of the many who previously said, just two weeks ago, that Rowett should at least be given January regardless of how bad it gets before then - I am curious to know why a couple of highly predicatable results and performances has changed your mind.

I get people are fickle, but it's strange how so many people couldn't have foreseen how they might feel in just a couple of weeks. It would make me question their cognitive reasoning.

To be honest, it’s pretty hard to capture all the different views people might have on our manager, our season and the future of our club in a single poll. Even over a five game span, there are 243 different combinations of win-lose-draw but the poll essentially forced us into a binary “Rowett has to achieve a 60% win rate” or “these games are irrelevant to my decision”. Neither were appropriate to me, so I picked the one I felt most aligned with my actual view based on a fleet of fancy because I wanted to see the results. It turns out that was the one about needing to win 3 of his next 5, which I absolutely did not agree with. On any other day, I might have picked the one that said don’t sack him at all, because I couldn’t see an option that called for him to go that I actually agreed with. And then I’d be here having to defend the option I didn’t really believe, because I’m pretty firmly in the Rowet out camp now.

The poll was written by an amateur and it imposed no costs to participate (indeed, it offered an incentive by only letting me see results if I clicked an option) so the economist in me tells us not to get too exercised by what people clicked, and listen more to what they actually take the time to write.

 

[dickwalton1964]

No one is advocating for a gung-ho, do or die style of play. That would be suicidal at this level.

What I, and I'm sure many others want, is to show some attacking intent, from the off, against a team who had won one point from the last 18.

I've said it in several posts, but we need to be solid at the back, transition quickly through midfield, and attack with pace on the wings.

And do you know who is good at this? Gary Rowett!

It's the exact model that he used when he arrived at the club a year ago. Since then we've added Helik, Davies, Spencer and Currie to the defence to make us more solid. BDK to dictate play and transition quickly. Mills and Krastev to give others options on the wing. And Lankshear and Prelec who both look far more likely to score than Harris ever has since August last year.

(This is why I agree with @ECYellow that its far too early to be writing off this season even without huge investment in January)

But for whatever reason, Rowett no longer seems able or willing to play to his, and our strengths. He no longer appears able to get these players motivated. And he looks lost and confused more often the the confident and assured man that arrived.

IF, he can find a bit of belief in himself and this translates to improved performances and results for the team - great. But there are no signs of him changing and Saturday was the nail in the coffin for many.

But we are hardly in much better form than Charlton - it was just as winnable and cushy looking fixture for them as it was for us. They won 1-0, it happens. I didn’t see them batter - or even try to batter - our door down for pretty much the entire game. In fact, the first 20-25 minutes they hardly got out of their own half. Like any home team they were urged on to attack as the game went on and one or two chances came their way - one of which they put away. It was two poor teams, bereft of any confidence and a game largely played out between both boxes. One won, one lost, but it could easily have been the reverse result.

 

[holdsteady]

On the topic of what took me off the fence over the last two games, I feel that GR and the players have lost belief in his ability to galvanise this squad into a team that can stay up, nobody is not trying but no believes in the process anymore, that why its a bit stale and tepid. Once that happens then its time to look at another option.

On the no other manager can get us to a stage where we only lose by the odd goal on our way to a relegation, so what? How is it a gamble to risk getting relegated with a better goal difference against getting relegated with a worse one? If that's the only reason for keeping a manager then thats the worst I have heard of.

GR never really rated the squad and clearly still doesn't, while his approach to that worked in the short term it has now worn off and we look terrible and are not getting results, to have even the slightest chance of staying up we need a man in who can at least convince the players he has some belief in them.

 

[Scotchegg]

But we are hardly in much better form than Charlton - it was just as winnable and cushy looking fixture for them as it was for us. They won 1-0, it happens. I didn’t see them batter - or even try to batter - our door down for pretty much the entire game. In fact, the first 20-25 minutes they hardly got out of their own half. Like any home team they were urged on to attack as the game went on and one or two chances came their way - one of which they put away. It was two poor teams, bereft of any confidence and a game largely played out between both boxes. One won, one lost, but it could easily have been the reverse result.

You seem to be deliberately missing the point. It was a pretty dire game between two poor side because we had anyone with any attacking intent sat on the bench.

If it was us playing away at Leeds a year ago in the corresponding fixture, I could have accepted the need to try to hold on to a point. But to do it against the worst team in the league on recent form is unforgivable and is indicative of a manager that has either given up or is too stubborn to change.

 

[holdsteady]

You need a balance between attack and defence, I think we all understand that ours will skew to the defensive side but when you are playing a team like Charlton and you start with Harris up front and Leigh and Spencer as the players who are supposed to provide the width, for 2/3rds of the game, then that balance is out of kilter and its actually making it harder to get results, its being tight at the back for tightness sake rather than as part of an overall plan to get a result, that's to much of a surrender for me and a bit self defeating.

 

[dickwalton1964]

You seem to be deliberately missing the point. It was a pretty dire game between two poor side because we had anyone with any attacking intent sat on the bench.

If it was us playing away at Leeds a year ago in the corresponding fixture, I could have accepted the need to try to hold on to a point. But to do it against the worst team in the league on recent form is unforgivable and is indicative of a manager that has either given up or is too stubborn to change.

While I agree that it wouldn’t have been my preferred starting line up it isn’t as though those left on the bench having been giving Rowett a decision to make - they’ve all been generally next to useless for a month or two. Not one benched player, not one, can claim to be unlucky at being left out, bar maybe Lankshear considering who got the nod ahead of him. This has blighted our season and given Rowett a massive headache hence the constant chopping and changing. You’ll have heard countless managers say players have to take their chances when they come along and this current crop is amongst the worst in recent memory I can think of for stringing two performances together - both collectively and individually.

 

[maidenheadox]

I am probably of the opinion that recruitment is the root cause of our problems. As we're not able to spend the big bucks it seems we've taken a lot of gambles on players in the hope that one or two of them really break out, and it just hasn't happened. We may have been better off spending a bit more cash on fewer players over the last 3 windows. We also did not strengthen enough in the middle of the park.

With all that said, it does seem like Rowatt is running out of ideas. it's anyone's guess what the teamsheet is going to look like from week to week at the moment. If you keep setting up to keep things tight, it's no good if you keep losing games. Especially to the teams around us.

On the whole I like Rowatt, but I would probably make a change as I don't see things turning around otherwise. A big gamble and unlikely to work, but we have to try something. And we need to take a very hard look at our recruitment moving forward, change needed there as well.

 

[uptheus]

No one is advocating for a gung-ho, do or die style of play. That would be suicidal at this level.

What I, and I'm sure many others want, is to show some attacking intent, from the off, against a team who had won one point from the last 18.

I've said it in several posts, but we need to be solid at the back, transition quickly through midfield, and attack with pace on the wings.

And do you know who is good at this? Gary Rowett!

It's the exact model that he used when he arrived at the club a year ago. Since then we've added Helik, Davies, Spencer and Currie to the defence to make us more solid. BDK to dictate play and transition quickly. Mills and Krastev to give others options on the wing. And Lankshear and Prelec who both look far more likely to score than Harris ever has since August last year.

(This is why I agree with @ECYellow that its far too early to be writing off this season even without huge investment in January)

But for whatever reason, Rowett no longer seems able or willing to play to his, and our strengths. He no longer appears able to get these players motivated. And he looks lost and confused more often the the confident and assured man that arrived.

IF, he can find a bit of belief in himself and this translates to improved performances and results for the team - great. But there are no signs of him changing and Saturday was the nail in the coffin for many.

Totally agree with this Scotchers, but BDK frustrates me as he’s the opposite of transitioning it quickly, in fact, he slows it all downs a lot of the time! But he has shown he is capable of it e.g. ball to Placheta against Ipswich

 

[Swaby39]

There's nothing defeatist about that, just a desire to see things improve, because if anyone has been being defeatist, it our current manager!

This point is one that gets lost - understandably given how much there is to pick apart at the moment.

I agree with @ECYellow in that this is absolutely not a lost cause with a change. But in my opinion it is without one. It’s not all about tactics, it’s also the mood and our identity that he’s brought in to crisis.

Another poster recently mentioned there were no guarantees from sacking him - maybe not points but with the right appointment there are guarantees you can get that give you a far greater opportunity, such as a whole shift in atmosphere.

Is Rowett giving the club an opportunity to stay up by approaching every game as though we’re not just needing to be smart, but actually totally inferior? Sometimes that’ll be true but do it every single week in uniform fashion for long enough and it becomes a consuming complex. I think the players are struggling under that message. Rowett wants them to take their place as a lame underdog most weeks and then somehow become more brave on demand. When they don’t, he scolds them for a lack of strength in “moments” (Urgh - hate that word). Is it any wonder they don’t have the confidence to flip the switch? He publicly says they aren’t good enough and yet asks them to play games on tiny, tiny margins where they can do everything he’s asked and still lose. We have to widen that margin for error, but he’s afraid to do so as he is mentally shot.

He doesn’t seem to realise that coming out day after day reminding us of how crap we are in the context of the league has now taken hold and it’s rotting the dressing room and the fan perspective of what we’re capable of. I think it’s almost fallen in to gaslighting. He’s talking us down non stop to the point it’s now common belief that we’re not good enough. My view of a leader is to bring people up with you (especially in adversity), extract their best from them, not squash them down to protect your reputation and stranglehold on them. If he thinks we’re beneath him, get out of here.

In this current frame of mind, Rowett is damaging. He has some good excuses and is right to call out the hierarchy, but he’s dragging it down in a bit of a misery inferno which we can’t afford to have around any longer.

 

[uptheus]

The silence by the club is deafening!

 

[Trevor L]

I agree that recruitment has been bizarre. Romeny is a board pick who looks totally out of his depth, he's the most obvious example but there are others. Dembele. Bradshaw.

If you play with just two in midfield, seems to me you would do that if you have 2 exceptional and seasoned players in there to control/link etc. plus some bench/rotation backup of similar quality, so the system doesn't fall apart if one is injured or suspended. In championship terms we have barely 2, just Cam and BDK, one who has injury spells sadly, and the other learning the league and being run into the ground for lack of alternatives. If there is money, spend it in that area.

 

[Manorlounger]

The silence by the club is deafening!

That has been the norm for some time now. Even the mundane, day to day stuff gets neglected. Unless it is an 'activation' or retail opportunity, it gets the silent treatment.
The one exception to this is when a third party come singing the praises. (Community activity, for example)

You have to remember, we are merely customers and not entitled to know what's really going on.

And, if anyone wants to question that, ask your FAB representative why they are now keeping secrets from the fanbase that they represent.

 

[SirAndyOfCrosby]

Rowett wants them to take their place as a lame underdog most weeks and then somehow become more brave on demand.

Brilliant.

He ... asks them to play games on tiny, tiny margins where they can do everything he’s asked and still lose.

Exquisite.

That second one should leave no-one in any doubt and sums up our current predicament. We can implement the Rowett gameplan to within an inch of it's life - but if we switch off once and don't score a worldy that week, it's a 1-0 defeat.

I've long talked about the tactics of 'hope' with Rowett. There is little effort to affect change (either from the start or in-game).

There is just 'hope'.

We deserve so much more.

 

[Eric Blair]

But for whatever reason, Rowett no longer seems able or willing to play to his, and our strengths. He no longer appears able to get these players motivated. And he looks lost and confused more often the the confident and assured man that arrived.

This is 100% true but I don't understand why it has happened.