James McPake and next season

[parsforlife]

24 minutes ago, DA-go Par Adonis said:

My point is that I think it's pretty much impossible to plan for - and then achieve - putting a squad together to finish mid-table in the Championship for a few consecutive seasons. If you try, you'll end up going down.

Oh, I 1000% agree with that.

[Secure Par]

59 minutes ago, DA-go Par Adonis said:

He joined the board on 12th February.

We signed Chris Kane the day after and MWH just over a week later. It would seem harsh to blame him for January.

Re challenging for promotion, I don't disagree. My point is that I think it's pretty much impossible to plan for - and then achieve - putting a squad together to finish mid-table in the Championship for a few consecutive seasons. If you try, you'll end up going down.

We signed Chris Kane on loan as we had no strikers… plus needed defenders.

If this is a 10 year plan as said then I really can’t see us signing players to compete in the top 4 of the championship? 
I presume all players that have 1 year on their contracts will stay and as a club sustain mid championship level? 
On a plus side the Academy training ground should be finished and all teams will be there.

[DA-go Par Adonis]

I know why we signed Kane. I don't get your point.

You don't think Otoo, KRH, Fisher or Jakubiak are players who could play in a team in the top 4 in the Championship? They were all permanent signings this time last year.

I don't know what this 10-year plan looks like but I can't see why it would involve not trying to get promoted.

[parsforlife]

14 minutes ago, Secure Par said:

 

If this is a 10 year plan as said then I really can’t see us signing players to compete in the top 4 of the championship? 
 

Lets just remember, year 1 was our best achievement, a position we had achieved 3 years earlier.  We are now entering year 5.  Time to stop the Jam tomorrow mindset/message. 

Edited April 22 by parsforlife

[Secure Par]

Exactly and I’m sure another poster on here said there will be changes but what difference will this make?

[da_no_1]

All getting a bit .net FFS 

[Secure Par]

15 minutes ago, da_no_1 said:

All getting a bit .net FFS 

Well we will just have to wait and see what the board wants to achieve next season?

 

[kelty_par]

38 minutes ago, parsforlife said:

Lets just remember, year 1 was our best achievement, a position we had achieved 3 years earlier.  We are now entering year 5.  Time to stop the Jam tomorrow mindset/message. 

Exactly this. ‘10 year plan’ what a load of ****! We’ve had investment yet the product on the pitch has went back the way ever since. Rovers get investment and turn into title contenders 

[SanguinePar]

6 minutes ago, kelty_par said:

Exactly this. ‘10 year plan’ what a load of ****! We’ve had investment yet the product on the pitch has went back the way ever since. Rovers get investment and turn into title contenders 

To be fair, a couple of years ago Arbroath were title contenders. There's no guarantee Rovers will have another season like this one.

[kelty_par]

And when was the last time we were contenders in this league? Plodding away in this division really isn’t good enough for us

[Eastendtales]

Next season there's no excuse for not pushing hard in thr top 4. 

No excuse for poor recruitment.

We've got the makings of a really decent side. Time to show it.

[Piracy]

10 hours ago, Secure Par said:

If Mr Cook is involved in transfer dealings then it’s going to be like this season as he doesn’t negotiate so I have heard?

7/8 players have to go and bring in Championship players. I would also like to see Sutherland getting a chance up top.

Just with this 10 year plan pish, I can honestly see the club/owners making sure we finish mid table in the championship for a few seasons to get the academy up to standard etc….. I’m just going to wait to get 3 x season tickets now to see what happens over the summer as if it’s the same team again then then I’ll do something else on a Saturday… 

I'm not sticking up for David Cook but what you've heard may not be accurate, just saying. How does anyone know how transfer deals are conducted?, I'd have thought that's pretty confidential compared to most club business. Mind you maybe our negotiating style is a bit like a school dinners menu when I was at school, take it or leave it!

I do remember Ross McArthur being quite clear about how frustrating dealing with players agents can be. If our club has a set budget and some agents want more then maybe it's right to walk away. 

My own thoughts are maybe we should be more ambitious with what's available to the manager and aim just a wee bit higher in the market in key areas of the squad. But I can't see this really happening given the losses for last season and this season combined which will surely have a profound effect on what's available to the manager given they've said them aim to reel in the clubs spending.

Maybe a significant actor in all of this is James McPakes judgement on players and what we offer them. The club has backed him with giving players 2 to 3 year deals rather than the 1 year deals we'd previously been dishing out. Obviously trying to create stability in an effort to build a team, and I think that's a good ethos, but, they obviously have to be of the right quality. Some players are evidently not good enough but we can maybe attribute some of that to McPakes inexperience being a younger manager. That was last season and he obviously now needs to get things right over the summer to give himself and the team a real chance of competing for the league. Like yourself I'll probably wait to see what transpires over the summer and make a judgement before committing to renewing my season ticket.

 

[Piracy]

34 minutes ago, Eastendtales said:

Next season there's no excuse for not pushing hard in thr top 4. 

No excuse for poor recruitment.

We've got the makings of a really decent side. Time to show it.

I agree, it really is crunch time and the board need to really read the room with fans and understand growing frustrations.

[Al k]

9 hours ago, SanguinePar said:

To be fair, a couple of years ago Arbroath were title contenders. There's no guarantee Rovers will have another season like this one.

Also us year before and last year Queens. Quite dramatic when it goes wrong.

[DA-go Par Adonis]

To be fair, I've heard the same about Cook's negotiations - and it may be confidential from our side - but agents will say anything to anyone, especially if they think it will benefit them. I'm guessing that's why Laing has come in.

Some did criticise recruitment last year for being too ambitious. We were in for Reilly (and, I think, one other) who ended up going to the Premier League. You're damned if you do and damned if you don't when you miss out on a player.

Re the strategy of the board, they'd argue that this is season 3 coming up, given that they couldn't start to implement what they wanted until the Covid restrictions were over.  They're trying to build the club from the bottom up, whereas the Rovers are doing it from the top down.

Whether it works, we'll wait and see. However, they're trying to do things to enhance the fan experience and build a fan base in our expanding city. Some of it is unconventional but nothing has worked for any other provincial club in Scotland in the last 40 years, so if they have a 'plan', that's better for me than overspending on players or temporarily reducing prices - which might be a short term fix but doesn't do much overall.