I'm not going to copy it all here, so please read the first three articles on the Latest Club News page, then post your replies here (if necessary).
Cheers

I sincerely hope it will not be 9th April as there is a strong possibility I will be taking a client to the Man Utd/AFC game....

I'm still waiting for confirmation of that Murf, but apparently the 9th April is far more likely than it being played on Easter Day (16th).

Not having a go at you in particular here Murf as you have played far more games this season than you did last, but if players have more important things to do on a Sunday and prefer to treat playing for Rovers as something to do if they are not doing something else, then a relegation battle is invariably what we are going to find ourselves in.

Granted, other teams have these problems as well with players having a bigger choice of things to do on a Sunday nowadays, but we definitely seem to suffer more than most.

Lol - you going on the Latest news page & having a go at people for going on holiday serves no purpose other than to p*ss people off does it?

As far as I'm concerned, holidays taken by players this season have played no greater part in our predicament than any other year - the fact is if we get relegated then we don't have a strong enough team/squad for the division.

It doesn't take a genius to work out we are a 'mature' team and that the pace & strength of the top two divisions may be beyond us. If we went down another division and started to win more frequantly I for one would enjoy it a whole lot more. There's nothing enjoyable about being thrashed 6-0 by IML Red Cow and being laughed at by the opposition.

On the plus side Conor you could be playing against me in a year or two's time !!!

Now that would be enjoyable!!!

I disagree with virtually everything Conor has said there I'm afraid, but then that's what this Forum should be about, eh ?

I think we HAVE got a strong enough squad of players this season to compete for trophies in Division One and even the Premier.
The reason we have 'struggled' is NOT because they are all too old and past-it ability-wise, it's because far too many of them don't play every week and are then not 100% fit when they DO play....in addition to us having a lack of teamwork because we never field the same side two weeks running.

...and the reason why we are not playing every week at the moment ?
We got knocked out in the First Round of all three Cup competitions (can't really count 'A Small World') because we had numerous key players missing !

...and the reason why we lost 6-0 to IML Red Cow ?
Stuart...Family Commitments
Terry....Went away for the weekend
Warmers...Went away for the weekend
Nick Vertigans...Went to Man. United v. Liverpool
Paul Ellerker...Doing something else
Simon (GK)...Doing something else
Nugget...Visting his girlfriend
Robin...Studying
Dan...Doing something else
We then had Darryl, Speller and Johnny Mac all out injured and we fielded just a bare eleven with no proper keeper and two players hobbling about with injuries for most of the match. How can we say IML Red Cow are too good for us when we have all those quality players missing ?

Conor, where you say players going on holiday this year have played no greater part in our predicament than any other year, I disagree with you there as well.
It is far worse this year than ever before.
We struggled last year and the year before because we didn't have enough players to field two teams, not because of holidays. I can't remember our players all going on holiday so much during seasons in the 90's and early 2000's. Invariably they used to wait until the season was over and then go during the Summer...normally during August so that they could miss Pre-Season training !

It's not just the holidays, but the weekends away that are doing the damage. As I say, it's all because our older players have good well-paid jobs nowadays and can therefore afford to go away numerous times during the course of a season (having worked the overtime on Monday-Thursday evenings to do that).
It's frustrating for me, of course it is, when I run the club to try and win things, but I'm not annoyed about our players doing that. It's their choice. I'm just warning everyone that relegation is the consequence and if they care about the club (as I do) then they need to do something about it.

Just imagine if we fielded a team like this every week...
Darryl (GK)
Speller or Robin (RB), Warmers (SW), Wooly (CH), Terry (LB)
Nick Vertigans (RM), Paul Ellerker (CM), Stuart (CM), Del (LM)
Conor (CF), Steve Cokell (CF)

I can't see any way that we would fail to be in contention for a trophy with that side, age 30+-players or not.
Players like Murf, Juneka Junior, Foysol and the youngsters have all done really well for us this season and they are not to blame.
It is the extra Premier Division experience of the players in the team above who we have been missing.

One thing I do agree with Conor on though, is that if we do go down to Division Two it will not be a disaster as long as everybody stays, but remember it took us years to get out of Division Two before and I think a club as well-run as we are really should be a Premier Division club, not floundering down there.

For me the reason we may go down seems two fold. Firstly, end last year, early this we went on a run where we lost or drew a number of games we most definitely should not have, based on the balance of play. Secondly, it seems some non-fulfilled fixtures will work against us. Frankly, "mature" or not, I don't think that we, as a team, are
out of place in this division so it would be a shame if we do indeed go down.

I don't think it's realistic to expect people not to go away/have other things to do on a Sunday from time to time. The core of the team seems committed to me. Well, all except Flory.

Cheers,

Murf

On this occasion i think i mostly agree with you Lol,if we fielded the team you posted then we'd be up there. I think we'd find if we went on a long cup run and were challenging for the league people wouldn't go away as much and we would all be enjoying it alot more. However i can't help wondering tho would training be taken as keenly if we were doing well? or would people still watch the champions league on the telly like 'important' people in the club have been doing of late. Thats prob also why were struggling but we'll choose to ignore that eh?!

Yes, I agree with Murf in that we have been unlucky in a lot of games on the balance of play, but then on the other hand I think we have had a bit of luck go our way in some of our more recent matches.
I would say that a record of something like W7 D3 L6 probably would have been a fairer reflection of our season so far, and that would then be safe enough even if we lost our last two matches.
There has only been one non-fulfilment in Division One so far this season though Murf (by Metroline Uniques quite recently).

Regarding Steve's points, I'm not so sure people WOULD be available more if we were in with a chance of getting to a Cup Final or challenging for the title. A lot of the 'going away for the weekend' jobs are because of birthdays, weddings, Christenings, etc. and it's all because most of our players are married (or as good as). Family commitments like that are always going to come first, even above a Cup Final. With holidays, they are presumably booked well in advance. Surely a trip to Brazil was ?...and certainly Speller's Wedding was (for the date of the London F.A. Sunday Intermediate Cup Final as well !)

What I am complaining about is the apathy being shown for the midweek match against I.M.L. Red Cow.
'Working late' my arse !
Steve, if you are saying people should play for Rovers in that game instead of watching Juventus v. Arsenal, I agree with you 100% mate !

There's the big 'IF' though isn't it Lol/Steve - I don't know if we have or not Lol but have we fielded that side at all this season? or indeed ever? I don't doubt that we could have a strong enough team but we certainly don't have a strong enough squad.

On your point about holidays/weekends away/stag do's etc etc - I agree that people are older & have other commitments and that is only to be expected. But I can remember when we were younger a group of us went away every February or March for a week regardless of how we were doing. Do you remember us all getting back from Tenerife and playing the next day in a semi-final against Castle United - that was pure luck we were back for that game (which we lost 3-0 anyway)

Following on from that just to clarify my own position - I don't know if you can remember Lol but I am currently injured - That night I did it in training I was knackered, had only been in from work about 10 minutes (incidently I get no overtime) but decided to go because there was some stick flying about at the time about people not going training - fat lot of good that did me! Lastly, the Brazil trip was booked 1 week ago on a late deal so there was no devious plan hatched back in September to disappear in April for 2 weeks. I wouldn't be playing anyway at the moment so I thought why not. I thought my ankle was on the mend until 2 weeks ago when I went over on a wonky bit of pavement in the City.

We fielded that team once this season...when we beat Wormley Rovers 3-0 back in October. I should say that Murf played instead of Warmers who had not signed up at that stage, but we had Kizza as one of the subs and I think we have missed him since he signed a contract and couldn't play any more.
That was by far the strongest team we have put out so far this season.

Conor, I think we DO have a strong enough squad based on the players we actually have registered, but the problems are being caused by too many of them missing all at once, and now we have players like yourself, Speller, Darryl & Johnny Mac out injured for the rest of the season...or as near as dammit.
The same thing happens in professional football and the supporters then all hound the Manager and the (inferior) players who are playing and losing...as if it's their fault.
Year after year the team that wins the Premiership have a settled side. Remember Everton in the Andy Gray days, Blackburn in the Shearer/Newell days ?
It's the same at our level.
I.M.L. Red Cow and London Ajax are up there because their players can play more or less every week, not because they are better players than us (or those in our full-strength side).

It's interesting that when I speak to opposing club Managers/Secretaries, they rate yourself and our other players who have been playing for us for years as just as good as their players and they are always pleased when they find out that people like yourself, Stuart, Del, Wooly, etc. are unavailable.
They are particularly pleased when they find out John Beasley and Marco Ellerker no longer play for us, but then they get a bit worried when they find out we have strengthened our squad this year by signing quality ex-Everest players, getting a Brazilian on board and re-signing Nugget.

Regarding the Tenerife holiday in the 90's, that was just one week away during a whole season, regardless of how we were doing.
What we have now is mass absences like that (for family reasons) once a month and five or six different players missing virtually every week, regardless of how we are doing. We are probably lucky that we have had so many weeks this season with no game arranged anyway.

At least this season (unlike 2004-2005), I don't think anybody is not playing because they are pissed off with our results. After all, we have only been thrashed once and we are actually unbeaten in our last four matches !

I still can't believe how players can go and watch professional football (live or on TV) in preference to actually playing though.
Even if I was still a season-ticket holder at Spurs and they were playing Juventus in the Champions League, I would rather play for Rovers, tape the Spurs game on telly and watch it later that evening...but then I work from home and don't have to get up early in the morning I suppose !

I understand what your saying Con. What we've got to to do is write people like Darryl,Robin and Nugget off. I really don't think there interested in playing,so with them 3 out of the side we won't be able to compete in the prem.

Well, I make no apologies for GOING to Turin ahead of playing for Rovers because the former doesn't come round very often and, anyhow, I booked that flight before the IML fixture was arranged.

Mind you, at least with me unavailable, it gives you the opportunity to field your first choice Left Midfielder, Lol!!!

Cheers,

Murf

No it doesn't.
Del will be in Las Vegas !

Well, now I know I'm guaranteed to start, I'm gonna cancel my flight & Juventus ticket...!