Owdoo zigger.
I would like to think we had a chance of a playoff place come May, especially as back in December I put on a back to back promotion bet (promotion via the playoffs is included).
In all honesty though I am not too confident of picking up any winnings on that.
I reckon that a top half finish would be considered a good season.

I feel it could be an exciting season where every point counts.
As we all remember from SODs days sometimes 1 point is better than 0 and certainly better than giving a team "around" us 3 points.
Defence is not always negative

I see that Williams has taken off the transfer list "after impressing DF in pre-season". I hope that this does not mean that Marquis might not be staying! And ATS has gone to Plymouth.

Plymouth fans not happy.
Lost 42 out of 53 games he played for us

I hope Williams staying is that DF can't find anyone better to bring in and echo Donaldo's worry that it may mean Marquis might be leaving. Williams certainly started last season well (wasn't he leading scorer when he was injured?), but not quite the same afterwards. Only seeing highlights makes it difficult to judge as they often highlight bad misses. What are all your thoughts on him - I know I've read "prima donna" in the past!

Drama queen.
But i don't dislike him.
We could get alot worse

Evina gone.
Clearing the decks

Greetings hound. I'll not be putting another bet on us ever again. Had Chelsea, Newcastle, sheff u, celtic, Real Madrid ( European cup ) ......... and us. 😠

Would of been nice to of retired a few years earlier but, after beating cancer last year I'm just thankful to be here. 😀

Spoke to an old mate who I'll be having a few pints with in Chesterfield when we play them. He said all three teams that went up were very physical but all the others tried to play football. He thinks we could get into the playoffs as this league is wide open this year.
He said they outplayed quite a few teams but just couldn't finish, hence relegation. If we could keep our forwards fit n keep banging them in, we could really take this season one to remember.

Which puts me onto another question some one maybe able to put to bed. He said Williams is the top goal scorer in this league, thats still playing in it this season.
Can anyone answer the question for me. Cheers.

I've worked it out he's got 76 goals in this league, could be wrong though. 👍

Can't believe THE LEGEND hasn't got 77

I saw Sheffield United and Scunthorpe last season. Sheff U matched effort with a fair amount of skill which was less apparent in Scunthorpe , but both teams showed high energy levels. I've seen Rovers play in bursts with as much energy, but not as well sustained. As for skill, the same was true especially in attack when (at a lower level admittedly) they looked better, but again there was an inability to sustain it for 90 minutes and we know what happened in general towards the end of the season.

Is that league one goals Lanza?

So marquis has rejected the contract offer.
Thats a suprise

Predictable after the long delay and the news about Williams staying. So will they hang on to him against his wishes or sell him on?

As there has been no speculation over interest from other clubs he must have been genuinely interested in staying, but matching likely offers from the richest Championship clubs would be beyond the club's means and would have distorted the overall pay profile.

I'm not surprised that Marquis is holding out for a better deal or a move to a bigger club. (The news that he would get around to signing a deal when he came back from his holidays gave us a hint.) If he doesn't sign and no-one comes in for him with enough cash presumably he will play out his contract to next summer. But can Marquis do it again, here or elsewhere? Williams came here after a good season at Swindon but hasn't ever looked a good fit in the team. You can't argue with Marquis's 26 goals, strength, speed and aggression, but his first touch is poor and I wonder if he will struggle in this division. With a choice from Williams, Mandeville, May and Kiwomya up front plus goals from midfield I think we we will get by if he leaves.

Maybe someone else playing in the team in a similar position is on substantially more money and he thinks he maybe a better player having scored more goals.
Just maybe

What I believe, he wanted Williams to stay as he thought it was Williams that helped him the most when he came here and getting rid didn't sit well with Marquis. Most, if not all players, turn down the first contract offered. It's just that clubs don't go public with it, or is that why they went public so the fans turn on Marquis instead of the club. If they've only offered him a few quid extra a week, they are telling the truth about offering him more money, but, it could be way short of what Williams is on and that's what Marquis wants. Personally I think the club wanted to make some money of his excellent goal scoring last season and it's come back to bite them in the bum.

Marquis has said he wants to stay, he wants to sign a contract but he's not going to sell himself short. That's the big stumbling point.

The other thing is, the club haven't done well with their targets this year. So announcing Marquis has signed a new contract will be a big thing for them to "milk it" and make the club look good again.

Who do we think were the targets that the club missed out on? When I looked at the completed deals about a week ago very few had actually been done.

I am not surprised at today's announcement about Marquis.
The silence from the club said it all, very obviously there were a few stumbling blocks.
You can't blame him for wanting to get as good a deal as he can for himself and his family but things should have been kept quiet until it as done or he found another club that would offer him what he is looking for.
I can well imagine that a section of the crowd will treat him to the song they sung to Wellens when he was looking for a different deal, that is the "one greedy barsteward" song.
It has been very poorly managed by the club IMO.
As for Williams, his scoring record for us is very good, one in three against a previous career record of one in 4.25 games so he shouldn't be understated.

I see Carl Ikeme has acute leukemia, and anyone ever associated with our beloved team should have all our best wishes and prayers for the future. I must admit as I'm now well into my 70s I can get emotional too easily. I just love Defoe's relationship with that kid who is a supporter of Sunderland and now is on death's row. As my friend Derek (NY) said "It s only a game", but it is a wonderful game that can bring out the best in everyone.

Some interesting thoughts on the Marquis situation. However if the club had not given a progress report they would have been in trouble for keeping us in the dark. I suppose he will be considering what offers come along (assuming Rovers do not block off enquiries) and putting them against Rovers' new contract proposals.

Clearly Williams did not want to leave and he will be hoping to enhance his value either for a new Rovers deal or a move somewhere else as it seems no one came in with anything to tempt him or the club. His recent form will not look good on paper, so he has to prove himself again. I also find it difficult to believe that the club will not already be offering Marquis much better terms than Williams currently enjoys and in the circumstances Williams is hardly likely to be resentful.

It will not be in Marquis's interests to sulk if nothing can be agreed here or elsewhere as he has to consolidate his reputation at League 1 level. Although one only gets an impression of a man's character when they are interviewed I believe he probably holds his association with the club and the manager in more regard than Wellens did in his day. Given the way in which he has talked about what the club has meant to him it would be very sad if the fans turned against him.

I hope something can be arranged and JM stays however just a word of warning for him. Previous players have made the jump from rovers and many go to sit in stands or on the bench making a hatfull of appearances during a season. At 25 id hope if he left it would be to play rather than just the pay.

Having just looked at the potential transfer activity in the Premier League I begin to wonder where our beloved game is going. Originally it was the "working man's" game, but now how does a small catchment area team such as the Rovers compete at anywhere that level? OK, Bournemouth have made it for a few years, but I've not looked into the sources of their funding.
I accept it is the "World Game" (although over here they talk about the World Series for their stick-and-ball game), and TV revenues are a big part, and I like being able to watch some Premier League games over here, but will this eventually drive all but the top clubs out of business?
If you look at last year's Premier League, there were only 7 teams of real substance - the gap between 7th and 8th was 15 points.
Do any of you have any feelings about this?
I'll always be RTID, and I hope Marquis sees sense and does not become another one season wonder.

Marquis rejects 2nd offer. Think we may look to shift him on if a decent offer comes in.