| The Road to Nowhere on 10:24 - Mar 8 with 3992 views | Sandyman |
An excellent piece, ATP. |  | |  |
| The Road to Nowhere on 11:54 - Mar 8 with 3843 views | todmordendale |
A Frank Assessment. |  | | |
| The Road to Nowhere on 12:03 - Mar 8 with 3814 views | 49thseason |
This is a slightly dated piece on average ages of squads and positions across the major international football countries. The conclusion points to the Rochdale problem, young players do not replace the older ones as pillars of the team. Instead we sell them before their prime.
"Conclusion
Squad assembly is an art that must be carefully mastered to be successful. Evidence shows that a good balance is necessary to perform durably at the highest level. A balanced age structure permits young footballers to develop alongside more experienced players and progressively replace them as pillars of the team. This is also a necessary prerequisite to maintain a satisfactory level of stability and performance over the long term.
While no single truth exists with regard to the relationship between age structure and success, the median age of champions in the five major European leagues between 2009 and 2017 is a good indicator of a possible benchmark. This figure is 26.5 years old. In accordance with previous findings, we can state that in order to achieve sustainable success, it is important for clubs to have as many players who did not celebrate their 27th birthday than footballers over this age threshold".
https://football-observatory.com/IMG/sites/mr/mr32/en/ |  | | |
| The Road to Nowhere on 12:18 - Mar 8 with 3770 views | Bazzanne |
A well thought out and well written observation of all that's wrong at this club. A distinct lack of ambition seems to have permeated throughout. A sad indictment on those responsible for running Rochdale AFC. | | | |
| The Road to Nowhere on 12:23 - Mar 8 with 3746 views | finberty |
Nail on head with this part:
"Why should we as fans turn up in the knowledge that we are watching a club that believes the final result of the match we've paid to watch is less important than a player developing and being put into the shop window during that match?" |  | | |
| The Road to Nowhere on 13:12 - Mar 8 with 3610 views | rhf |
A good piece this and this alleged model has never really worked, apart from bywater who never played a league game for us,how many of our own academy players have commanded decent fees, played in the premier league or for that matter even been good enough to be a regular in L1 or 2, not many! The real skill is spotting and signing players in the broken toy or under achievers category at their clubs, that’s where we have made our real money and signed some quality.Holt from Sheffield Wed reserves, Lambert - Stockport reserves, Dawson - Radcliffe Borough, Hogan -Hyde, Buckley - Oldham, Le Fondre- Stockport, Murray - Carlisle reserves, and even Done who we have received significant fees for was originally signed from Hereford. There’s probably more of course but that’s the model we need to return to, the basis of our success on and off the field. That seems to have been forgotten by this board, you need a manager and scouting system to deliver it, surely that’s not too hard ! | | | |
| The Road to Nowhere on 13:49 - Mar 8 with 3483 views | 442Dale |
Best bit for me in an excellent piece was illustrating the contradictions around the “philosophy” and the actual team selections. Where exactly are these younger players developing if they can’t get into their preferred positions when the team is struggling with out of form/out of position players being chosen ahead of them?
Not only do actions speak louder than words as Paul McShane says, they also tell a story when those actions don’t even match the words. |  |
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| The Road to Nowhere on 14:23 - Mar 8 with 3406 views | JPSDale |
Completely agree with this piece - and the questioning of the model.
I would add another question, how much less will we get for the players we "develop" if we provide L2 experience rather than L1 ? League One experience is more valuable than L2, its a higher standard that they will have operated at, hence higher value.
If we go to League Two, then our financial plight will be even worse, and we will "accept" even lower offers for our talent because we will be hit with even lower ball offers
Action Required Immediately to at least TRY to stop the drop into League 2, BBM needs to make a change to tactics, or he needs to be changed ( sorry - but its a results that count)
PS I seem to remember that when BBM took over he re-instated Wilbraham ( who had fallen out with Hill ) We hit longer passes into him, held it up, passed to our players and moved up the pitch, it worked last time we were in a mess, maybe Humphrys will need to play this role for the team, show, hold, pass and we just might stop the slide | | | |
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| The Road to Nowhere on 14:41 - Mar 8 with 3361 views | finberty |
"PS I seem to remember that when BBM took over he re-instated Wilbraham ( who had fallen out with Hill ) We hit longer passes into him, held it up, passed to our players and moved up the pitch, it worked last time we were in a mess..."
Agreed, but even then he messed up, substituting Wilbraham who had spent the afternoon bossing Sunderland's defence, with fifteen minutes or so to go. This removed all pressure from Sunderland, who unsurprisingly swept forward to force the eventual winner.
The only person showing any agitation at all on the touchline was......Wilbraham. | | | |
| The Road to Nowhere on 16:26 - Mar 8 with 3233 views | judd |
We didn't come this far to only come this far. |  |
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| The Road to Nowhere on 17:31 - Mar 8 with 3110 views | 56years |
| The Road to Nowhere on 13:12 - Mar 8 by rhf |
A good piece this and this alleged model has never really worked, apart from bywater who never played a league game for us,how many of our own academy players have commanded decent fees, played in the premier league or for that matter even been good enough to be a regular in L1 or 2, not many! The real skill is spotting and signing players in the broken toy or under achievers category at their clubs, that’s where we have made our real money and signed some quality.Holt from Sheffield Wed reserves, Lambert - Stockport reserves, Dawson - Radcliffe Borough, Hogan -Hyde, Buckley - Oldham, Le Fondre- Stockport, Murray - Carlisle reserves, and even Done who we have received significant fees for was originally signed from Hereford. There’s probably more of course but that’s the model we need to return to, the basis of our success on and off the field. That seems to have been forgotten by this board, you need a manager and scouting system to deliver it, surely that’s not too hard ! |
Excellent post - in addition to a very thoughtful first piece - I hope somebody 'out there' is reading it! | | | |
| The Road to Nowhere on 01:07 - Mar 9 with 2933 views | Bazzanne |
What a sad indictment on the people who are running the club. I agree with the sentiment that if you have no ambition to be the best you can you may as well not bother being a part of it. The people in charge are ruining it all. No entertainment, no ambition, no hope. Poor suffering fans. | | | |
| The Road to Nowhere on 09:26 - Mar 9 with 2758 views | BucketBstard |
Excellent synopsis ATP.
It is indeed worrying times and we as fans seem like an irritating sideline, fortunately for the board, we are not allowed to attend matches so our "voice" cannot be heard. | | | |
| The Road to Nowhere on 11:14 - Mar 9 with 2654 views | 49thseason |
The football-observatory.com website has an interesting statistical view on possession football and makes the point that clubs with high levels of possession tend to win more games over a season, but that the only possession that makes a difference is actually possession in the attacking third.
Obvious if you think about it I suppose but all the tippy tappy at the back is a waste of time if you cant keep possession in the final third it also exposes the need to be able to hold the ball up and bring in other players. If you can't hold the ball in the final third it simply helps the opposition to pressure your defence. We are missing Beesley up front, Humphrys needs a partner to hold the ball up as much as the rest of the team, with him we score goals, without him, not so much | | | |
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