Not footballing men

We should be looking at how clubs are run, not at how managers do things. It is a recipe for disaster to say that so and so will come into our club and will do this and say that.

Let's get one thing straight, there is no set formula for success in football. You only have to look around the leagues to see that this is the case. Martin Allen has of course failed at other clubs that he has been at. He has also been successful. There are no guarantees that a manager like Allen would come here and be a success. It's that roll of the dice being played again and it scares me to bits.

We need to get our house in order first and foremost or nothing will change.

Most chairmen are not footballing men, but they do know how to run a business, Higgs seems to struggle with that.

Did he earn is money at Cowlin or did he inherit and then sell the company?

Higgs appointed a MR Nasty and shafted him. We have had `experienced` managers and they have shafted Higgs.
Next answer to our predicament please.
It wouldnt have been so hard 4/5 years ago to put right any mistakes with the money being thrown around then but now? with no money?

Shhhh! You aren't supposed to ask akward questions like did Higgs build Cowlin or was he just born into the right family.

They are masters of the understatement, I see.

That never happened, Allen's dates of employment and our dates of sacking/appointing managers just don't add up I'm afraid. 

When I hear you say that then it deeply concerns me as, quite apart from any other stuff we have talked of, I know you are not just good but you have a very good grasp of footballing matters. I never thought it coukd get worse than the Friday night and very dour 0-0 draw V Southend, last season.
I had genuinely hoped DC would come out fighting and especially how he talked on radio Bristol. He said everything that we as fans want to hear. I know guys who went a bought ST's the next morning, after that radio performance.
Do we have a manager who just cannot produce or is he being so constrained by the board and finances , that it is them stopping him ?
My own view is the former. I think he has been in the right place when wrong things have happened. I think he blagged the job. I would love to be proved wrong but he looks and talks like an amateur.
Regardless of our opinions on the players he has brought in, on paper each had their merits albeit in a lower end product. An efficient man manager and mentor would train and give them belief. I see a team bereft of belief and the mental capacity to perform to the best of their ability.
Interesting enough, I spent part of the afternoon with Glen Cattley yesterday. He did actually come into our club last season but only for one session with no follow up. His views paint a very poor mindset within the club.
We need winners or at least people with the mindset of wanting to win and to maintain a winning and positive mindset for personal reasons which are conducive to a team mindset of winning.
We really aren't even online when it comes to the nurturing of mental side of athletes.
Anyway, just a side thought mate. Hope you are well buddy

PS

Glen Cattley was the former WBC super middleweight champion of the world and now runs his own company which works on the mental side of sports in particular and has many high end clients all over the works. He is a clinical psychologist with a speciality in sportsmen and women for those that have not heard of him. He is a Bristol born boy who just also happens to be Rovers.

Couldn't agree more.

If anyone doubts how important the mental side of the equation is then watch Nigel Benn Vs Gerald McLellan.

Benn is literally punched out of the ring in the first minute, then he's floored again around the 8th round, did he care? Not one bit, he got back up and marched forward again. He said afterwards that he was ready to go with McLellan, all the way. He had spent some time with Paul McKenna leading up to the fight and walked into the ring with defeat simply not being an option.

Sadly that fight had a tragic outcome, but my point is that Benn had his preperation and mental state of mind spot on, he gave the gutsiest performance you will ever see.

How much mental preperation do you suppose Rovers players are subjected to?

Maybe this spills over into 'real life', I have no idea.

Mike Tyson was a force of nature until Don King arrived on the scene. He was out running at 5am, then to the gym, rest, ring work, gym again, and so it went on. At that time there was nobody that stood a chance of beating him. The great man, Cus D'Amato convinced Mike that he had to believe that his next opponant was preparing that way. One look at Tony Tubbs tells you that wasn't always the case, but D'Amato had found the button to push that got Mike into the ring in top physical and mental shape.

Look at Lewis Hamilton today, everything that could go wrong this season has gone wrong, he went from pole position to 4th at the first corner, at that point the championship was over. How did he respond? The result of the race tells you all you need to know.

Now look at Rovers, go a goal down to a pub team and heads drop. The man who is supposed to galvanise them blames the referee, then steams into his players in a live radio interview. I'm sure that will help!

This board can't/won't accept that they need help, that's because they convince themselves that everything that goes wrong is either someone else's fault, or just rotton luck. It's sad in all honestly, the supporters want the same thing as the BoD, a team and a club to be proud of, but they seem determined to refuse to help themselves.