Quote: Mild Rover "As rallying calls go this is going to be pretty tepid. It's been a yucky start to the year for Rovers, with the injuries, uselessgormlessbiasedidiotdisciplinary-gate and what have you. Plus Hull look good, meaning that the usually hilarious swagger of some of their fans on here currently looks annoyingly justified.
But I think the tendency to put the worst possible spin on every aspect of... well, everything Rovers-related has gone a bit bonkers. I mean, I'm looking at the next few weeks with a bit of trepidation, but reading some stuff on here you'd think we were on the verge of relegation and collapse.
After a pretty much fairytale first five years in SL (driven by vanity according to Rob Crossland, but no less enjoyable for that), attempts to build better foundations during the next four don't really seem to have worked. Not all plans succeed. The turnover of players has been unhealthy and something went wrong with our local talent identification and/or development - for all that there might be fewer kids playing the game, Hull have produced a few who look SL standard. But you can learn from failed plans, and apparently we have a new one. Based on the assumption that Hudgell, Crossland, Smith, Peacock and Chester are merely fallible rather than grossly incompetent, here are some elements I think or hope the plan includes.
1. No more Wayne Ulugias. It didn't have to be Wayne, there have been a few, but as he was the final nail for Sandercock he'll do. People, myself included, have questioned why the squad is so skinny, and certainly you can over-do picky, but I think there is now a focus on getting the right type of people on board, and stopping the revolving door recruitment policy.
2. No more Tony Larvins. Hudgell and Crossland have more than done their bit already. Without them it likely would be relegation and collapse. I think this 5 year plan will aim to change that, so that there's a realistic chance that the next prospective owner might be somebody a bit more credible than Tony. A huge task, but also hugely important.
3. A few more Liam Salters. The importance of youth development to the success of the top teams is massively overstated IMO. To the point that some people seem to think that it is the sole factor that differentiates the best from the rest. That doesn't mean it isn't important though and it has been a problem for us. There's the potential that the City of Hull Academy could offer a better return on a smaller investment - if it is done right.'"
Inevitably the here and now will dominate discussion. The past to those who didn't experience it is a grainy newsreel. The future some modern day Sinclair CV5.
The past is nothing more than a few turns of the earths orbit the future a few turns more.
That's all we know. The rest is beyond human understanding..
