Tranmere Rovers
Promising signs?
By Alan Tollack
June 7 2023
The arrival of Kristian Dennis offers a promising sign that next season may be better than the last one. Dennis is a proven goal scorer at this level, his 21 goals made a massive contribution to Carlisle United’s promotion. Could it be the sign of a more positive future?
Just as one swallow doesn’t make a summer, one decent signing doesn’t change much. There were failings all over the pitch last season, and a sense that our recruitment policy concentrated on numbers not quality. Added to this, the quality players we had all seemed to be struck down with injuries that left them sidelined for long periods. Let’s assume Kieron Morris and Paul Lewis stay, we need to look at what else we need in the team.
For me we lacked a decent ball winning midfielder, someone who could impose themselves on the game and get stuck in. I am thinking of someone in the Eddie Bishop/Jay Harris/ Jay Spearing mould. A player able to win back the ball and break up opposition attacks. To a degree Lee O’Connor should have been developing into this kind of player. Some of his tackles were excellent, however he seems prone to lapses of concentration. Of course, that could simply be inexperience but it may be that he doesn’t develop into the type of crunching tackler we need.
In defence it seems that Josh Dacres-Cogley is soon to depart. It’s been suggested that Lee O’Connor could cover this role, time will tell. Josh had less impact in the final third of the season, but then the whole team weren’t playing well. In any case, if his departure is imminent, we need to cover that role.
We also need a new keeper, and cover. We have a strong history of strong wearers of the green jersey. Dickie Johnson, Eric Nixon, Simo, to name but a few. It’s been disconcerting to see us not doing as well with our fella between the sticks over the past few seasons. Credit to Joe Murphy for standing in, but we need a longer term solution.
I suspect we will see at least one more departure from our forward line, with rumour suggesting Kane Hemmings is the most likely person to leave. The question remains as to where he would go? I haven’t seen him linked to any other clubs. However, it would be odd if, say, Harvey Saunders were to make way given his recent arrival. It may be the club have found the money to accommodate Hemmings and Dennis, a combination that sounds like it should be a law firm with offices in Hamilton Square.
It remains to be seen if Ian Dawes will continue to play football the way we did last season. From the outside it’s hard to tell how good recruitment is without knowing what the overall strategy will be. All we can do is speculate and hope that the master plan in development sees us challenging at the top end of the table.
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07/06/2023 09:42
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If we fail to sell anyone this summer for decent fees, the strategy is failing. But it’s almost certain we will be selling, Hawkes and Bristow the obvious two, but there may be others.
So, assuming that part of the strategy delivers, we’ll have a fair bit more recruiting to do than just filling in the pieces missing from the current jigsaw.
We’ll see.
As for Dawes, his credentials have been discussed many times so no point going over all that again. But it’s hard to argue that his spell at the end of last season gives any encouragement for the future, seeing as all he delivered (with a very limited squad it must be said) was less pragmatic football that simply resulted in conceding more goals and failing to get results against poor teams.
I wish him well, of course, but he’s got a lot of convincing to do.
Quote:XFA
A key plank of the club’s strategy now is to sell players on for decent fees.
If we fail to sell anyone this summer for decent fees, the strategy is failing. But it’s almost certain we will be selling, Hawkes and Bristow the obvious two, but there may be others.
So, assuming that part of the strategy delivers, we’ll have a fair bit more recruiting to do than just filling in the pieces missing from the current jigsaw.
We’ll see.
As for Dawes, his credentials have been discussed many times so no point going over all that again. But it’s hard to argue that his spell at the end of last season gives any encouragement for the future, seeing as all he delivered (with a very limited squad it must be said) was less pragmatic football that simply resulted in conceding more goals and failing to get results against poor teams.
I wish him well, of course, but he’s got a lot of convincing to do.
I share your concern. If Adkins wasn’t alongside him I think his tenure would be short, I predicted he would be gone by Halloween. However, I reckon Adkins is a de facto part time manager, with Dawes taking charge of training. This gives me a greater degree of confidence, albeit I wonder what would happen if Adkins was offered a better management job at a higher level? I am assuming the arrangement at Rovers creates a win:win for him.
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Beyond that we will see who else may leave or be brought in.
It's then up to the fans to get behind the team with the focus of achieving promotion together.
New signings, new management team, new kits, new fan park, new hope. SWA
Fans can already see we’ve probably planned for his succession already. That might be too harsh a perspective, but it’s certainly understandable. Players won’t be easily fooled either.
There is also a risk that the structure put in place to help him succeed might actually end up undermining him. A manager should be able to command a dressing room on his own. In our case, we’re relying on a rookie who the club has publicly said needs mentoring by an ex PL manager, with an ex PL player as his assistant. In terms of who commands the most respect from the getgo, the ex Floriana and Bangor man probably starts off ranking 3rd of 3.
He might well have the personality, leadership and man-management skills, as well as the technical skills, to win them over very quickly. I hope he does, because he’ll need them.
Quote:Crazylegs Cranebird
And who can forget his WWWWW record in his first spell as caretaker.
You for one, seeing as one of those Ws was actually a D!
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2023:06:07:19:46:17 by XFA.
Then I ate his Liver.......... with some baked beans and a can of coke.
From memory, it didn't happen because the Blades wanted us to pay his wages if he didn't play.
Nor do I go with the theory that our resources rules out promotion. 3 auto and 4 in the play off places gives scope for breaking into the group.Last season we were inconsistent and set up negatively.It is not a high step to beak into the top seven.
My biggest concern is that we have a number of players who will still be here who would need to improve significantly on last season
Quote:Bored rover
how on earth anyone can come to any conclusion on what we will be like is nuts, and to be fair we wont go up we cant compete with Wrexham and Co
Yet you managed it with relative ease.
Then I ate his Liver.......... with some baked beans and a can of coke.
Quote:Matt34Quote:Bored rover
how on earth anyone can come to any conclusion on what we will be like is nuts, and to be fair we wont go up we cant compete with Wrexham and Co
Yet you managed it with relative ease.
No comment on how promising or otherwise we will play simply that a number of money bags are landing ! No indication as to our abilities!
Then you can assess how sea worthy it is.
Mind you , if it gets converted to a submarine again 😜
He now has that Eufa pro licence which means he must be at least capable of managing a professional team. We need to see how it goes. Not enough data to judge him as a manager as yet.
Quote:XFA
The fact remains Dawes has a big challenge on his hands to command the respect of, and then get the best out of, whatever squad he ends up working with.
Fans can already see we’ve probably planned for his succession already. That might be too harsh a perspective, but it’s certainly understandable. Players won’t be easily fooled either.
There is also a risk that the structure put in place to help him succeed might actually end up undermining him. A manager should be able to command a dressing room on his own. In our case, we’re relying on a rookie who the club has publicly said needs mentoring by an ex PL manager, with an ex PL player as his assistant. In terms of who commands the most respect from the getgo, the ex Floriana and Bangor man probably starts off ranking 3rd of 3.
He might well have the personality, leadership and man-management skills, as well as the technical skills, to win them over very quickly. I hope he does, because he’ll need them.
Quote:Crazylegs Cranebird
And who can forget his WWWWW record in his first spell as caretaker.
You for one, seeing as one of those Ws was actually a D!
Really? are you referring to the EFL trophy game which finished a draw but we then won on penalties?
Quote:ALOTBSOL
He now has that Eufa pro licence which means he must be at least capable of managing a professional team.
Well you'd have to hope so, although I would think someone with a B license could possibly manage a professional team.
Then I ate his Liver.......... with some baked beans and a can of coke.
Quote:Bored roverQuote:Matt34Quote:Bored rover
how on earth anyone can come to any conclusion on what we will be like is nuts, and to be fair we wont go up we cant compete with Wrexham and Co
Yet you managed it with relative ease.
No comment on how promising or otherwise we will play simply that a number of money bags are landing ! No indication as to our abilities!
You kind of did though, by saying Tranmere won't go up, it makes you look like you think they would not have promotion achieving ability.
Then I ate his Liver.......... with some baked beans and a can of coke.
Quote:Matt34Quote:ALOTBSOL
He now has that Eufa pro licence which means he must be at least capable of managing a professional team.
Well you'd have to hope so, although I would think someone with a B license could possibly manage a professional team.
My comment still is true though! 😜
Then I ate his Liver.......... with some baked beans and a can of coke.
Quote:Matt34
Absolutely.
And when Tranmere wins the F.A. Cup this season, he will be allowed to manage the team in Europe 🤪
