Buckle's Way or....................

[Regiment]

Sorry to start another thread on our old manager, but this caught my eye this morning on the BBC site :-

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/15561458.stm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

seems buckle has held "clear the air talks" with former caretaker manager, former captain, and rovers favourite, Stuart Campbell.

it goes on to say :-

"All parties have agreed on a way forward."

And :-

"A line has now been drawn under the whole affair."


That's that then. So, where do we think Campbell will be playing his football from January ??

[Gullscorer]

This saga unfortunately split the Rovers supporters into two opposing camps on the Bristol Rovers Fans Forum. It looks as if Campbell (or at least his agent) has been guilty of errors of judgement in his approaches to the new contract deal and to the Bristol Evening Post and the whole thing blew up out of all proportion. In the end common sense prevailed and everyone can now focus on the football.

If Campbell, as seems likely, does leave the club in January, he could do a good job for Plymouth Argyle, but wherever he goes he must accept (as I'm sure he will) that his new manager is the boss. If he leaves Rovers with a reputation for causing disruption, his choices of a new club may be limited, but I believe his problems were connected entirely with his time at Rovers and he will leave them behind when he moves.

He will be a good experienced effective player for whoever signs him up.

[royalgull]

Did the same with Woods and Hargreaves and Sills.

Was justified on every one of them despite taking a ton of flak at the time. Strong management sometimes is needed and obviously in Buckle's mind Campbell doesn't justify a new 2 year deal at the club, whether he's been great for them previously or not. Can't say i blame him on that decision. Sounds a very similar case to that of Hargreaves.

sometimes you have to make unpopular decisions, i know it's theme of the month to have a pop at the bloke for everything he and ROvers do and I quite like to see us above them in the league but I don't think Buckle has done anything wrong on this occasion.

[ferrarilover]

Ok, don't necessarily disagree with Royal on this one, but just for balance, do you know more about it than I do? Because I'm not sure, from having read the reports of bust ups in the changing room and all sorts, that PB is acting strictly in the best interests of the club. All the suggestion seems to be that he is shipping out the only viable threat to his tenure, in order to buy himself more time. Now, since I don't know enough about it (I suspect, that unless either concerned party posts on here, none of us does) to say either way, I can offer only opinion from my own perspective. I don't see that that would necessarily be too far fetched to be a possibility. The fans all seem to rate the guy, and he has been playing regularly.
We know Sillsy was disposed of for an incident on the team bus. We know Jesus was offered sideways move and turned it down for money reasons as much as anything else, so clearly PB isn't averse to ridding clubs of players he just doesn't fancy anymore, often for reasons unconnected with time on the pitch.

Who knows, it may turn out that it is all above board, that Campbell is hopeless and doesn't feature in the managers plans, so will be sold as scrap. However, I think we are all to under informed to make that decision for sure.

Matt.

[royalgull]

33 year old whose not regularly in the side want a 2 year playing contract

Buckle offered him a player/coach role, he turned it down. So with his contract running out Buckle offered his name to other clubs, i imagine to reduce the wages or to free up wages to sign somebody else.

But that's also part of management, to move forward you have to make unpopular decisions sometimes. Basically Hargreaves and Wroe were moved out to get Mansell, Lathrope and O Kane in. Postive move in the end.

As regard to a threat to him i don't think so. Rovers had the opportunity of offering Campbell the management gig at the end of last season, paid all the money to get Bucks and his staff in they are hardly going to dispense of him at the first sign of trouble to give the gig back to Campbell. Not even they are that stupid.

[Gullscorer]

I tend to agree with Royalgull. While Rovers supporters do rate Campbell as a footballer, many of them were unhappy with the way he allegedly behaved last season, and with his actions regarding his contract this season. Whether or not he was badly advised by his agent, it was probably just a big misunderstanding blown out of all proportion. But it does look as if some Rovers fans, in their loyalty to a longstanding player at the club, have been unduly and harshly critical of Paul Buckle, who appears only to have done what any strong manager would do. Interesting to read all the views on their forum. Supporters may never know the full story, but as the storm (in a tea cup?) now appears to have settled, perhaps everyone can now move forward and focus on the football.

[ferrarilover]

as I say, I don't necessarily disagree with Royal on this, especially his very valid point regarding unpopular decisions in management, just though it might be interesting to pose similar questions as those being raised on the BRFC forum and see what replies I got.

Matt.

[royalgull]

I'm answering the Rovers fans questioning it, not you Matt

What would really pi$$ me off is they could have signed Howe for free and instead spent money on Harrold who is armitage shanks.

Murked.

[ferrarilover]

This keeps happening with you and I, dunnit Royal? I know you're not shouting at me, but there are some bullies on this forum (identified by red usernames) who pick on any weakness, so I have to shout back at you. :~D

Matt.