[Archived] The Transfer Window

[Al]

Not signing a decent right winger because of the price is not 'playing safe'. It is risking the future Premiership status of the club. That is not safe.

If you are dying you do not bargain on the price of the medicine that will save your life! You pay it and find the money from somewhere.

[Billy Castell]

Long term, the only future we have is to sort our youth system out like Boro, Man City or Liverpool have, and produce players the likes of Chelsea or now Citeh are willing to lob £20m+ at. Don't know if our current set up is able to do this after our changes, but it is now more important than ever. A blend of these youngsters who won't rise through the ranks at the big 4, Spuds and Citeh, and a few players who the rich clubs are bored with, and our Premiership future is assured.

We will not be relegated even though we have no right winger. Perhaps we can try different tactics to make up for it.

[Gamst]

I tend to think this window has been one of the worst I can remember. I am only excited about Villanueva, and Ince doesnt even play him. The other signings are suspect to say the least:

Santa Cruz - Might not be able to play football, most likely a stunt to keep him bro happy.

Robinson - Potentially a decent signing as price was good for someone so experienced. However, his form is poor and there is no guarantee that he will return to his former self.

Grella - Seems overpriced and overrated. The board have been painfully frugal so this signing shocked me. I presumed it was media rubbish. Hope he turns out ok. From what I can see, used in the right position, he might be useful.

Bunn - Like buying lower league prospects. 24yrs old with much competative footy experience...might be a good move. On the other hand, he may be rubbish. We shall see...

Simpson - God knows...if he was so desperate for a proper right back he should have splashed the cash on someone more experienced. He is now playing Ooijer there and I dont think it works. He is too slow.

Andrews - Really confusing signing. No other manager in the prem would even look at this guy. Failed at 2 champ clubs and did well in league 2. I would expect him to do well in league 2. He struck me a dire when i watched him regularly at the KC stadium. If he has turned his life around and has genuinely improved then great. Despite his decent start, I dont think he is the standard of player we should have been looking at...and im not contradicting myself re Bunn, Andrews is no longer a prospect, he is 27!

Fowler - We are a laughing stock...please dont sign him Ince!

If we were a championship club I would be satisfied with those signings. They are not good enough if we want to improve! We have taken a backward step and eventually the tightness of the board will cost us. whether it is this season or not, we need to bring in quality to sustain our success! We were lucky with Hughes, he was brilliant at unearthing gems. Ince may not be? As for the clubs inability to sign a right winger...this is ridiculous! They have had a month to do something about it! If Nicko is right about us rejecting approaches for McCarthey then that is ridiculous too. We might regret this window in May. It will be difficult to bring in the players in Jan. As Williams stated last Jan, it a tough, expensive time to sign players!

As for losing bentley and Friedel. I think it was inevitable so dont really hold the club responsible, but it is a result of us not spending over several years. These players are ambitious and we arnt! This will continue to happen in the future, the good players will want to move to ambitious teams and the general quality of our squad will decline.

I have met John Williams and believe him to be a very genuine guy. He has done wonders for this club on a tight budget, but I cant help but question the Ince decision. I know im returning to an old argument here, but Laudrup was a higher calibre option in my opinion. He would have been able to bring in the quality names and would have planted us on the european map. I cant believe that someone with Williams' intelligence would have chosen against Laudrup when he actually asked to come to rovers! Hence, i propose a conspiracy theory: Ince was chosen over Laudrup because Ince would accept not being financially supported. He didnt have much at MK Dons, so he wont complain at rovers. I couldnt imagine a Laudrup, or even a McLaren accepting the pitiful financial support that Ince has had. I dont think Ince is an awful appointment, I just cant help but thinking that there were better options available.

Rant over.

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

You don't love this club.

If you did you wouldn't want to risk it's long term safety by signing a "big name" just to give you (and many others!) a hard on.

Hardly worth it

Doesn't have to be a big name - it needs to be a player with more ability than the ones we've got. If you can find one on the cheap - great - if not you have to pay the going rate. That's how we improve the 1st team.

FFS just because people voice their concern about the club we all support, doesn't mean we don't love the club. On that basis I could argue that you don't love the club because you aren't concerned about the direction the club is going in.

[my_name_is_Earl]

I think it would be fair to suggest that some fans would be slightly disappointed with the window especially after all the huge moves around the league. Some will call this a lack of ambition, others will ring the bells and call armageddon for our beloved club. Some people will simply not really care as other things happen in their life other than football.

However, to those of you who are disappointed, try to keep a little perspective as difficult as it may be. The club continue to be run by a very solid management team who always look out for the clubs best interests (JW and his men). We are by no means anywhere near the worst team in the league even if those assumed clubs such as hull, stoke etc. have brought in players.

We are at the start of a new managers term and there will be teething problems but just remember that our club could not be in better hands and over time, we will start to see the positives which unfortunately we cannot see in this particular transfer window. When the realisation of 'football' sets in over the winter, aside from the sensationalism of 'behind the scenes', we will once again witness the immense solidarity and pride of our boys that comes with wearing the famous blue and white halves. The solidarity of the club can not be underestimated and will forever keep our 'small town club' flying high amongst the big boys.

[JAL]

Judging by the reaction of many of the supporters on many messageboards here,LT,Rovers own board, it looks like war has broken out between the fans and the club on the additions or more importantly non additions to the club this summer.

Everyone is going to have to sit tight, show some patience and Ince has to realise hes in for a battle here as theres no margin for error.

[BRFC1995]

Judging by the reaction of many of the supporters on many messageboards here,LT,Rovers own board, it looks like war has broken out between the fans and the club on the additions or more importantly non additions to the club this summer.

Everyone is going to have to sit tight, show some patience and Ince has to realise hes in for a battle here as theres no margin for error.

uh, war! battle! really? we were fantastic against everton and i can't imagine many thought we'd win, a bit casual against hull at home fluky hull goal, and wham away is a nightmare fixture for us but if roberts is going to miss penalties and the ref is going to even things up with the home team then the performance with debutants is not the worst.

please find the positives and don't over exagerate negatives, there are way bigger clubs than us in divisions below us that are financially knackered. I've never read a southampton or a leeds or a leicester messageboard but i think some should just to realise how good we've got it. Any dreams of trophies are gone forever along with a lot of clubs even ones with money and i include spuds and newcastle amongst teams that just ain't gonna win anything. Win more than u lose and play entertaining football thats are aim now.

[CAPT KAYOS]

On a personal level , the sad reflection I feel (which is not just at the Rovers) but throughout the game at all clubs .. is the 'modern day attitude and thinking' that has spread with the majority of fans rthat money must be spent to resolve an issue without looking at the full implications.

Its a worrying disease and IMO and is commonplace to why we now see clubs in the desperate situations and the way the game is developing.

It all used to be excitement and not the be all and end all with transfers - and a case of 'oh well' lets see what happens next - nowadays it a case panic and the end is nigh (maybe its because of the transfer windows I don 't know) but it creates enormous (unjustified?) unrest which in all reality shouldn't happen.

Rovers may have made a faux pas on the right sided player here but only time wil tell and I am sure there will be very good reasons for their decisions.

[gumboots]

I suspect you're right and the lunatic introduction of the transfer window is partly to blame for the hysteria among clubs and their supporters. Time was, it wouldn't have mattered if we hadn't brought in Bentley's "replacement" before yesterday as we could take our time within reason and see what developed. Then in a few weeks, if the right player seemed to be sitting on the bench more than he liked or a club needed to replace someone and therefore needed to sell to raise funds we could have made our move. Now it's all done against the clock and if you buy you are panicking, and if you don't you have failed because you have to wait till January by which time it might be too late and you could be in trouble and clubs raise their prices according to your level of desperation.

[Bazzanotsogreat]

West Ham talking to Appiah- He can be signed as he is on a free.

Class player

[Athlete]

I tend to think this window has been one of the worst I can remember. I am only excited about Villanueva, and Ince doesnt even play him. The other signings are suspect to say the least:

Santa Cruz - Might not be able to play football, most likely a stunt to keep him bro happy.

Robinson - Potentially a decent signing as price was good for someone so experienced. However, his form is poor and there is no guarantee that he will return to his former self.

Grella - Seems overpriced and overrated. The board have been painfully frugal so this signing shocked me. I presumed it was media rubbish. Hope he turns out ok. From what I can see, used in the right position, he might be useful.

Bunn - Like buying lower league prospects. 24yrs old with much competative footy experience...might be a good move. On the other hand, he may be rubbish. We shall see...

Simpson - God knows...if he was so desperate for a proper right back he should have splashed the cash on someone more experienced. He is now playing Ooijer there and I dont think it works. He is too slow.

Andrews - Really confusing signing. No other manager in the prem would even look at this guy. Failed at 2 champ clubs and did well in league 2. I would expect him to do well in league 2. He struck me a dire when i watched him regularly at the KC stadium. If he has turned his life around and has genuinely improved then great. Despite his decent start, I dont think he is the standard of player we should have been looking at...and im not contradicting myself re Bunn, Andrews is no longer a prospect, he is 27!

Fowler - We are a laughing stock...please dont sign him Ince!

If we were a championship club I would be satisfied with those signings. They are not good enough if we want to improve! We have taken a backward step and eventually the tightness of the board will cost us. whether it is this season or not, we need to bring in quality to sustain our success! We were lucky with Hughes, he was brilliant at unearthing gems. Ince may not be? As for the clubs inability to sign a right winger...this is ridiculous! They have had a month to do something about it! If Nicko is right about us rejecting approaches for McCarthey then that is ridiculous too. We might regret this window in May. It will be difficult to bring in the players in Jan. As Williams stated last Jan, it a tough, expensive time to sign players!

As for losing bentley and Friedel. I think it was inevitable so dont really hold the club responsible, but it is a result of us not spending over several years. These players are ambitious and we arnt! This will continue to happen in the future, the good players will want to move to ambitious teams and the general quality of our squad will decline.

I have met John Williams and believe him to be a very genuine guy. He has done wonders for this club on a tight budget, but I cant help but question the Ince decision. I know im returning to an old argument here, but Laudrup was a higher calibre option in my opinion. He would have been able to bring in the quality names and would have planted us on the european map. I cant believe that someone with Williams' intelligence would have chosen against Laudrup when he actually asked to come to rovers! Hence, i propose a conspiracy theory: Ince was chosen over Laudrup because Ince would accept not being financially supported. He didnt have much at MK Dons, so he wont complain at rovers. I couldnt imagine a Laudrup, or even a McLaren accepting the pitiful financial support that Ince has had. I dont think Ince is an awful appointment, I just cant help but thinking that there were better options available.

Rant over.

signing championship players signals 1 thing the championship Ashley ward , Nathan blake anyone ????

[67splitscreen]

If this is true about are target yesterday, I'm not surprised we failed.

How can we expect to sign a player offering 3.25 mill, for a player who's buy out clause is double the figure.

Reports in Spain have claimed that Espanyol winger Valdo was the target of Rovers' interest, along with Premier League rivals Newcastle.

Rovers are rumoured to have offered 4million euros (£3.25million) for the Brazilian, whose buy-out clause in his contract stands at double that sum.

Newcastle's offer was reported to be higher than Blackburn's, but Espanyol were keen to hang on to Valdo after selling Albert Riera to Liverpool.

Rovers missed out on Valdo - Report

[Athlete]

If this is true about are target yesterday, I'm not surprised we failed.

How can we expect to sign a player offering 3.25 mill, for a player who's buy out clause is double the figure.

Reports in Spain have claimed that Espanyol winger Valdo was the target of Rovers' interest, along with Premier League rivals Newcastle.

Rovers are rumoured to have offered 4million euros (£3.25million) for the Brazilian, whose buy-out clause in his contract stands at double that sum.

Newcastle's offer was reported to be higher than Blackburn's, but Espanyol were keen to hang on to Valdo after selling Albert Riera to Liverpool.

Rovers missed out on Valdo - Report

if the above is correct how the F*** did Rovers think they'd sign him ???? totally baffling

[BuckyRover]

All players in Spain have a buy out clause.

It is usually set at a much higher figure than they are worth. Robinho's was 150m Euros.

[67splitscreen]

All players in Spain have a buy out clause.

It is usually set at a much higher figure than they are worth. Robinho's was 150m Euros.

Yeh, but come on Valdo 3.25, Grella 4 Money running out perhaps, trying to get a player on the cheap, either way I hope they/we don't live to regret the situation it's left us in.

[rover6]

signing championship players signals 1 thing the championship Ashley ward , Nathan blake anyone ????

So West Ham signing Dean Ashton was a stupidly Championship thing to do? Or Everton signing Cahill...

You can't generalise about the lower leagues - even if, on average, the talent is mediocre.

Okay, here's an OT question: Who was better, Nathan Blake or Marcus Bent?

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

Can I add one player to those signed in the transfer window - Roque Santa Cruz - surely that alone makes it a reasonable transfer window.

In essence we lost one of our better midfield players - but correspondingly refreshed a sadly tired central midfield. We have Carlos to add some South American flair and a new young right back (all be it on loan).

Yes - we would be better with a right winger - but overall the team isn't much weaker.

For all those bleating - go and watch City because it is obvious only big money signings will do. I dare say these people also complained that Rovers don't give youth a chance - you can't have it both ways.

[Baz]

Got to say I'm gutted by whats happened at Rovers over the summer.

I'll always support them and get behind the team, but it seems we never learn from past mistakes.

The key part of the Bentley deal should have been that yes you can go, but only when we have a replacement in place. Remember when Shearer left, we had a load of money and couldnt get anyone as we were quoted stupid prices by everyone else. When Hendry and Duff left, much the same. I cant beleive we firstly sell our best players to our rivals, then try to replace them with worse players in the current squad (who have tried and mainly failed in that position previously) or go out and try to replace with players from lower leagues.

I'll judge the players we have brought in when I see them, however my initial thoughts on the ones I've seen are that Simpson is poor, Villanueva skillful but lightweight and Robinson is OK but not Brad. The others we will see with time, but they aren't inspirational.

I don't like to criticise the club but I do think JW should have given better guidance on this to Ince.

Luckily, I think we have enough quality to stay mid-table, but the message is clear from Rovers that we are a selling club and if players kick up a fuss they can go. Reminds me of the Roy Hodgson era.....

As Den says buy first division players, get first division football. Once you stop moving forwards as a club you are taking a big step backwards.

The silence from the club over so many issues and rumours is deafening and worrying. I don't want the club to be run through the media, but it would be nice to be told that we are looking at players. Even signings - I get sms updates from the club, they couldn't even be bothered to tell me Andrews had signed, yet I get to know when Jamie Clarke goes to Stanley.

Its about time the club states if they want to drive forwards, or are willing to accept a big step backwards and get involved with the other clubs striving only to stay up, like we got to with Souey.

[LeChuck]

In essence we lost one of our better midfield players - but correspondingly refreshed a sadly tired central midfield. We have Carlos to add some South American flair and a new young right back (all be it on loan).

The wording of that is really misconstruing what happened. 'One of our better midfield players' would be Dunn or Emerton. Bentley was by far and away our best midfielder and easily our most creative force. On form, he was the heartbeat of the entire team.

I'd hardly say we 'refreshed' our central midfield either...bloated with more average but lacking true quality players, more like. Villanueva is exciting, but is more of a forward player and will probably be at least a few months away from being a big influence in Premiership matches.

For all those bleating - go and watch City because it is obvious only big money signings will do. I dare say these people also complained that Rovers don't give youth a chance - you can't have it both ways.

That's just not true at all. There was plenty of excitement about Villanueva, and he wasn't big money. I can remember when Samba was signing too, lots of people were excited about him because of the sheer enormity of the guy in the pictures posted. On a personal note, I was very excited when Warnock and Bentley joined, and posted so at the time.

Quality is what people wanted.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

As Den says buy first division players, get first division football. Once you stop moving forwards as a club you are taking a big step backwards.

I actually think that Ince could be correct when gambling on lower league players (though I remain to be convinced by Andrews). The whole of the Premiership seems to concentrate on bring players from abroad - Ashton, Cahill, Reid (for a while) show that there are good quality players in the lower leagues.

[Baz]

I actually think that Ince could be correct when gambling on lower league players (though I remain to be convinced by Andrews). The whole of the Premiership seems to concentrate on bring players from abroad - Ashton, Cahill, Reid (for a while) show that there are good quality players in the lower leagues.

I'm not unhappy at bringing in players from the lower leagues, in fact I'd be happy to bring in young exciting talent, but as a general policy it doesnt work. If it did then promoted clubs wouldnt spend all summer bringing in new players, they'd just try to bring in a couple to complement the ones they already had. Generally if you don't you may do a Reading, but your more likely to be closer to a WBA or also a Sunderland or Derby.

[Majiball]

Majiball

Not sure what point you are trying to make about wages be it Valdo or Pennant. The issue is that neither would provide the same quality as Bentley, though based on pound for pound at least Pennant is proven in the Prem. How do you know they would be signed on huge wages?

I used it to illustrate the complete cost of signing what IMHO is a mediocre player, Pennant was recorded as wanting 50K a week to join stoke is it not safe to assume he would want similar from us

Your comment about not signing a winger..playing safe....only have money if we sell.....contradicts all the financial statements/conjecture surrounding the clubs incomings in the last 12 months.

We do not have the financial backing of practically the rest of the league if we sign a dud we will lose huge sums of money we cannot afford to lose. When has the club ever come out and said we have money to spend never, sparky was rumoured to have 10-15M to spend last season we spent 4M. As usual the conjecture is wrong every year we have 10M to spend and never spend anywhere near it.

How do we go out of business if we fail? I suggested in previous posts what I feel is a viable business model. It's not spend, spend - it's about adapting to the transfer market and current situation. You might not agree with it, but don't throw in flippant comments about going out of business - please explain how by investing £30 million over the next 2-3 years will bankrupt BRFC in light of the lats 12 months incomings and a better chance of survival in the Prem for the next 2 years.

I love the fact you now introduce previous posts perhaps next time you'd like to do that from the start, it will help the argument. So since we're playing this game perhaps you'd like to check mine. One in particular refers to the fact setanta are not meeting there targets, the next ITV digital quite possible.

I refer to what happened to Leeds, I remember the days when every week we where on the verge of closure. Your business model to drive us forward, well I commend you on your idea. there is just one fatal flaw, who do you reckon is going to have to sign off on our 30M borrowing?? The trust the same people who have had us up for sale for 2 years now. I would also like to add that we have spent around 10M so is that stage one complete for you 10M invested this year, you should be happy. We owe 21M and you would have us make it 51M in three years based on the hope we can push on. the teams around us last year have spent more than that this year alone, we would still not keep pace.

Dropping out of the Prem may damage us - which is more likely with an a average squad.

Damage would be an understatement. You may consider us an average squad I do not, the likes of Sunderland want players who can't even get in our team.

Relying on our 'trusted' transfer policy is like relying on a house prices crash. Every now and then there will be a blip in the market and the some prices will drop. But over the long term the prices go up and up, if you want to improve what you have or get something bigger you have to trade up.

Our Policy is simple we buy the right player at the right price for us, no-one else, or guess what we don't buy him. I take it every year you bemoaned our lack of spending our constant purchases of bargains (I won't name them you know). As I have said and you fail to realise we are up for sale, the trust want rid they will not spend outside of the remit in jacks will. Even when house prices go up you can still find bargains do them up and flog them on.

If you are happy with Rovers, the board, management, playing style and squad then good for you.

By that very statement I guess you are not happy with the board, management, playing style and squad, so not happy with anything at the club are people like you not called DINGLES

We have been well run for a number of years under JW but we look less and less likely to "punch above our weight" . If we eventually drift back into championship obscurity, so be it. But personally, I'd like to see us punch a little harder for a little longer.

As you said we punch above our weight, but you would have us punch harder for longer with what???? the 8.2M profit we made in the market, what does that buy in as you stated todays ever increasing market. You constantly state we are going to drift back down the leagues, why? do you really think Bentley and Friedel where worth 11 places you really think we will drop that many places. Sad, really give me your address so i can send you a get well card .

Finally I am assuming that you are based at Uni and would have thought you would understand the benefits of using quotes to reference your comments....

Again since you insinuate I should read your previous posts before replaying do so with mine, assumption is the mother of them all as they say. You will now have to type out your response without the aid of being able to quote me, but yes it was easier for me to do this way.

[gumboots]

Sneaky!

[OscarRaven]

Okay, here's an OT question: Who was better, Nathan Blake or Marcus Bent?

That's easy Marcus Bent - PL at more than club, scored a hatrick against one of the best clubs in the league!

P.S. Can we cut down the quoting essay's it makes the thread hard to read - whats the point quoting the whole thing anyway?

[EwoodGlory]

We turned down a £5m bid for Warnock from Newcastle yesterday, so it could have been worse.