[Archived] The Transfer Window

[LeChuck]

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?

I have to agree, it's impossible to read, regardless of the use of capitals/bold. I don't know why people don't just break the post down in to multiple quotes and reply that way, makes it far more manageable for the eyes.

[gumboots]

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

Of course it could have been worse. We could have lost santa Cruz, Warnock could have gone, we could be in the position certain clubs are in of not having won yet in the premier league this season. We could wonder where on earth we are and are going like Newcastle fans do. I almost feel sorry for them with the carry on they're going through this time. We could find ourselves like Liverpool, supposedly one of the big clubs but unable to build our new ground with owners who are broke and a manager who seems clueless to most but who they have to keep faith with because he's won them a trophy and they like their history and the idea of loyalty. We could be like Arsenal who are supposed to stay in the big 4 despite the fact that their manager seems averse to spending any of the money in real terms that is supposed to be available to him, when the fans know that injury to any of their 2 or 3 key players could now take them out of the cash cow that is the top 4, Champions league places. There are loads of fans looking at their club today and saying we should have done better in the transfer window. Spurs fans admitting that they can't break into the top 4, won't win the league in the foreseeable future and they are unlikely to get relegated so the best they can hope for is midtable and a good cup run with perhaps a win in the Carling cup like last year if they get lucky. Villa fans thinking their squad still isn't big enough if they want to compete on all fronts and build on last season.

It could be better for us but it could still be a whole lot worse.

[Amo]

It could be better for us but it could still be a whole lot worse.

Is that it? We failed to replace our main attacking source last season but hey it could be worse? We should be looking at how we failed to sign anyone, NOT all this apologetic dribble.

We've clearly shown we're not the same team without Bentley, despite everyone dancing on his grave when we beat Everton. For the staff not to address this problem is very discouraging from a supporter's point of view and can't be dismissed so easily.

[Athlete]

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.

I sincerely hope not !

JW is paid handsomely as a chief executive of the club so he should it get his act together

what are we a club going forward ? pushing for Europe as the last few seasons or a selling club whose sole ambition is to stay up .

The appointment of Ince ( not a fan ) was it the cheap option ? why not push the boat out and go for a big name ???

[Amo]

I sincerely hope not !

JW is paid handsomely as a chief executive of the club so he should it get his act together

what are we a club going forward ? pushing for Europe as the last few seasons or a selling club whose sole ambition is to stay up .

The appointment of Ince ( not a fan ) was it the cheap option ? why not push the boat out and go for a big name ???

You know all the money invested from selling Bentley, Friedel, and appointing Ince and his budget staff? Well at the end of the year, they save it all up.... and it pays for the bubbly at the shareholder's meeting. Gotta have a bit of bubbly haven't the shareholders!

[gumboots]

Is that it? We failed to replace our main attacking source last season but hey it could be worse? We should be looking at how we failed to sign anyone, NOT all this apologetic dribble.

We've clearly shown we're not the same team without Bentley, despite everyone dancing on his grave when we beat Everton. For the staff not to address this problem is very discouraging from a supporter's point of view and can't be dismissed so easily.

Do you know if they tried to replace what he gave us as a team? Do you know for a fact exactly what went on during the transfer window at rovers? I don't. I rather like our manager in that I think he could do a good job for us if we let him do it. This constant carping and criticising does nobody any good. I assume that the chairman and manager tried to find the best player for rovers at a price they thought they could reasonably be asked to pay and that they were sensible about how much they were prepared to spend. If they didn't do that then they've let us down but until there is evidence of failure I'm not apologising for them - I dislike incompetence as much as anyone else - but I'm not going to get on their backs like too many are here. Yes, it could be a lot worse. there are plenty of other teams bemoaning their lack of activity in the transfer window. There are plenty of big clubs who failed to get targets. There are plenty of others thinking well we didn't get the players we wanted but we've still got....... The reality is you can't always have what you want, espeaially if you support Rovers. What you can have is plenty of effort and a well-run club.

[Athlete]

You know all the money invested from selling Bentley, Friedel, and appointing Ince and his budget staff? Well at the end of the year, they save it all up.... and it pays for the bubbly at the shareholder's meeting. Gotta have a bit of bubbly haven't the shareholders!

They've certainly not speculated too accumalate - thats for sure

[DingleBaiter]

Question - if we'd have signed a right winger yesterday, on a percentage scale how much would that have settled the detractors?

i.e. - if a right winger had come in, would that be the only gripe folks would have had? Was this the 'dealbreaker'?

Reason I ask this, is it seemed (despite threads suggesting otherwise) they had someone lined up AFTER the Holman deal had died, yet it flopped at the last minute. I know it's annoying to have all window to sort it out, but that doesn't mean we could have sorted it earlier.

Always felt the Pennant deal was doable, but not realistic given the risk set against high price. Once Stoke said they'd pay 5 million we were out the water on that one I guess, there's not many would beat JW in a blinking game I'd suggest. He got the better of Spurs twice this window, seen off City and Newcastle & does always seem to pull off great deals. Kuqi for 2 million anyone?

Pennant to me was like going out on the pull on a Sat night, knowing you've got an easy jump with the fat ugly bird but you still spend your time trying to pull a hottie all the way up till 5 to two. Then when you get blown out, you look around and some other mug is sucking face, and you realise what a close shave you've just had.

[RibbleValleyRover]

Reason I ask this, is it seemed (despite threads suggesting otherwise) they had someone lined up AFTER the Holman deal had died, yet it flopped at the last minute. I know it's annoying to have all window to sort it out, but that doesn't mean we could have sorted it earlier.

Wasn't that Valdo? He had a buyout clause of €8m and we made an offer of €4m. Newcastle offered more but were still way short of the buy out clause. There was pretty much no chance of getting him for a fee smaller than the buyout clause, especially as they had just sold Zabaleta.

It was a stupid move and pointless IMO.

[S15]

I'd agree with your analogy but the club was actually full of dogs. Glad we stayed in and saved our cash.

[DingleBaiter]

Wasn't that Valdo? He had a buyout clause of €8m and we made an offer of €4m. Newcastle offered more but were still way short of the buy out clause. There was pretty much no chance of getting him for a fee smaller than the buyout clause, especially as they had just sold Zabaleta.

It was a stupid move and pointless IMO.

I'd be surprised. Despite what Nicko says, we're not as shoddy or amateur as some folks on here think, at least in terms of player recruitment and how we do our business. The model you suggest is more akin to Newcastle I'd suggest?

For Rovers to have gone to the eleventh hour, they'd have been fully aware of what they had to do for any of their targets - and in which order. For Rovers staff (NOT Matthias) to actually tell fans a player was coming suggests they were confident, which doesn't fit with your interpretation. The Internet is a dangerous place for spurious rumours and 'modern jackass' types who pass a little information as gospel.

You make them sound like market trading carpet sellers.....

[RibbleValleyRover]

Err wasn't it over a month ago that Mathias said we were going to bring a quality player to replace Bentley? I will need to find the article if it’s still around.

By the looks of it we waited until the last day to make our move and it backfired. I can't explain why Ince or the board made this decision so late. I personally believe we should have been looking to replace Bentley as soon as it was clear he wasn't going to sign the new contract and a right midfielder should have been one of the first signings we were looking to bring in.

I just find it hard to believe that there wasn't someone out there who we could have brought in that would offer far more than Emerton and Reid would. Whether that was a well known player or an unknown one, a domestic one or a foreign one, a freebie or a £5 million + player, there must be a proper right winger willing to come to this club.

As a fan I have to point out if I believe we have a glaring weakness that could have a detrimental impact on our season, in particular if we stick with a 4-4-2.

[DingleBaiter]

Err wasn't it over a month ago that Mathias said we were going to bring a quality player to replace Bentley? I will need to find the article if it’s still around.

As a fan I have to point out if I believe we have a glaring weakness that could have a detrimental impact on our season, in particular if we stick with a 4-4-2.

Yup, with no out & out right winger on the books - until we solve mystery of what's happened to Andy Howarth - it does like a 'make do and mend' affair.

I agree also it's mysterious why we waited so long, having so actively scouted for what even the dullest Burnley fan would have identified as a skills gap. Again, as of 2000hrs last night, seems everyone at the club were certain someone was coming. Come 2200 or so, clearly not the case. Cue x files music....

It does seem short-sighted at first glance (no pun intended) but there's a reason for everything. I can only think they took so long because they either i) didn't see anyone that sold themselves 100% or ii) didn't justifying breaking their parameters or iii) put all their eggs in one basket only for someone to renege or flake the deal.

Pennant was possibly the closest fit to their needs, but IMO it wouldn't have been sound sense to bring in someone on similar wages to your best player who can't cross? Then again, for something to be so glaringly obvious there must be something else as to why they didn't go for him? Likewise Kightly - I harboured secret hopes we'd get him for the 6 million Ince mentioned clubs were willing to pay for him, but again - there's a reason why.

Maybe we're going to put Treacy on left wing and make him run backwards, he's got to be better than Reid. Then again, there's always January or next season when we can bring Hughes back with SWP, Ireland, Johnson, Richards, Harte etc. once Peter Kay's money-mad Arabs have turned them into the Beswick Globe-Trotters. It's all a long-term plan you see

[Veevs]

Well here is a premier league breakdown of pre-season spending...

Arse 1.25

Villa 40.8

Rovers -8.25

Bolton 13

Ch 4.2

Everton 0.5

Fulham 17

Hull 6.25

Pool 19.25

Man c 33.7

Man u 24.2

Midd 0.7

New 4.1

Port -1.3

St 19.3

Su 28.4

Tot -9.3

Wb 13.3

Whu -14.5

Wigan 4

Edit: This is taken from the Times yesterday and adjusted to include the last minute deals

[joey_big_nose]

I guess that accounts for Bentley as 15m for Rovers as opposed to nine? I had it that we broke even (if you look at Carlos costing 4m which we need to exercise by December).

[modes98]

Well here is a premier league breakdown of pre-season spending...

Man c 33.7

Edit: This is taken from the Times yesterday and adjusted to include the last minute deals

Surely they spent more than that!

JO: £19m

Kompany: £6m

SWP: £9m

Zabaleta: £6.75m

Tal Ben Haim: £4m

Robinho: £32.5m

Sold: Corluka for £8.5m

[DingleBaiter]

Never trust anything in football with numbers/stats, especially transfers - what was that line about damn lies and statistics?

For instance, transfer fees these days are often unclear (the dreaded 'undisclosed) unless the club have to report to Stock Exchange (a la Bentley).

Back to Shearer's time, we never could decide if it was 3.3 or 3.6 million.

At best, the media guess at a lot of transfer fees. At worst, they're downright biased.

[Majiball]

I'm pretty sure Man city spent 70M+ in the end.

And there's the issue, if we bank on one of the top 4 winning both the league and FA cups we are pretty much playing for 7th. For us to compete financially is a none starter, given our current financial status. Both Villa and City can pretty much sign anyone and they are not even in the champions league.

Come next season it going to be even harder.

I honestly think the trouble with the right winger was a lot harder than most think. Yes obviously they knew they had to replace him, he starts kicking off in training and upsetting the spirit of the team so what does the club do?? Really there are two choices tell him he's staying till a replacement is found I strongly suspect Bentley would have just caused more trouble. The second option is the one they choose get rid of the bad apple asap.

When it comes to replacing him given our finances they are few around who could, pre-season games though are no indicator of a players ability. Ince and Co would want to see them in a few real games at least its a better overview of the player, so it was always going to go close. Espanyol have sold a few players this summer and so its no real surprise that Valdo was not signed, Pennant well I never wanted him and am glad he's not here.

The bonus now is we will have time to pick the right player for us at the normal right price, as long as we can hang around in 12th or so then we will not be too far off a European place, 8th should (hopefully) get inter-toto.

[tcj_jones]

When you see the likes of City and Villa spending upwards of £40m, Sunderland £30, Everton around £20, it's a miracle we're still competing in this league.

[Faz_Rover]

I think this season there is no chance of Rovers competing for European Places. Simply because of the new management and the lack of Transfer Activity this season. If Rovers have a season where we end up finishing between 10th-14th, I'll be happy. Hopefully most Rovers fans will be aswell.

[DingleBaiter]

I think this season there is no chance of Rovers competing for European Places. Simply because of the new management and the lack of Transfer Activity this season. If Rovers have a season where we end up finishing between 10th-14th, I'll be happy. Hopefully most Rovers fans will be aswell.

Agreed. In all honesty, as soon MH left I'd have been happy for a top-half finish - whoever we had. With Ince I don't see any reason to change that.

However, one never knows - look how erratic we were last season and look how close we ended up. I'm sure we'll still apply for the Intertoto but think the Fairplay may not be our route still

[CAPT KAYOS]

I'd have been happy for a top-half finish - whoever we had. With Ince I don't see any reason to change that.

I'm sure we'll still apply for the Intertoto but think the Fairplay may not be our route still

So would I

I thoght the Inter -Toto had been scrapped now?

[Majiball]

So would I

I thoght the Inter -Toto had been scrapped now?

Teams that would have made the Inter Toto now just go straight into the UEFA Cup so we would have to finish 8th minimum.

[RoverRich]

Wasn't really sure where to post this article I found and don't know if anyone has seen it but may be worth a read as it criticises our Nicko! It is about transfer rumours that flew around when the window was open.

http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8...4086202,00.html

[LeChuck]

If wonder if Freddie Ljungberg would be worth having a look at on a short-term contract? He might be able to do a job for us until January. If he's fit I'd rather have him out on the right wing than Steven Reid, and he didn't seem to have any injury problems in the Euros.