[Archived] 2011 Summer Transfer Window Roundup

[Miker]

I think we got some decent players in, but we've potentially done worse business than a lot of the other clubs who seem to have brought in experienced Premier League quality players to bolster their team, while losing a lot less players than us.

I have really liked the look of all the players they signed so far though. Haven't seen Yakubu or Dann play for us yet obviously, but rate them from previous clubs. Vukcevic is the only one that remains to be seen, but he's supposedly our best buy out of the lot, so really excited to see him turn out for us soon.

[mike at picture]

I wonder if we are a bit vulnerable down the right hand side of our defence and that this may be an area that opponents could exploit to get around the back of us. Other than that I think Samba and Dann with either Petrovic or N'Zonzi in front form a real barrier.

I would imagine that it also provides a platform for the likes of Hoilett, Dunn, Formica, Rochina and Vukcevic which could be quite interesting. All in all a decent window for Rovers I reckon, certainly our best in some time.

[47er]

I wonder if we are a bit vulnerable down the right hand side of our defence and that this may be an area that opponents could exploit to get around the back of us. Other than that I think Samba and Dann with either Petrovic or N'Zonzi in front form a real barrier.

I would imagine that it also provides a platform for the likes of Hoilett, Dunn, Formica, Rochina and Vukcevic which could be quite interesting. All in all a decent window for Rovers I reckon, certainly our best in some time.

But only made possible by the sale of Jones.

[mike at picture]

But only made possible by the sale of Jones.

I'm not sure what your point is there but surely you didn't expect us to fight off the attentions of one of the world's biggest clubs? Once Fergie had tapped the player up he was gone and from what I understand the new owners managed to put the frighteners on that odious club and strongarm more cash out of them.

I suppose that's been done to death on other threads, I'm quite enthusiastic about the business we did this summer.

[broadsword]

That's fairly commonplace. Rovers will have done the same themselves. Therefore, it makes no difference to the amounts available.

Phil Jones, Kalinic + Venky's £5m/transfer window = £27m incoming. All of which Venky's promised would be available to the manager. What happened?

Research program into giant GM-altered self-replicating curry-flavoured chickens.

[47er]

I'm not sure what your point is there but surely you didn't expect us to fight off the attentions of one of the world's biggest clubs? Once Fergie had tapped the player up he was gone and from what I understand the new owners managed to put the frighteners on that odious club and strongarm more cash out of them.

I suppose that's been done to death on other threads, I'm quite enthusiastic about the business we did this summer.

I'm not sure how you missed my point. If we can only buy players by selling our best ones and reinvesting part of the proceeds, who's next to go so we can have another "successful window?"

And how does this differ from the Trust? What happens when we have no really good players left to sell?

[BuckyRover]

I'm not sure how you missed my point. If we can only buy players by selling our best ones and reinvesting part of the proceeds, who's next to go so we can have another "successful window?"

And how does this differ from the Trust? What happens when we have no really good players left to sell?

Work it out for yourself.

It's pretty obvious how it's different from our recent transfer windows under the trust.

[jim mk2]

The only measure of the success or otherwise of this window is whether we start to win football matches. Over to you Mr Kean...........

[philipl]

Work it out for yourself.

It's pretty obvious how it's different from our recent transfer windows under the trust.

Go on then tell us Einstein

[XLM]

I'm not sure how you missed my point. If we can only buy players by selling our best ones and reinvesting part of the proceeds, who's next to go so we can have another "successful window?"

And how does this differ from the Trust? What happens when we have no really good players left to sell?

We reinvested far more than we had been doing under the trust. The reality for clubs outside the top 6-8 is that you will lose your best players. It's how you reinvest that money that makes or breaks you. And this window and January seem to have yielded players who we will be able to sell on in the future or could potentially, in a few years, push us to a level where we don't need to sell them.

Obviously we can't judge Venkys success in the market until a couple of years into the future, but I'm very optimistic by how it has gone so far. What ever the figures spent and received, it's how the players turn out on the pitch and from what I've seen I think we've got some absolute steals.

Go on then tell us Einstein

You couldn't be coming accross worse.

At least have the courtesy to add something to the discussion along with a generic derogatory retort.

[mike at picture]

I'm not sure how you missed my point. If we can only buy players by selling our best ones and reinvesting part of the proceeds, who's next to go so we can have another "successful window?"

And how does this differ from the Trust? What happens when we have no really good players left to sell?

Didn't Barclays snaffle the Jones cash?

[bigbrandjohn]

Balanced and thoughtful article on our transfer dealings, our management and owners and the days ahead.

http://www.insidefutbol.com/2011/09/04/blackburn-rovers-tread-testing-path-to-new-dawn/48469/

[Miker]

I'm not sure how you missed my point. If we can only buy players by selling our best ones and reinvesting part of the proceeds, who's next to go so we can have another "successful window?"

And how does this differ from the Trust? What happens when we have no really good players left to sell?

We were a selling club under the Trust, we are now a trading club. John Williams has stated that himself in the closing accounts submitted to Company House prior to the takeover. Venky's now need to ensure we continue operating as a trading club by keeping us up and reinvesting any profits wisely. In my opinion, the latter has been done... the former, well... I've got my fingers crossed.

I don't understand why it's so hard for people to understand that we are NOT a buying club, and never will be unless we get taken over by billionaire owners like Man City. So yes we will have to sell players in order to bring new ones in and especially where our squad has been full of deadwood for the past few seasons.

[philipl]

It is a falacy to say that Venky's are re-investing more than the Trust did.

Sky Sports showed that on transfers, Rovers had a net disinvestment of £10m this window- I don't know how they got to that number but they presumably have decent access to information sources.

When the Trust had a net disinvestment it was only because they had previously made a significant net investment to take advantage of the cycles of spending in relation to the Sky contract negotiations. So typically at the end of one contract period they would tend to spend more in the hope of getting players at wages and transfers lower than they would be the next window.

Taken as a whole, the Trust ran at an average net disinvestment of under £4m per year in terms of profit taken on transfers since 2005/6 being the impact of selling to meet escalating operating costs (wages) and not transfer to Trust coffers.

We had one window where we were a selling rather than a trading club under the Trust and we have just had one window as a selling club under Venky's.

[philipl]

I also fear that the delight of signing some players is blinding us to the inherent weaknesses in the squad and the reality that we lost so many players this window. The number of players sold or let go has left us dangerously short on PL experience which Dann and Yak only went some way to redressing. I suspect we will rue the loss of Emerton and EHD.

We have just one reliable midfield tackler unless Grella gets well, or Linganzi or Goulon suddenly come good or a youngster comes through. We could easily be forced into calling Andrews back- it is looking that thin.

Listening to the podcast it appears we have no tracking back player who can cover for Salgado unless Olsson switches wings leaving Givet exposed or perhaps MGP or Dunn (when fit) gets played wide right and reminded they did once did excellent jobs tracking back from that makeshift wing position. Perhaps Josh Morris will kick on.

We do have an excess of apparently lightweight tricky players in Olsson, Hoilett, Rochina, Formica and Vikcuvic- all of whom merit inclusion in the starting XI and given a good run in the side but only two or exceptionally three can be safely selected in PL games if the opposition isn't going to power straight through us. Of course if we are forced into an unconventional solution of MGP to cover Salgado at right back, it might be Olsson plus Hoilett and no starting position for any of the other three if we need the physicality of two from Yak, Goodwillie and Roberts up front. The only way four of those names can go onto the starting sheet is if one of them becomes Rovers leading goal scorer- perhaps distressingly that might not prove too great a challenge.

We don't know if we have a solution to our goal scoring problem but at least we have bought two tickets to the lottery in Yak who needs to wind the clock back three years and Goodwillie who probably needs to mature by the same amount.

Only having Salgado, Nelsen, Samba, Dann, Givet, Hanley and Olsson to select from for the back line is in my opinion two squad players short especially as Olsson will get picked to play further forward if not needed at LB. Perhaps when all are fit and available, one of the centre backs might need to do a Phil Jones for us in midfield thereby having six out of the seven available defensive players on the park at the same time and increasing the chances of losing some of them through the normal wear and tear of games. Wolves showed how dangerous that is.

As I have written previously, we need an unusually good year for avoiding injuries and suspensions this season. A bad one and we are in all sorts of trouble.

It is also worth bearing in mind that we were severely cash constrained this window and we have kicked a financial problem into the future by use of every opportunity to minimise the cash outlay for players signed during this window.

Finally, the villain in Rovers' finances will undoubtedly prove to be agents' fees. Putting things in context, the fee to Anderson for Rochina would have paid Williams, Finn and Goodman combined for just under 30 months. I also fear that a hypothetical transfer value given by an agent to justify his own outlandish fee is not the most reliable guide and there could be some awful clauses lurking in the Rochina contract with Barca- I suspect there is if they really did only receive £400k of the £2m+. The fact another Barca youngster cost Chelsea £6m does not mean Riochina is worth the same any more than Phil Jones going to Man U turned Hanley into a £16m defender.

[Paul Mellelieu]

Very good analysis Philip.

The centre of midfield is my main concern, especially is Kean continues with two up front.

[Reedy You're A Star]

We had one window where we were a selling rather than a trading club under the Trust and we have just had one window as a selling club under Venky's.

What is the definition of a "trading club"? One that sells a few players to buy a few, ie. trading some players in for new ones? Cause that's what we've done this summer. If we were a selling club again, surely we'd have flogged off the likes of Samba, Olsson and Hoilett to the highest bidders too? I'm sure there were takers for all 3 of them yet they're still Blackburn Rovers players after the window has shut.

[Veevs]

What is the definition of a "trading club"? One that sells a few players to buy a few, ie. trading some players in for new ones? Cause that's what we've done this summer. If we were a selling club again, surely we'd have flogged off the likes of Samba, Olsson and Hoilett to the highest bidders too? I'm sure there were takers for all 3 of them yet they're still Blackburn Rovers players after the window has shut.

I am guessing Phillips definition of a selling club is one that has to sell to maintain running costs or make a profit.. i.e. allot more money comes in for sales than goes out on new signings which is what happened this summer.

[47er]

We were a selling club under the Trust, we are now a trading club. John Williams has stated that himself in the closing accounts submitted to Company House prior to the takeover. Venky's now need to ensure we continue operating as a trading club by keeping us up and reinvesting any profits wisely. In my opinion, the latter has been done... the former, well... I've got my fingers crossed.

I don't understand why it's so hard for people to understand that we are NOT a buying club, and never will be unless we get taken over by billionaire owners like Man City. So yes we will have to sell players in order to bring new ones in and especially where our squad has been full of deadwood for the past few seasons.

We sold Jones and Kalinic for 22.5M. Our outgoings were less than half of that. Moreover, the surplus went into servicing debt without which we presumably could not have carried on.

How then do we differ from a selling club?

( I never said we were a buying club by the way so the condescension wasn't needed)

Didn't Barclays snaffle the Jones cash?

Clearly "yes". Now what about answering my questions?

[Veevs]

Agree with Phillip on our worrying lack of EPL experience and one hell of allot of promising attacking midfielders who can't all play at the same time... Overall we now have 6-8 attacking midfielder/second strikers in Simon, Dunn, Pederson, Olsson, Rochina, Formica, Hoillett and Lowe but only 2.5 defensive midfielder types in the untried Petrovic, Nzonzi and the forever injured Grella.

[philipl]

I was using John Williams' definition.

A trading club is one that can keep its existing players as there is no need to raise finance from selling them. This of course produced trhe zero activity transfer window of the summer of 2010.

A selling club is one that has to sell players to make a profit to offset the loss of cash from ordinary operations. Rovers were deliberately a selling club in the summer of 2008 because the summer of 2007 had seen the club borrow to spend more on incoming transfers than was raised by sales. We again became a selling club this summer in part to offset the outgoings of January which included (in my opinion) some alarming expenditure on agents' fees.

[47er]

I was using John Williams' definition.

A trading club is one that can keep its existing players as there is no need to raise finance from selling them. This of course produced trhe zero activity transfer window of the summer of 2010.

A selling club is one that has to sell players to make a profit to offset the loss of cash from ordinary operations. Rovers were deliberately a selling club in the summer of 2008 because the summer of 2007 had seen the club borrow to spend more on incoming transfers than was raised by sales. We again became a selling club this summer in part to offset the outgoings of January which included (in my opinion) some alarming expenditure on agents' fees.

I agree with that. A lot was made about the club doing everything it possibly could to keep Jones and a wage offer of 80000 a week was mentioned.

If he'd agreed and stayed how would the Barclays debt have been paid off? By selling Samba instead! But we cannot have assumed Samba's sale would have raised enough.

In my book we are still a selling club.

[rigger]

I was using John Williams' definition.

A trading club is one that can keep its existing players as there is no need to raise finance from selling them. This of course produced trhe zero activity transfer window of the summer of 2010.

A selling club is one that has to sell players to make a profit to offset the loss of cash from ordinary operations. Rovers were deliberately a selling club in the summer of 2008 because the summer of 2007 had seen the club borrow to spend more on incoming transfers than was raised by sales. We again became a selling club this summer in part to offset the outgoings of January which included (in my opinion) some alarming expenditure on agents' fees.

I just want us to be a winning club.

[T4E]

Why does the Phil Jones money keep getting mentioned as money that should have gone towards transfers? I was under the impression that two facts had been established -

1) We only got £8.5m of the Jones money up front.

2) The bank seized all of that.

Has it come out that these were not the case? I don't tend to follow these things too closely as they seem to just be one big cycle of contradictions.

[chris]

Has it come out that these were not the case? I don't tend to follow these things too closely as they seem to just be one big cycle of contradictions.

Good decision, we really need to get to football again, I feel prety let down by Venkys and really dislike Kean but quite a few people are saying these signings look good, so I look forward to Kean winning games or he better go.