[Archived] Transfer Window - January 2016

[den]

So the answer is to replace him with strikers who cant score and bring in more bang average players around them?

That might be your answer, but not mine

In all honesty if you want to continue like we were, we might have well as stuck with Bowyer. Dreadful, slow, predictable football with Rhodes scoring the knock downs until his value ran out - which might have been fairly soon.

Don't you want to see a sea change Rev? Don't you want to move forwards? Don't you think teams with pace, movement and technique are the best teams?

[JAL]

I can see Lambert possibly signing a full back in the loan window but we do have Henley who can play right back and left back.

we do have 5 strikers already at the club

Hope your not including Chris Brown' as a striker and as for young Henley ?

[garnersfags]

That might be your answer, but not mine

In all honesty if you want to continue like we were, we might have well as stuck with Bowyer. Dreadful, slow, predictable football with Rhodes scoring the knock downs until his value ran out - which might have been fairly soon.

Don't you want to see a sea change Rev? Don't you want to move forwards? Don't you think teams with pace, movement and technique are the best teams?

I think all Rev., and others, are saying is that the players who we have signed to help replace Rhodes and Gestede's goals haven't scored many goals at this level (at least not in the last couple of seasons), and if they do not immediately start to score and create goals we will be in a genuine relegation fight, which is a big risk taken by Lambert.

Of course we all want fast, attacking, dynamic, attractive, passing, beautiful, successful, effective, slick, penetrating, inspiring, happy football.

But we also know that one of Lambert's prime objectives was to ensure we were no-where near a relegation scrap.

Some fans are just pointing out that the signings will not guarantee goals or clean sheets, so there are concerns.

I believe we will be safe and then kick-on, but I haven't seen a single glimmer of hope in the last 10 'league' games.

[oldjamfan1]

I believe we will be safe and then kick-on, but I haven't seen a single glimmer of hope in the last 10 'league' games.

But that was with Rhodes!?

[booth]

But that was with Rhodes!?

It was with Rhodes so if you take him away do you expect our goalscoring to be better without him, considering the records of the people brought in?

Tash McDermott would likely say... "If you only have one arm you don't take away your one good arm and replace it with an extra leg and a couple of extra ears, and expect to blow your nose any easier."

I hope our goalscoring will be better but anyone thinking it isn't a risk hasn't really thought it through.

[Jock]

It was with Rhodes so if you take him away do you expect our goalscoring to be better without him, considering the records of the people brought in?

Tash McDermott would likely say... "If you only have one arm you don't take away your one good arm and replace it with an extra leg and a couple of extra ears, and expect to blow your nose any easier."

I hope our goalscoring will be better but anyone thinking it isn't a risk hasn't really thought it through.

Is weasel Tash still alive? I was hoping he'd drunk himself to death by now.

[booth]

Is weasel Tash still alive? I was hoping he'd drunk himself to death by now.

I'm sure he's still alive somewhere, keeping the peace with an iron fist.

[den]

I think all Rev., and others, are saying is that the players who we have signed to help replace Rhodes and Gestede's goals haven't scored many goals at this level (at least not in the last couple of seasons), and if they do not immediately start to score and create goals we will be in a genuine relegation fight, which is a big risk taken by Lambert.

Of course we all want fast, attacking, dynamic, attractive, passing, beautiful, successful, effective, slick, penetrating, inspiring, happy football.

But we also know that one of Lambert's prime objectives was to ensure we were no-where near a relegation scrap.

Some fans are just pointing out that the signings will not guarantee goals or clean sheets, so there are concerns.

I believe we will be safe and then kick-on, but I haven't seen a single glimmer of hope in the last 10 'league' games.

Yeah, I understand all that and agree with a lot of it. Of course it could all go wrong and we could drop into the bottom three and stay there. It's a bit like the regular discussions between JBizzle and Stuart where JB was concerned that changing manager would relegate us or worse, but Stuart thought that risk was worth taking. Did we stay as we were with Rhodes, no money and little hope of improvement, or take the risk of a new manager and allow him to try things his way - even if it meant taking the risk of gambling with the squad, where there's always the danger that it could make things worse, but at the same time with the chance of improvement? For me Lambert has a plan, has done it before - so we have to allow him a bit of space to work his own way. As for Rhodes being sold, I don't think he could have changed things as he wanted without selling him.

[tomphil]

Is weasel Tash still alive? I was hoping he'd drunk himself to death by now.

I thought it was a fictional character ?

[Pedro]

It was with Rhodes so if you take him away do you expect our goalscoring to be better without him, considering the records of the people brought in?

Tash McDermott would likely say... "If you only have one arm you don't take away your one good arm and replace it with an extra leg and a couple of extra ears, and expect to blow your nose any easier."

I hope our goalscoring will be better but anyone thinking it isn't a risk hasn't really thought it through.

...but if your arm becomes immobile and just doesn't work like it used to, maybe it's time it pulls on a new jersey.

[J*B]

I thought it was a fictional character ?

Tash is an enigma. Who knows?

[booth]

...but if your arm becomes immobile and just doesn't work like it used to, maybe it's time it pulls on a new jersey.

I think the arm was fine, just a bit dead for a short time. It would have worked again. It always did in the past.

[Pedro]

I think the arm was fine, just a bit dead for a short time. It would have worked again. It always did in the past.

3 months of basic underperforming. In the last couple of games it looked like the numbness had started to finally wear off a little.

He didn't want to be here though booth. That, for me, underpins any arguement for his sale. I'm not having it that he gave his all for us since the end of September and this did in turn affect results.

I'll still clap him though, he scored loads throughout the madness and I don't begrudge him his move.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Yeah, I understand all that and agree with a lot of it. Of course it could all go wrong and we could drop into the bottom three and stay there. It's a bit like the regular discussions between JBizzle and Stuart where JB was concerned that changing manager would relegate us or worse, but Stuart thought that risk was worth taking. Did we stay as we were with Rhodes, no money and little hope of improvement, or take the risk of a new manager and allow him to try things his way - even if it meant taking the risk of gambling with the squad, where there's always the danger that it could make things worse, but at the same time with the chance of improvement? For me Lambert has a plan, has done it before - so we have to allow him a bit of space to work his own way. As for Rhodes being sold, I don't think he could have changed things as he wanted without selling him.

I agree Den. I asked the question what would have happened if Rhodes had have broken his leg ? It all went quiet then.

[Stuart]

3 months of basic underperforming. In the last couple of games it looked like the numbness had started to finally wear off a little.

He didn't want to be here though booth. That, for me, underpins any arguement for his sale. I'm not having it that he gave his all for us since the end of September and this did in turn affect results.

I'll still clap him though, he scored loads throughout the madness and I don't begrudge him his move.

Rhodes comments today suggest that he wasn't wanted by Lambert. Somethin that Lambert himself made pretty obvious with his own statements. If Lambert has told Rhodes that he was building a team around him I believe he would still be a Rovers player.

Instead, it's my view, and only a view, that Lambert was not able to hold on to him because his ability, financially, to do more business was restricted and the money was too good to turn down. He was pretty ruthless though about making sure that the move happened.

I still think that we will do some business in the loan market, once it reopens. Unlike under Bowyer, I expect that most of the Rhodes money will be available to the manager to strengthen.

The sale of Rhodes however does show that Venkys have no intention of continuing to prop up the club indefinitely and they are instead going to pay the going rate for a proper manager. How they must wish every day that the had stuck with Allardyce. A lesson learnt the hard way.

[RibbleValleyRover]

He didn't want to be here and truth be told he wanted out for some time. Yes he did put his disappointment away and did knuckle down and contribute but there was no guarantee it was going to happen for a third time.

Honestly in terms of overall business I expected more, but a lot of Manager's and club's don't like to spend much in January because prices tend to be inflated. If Rovers stay up and don't spend much this summer then is the time to be concerned.

[Pedro]

Rhodes comments today suggest that he wasn't wanted by Lambert. Somethin that Lambert himself made pretty obvious with his own statements. If Lambert has told Rhodes that he was building a team around him I believe he would still be a Rovers player.

Instead, it's my view, and only a view, that Lambert was not able to hold on to him because his ability, financially, to do more business was restricted and the money was too good to turn down. He was pretty ruthless though about making sure that the move happened.

I still think that we will do some business in the loan market, once it reopens. Unlike under Bowyer, I expect that most of the Rhodes money will be available to the manager to strengthen.

The sale of Rhodes however does show that Venkys have no intention of continuing to prop up the club indefinitely and they are instead going to pay the going rate for a proper manager. How they must wish every day that the had stuck with Allardyce. A lesson learnt the hard way.

I live in hope because the stand out thing for me is, we are employing experience, the owners don't appear on tv chatting nonsense, we aren't employing 'yes' men and buddy boys, there seems to be defined structure putting back in place and anyone thinking they can wallow around Ewood stealing a living has been shipped out. It's a massive rebuilding job, it's the Venkys mess but we are seeing something resembling our Rovers taking shape.

Lambert needs to get enough points to keep us up and improve the squad further both in the loan market and in permanent terms, in the summer. Now the chat needs to turn into points, progress and then success.

[islander200]

Love to see us make a loan move for Chillwell from Leicester.I know he has been in and around the squad lately but he might want starts and would be an upgrade on Spurr.

Hopefully we can get a pacy winger In aswell

[ada2020]

I'm not a financial expert. Far from it. I think the point I'm trying to get at is this:

We were led to believe that the sales of Gestede and Cairney were done because the club had no option. The manager didn't want to lose them but it was taken out of his hands. In the case of Gestede because he was angling for a Premier League move and wanted to leave and in the case of Cairney because the money was too good to turn down with FUP rules in mind. Also the example of Josh King, who was offered a new contract in an attempt to keep him, yet he wanted to leave and so the club was paid.

Those three players brought in a combined amount of somewhere around £10 million in fees, and on top of that we had the unexpected windfall of Steven NZonzi being sold by Stoke to Sevilla for £8 million of which we were entitled to a share.

None of that money we received the club could say they set out or expected to get, and presumably the owners would have had to use other funds had those moves not taken place. They obviously tried to keep King, the NZonzi money was unaccounted for and relied on other clubs, the Gestede move had been in the pipeline since January but they couldn't have known for sure that he was going to go, and likewise not many clubs would have come in with £3 million for Tom Cairney and that move seemed to take everyone by complete surprise.

So all that money went into the club's accounts and no doubt was the major factor behind us being able to escape the embargo in December.

Yet if we believe what we are told that money wasn't brought in because Venkys intervened and forced the club to sell players. That could I suppose apply to Cairney, but Gestede, King and NZonzi could well never have happened had circumstances at the time not been as they were. King could have signed up for another year, Gestede might not have had bidders from the Premier League (probably won't do again after Villa) and Stoke might have kept hold of NZonzi.

So in a way that money was an unexpected bonus of several million pounds which going into the summer the club and Venkys had no way of knowing for sure they would get.

If Venkys were therefore really serious about promotion they could have used that 'extra' £10 million to meet running costs etc whilst we were under the watchful gaze of FUP rules, and then the moment the rules are relaxed they could stump up £10 million from their own pockets to cover the money that the club received for players which went into running costs.

I'm not really making myself very clear but the crux of it is that the club has received a £10 million 'bonus' by selling those players. We couldn't spend any of it last summer due to FUP embargo, but I'm sure if they really wanted to they could reinvest that same amount now they are free from the constraints.

Not sure if I have misunderstood you JHR but you seem to have changed tack on your original post that I replied to. You now seem to be suggesting that following the unexpected windfall in the summer which bought our finances back on track (lol) Venkys should have ploughed a fortune into the club during January.

That's fair enough and I can see why you think they should "if" they are serious about promotion, but is promotion achievable this season? Probably not now following results in January.

Based on a limited understanding (mainly what I read on here) we'll be bang in an embargo again if we did that anyway, and really, why would they plough another £10 million of their own cash not the club again?

My own interpretation of the situation is that the manager and the owners have a plan, getting a good deal for our only saleable asset is stage one. PL needs to keep us in this league for next season which will be stage 2, building a squad capable of getting back into the premier league is stage 3, the Rhodes money should be the funds to do this (I hope).

Perhaps if we are well placed in a years time then the owners might dip into their pockets and fund additional purchases for a promotion push (like Boro have just done) who knows.

That's what I think their plan is, and frankly I would be happy with that, as ever with the Venkys though we'll have to wait and see, and of course surviving the season is imperative, it won't be easy either.

[pick32]

I'd personally play Henley at right back and get a new left back in, don't think Bennet is good enough and need our only two championship level wingers Conway and Marshall playing the wings.

Hoping we can bring in another winger and a left back in loan window or Atleast give Connor Mahoney a shot.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I'd personally play Henley at right back and get a new left back in, don't think Bennet is good enough and need our only two championship level wingers Conway and Marshall playing the wings.

Hoping we can bring in another winger and a left back in loan window or Atleast give Connor Mahoney a shot.

Marshall's played like a drain on the wing recently. He looks much better at right back. With all the new players coming in we need to keep changes to a minimum. I agree about Bennett, he needs to show some form quickly.

Mahoney doesn't appear to be knocking on anyone's door at the moment. What makes you thing he's ready now ?

[LDRover]

Love to see us make a loan move for Chillwell from Leicester.I know he has been in and around the squad lately but he might want starts and would be an upgrade on Spurr.

Hopefully we can get a pacy winger In aswell

Chilwell would be an unbelievable signing but unlikely as I think he's going to the very top. And soon.

[BlueMonday]

Hope Shaw getting punted, doesn't stop us getting any loner's in. Apparently he was then man to sign off the paperwork.

[Amo]

Hope Shaw getting punted, doesn't stop us getting any loner's in. Apparently he was then man to sign off the paperwork.

We already have a replacement lined up.

[BlueMonday]

We already have a replacement lined up.

Ahhh, Shaws apprentice settling in nicely.

Sorted.