[Archived] Summer Transfer/discussion Thread

[Stuart]

mmm..... Jordan Rhodes to Stokes not great is it!

Don't be so hasty. Can Stokes run those all important channels?

o_O

[West Yorks Rover]

Stokes. Brilliant.

Good friends with Glasgow gangster Barry Hughes, who acted as an 'advisor' in Ross McCormack's 11m move to Leeds without being a licensed football agent. Hughes demanded £250k for his role (whatever that was) and ended up walking away with £185k. Leeds United ended up being fined by the FA for breaching agents rules. Hughes has also been jailed for mortgage fraud and money laundering. Great company.

Great success so far in England. Failed at Sunderland (where the club imposed a ban on him going to a local night club), Sheffield United (played 12, scored 0), Palace (played 13, scored 1).

Thats before we get on to him being at IRA meetings on stage.

Some of you are excited by this guy? You think he'll make a difference? He's not even a step up from Chris Brown. How you can accept this mediocracy is beyond me, this football club is having its life sucked out by Venkys and you are buying into Owen @#/? Coyle's bravado and bullshit. Coyle has always been a good talker, he knows what to say - but the reality is Burnley or no Burnley he shat on them from a massive height and lost all his credibility in one swoop.

Keep buying your season tickets, keep funding it. Sit in your seat and complain about it.

To be fair, he must have been very young(according to wiki) only 18-20 years old when he played for the English clubs, but as for his

discipline problems, 3 year contract ? I can imagine the Venksters having to pay him off, if he causes trouble.

[oldjamfan1]

Leaving aside the RA allegations, Christ almighty the lad hasn't even been announced yet and he's being written off on here. Is anyone going to get a fair crack of the whip?

[blondie]

Shock horror,messageboard implodes,Danny Graham once voted Tory.#Grahamout!

[perthblue02]

Leaving aside the RA allegations, Christ almighty the lad hasn't even been announced yet and he's being written off on here. Is anyone going to get a fair crack of the whip?

Might have missed them but only seen a couple of posts regarding being a bad move regarding the on field side of it

Danny Graham possibly signing seems to be very popular

[oldjamfan1]

Danny Graham possibly signing seems to be very popular

Don't remember him being welcomed with open arms when a loan deal was first mooted last season, e.g. before he kicked a ball for us. He was a non-scoring overpaid no-mark who's legs had gone if I remember correctly.

Mind you, one only needs to read through some of the posts during England games in the Euro 2016 thread to realise that football knowledge certainly isn't high on the list of attributes of many folk on this site (not aimed at you btw)

[Neal]

Don't remember him being welcomed with open arms when a loan deal was first mooted last season, e.g. before he kicked a ball for us. He was a non-scoring overpaid no-mark who's legs had gone if I remember correctly.

Mind you, one only needs to read through some of the posts during England games in the Euro 2016 thread to realise that football knowledge certainly isn't high on the list of attributes of many folk on this site (not aimed at you btw)

Unsure of the point in any of those remarks.

[Gav]

Don't remember him being welcomed with open arms when a loan deal was first mooted last season, e.g. before he kicked a ball for us. He was a non-scoring overpaid no-mark who's legs had gone if I remember correctly.

Mind you, one only needs to read through some of the posts during England games in the Euro 2016 thread to realise that football knowledge certainly isn't high on the list of attributes of many folk on this site (not aimed at you btw)

Amen to that

[oldjamfan1]

Unsure of the point in any of those remarks.

There were two.

The first one is that potential signings are written off by many on here before they have even seen them play. On what basis I'm not sure. perthblue02 put forward Danny Graham as a counter argument to that so I'm saying that the only reason people are happy enough at the prospect of Graham coming on a permanent deal is because they have seen him with their own eyes. I don't remember too many people being that enthusiastic about him when he was rumoured to be a loan target last season. I can't be bothered to pull up the thread but I recall many of the usual posters being very critical of - for example - his scoring record.

The second point is that the criticism and hyperbole that surrounds the (for want of a better description) 'in-play comments' on here, primarily - but not exclusively- when England are playing is astonishing. Even when they play well, it is only because their opponents were woeful; if they fail to beat an ageing though dogged Russian team, it is embarrassing; when Woy's two substitutes came on and won the game for us against Wales it was only because he was forced into making the changes because his original selection was wrong etc etc.

In summary, we have enough genuine reasons to be negative at the moment without inventing a few more......

[Mike E]

So we are now at a situation where we can post what Nixon says but can't dispute or rebute it else the post gets removed.

All I did was point out (mockingly towards Nixon) how vague and non-committal his 'comments' were and how he had been off target over the last 7 days with what he said was going to happen.

Any mod going to explain why that's removed? ( first post I've had vanish since the night of the Amorouso / chuck Norris jokes)

I'll hold my hands up here. There was nothing wrong with your post, but I felt it might be jumped on by the usual so tried acting pre-emptively.

Tbh, what I should've done is PM you at the time to see what you thought before hiding. My apologies for that. Would you like it unhiding?

[Mike E]

Have to admit, I'm not bothered one jot about Stokes' alleged support of the scumbags.

As long he hasn't any convictions for actually hurting people himself, I'm not bothered what he does in his spare time.

[roverstdt]

Investment aside and regardless as to the cut costing looking at it neutrally and without being called a Venky's lover, all i know for sure is Anthony Stokes can only be better than Chris Brown which therefore to me is already an improvement as to what we had last year (See Delfouneso, Jackson). Graham is no Rhodes replacement or Rudy Gestede replacement but is at least a good enough striker to get into the double digit across a season so it is once again another good signing for the club.

The squad itself I believe is still strong enough for a good mid table position should we get a few more good addition who knows what can happen as it stands though.

--------------Steele-----------

Lowe--Hanley---Duffy----New

Marshall-Lennihan--Evans--Conway

---------Graham---Stokes----------

It isn't terrible!

[J*B]

Investment aside and regardless as to the cut costing looking at it neutrally and without being called a Venky's lover, all i know for sure is Anthony Stokes can only be better than Chris Brown which therefore to me is already an improvement as to what we had last year (See Delfouneso, Jackson). Graham is no Rhodes replacement or Rudy Gestede replacement but is at least a good enough striker to get into the double digit across a season so it is once again another good signing for the club.

The squad itself I believe is still strong enough for a good mid table position should we get a few more good addition who knows what can happen as it stands though.

--------------Steele-----------

Lowe--Hanley---Duffy----New

Marshall-Lennihan--Evans--Conway

---------Graham---Stokes----------

It isn't terrible!

We play a 50+ game season. Whats your back up team?

[Amo]

Keep buying your season tickets, keep funding it. Sit in your seat and complain about it.

Some people have extenuating circumstances for renewing, but most are doing it out of habit. Enablers, pure and simple.

If the fans as a collective cared about this club they would do whatever it took to force Venky's out. Mass boycott might not work but at least it would put pressure on them and highlight our plight. But naaah...

[Neal]

There were two.

The first one is that potential signings are written off by many on here before they have even seen them play. On what basis I'm not sure. perthblue02 put forward Danny Graham as a counter argument to that so I'm saying that the only reason people are happy enough at the prospect of Graham coming on a permanent deal is because they have seen him with their own eyes. I don't remember too many people being that enthusiastic about him when he was rumoured to be a loan target last season. I can't be bothered to pull up the thread but I recall many of the usual posters being very critical of - for example - his scoring record.

The second point is that the criticism and hyperbole that surrounds the (for want of a better description) 'in-play comments' on here, primarily - but not exclusively- when England are playing is astonishing. Even when they play well, it is only because their opponents were woeful; if they fail to beat an ageing though dogged Russian team, it is embarrassing; when Woy's two substitutes came on and won the game for us against Wales it was only because he was forced into making the changes because his original selection was wrong etc etc.

In summary, we have enough genuine reasons to be negative at the moment without inventing a few more......

In the case of stokes, he has a decent enough scoring record in Scotland to be worth given a chance, especially on a free (political beliefs aside). We're shopping in market now where signing are going to devide opinion more than ever before. Like you say, people are usually going to base their opinions based on stats (like Graham) which i suppose is fair enough imo. I'd argue there are worse culprits on here that had written off Duffy after only a few months of being here. I myself said i would have driven Hanley anywhere he wanted the season before last but totally proved me wrong last season... Swings and randabouts is football, opinions will swing but i wouldn't dig people out because of it... They're just words on a forum.

On the second one, people are just saying what they see fella. Without being bias, Russia have been awful in 2 games, really awful. I myself said that credit is due where it is due, we played well but also believe that critisim is due where its due also... The substitutions and 2nd half tactics vs Russia cost us. Whilst I commend the manager on making the apropriate changes in the 2nd half vs Wales... They were made because players from the managers selection did not perform so how can they be anything other forced? I think a lot of the critism aimed at Hodgson is based on the fact that we're almost at the end of the group stages and he still doesnt know his best 11, either that or his best 11 hasnt performed... Hence the opinions of forced changes. I respect that it must not be an easy decision to pick an 11 from so many talented players and hope the manager has learned lessons from both games so far. Just opinions though isn't it, mine no more important than anyone else's. Anyways, back to transfers.

[JHRover]

Investment aside and regardless as to the cut costing looking at it neutrally and without being called a Venky's lover, all i know for sure is Anthony Stokes can only be better than Chris Brown which therefore to me is already an improvement as to what we had last year (See Delfouneso, Jackson). Graham is no Rhodes replacement or Rudy Gestede replacement but is at least a good enough striker to get into the double digit across a season so it is once again another good signing for the club.

The squad itself I believe is still strong enough for a good mid table position should we get a few more good addition who knows what can happen as it stands though.

--------------Steele-----------

Lowe--Hanley---Duffy----New

Marshall-Lennihan--Evans--Conway

---------Graham---Stokes----------

It isn't terrible!

Agree that IF we get Graham AND Stokes, along with keeping Marshall, Duffy AND Hanley then that is a decent Championship 11.

The problem, as it was throughout Bowyer's reign, is not only keeping that 11, but then adding depth to it so that we've got quality cover in every position.

In recent seasons we haven't and we've ended up with Chris Brown and Lee Williamson coming into the team when injuries or fatigue strike, which they will do to all players at some stage in a 46 game season.

So Coyle's job, once he's got hopefully Stokes and Graham, is to find a good standard LB to be a starter, and then get to work on filling the squad up with decent alternatives and options.

My expectation is that one or more of the decent players here - Hanley, Marshall, Duffy, Conway or Evans - will be sold in the near future to finance this squad building exercise, and whatever quality we do add will be wiped out by selling our few remaining assets. Of course I'd love to be proved wrong and love to see a decent amount from previous sales reinvested (Rhodes money) but Venkys behaviour and lack of progress on new contracts for Marshall and Duffy leads me to fear the worst.

[JBiz]

Some people have extenuating circumstances for renewing, but most are doing it out of habit. Enablers, pure and simple.

If the fans as a collective cared about this club they would do whatever it took to force Venky's out. Mass boycott might not work but at least it would put pressure on them and highlight our plight. But naaah...

I'm getting rather annoyed at this constant preaching. My season ticket at Ewood, is in no way shape or form an endorsement of the ownership. You're allowed to have an opinion, please try phrasing it in a way that's not intent on winding others up.

Call it enabling, I call it supporting a team or club through thick and thin.

It would be much easier to unite the fan base if other fans would stop sticking the knife in those who have a different opinion on the best course of action.

I can imagine your reaction if I'd made some reference to "long distance fans" not understanding the local feeling, or the mental state of those who've supported the club regularly for decades.

[tomphil]

Investment aside and regardless as to the cut costing looking at it neutrally and without being called a Venky's lover, all i know for sure is Anthony Stokes can only be better than Chris Brown which therefore to me is already an improvement as to what we had last year (See Delfouneso, Jackson). Graham is no Rhodes replacement or Rudy Gestede replacement but is at least a good enough striker to get into the double digit across a season so it is once again another good signing for the club.

The squad itself I believe is still strong enough for a good mid table position should we get a few more good addition who knows what can happen as it stands though.

--------------Steele-----------

Lowe--Hanley---Duffy----New

Marshall-Lennihan--Evans--Conway

---------Graham---Stokes----------

It isn't terrible!

It isn't terrible at all but bearing in mind that everytime we've brought a few players in be it frees or loans there has been outgoings to pay for it. On that basis the starting line up will look nowt like that come August.

[Roverthechimp]

Looking at the teams promoted last season - how many of them had "2 players for every position"?

Think that is more relevant at the top of the premier League but having a first team that is not injury prone is essential in the Championship with a few reasonable players.

[DE.]

On the second one, people are just saying what they see fella. Without being bias, Russia have been awful in 2 games, really awful. I myself said that credit is due where it is due, we played well but also believe that critisim is due where its due also... The substitutions and 2nd half tactics vs Russia cost us. Whilst I commend the manager on making the apropriate changes in the 2nd half vs Wales... They were made because players from the managers selection did not perform so how can they be anything other forced? I think a lot of the critism aimed at Hodgson is based on the fact that we're almost at the end of the group stages and he still doesnt know his best 11, either that or his best 11 hasnt performed... Hence the opinions of forced changes. I respect that it must not be an easy decision to pick an 11 from so many talented players and hope the manager has learned lessons from both games so far. Just opinions though isn't it, mine no more important than anyone else's. Anyways, back to transfers.

Imagine allowing people to have their own opinions. Really disappointing to see posts like that as they are inflammatory remarks designed solely to anger and irritate (to clarify I'm talking about the post you're responding to, not yours). As Mike so often says, play the ball, not the man.

As far as Stokes is concerned, footballing wise it's only fair to judge him once he starts playing. If people want to judge him personally based on his links to terrorist groups that is fair enough, imo. We've done quite well getting dodgy characters out of the club in recent times, though, so it's a shame if we start bringing them back in.

[Roverthechimp]

Some people have extenuating circumstances for renewing, but most are doing it out of habit. Enablers, pure and simple.

If the fans as a collective cared about this club they would do whatever it took to force Venky's out. Mass boycott might not work but at least it would put pressure on them and highlight our plight. But naaah...

According to many on here there are roughly 17000 people "boycotting" because of our owners with very little effect...

Knock off the patronising bs - if you want to boycott and believe that is the way forward then fine, say that without putting down others who just want to enjoy the football and will most likely be there whatever division we are in.

[rhodie]

Looking at the teams promoted last season - how many of them had "2 players for every position"?

Think that is more relevant at the top of the premier League but having a first team that is not injury prone is essential in the Championship with a few reasonable players.

A good example being the dingles, they made very few changes to the team over the season, only when it was absolutely necessary as a result of injury or suspension, I don`t think their squad was that big either.

[tomphil]

We've had the give players game time and increase their value & book value lines trotted out plenty times over Venkys reign. Other clubs build decent first team squads to win games and finish as high as they can. Not here, too many other factors at play.

[JHRover]

Looking at the teams promoted last season - how many of them had "2 players for every position"?

Think that is more relevant at the top of the premier League but having a first team that is not injury prone is essential in the Championship with a few reasonable players.

Well Burnley (model club) had an array of options. Yes Dyche usually went with the same starting 11 every week, but they still had depth to fall back on for the rare occasions they got injuries. Up front they had Barnes, Hennings, Jutkewitz all at the club in a back up capacity to Vokes and Gray.

Same for Middlesbrough. Their bench contained quality. At the back end of the season they were alternating Rhodes and Nugent. They loaned Carayol and Friend out to league rivals such was their wealth of options.

As it stands even if we get Graham and Stokes we won't have a bench. Never mind one with decent options to allow us to make changes during a game or bring someone on when we're behind who could make a major difference.

Nothing wrong with having a preferred and settled strong 11, which the likes of Leicester, Burnley and Bournemouth did very successfully, but depth and options are essential over 46 games.

A good example being the dingles, they made very few changes to the team over the season, only when it was absolutely necessary as a result of injury or suspension, I don`t think their squad was that big either.

Up front on their books they had Gray, Vokes, Barnes, Jutkewitz, Hennings and Long. That's 6 recognised strikers and all of them bar Barnes and maybe Vokes cost more than £1 million.

They were fortunate that Gray and Vokes stayed fit and maintained their form throughout, but if they didn't they had a wealth of options to pick from if needed.

What will we do if Stokes gets injured? Go dipping into the U21s to try and unearth someone mid season when we've 3 games a week? Recipe for disaster IMO.

[yeti-dog]

Stokes in action:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtYioZbEgfA

He'll do for me.

Not going to get drawn into the moral majority crusade that seems to be stirring.