Summer Transfer Window 2019

[Gone to seed]

Just now, Songman said:

Wow I've read it all now, a top 6 finish haha. Bring in those 2 and we may have a chance of not finishing in the bottom 6.

The Chadster has a slightly skewed view of things blue & white, and is definitely from the 'glass half full' side of the fan base. I dare say there appears to be only one person who doesn't appear to have got the joke about our defensive frailty, and unfortunately that is the manager. If we were to strengthen defensively I would anticipate an upturn in confidence amongst the players which might lead to a concomitant improvement in play (football being a confidence game). If we don't, I do worry that we may spiral out of control down the league - I mean, if Lee Bowyer can out-manoeuvre TM, it won't be a surprise when more capable teams take us apart. 

Hoping for some good news on the recruitment front in the next 48 hours, but not holding my breath.

Oh for a return to the heady days of John Williams upstairs and a footballing brain at the  helm  ..

[Vilesinner]

Just now, Blue blood said:

A few thoughts: 

1) hard to get excited about signings. Even if we do sign players, and they are good (no guarentee of either with TM's track record) they aren't certainties to play - or play in their main positions. Given we had a few solutions to Saturday's problems on the bench, and given players when played aren't always in position (Bereton, Reed) there's a lot more hurdles to cross than "just" getting them in. 

2) I'd keep Smallwood as a squad player. He can tackle and is always fit - 2 positives over Evans. Add in Evans wages and he's be the one to go for me. Johnston, Travis, Bennett and Smallwood are enough for the defensive mid positions. 

3) it might be me and the papers hyping it but virtually all other clubs have made solid foreign signings - how hard is it to get our network set up and something from it? 

Evans reads the game well, would keep him before Smallwood without question. Though both should probably move on along with Bell and Mulgrew, if we can find clubs for them. 

[unsall]

2 hours ago, JHRover said:

Derby being very clever from what I can see.

'Excluded items' from FFP calculations:

5.2.4 - 'costs of employee benefits for employees only partly involved in Youth Development Activities (for example, a coach having part-time involvement in Youth Development Activities and otherwise working for the Championship club)'

Presumably therefore Rooney wont fall under FFp calculations.

Keep on moaning Rovers. I actually respect Derby for taking the rules to pieces in full public view - 'selling' their ground and getting Rooney as a 'coach'.

To be fair I don’t think Rovers are moaning, that’s the fans mainly. You give the impression we shouldn’t worry about FFP, just go for it and spend millions, bit of a dangerous game, we’ve already fell foul of the rules and suffered embargo’s etc, and lucky that didn’t involve points reduction as like Birmingham.Think the management are very concerned of FFP and are managing it best they can.  They’ve just chucked in another 9 mil to keep us going so who knows where we are up to re keeping to the rules.

We all know what Venkys did back in the day, but like it or not we need them more than they need us at this moment.

We all want to get back to the Premiership but not at any cost, because we don’t want to end up like our neighbours Bolton.

Does look as though Derby are stretching/ bending the rules and good luck to them, personally think the FFP rules need clarification, because it looks like some clubs are certainly very close to breaking the rules.

Lets hope we can stretch to a l/b and c/b before Thursday, but feeling only one to come in unless we offload a couple of bodies.

[Blue blood]

Just now, Vilesinner said:

Evans reads the game well, would keep him before Smallwood without question. Though both should probably move on along with Bell and Mulgrew, if we can find clubs for them. 

Agree with the latter would ship on a 4 and a couple of others too. However I do feel Evans is a sham of a footballer who looks ok but actually does nothing. Not to mention he is hardly ever fit...

[DE.]

Just now, unsall said:

We all want to get back to the Premiership but not at any cost, because we don’t want to end up like our neighbours Bolton.

Too late for that. The only difference between us and Bolton is that Venky's haven't turned the taps off yet. Wouldn't matter if we spent £100k or £100m at this point, if Venky's decide enough is enough and refuse to let the club go without getting their money back then we are sunk as nobody is going to pay that. 

[Vilesinner]

Just now, Blue blood said:

Agree with the latter would ship on a 4 and a couple of others too. However I do feel Evans is a sham of a footballer who looks ok but actually does nothing. Not to mention he is hardly ever fit...

Yes, we have plenty of young guns ready to go in Midfield and up front, but really need at least one experienced defender. 

[Pedro]

50 minutes ago, tomphil said:

A raft of over generous contracts especially in the direction of Mulgrew will have a big say in it i think.  TM has backed himself right into a corner even if he drops these guys they won't leave.

I feel for Smallwood in that he is subject to such ridicule but did a cracking job for us in the promotion campaign. Don't get me wrong, we need to upgrade him but he is a sturdy squad man to be honest, certainly nothing daring or spectacular but a pretty reliable 6/10 man. I feel that it is becoming OTT regarding people judging his character (as though he is simply someone stealing a paycheck). That's all in their angry imaginations.  If we gave him a contract, pay the man I say. All he can do is what he is doing, head down, train hard and wait for his chance. He is proud to wear our shirt, that should be respected.

[RoversClitheroe]

Just now, Pedro said:

I feel for Smallwood in that he is subject to such ridicule but did a cracking job for us in the promotion campaign. Don't get me wrong, we need to upgrade him but he is a sturdy squad man to be honest, certainly nothing daring or spectacular but a pretty reliable 6/10 man. I feel that it is becoming OTT regarding people judging his character (as though he is simply someone stealing a paycheck). That's all in their angry imaginations.  If we gave him a contract, pay the man I say. All he can do is what he is doing, head down, train hard and wait for his chance. He is proud to wear our shirt, that should be respected.

Did you actually watch him play last season? 

[Pedro]

Just now, RoversClitheroe said:

Did you actually watch him play last season? 

Yes. He's a limited Johnny sideways. 

[DE.]

Just now, Pedro said:

I feel for Smallwood in that he is subject to such ridicule but did a cracking job for us in the promotion campaign. Don't get me wrong, we need to upgrade him but he is a sturdy squad man to be honest, certainly nothing daring or spectacular but a pretty reliable 6/10 man. I feel that it is becoming OTT regarding people judging his character (as though he is simply someone stealing a paycheck). That's all in their angry imaginations.  If we gave him a contract, pay the man I say. All he can do is what he is doing, head down, train hard and wait for his chance. He is proud to wear our shirt, that should be respected.

Whilst I don't think Smallwood is a very good Championship player and not really even good enough as back up, I do agree that if he wants to stay then nobody can blame him. It was Mowbray who decided to extend his contract. Smallwood has always given his all even if it's ultimately not good enough for our current level. If he wants to stay and fight for his place rather than seek first team football lower down the pyramid then fair enough. 

[Feed the Yak]

2 minutes ago, SkipDonoghue said:

Tyler Magloire is joining Rochdale on loan

Surely that means we're signing another Cb? ?

[JHRover]

Just now, unsall said:

To be fair I don’t think Rovers are moaning, that’s the fans mainly. You give the impression we shouldn’t worry about FFP, just go for it and spend millions, bit of a dangerous game, we’ve already fell foul of the rules and suffered embargo’s etc, and lucky that didn’t involve points reduction as like Birmingham.Think the management are very concerned of FFP and are managing it best they can.  They’ve just chucked in another 9 mil to keep us going so who knows where we are up to re keeping to the rules.

We all know what Venkys did back in the day, but like it or not we need them more than they need us at this moment.

We all want to get back to the Premiership but not at any cost, because we don’t want to end up like our neighbours Bolton.

Does look as though Derby are stretching/ bending the rules and good luck to them, personally think the FFP rules need clarification, because it looks like some clubs are certainly very close to breaking the rules.

Lets hope we can stretch to a l/b and c/b before Thursday, but feeling only one to come in unless we offload a couple of bodies.

Rovers have made reference to FFP rules on a consistent basis over the last 2-3 years, eager to point out to fans that they are restricted as to what they can do under FFP constraints and suggesting that they'd like to do more but can't.

I've just pointed out that Derby have found more than one way around the rules to enable them to continue to recruit well, invest heavily and compete for promotion without any suggestion of a punishment.

It all boils down to how much you want something. Derby really want promotion and have kept going and investing to get there, riding roughshod over the FFP rules and treating them as something to be overcome in their pursuit of promotion. Wolves, Leicester, Bournemouth, Brighton and Villa all did the same. 

As I've pointed out, we could spend more if we were determined to do it, but it appears to me to be a convenient excuse with little to no effort made to get around it.

We fell foul of the previous incarnation of the rules, when restrictions were tighter and we were still carrying an obscene wage bill following the Shebby SIngh madness. We are led to believe that the club has sorted that out now so we should be comfortably inside it otherwise the planning has gone wrong somewhere. 

You seem to consider Venkys to be some sort of uniquely benevolent people doing it out of the goodness of their hearts and there's nothing similar elsewhere in this league. Without Morris Derby would be bust, same goes for Forest, Wednesday, Hull, Middlesbrough, Bristol City, Preston, Wigan, QPR, Fulham - all heavily dependent on external owners who 'could' pull the plug any day and they'd be knackered. We aren't any different. Like it or not that's the nature of the Championship these days. Any one of those clubs 'could' go the way of Bolton on the whim of their owners, we're at no particular greater risk just because Bolton is nearer to us geographically or we know Bolton fans. A benefactor model of ownership dominates the Championship and that comes with its risks. I'd actually suspect the risk to be lower here with Venkys and their 4-way agreement only system where if any 1 of them doesn't agree then it doesn't happen - rather than entirely in the hands of one person

We could just as easily thrive after Venkys. It's impossible to know the answer at this stage. In the end whether they're pumping in £1 million a year or £10 million a year if they aren't running the club properly and aren't doing their best by it then I want them gone and replaced by someone who will. They've had ample time to sort it out and despite flushing £170 million away we're still making up the numbers in the 2nd division precisely because they won't take it seriously enough.

I'd also point out that floating around the bottom half of this league or League One for the next 5-10 years is going to see another £100 million of debt appear. We don't have time on our side if Venkys have notions of stopping funding. There seems to be an attitude that what we've been doing the last 2 years is sustainable or sensible. We've still lost bucket loads of money and there's an argument that spending a bit more is a risk worth taking if it gets us up.

Edited August 6, 2019 by JHRover

[Pedro]

Just now, DE. said:

Whilst I don't think Smallwood is a very good Championship player and not really even good enough as back up, I do agree that if he wants to stay then nobody can blame him. It was Mowbray who decided to extend his contract. Smallwood has always given his all even if it's ultimately not good enough for our current level. If he wants to stay and fight for his place rather than seek first team football lower down the pyramid then fair enough. 

Totally agree ?

[Pedro]

Just now, Feed the Yak said:

Surely that means we're signing another Cb? ?

No, at Rovers that probably means another midfielder ?

[RoversClitheroe]

Just now, Pedro said:

Yes. He's a limited Johnny sideways. 

He didn't track back when losing the ball. Midfield constantly got overran whenever he played. Made us constantly vulnerable

[Bbrovers2288]

Smallwood dropping into defence ?

[Neal]

Just now, Bbrovers2288 said:

Smallwood dropping into defence ?

Haha stiring it up there... 

Edited August 6, 2019 by Neal

[bluebruce]

11 minutes ago, SkipDonoghue said:

Tyler Magloire is joining Rochdale on loan

I think that's the right move...IF we sign a CB. If we don't, then it will leave us dangerously short in not just quality, but depth too. With Wharton out on loan, our youth backups would realistically be down to Grayson (18?) and I think Platt is still knocking around but nowhere near this level at 22 I think?

So that would give us Tosin, Lenihan, Mulgrew, Williams (currently injured). Not good enough options, but also if 3 of that mostly injury prone bunch get injured/suspended we are playing kids. Or Nyambe out of position.

Not that Magloire isn't a kid, but he seems furthest ahead in the youth CB pecking order.

[bluebruce]

Just now, Bbrovers2288 said:

Smallwood dropping into defence ?

Tell me you're simply sharing a horrible vision you had of an alternate dimension, and this isn't something you've heard.

[DE.]

Just now, JHRover said:

I'd also point out that floating around the bottom half of this league or League One for the next 5-10 years is going to see another £100 million of debt appear. We don't have time on our side if Venkys have notions of stopping funding. There seems to be an attitude that what we've been doing the last 2 years is sustainable or sensible. We've still lost bucket loads of money and there's an argument that spending a bit more is a risk worth taking if it gets us up.

A very good point. The debt is not going to decrease unless we find a way into the Premier League, it's only going to increase. At this point whether Venky's have £200m or £300m debt to Rovers is irrelevent, as if they pull the plug and want their money back then I doubt anybody would have paid £50m worth of debt on the club, let alone £200m+.

Let's not forget that this is all Venky's fault, too. Their horrific mismanagement of the club has essentially left both Blackburn Rovers and its fans hostage to these distant owners who have never shown they care one iota about the club's legacy or the love that the supporters have for it. It was their decision to sack Allardyce and bring in Kean. It was their decision to hand the reigns over to SEM and allow us to fall into a pit of disorganisation on and off the field. It was their decision to hand out ridiculous contracts and agents fees, skyrocketing what was at the time a somewhat manageable negative net balance. It was and still is their choice to never hire a proper manager, always relying on cheap, out of work chancers or untried rookies and therefore never giving us a fighting chance of moving forward. It was their choice to consistently fail to hire a proper board of directors at Ewood Park, relying on the likes of Paul Agnew, Shebby Singh and Derek Shaw. I could go on and on but just typing this is raising my blood pressure.

They are the sole reason we are in such a sorry state and I will never feel any gratitude to them. I hate them for what they've turned this club into and I hate that if Desai wakes up one day and decides she's had enough the club may very well cease to exist. 

[JHRover]

Fair enough to let Magloire out to get games IF there's a CB coming in but if not then I give up. 

After what happened in January/February with letting defenders out and ending up with injuries and having to call upon Magloire in the league we will have even less depth should either Mulgrew or Lenihan get injured. 

Playing a dangerous game here.

[Bbrovers2288]

Just now, bluebruce said:

Tell me you're simply sharing a horrible vision you had of an alternate dimension, and this isn't something you've heard.

Haha nah I’m just speculating, I can’t understand why we haven’t strengthened the back and Smallwood is still with us though 

[Tormund]

Any danger?

[chaddyrovers]

10 hours ago, JHRover said:

Years to get a competent scouting network up and running? Try months. Most managers especially the experienced ones have their own contacts and lists anyway. How long does Mowbray expect to be afforded to be able to take years to develop scouting? 

A quick look at Watford, Norwich etc. Who put excellent scouting networks together in no time at all and reaped the rewards.

Never today, always tomorrow. The Venky motto and it seems Mowbray's too.

I would say Norwich success is down to one man and that being Sporting Director Stuart Webber in terms of signings there. He has great contacts throughout Europe and set up a good scouting structure there plus him and Farke have a great working relationship. Its a structure I am fan off as it allow the head coach to focus on training and set the team up whilst the sporting director finds the players and focus on negotiating the terms on players we want to sign after targets are finalise by both Sporting Director and Head Coach

4 hours ago, JoeHarvey said:

I'm sorry but a centre-back and a left-back wouldn't make us a Top 6 team. Watch Derby, Leeds, West Brom and the real Top 6 teams play, we've got nothing on them. 

I'm not a negative person, and most of the time I'm slated for being overly positive (see my opinions on BB) but to me, every team from 7th to 18th is battling it out in mid-table obscurity, and we're one of them. We simply don't have the playing style and the options off the bench that these others teams do. For me, a centre-back and a left back come in and I'd be expecting 10th, 11th or 12th. To push for the top 6 now we'd have to have a 20 goal a season striker, a whole new defence and totally different playstyle.

That's okay though, to me there's nothing wrong with us being a mid-table side for now. We've got a lot of young players, and soon that 20 goal a season striker slot mentioned above could well be filled by a Sam Gallagher, a Ben Brereton, or if he was played up front, an Adam Armstrong.

I think it would Joe, tho I respect your view it wouldn't and that fine. I think the 2 players I mention Hector and Cunningham would improve our 11 and make us significantly. 

4 hours ago, JHRover said:

I sense Chaddy is starting to turn with a few doubts coming to the surface

I am getting annoyed with the lack of activity in terms of signings for the positions we need. Questions should be asked if we don't strengthen more at the back as that where we need to at the start of summer. We know what we need in terms of signings and players we should be selling. I was happy with Johnson signing. The Gallagher signing make me question why we sign Brereton if Mowbray will not use him considering the good pre season he had and look our best striker in pre season. As you know I am big fan of Brereton. I can understand the Downing signing. I understand that Walton was on the shortlist but not near the top of the list. Martinez from Arsenal was a target aswell as this foreign keeper which I don't have a name for, plus Newcastle's Karl Darlow but wages too high. I thought we should have move for someone like Nottingham forest Costel Pantilimon or Southampton Fraser Forster. I hope you have seen the defenders I have suggested we should have move for or we move for by Thursday deadline. 

 

Edited August 6, 2019 by chaddyrovers

[danger19_80]

Just now, Tormund said:

Any danger?

Apparently so:

 

7:38 PM · Aug 6, 2019·Twitter for iPhone

Edited August 6, 2019 by danger19_80