Summer Transfer Window 2019

[Ossydave]

Just now, Neal said:

Right, new day, transfer window is done, for my own sanity I'm going to try and focus on the positives. 

 

Johnson and Cunningham both quality signings, definately improve our first 11 and Gallagher gives us more options up front. Hopefully Tosin lives up to expectations and shows City why he should be ahead of Stones and Otamendi. Although Walton isn't ours he's no worse than Raya. I was speaking to my mate is a die hard Wiganer and he said the exact same things about Walton as we did about Raya, flaps on crosses, doesn't command his area and preferred they brought in someone with more experience (which they did). Time will tell if we're better or worse off but on face value it's much the same. On face value the first 11 should be better than last season, you would hope the experience of Cunny, Johnson and Downing would count for something. All we need is the manager to do now is pick our best 11 (with Rothwell) , stay away from a microphone and hope we stay injury free at the back. Take something away from Fulham and a half decent defensive performance would boost confidence and the general mood. A decent free signing or two would be ideal to just ease some nerves, someone like Lynch on low wages wouldn't be bad to help squad numbers but Vorm and Neustadter would be ideal, I hope we're still looking, hope Sharpe can find out if we'll be looking at free agents. All in all I'd say the window has been a 6/10, maybe better or worse dependant on how Tosin performs. 

Pretty much my take on it too.

We are walking a defensive tightrope with injuries though, fully fit we can have a decent defence, if he picks the right players and plays them week in, week out together. 

If Mulgrews loan actually gets confirmed I'd be making Johnson captain 100%, he won't be afraid to fire a few rockets up backsides unlike nice guy Charlie.

[markhayhurst]

Just now, Ossydave said:

Pretty much my take on it too.

We are walking a defensive tightrope with injuries though, fully fit we can have a decent defence, if he picks the right players and plays them week in, week out together. 

If Mulgrews loan actually gets confirmed I'd be making Johnson captain 100%, he won't be afraid to fire a few rockets up backsides unlike nice guy Charlie.

So TM will go with newly signed Johnson and not Bennet we will see.

 

i agree with you though a great choice 

[1864roverite]

Whilst Reed was good for us there wasn’t a whole host of clubs knocking the door down to buy or loan him in particular from premier league clubs! Is his stock really that good?

Also the loan to buy option is for the other Reed they signed NOT Harrison as I read it.

Mulgrew situation baffling!

[ben_the_beast]

41 minutes ago, CrouchingNunhiddenCucumber said:

This is the kind of attitude that could have got Mowbray in trouble this season for me. I'm sure he thought Mulgrew was an 'honest pro' and 'gave his best' and that's more than likely why he started him on Saturday - look where that got us. 

The whole point of my "fuck off to Wigan" line was a response to if he's thrown his toys at being told he wasn't good enough on Saturday. He's clearly had it easy the last few years and didn't like having his nose put out of joint if that is the case, and of he's a bad influence on the dressing room then good riddance. It's a massive step for Mowbray to take this stance and I for one applaud it, fingers crossed it'll see Bennett benched on Saturday as well, though I'll believe it when I see it. 

There's no room for sentiment in football, so thanks for getting us out of League One Charlie (whilst also being part of the side that took us there) I'll reserve my "clapping ex players back at Ewood" for actual heroes. 

I think it just shows how fickle fans are. One bloke posts on a message board that he has thrown his toys out the pram after being called out in an interview (in which he very clearly wasnt called out and the question about defence was clearly sidestepped) and you are saying fuck off then. 

I am not saying Mowbray shouldn't be more ruthless. I think all on here can see that has been a weakness of his. It's only a message board but nevertheless it was an extreme reaction based on very little. It seemed like you were climbing down a little with the thanks for getting us out of league 1, then followed it up with an, I'll reserve my clapping comment. 

I'm not comparing him with tugay, friedel, Shearer etc. But the bloke has led us well in his short time here. I'm sure he wont miss your claps though cucumber 

[Gone to seed]

Rank bad PR from the club all round, from the lack of timely announcement of the incoming of Greg Cunningham, to the handling of Charlie Mulgrew's in out in out shake it all about exit to the pie-men.

This is what happens when you pare resources to the bone. 

Poor show for the loyal fan base, IMO,.

[Bigdoggsteel]

Just now, WIR Second Coming said:

Rank bad PR from the club all round, from the lack of timely announcement of the incoming of Greg Cunningham, to the handling of Charlie Mulgrew's in out in out shake it all about exit to the pie-men.

This is what happens when you pare resources to the bone. 

Poor show for the loyal fan base, IMO,.

Lack of a timely announcement about Cunningham? What do you mean? 

[unsall]

Just now, Neal said:

Right, new day, transfer window is done, for my own sanity I'm going to try and focus on the positives. 

 

Johnson and Cunningham both quality signings, definately improve our first 11 and Gallagher gives us more options up front. Hopefully Tosin lives up to expectations and shows City why he should be ahead of Stones and Otamendi. Although Walton isn't ours he's no worse than Raya. I was speaking to my mate is a die hard Wiganer and he said the exact same things about Walton as we did about Raya, flaps on crosses, doesn't command his area and preferred they brought in someone with more experience (which they did). Time will tell if we're better or worse off but on face value it's much the same. On face value the first 11 should be better than last season, you would hope the experience of Cunny, Johnson and Downing would count for something. All we need is the manager to do now is pick our best 11 (with Rothwell) , stay away from a microphone and hope we stay injury free at the back. Take something away from Fulham and a half decent defensive performance would boost confidence and the general mood. A decent free signing or two would be ideal to just ease some nerves, someone like Lynch on low wages wouldn't be bad to help squad numbers but Vorm and Neustadter would be ideal, I hope we're still looking, hope Sharpe can find out if we'll be looking at free agents. All in all I'd say the window has been a 6/10, maybe better or worse dependant on how Tosin performs. 

Summed up pretty well, think we signed   some decent players, everyone screaming all summer that Mulgrew shouldn’t be starting, loan him him out(if it goes through) and same are saying he shouldn’t have gone, can’t win.

5 players (inc goalie) in defence, we’ve replaced 3 with obviously Lenihan not one  needed to replace, only R/B not addressed.

Still think Nyambe Tosin Lenihan Cunningham looks a better back 4 than the one started against Charlton, still think Alan Hutton has another season in him at R/B (free agent).

Williams decent back up at C/B and then it’s probably Grayson/Nyambe  as well. Window not as bad as some saying, could have been better, like you say, all depends on Tosin if he can be the dominant c/h we need, with Walton also commanding that area, 

[Bigdoggsteel]

Mulgrew obviously wanted out after being told he wouldn't be  starter.

Ballsy by Mowbray, but we are a CB short now. Hopefully a few good free agents out there. I would take Lenihan, Williams and Tosin, but we need to factor in potential injuries 

[the original david brent]

38 minutes ago, CrouchingNunhiddenCucumber said:

This is the kind of attitude that could have got Mowbray in trouble this season for me. I'm sure he thought Mulgrew was an 'honest pro' and 'gave his best' and that's more than likely why he started him on Saturday - look where that got us. 

The whole point of my "fuck off to Wigan" line was a response to if he's thrown his toys at being told he wasn't good enough on Saturday. He's clearly had it easy the last few years and didn't like having his nose put out of joint if that is the case, and of he's a bad influence on the dressing room then good riddance. It's a massive step for Mowbray to take this stance and I for one applaud it, fingers crossed it'll see Bennett benched on Saturday as well, though I'll believe it when I see it. 

There's no room for sentiment in football, so thanks for getting us out of League One Charlie (whilst also being part of the side that took us there) I'll reserve my "clapping ex players back at Ewood" for actual heroes. 

So you wouldn’t clap Mulgrew on his return? Our captain who nearly jeopardised his international career to stay with us in league 1? He was one of the hero’s of that promotion campaign, scored a record amount of goals and got the winner to send us up! He’s as much as a hero for what he did that season than anyone who played in the premier league glory years. That season in league 1 was as important and equally as enjoyable as any in our long history.

I agree with their being no room for sentiment in football and I concede he didn’t look great on Saturday. However give the man a bit of respect!

I know it’s off topic but the fickle nature of some Rovers fans in terms of quickly turning on players who recently they revered really annoys me. Whilst it’s clear the likes of Mulgrew, Smallwood and Bennett have struggled recently, these players stood up to be counted in that very important league 1 season, and this shouldn’t be forgotten.

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

9 hours ago, AJW said:

The re-signing of Rodwell would actually seem quite logical and sensible considering the madness of this window 

Except he's unfit, demotivated and made of glass.g

[AJW]

I agree..but this has been such a strange window. I can actually see it happening

[bob fleming]

Goalkeeper - might be similar to Raya. Don't know yet.

Right Back - would start with Nyambe. JRC and Bennett can cover. This will do I suppose. Big season for Nyambe.

Centre Half - the one I was hoping for and the one that would have been my priority. An experienced 30+ year old who could organise the defence, get them set up and switched on. I don't think we got that and we certainly didn't have it before. But we did get a 6 foot 4 centre half in from Man City, rated by their manager. Leaving us with Lenihan, Williams (looks comfortable enough in there for me), the aforementioned Tosin. Also Nyambe can cover, plus there's Grayson - and maybe even Mulgrew yet. But we're one short for me if Mulgrew does go. So maybe we will bring in a free agent? Don't know.

Left Back - Cunningham sounds just the ticket. Bell, Hart can cover and Williams of course. Upgraded

Midfield - Johnson and Travis every week. Upgraded through Johnson. Plenty of cover and bodies here. Evans, Smallwood will do a job but you'd hope their playing time will be limited. There's also Downing, Davenport, Bennett.   

Attacking Mid - Dack, Butterworth, Buckley perhaps? Can take from the pool of other midfielders and forwards if need be.

Forwards - Graham, Gallagher, Armstrong, Brereton, Samuel, Chapman

So in summary more than enough cover up front and in midfield. Where you fit them all in I have no idea and there is a lack of width for me, but that's not how we set up. Defence: improved the left back position. Right back; as you were. Centre half is clearly the concern. I see that Cunningham and Williams played at Bristol City together so hopefully they'll have a good understanding. Would have loved to have seen that Kevin Moran, Craig Short, Henning Berg type brought in but there you go. We shall see.

 

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

7 hours ago, DavidMailsTightPerm said:

Interesting that many are lauding some teams buying largely unknown players from abroad. People have short memories  - remember the Portugeuse experiment ?

This window will be defined by whether we get a half decent out of contract central defender. Also huge pressure on Tosin coming good.

For all the criticism of TM - I wonder how much he has been limited by our wage bill. For which the lack of season ticket sales won't have helped.

Pretty much sold same ST as last year. The lack of say 1500 season tickets (Waggot's target) generating £500,000 at best?  That's limiting him?  That will probably equate to Downing's wage...

The fact you are saying our season will be defined by whether we get a decent out of contract defender says everything about this window.

Mowbray has made his bed.  Now he has to lie in it.

[arbitro]

Last November I was told that Mowbray stopped Mulgrew joining up with the Scotland squad as he hadn't played in some previous games due to injury. Mulgrew allegedly wasn't pleased and words were exchanged. From around that time Mulgrews form has been shocking culminating in a dreadful performance against Middlesbrough when he went lame early in the second half and we didn't see him again until Saturday when he was poor.

I think it's the right decision to let him go but surely Mowbray should have got a replacement in first knowing that Mulgrew wasn't happy. Mowbray has often praised the spirit of the squad and I always believed that Mulgrew was central to this. I really hope some players don't down tools in sympathy.

Cunningham seems a good signing in an area where it was needed.

I sincerely hope we don't see a repeat of last season when our lack of centre halves saw us capitulate. Mowbray is entering the most testing time of his tenure. Personally I don't think he handles the pressure too well. If this is ramped up through poor results he might just cash his chips in.

[Gone to seed]

Just now, Bigdoggsteel said:

Lack of a timely announcement about Cunningham? What do you mean? 

The club clearly knew it was happening, the lad signed in time for the paperwork to be processed in time (I don't think we are as reliant on the fax machine as in the bad old shelfy days), there was clearly an opportunity to create some excitement amongst the fan base (even if it wasn't quite the worldy we'd all wet ourselves about), yet they wait until 9pm before posting the news on the club website. Hardly rocket science, to communicate effectively with your fans, but just like many other aspects of our club's operations, this was poorly handled and, IMO, a wasted opportunity to build better relations. It is my opinion, BigDog, tis all.

[tomphil]

Some of the things over the last few windows have got the old alarm bells ringing topped off by this Mulgrew saga i just hope there isn't another little bit of a power struggle behind the scenes again.

All most have really wanted over the last few windows was a decent centre half to compete with Mulgrew and eventually replace him whilst he continued to serve us well from the bench and off the park until he got himself a nice move away.

What we've had is an absolute farce on that score but when you are a) Either so weak you have senior players virtually running the show or b) Are playing some players regularly you are told you have to this is where you end up.

I'll say one thing for Mowbray through he's been very good to a lot of these players sometimes at the expense of others so they owe him big time let's hope they knuckle down and get on with it now because a lot of them did seem to worship at the alter of Charlie Mulgrew.

[geedog13]

1 hour ago, CrouchingNunhiddenCucumber said:

This is the kind of attitude that could have got Mowbray in trouble this season for me. I'm sure he thought Mulgrew was an 'honest pro' and 'gave his best' and that's more than likely why he started him on Saturday - look where that got us. 

The whole point of my "fuck off to Wigan" line was a response to if he's thrown his toys at being told he wasn't good enough on Saturday. He's clearly had it easy the last few years and didn't like having his nose put out of joint if that is the case, and of he's a bad influence on the dressing room then good riddance. It's a massive step for Mowbray to take this stance and I for one applaud it, fingers crossed it'll see Bennett benched on Saturday as well, though I'll believe it when I see it. 

There's no room for sentiment in football, so thanks for getting us out of League One Charlie (whilst also being part of the side that took us there) I'll reserve my "clapping ex players back at Ewood" for actual heroes. 

To true, and this may be the kick up the ass they all need, I mean if the captain isn't safe no one is so they should all play for there jobs, it's not a charity its football play properly or f@#k off 

[MarkBRFC]

Just now, arbitro said:

I think it's the right decision to let him go but surely Mowbray should have got a replacement in first knowing that Mulgrew wasn't happy

Mowbray bleats on about how hard it is to sign players because clubs want replacements lined up first, yet he happily let's Raya & Mulgrew go without having any sort of plan to replace them.

Always think Mowbray has done ok here, apart from keeping us up in 2017 (which would be very harsh to pin on him anyway) he has met each expectation so far.

The more time goes on though the more baffling I find him. That interview yesterday also showed me that he isn't far from snapping and turning on the fans.

Edited August 9, 2019 by MarkBRFC

[dallydally]

Has Mulgrew move been confirmed? Can't see anything to that effect anywhere

[CrouchingNunhiddenCucumber]

9 minutes ago, david brent said:

So you wouldn’t clap Mulgrew on his return? Our captain who nearly jeopardised his international career to stay with us in league 1? He was one of the hero’s of that promotion campaign, scored a record amount of goals and got the winner to send us up! He’s as much as a hero for what he did that season than anyone who played in the premier league glory years. That season in league 1 was as important and equally as enjoyable as any in our long history.

I agree with their being no room for sentiment in football and I concede he didn’t look great on Saturday. However give the man a bit of respect!

I know it’s off topic but the fickle nature of some Rovers fans in terms of quickly turning on players who recently they revered really annoys me. Whilst it’s clear the likes of Mulgrew, Smallwood and Bennett have struggled recently, these players stood up to be counted in that very important league 1 season, and this shouldn’t be forgotten.

I mean I'm never clapping anyone for jeopardising their international career with Scotland, I think even the Scots would rather pretend that wasn't happening ?

On a serious note I absolutely cannot put Mulgrew in the category with players like Tugay, Friedel, Shearer etc I think it's laughable that you have, frankly. He was in the team that took us down to League One ffs. 

And I'd argue the fickle point as well, Charlie has been shite for months, it wasn't a sudden turn to disliking him on my part. And add that to the fact that he may have thrown his toys/been a disruption in the dressing room then he can absolutely fuck off to Wigan. You don't play like you have for the last six months and act that way if you're a model professional. 

[markhayhurst]

Mulgrew as captain who wasn’t likely to start had to go. Embarrassing for the lad, dignity dictates he would never have been comfortable as a back up player/bench warmer. IMO TM was right to TRY and ship him out. Will be interesting for sure if it didn’t go through and not great for all concerned. Having said though a CB replacement should have been lined up.

[OJRovers]

I can’t believe anyone is anything other that horrified at the thought of Lennihan, WILLIAMS and an untested kid from City being our choice at centre back!

It is madness and could very quickly unravel and ultimately cost Mowbray his job.

[CrouchingNunhiddenCucumber]

28 minutes ago, ben_the_beast said:

I think it just shows how fickle fans are. One bloke posts on a message board that he has thrown his toys out the pram after being called out in an interview (in which he very clearly wasnt called out and the question about defence was clearly sidestepped) and you are saying fuck off then. 

I am not saying Mowbray shouldn't be more ruthless. I think all on here can see that has been a weakness of his. It's only a message board but nevertheless it was an extreme reaction based on very little. It seemed like you were climbing down a little with the thanks for getting us out of league 1, then followed it up with an, I'll reserve my clapping comment. 

I'm not comparing him with tugay, friedel, Shearer etc. But the bloke has led us well in his short time here. I'm sure he wont miss your claps though cucumber 

I believe my post was a reaction to "if" he'd thrown his toys, if it wasn't I should have made that clear. 

I think you're conveniently glossing over the fact that he was in the team that got us relegated to League One mind. 

[Waggy76]

If we had won on Saturday against Charlton , would the events of yesterday have taken place ???

I have no problem with Mulgrew going to Wigan except a replacement was not sourced ..Charlies best days are long gone ..!!

Cunningham , I know little about but hopefully he is an upgrade on Bell , who isn't really up to championship standard.

I think Mowbray was in panic mode after Saturday , why ?? He know the defence was poor said so himself in February ...

I think Mowbray is now , walking on very thin ice ...

Edited August 9, 2019 by Waggy76

[JHRover]

Alternative theory - Mowbray couldn't sign anyone until he got someone off the wage bill. He comes to the conclusion that Mulgrew is one he's prepared to offload 

The fact he started Mulgrew on Saturday as captain v Charlton tells me that he was still very much in his.plans and developments yesterday were unexpected. Mowbray probably reaching desperation stage to bring in a new LB so agreed to sacrifice Mulgrew to do it.

As I said last night we can try our best to rationalise decisions at this club but our antics on deadline day over the last two summers do not suggest there is any coherent plan.