Summer Transfer Window

[Ewood Ace]

1 minute ago, Paul Mani said:

Difficult one. I don’t think the manager would have any problem in selling one of our top players for £30m and then buying 2 or 3 £5m players....he’s said as much on several occasions. 

Two problems there firstly we don't have a player worth £30 Million and secondly having seen how his signings for £5 Million+ have worked out it wouldn't be good for the club.

1 minute ago, Paul Mani said:

But Watkins and Benrahma for Toney and Bannan is shit..

I expect you would have said the same last season when they sold Maupay and didn't sign a replacement for him.

[Mercer]

57 minutes ago, Paul Mani said:

I agree Joe and I’m not knocking their model it’s been good for them...

But jeeeez....can you imagine if we had sold Dack and Arma this summer and replaced them with that motley crew Brentford have signed!! ?

Yet, IMO, Brenford will till finish far higher than Rovers!!!

[Paul Mani]

3 minutes ago, Mercer said:

Yet, IMO, Brenford will till finish far higher than Rovers!!!

Shock!! 

[Silas]

2 minutes ago, Mercer said:

Yet, IMO, Brenford will till finish far higher than Rovers!!!

Can I ask why?

What area/s do you think they're far better than us?

Defence, scoring goals, midfield, manager, experience? 

[superniko]

3 minutes ago, Paul Mani said:

No ones mocked Brentford. On the contrary, it’s been accepted that their model has been good for them.

But Watkins and Benrahma for Toney and Bannan is shit. And would’ve caused carnage if it were us.

Also, I wouldn’t bet on them finishing above us. 

It was said that “people would hate it in action here”. To which you agreed.

If it was a one off, I agree there would be complaints, however, I think fans would give the owners and scouts the benefit of the doubt in this scenario considering they’ve been here many times before and have improved on their league position / maintained top half finishes throughout: 

In forwards alone before the £50m for Watkins and Benrahma...
Andre Gray £12m 15/16 
Scott Hogan £10m 16/17 
Neal Maupay £20m 19/20

 

[pjt]

Pretty sure Brentford are using the Moneyball model, Mark Warbuton didnt agree with it and then left.  Seems like a traditionally lower league club are doing really well with it.  They have a small capacity stadium, still nowhere near FFP limits and have done well in league position for the past few years. 

 

[JHRover]

Personally if we aren't in the market for anyone else I'd be happy to offer Downing another year.

Versatile, vast experience and still in good shape and injury free for his age. The stats don't lie on his key passes and assists last season - he was a big contributor. 

Could we do better? Yes

But bringing him back adds extra options to help what we have already got.

I also worry that with him and Graham gone we've of course got a lot of energy and talent in midfield and up front but a shortage of experience and know how. We could do with adding to that.

[Beanie01289]

Just now, superniko said:

It was said that “people would hate it in action here”. To which you agreed.

If it was a one off, I agree there would be complaints, however, I think fans would give the owners and scouts the benefit of the doubt in this scenario considering they’ve been here many times before and have improved on their league position / maintained top half finishes throughout: 

In forwards alone before the £50m for Watkins and Benrahma...
Andre Gray £12m 15/16 
Scott Hogan £10m 16/17 
Neal Maupay £20m 19/20

 

Its fantastic and the model has really worked for them but i still want my club to keep its best players.

Also if the model goes  slightly wrong which at somepoint you would imagine it will have a wobble it could go badly for a while.

[roversfan99]

1 hour ago, Mercer said:

Think he should be told to do one!

We shouldn't be interested in players who, IMO, only rock-up when there's nothing elsewhere.  

That is more than a little unfair. We dont have a clue what was offered, and there is no indication that he has come back to us with his tail between his legs. Maybe he was unwilling to take a pay cut after a successful season, maybe he wanted a longer deal for extra security, maybe he wants to go into coaching whilst finishing his career or maybe he has no desire to continue playing at all, we have no idea so its very harsh to paint the situation as you have done.

1 hour ago, Paul Mani said:

I don’t care what anyone says about Bannan (Imo a good Champ CM) IF we had sold Armstrong and Dack (equivalent to Watkins and Benrahma at Brentford) for £50m and had just had a bid turned down for Barry Bannan THIS BOARD WOULD GO NUCLEAR!!

 

I know you are often keen to imply that posters on here are unjustly miserable, but I presume that Brentford fans are sad to see Watkins and potentially Benrahma and I am guessing that you have consulted Brentford forums to justify your stance that our response would be unreasonably "nuclear."

That being said, I don't think the comparison to us losing Dack and Armstrong is necessarily totally accurate. 

Firstly, something you've touched on is the history of replacing players that they have there. If they are a little calmer than we might be, they have reason to have more trust in the process, ultimately at Rovers, we would know that it would add further pressure and an increased demand to improve for Brereton and Gallagher, which we would rightly be sceptical of, whereas Brentford have a long line of attackers that have flourished and been successfully replaced.

You seem desperate to dismiss and mock Bannan but he would be a very shrewd addition for any Championship club, and ultimately he is not a direct replacement for any outgoing, just an improvement to an already impressive midfield. Ivan Toney is the replacement for Watkins, who himself stepped up to replace Maupay, etc, etc. Toney has started very well with 3 goals in 4 games. Brentford had been preparing for the sale of Benrahma hence the signing of Ghoddos who they had been tracking in France apparently for over a year.

I would also say that they were proportionately less dependant on Watkins and Benrahma, there is still a third of their attack left in Mbuemo who is a very good player. With us, Armstrong and Dack are prolific, the other main 2 for us are Gallagher and Brereton which are anything but. The structure of the Brentford team is also far better, they had the second best defensive record in the league, conceding 25 less than us and have that same defence and keeper that served them so well.

Brentford were considerably better than us last season, they finished 18 points ahead of us. They start the season expected to finish higher than us again, thats not being negative or miserable, thats being logical based on the vast gap between the 2 teams last season. We can only hope that their leaving stars are impossible to replace and coupled with signings we bridge that gap because Brentford may well be up at the top of the league again and thats where we want and need to be.

[superniko]

1 minute ago, Beanie01289 said:

Its fantastic and the model has really worked for them but i still want my club to keep its best players.

Also if the model goes  slightly wrong which at somepoint you would imagine it will have a wobble it could go badly for a while.

I agree, and if they had got promoted then maybe Watkins or Benrahma would have stayed, but realistically, if you’re producing players of that quality in the Championship they are not going to hang around, no matter what club you are.
So next best scenario, get a shit load of cash for them and reinvest it shrewdly (which they’re more often than not successful at)

[RevidgeBlue]

14 minutes ago, JHRover said:

I also worry that with him and Graham gone we've of course got a lot of energy and talent in midfield and up front but a shortage of experience and know how. We could do with adding to that.

We've got players with lots of experience who'll be on the pitch. Lenihan, Ayala, Holtby, Johnson. I don't suppose Bennett will be offloaded either. I don't see why we need a non playing player to come in and lend advice.

We almost might as well give Shearer 10 k p.w. to come in and show Armstrong how to be more clinical in front of goal.

[tomphil]

1 hour ago, superniko said:

Really surprised to see people wanting us to offer Downing a contract. He slows everything down needing 3+ touches before moving at all. 
Playing him CM last season meant less time for Rothwell who has shone in the few games we’ve had so far. 

There’s ongoing talk about where Dack fits into our team currently, when you add in Travis (when fit) as well as Buckley is there any need to add to our wage bill with Downing.
 

As for the mocking of Brentford it’s a bit embarrassing, they’ve made £50m+ on 2 players and will still finish above us. Bizarre comments saying we’d hate their model etc... Ah yes, it would be dreadful in comparison to what Venkys and Waggot can serve us up!

Agree on Downing it's just silly wanting to throw money at him now it's better put towards something else. Would he be handy, yes maybe if he was fit.  Will we actually miss him now though, no i don't think so to be honest.

Edited October 14, 2020 by tomphil

[chaddyrovers]

3 hours ago, neophox said:

Downing still a freebie.

No thankyou 

31 minutes ago, Mercer said:

Yet, IMO, Brenford will till finish far higher than Rovers!!!

Another prediction from you? Hows your last prediction doing?

[philipl]

Aleesami missing from another Norway squad tonight- I expect I won't be typing his name again. 

King playing for Norway.

[unsall]

2 minutes ago, philipl said:

Aleesami missing from another Norway squad tonight- I expect I won't be typing his name again. 

King playing for Norway.

Let’s hope you’re typing King scored a hat trick tonight,push the price up?

[Fraserkirky]

Say we get Douglas in, which I would be happy about. 

Room for a PL loan, with the formation we are playing now, do you get a Forward or a Midfielder? 

I would go with a forward, as I think the formation will be a 4-3-1-2 like Milan use to play, do you have confidence in Gallagher or Brereton to get 15+ this season next to Armstrong? I dont, as well as Brereton has been playing.

[RevidgeBlue]

42 minutes ago, Paul Mani said:

Difficult one. I don’t think the manager would have any problem in selling one of our top players for £30m and then buying 2 or 3 £5m players....he’s said as much on several occasions. 

Brentford seem to be the exception that proves the rule but that very rarely works imo.

Look at us over recent years. Sell Shearer, rapid decline culminating in relegation, Sell Duff and Dunn, marked decline and eventual relegation, sell Roque, Bentley, Jones etc ditto.  

The only way to succeed imo is to keep your best players and build round them with some astute signings as Mark Hughes seemed to favour.

[Leonard Venkhater]

9 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Brentford seem to be the exception that proves the rule but that very rarely works imo.

Look at us over recent years. Sell Shearer, rapid decline culminating in relegation, Sell Duff and Dunn, marked decline and eventual relegation, sell Roque, Bentley, Jones etc ditto.  

The only way to succeed imo is to keep your best players and build round them with some astute signings as Mark Hughes seemed to favour.

Fair point, but...(showing age) sell Garbett, Bradford and even Tony Field-build championship-winning team....Just saying...

[pjt]

Pretty sure under the current FFP rules we could sign whoever we want, pay them a shitload as a youth development coach (as long as they do some coaching), pay as play deal for actually playing.  If the owners wanted to fund it..

 

[pjt]

Think thats how Rooney is at Derby, not a great example btw!

[rovers11]

If we sign Douglas, which it looks like we will, this transfer window has to go down as one of these best we've had in a long time. The problem positions have been filled with quality, experienced players and we've added a couple of exciting young players. 

Anything lower than 6th place will be a disappointment this season. 

[K-Hod]

3 hours ago, Paul Mani said:

Bit salty cocker....in spite of your Brentford ‘love-in’ my point still stands. How fuckin bad would our residents take losing AA and Bradley Dack and replacing with Ivan Toney and Barry Bannan? ?????‍♂️

Please can you stop trying to provoke people into a reaction?
You’ve said this about five times and it’s getting a bit boring. Imagine the fans of a club selling their two best players and being angry that they’ve replaced them with two inferior players. Almost like our fans are unreasonable and that’s a quality exclusive to our fan base....

[Swanson]

[RevidgeBlue]

1 hour ago, Leonard Venkhater said:

Fair point, but...(showing age) sell Garbett, Bradford and even Tony Field-build championship-winning team....Just saying...

Lol.....fair comment although Furphy's side with those players in did look destined for decent things as well before he was poached by Sheffield Utd as well.

Field was obviously exceptional but I never really rated either Garbutt or Bradford - "the first £1m player". ?

[47er]

3 hours ago, Paul Mani said:

Holtby is a far better player than Bannan.

Whenever I've seen Bannon he's stood out as a class player, admittedly in the Championship. If we sold Holtby and bought Bannon I would not be going nuclear.