January Transfer Window.

[islander200]

42 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

You need quality to get you over the line. Like ‘92 with Cowans, ‘01 with Hughes, Friedel and Berkovic.

Likes of Zeefuik and Giles when sitting 2nd and on the verge of something truly transformative for Blackburn Rovers, really?

In theory Giles was the sort of signing we should have been making he was just used incorrectly.Most assists playing lwb for Cardiff first part of the season and has quite a few for Boro this season playing in his natural position.Mowbray decided to play him RF

[G Somerset Rover]

36 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

You need quality to get you over the line. Like ‘92 with Cowans, ‘01 with Hughes, Friedel and Berkovic.

Likes of Zeefuik and Giles when sitting 2nd and on the verge of something truly transformative for Blackburn Rovers, really?

To be fair, whilst he’s clearly not at that level, isn’t Giles top of the assists league again? Mowbray’s use of him was criminal.

Edited January 4, 2023 by Gavlar Somerset Rover!

[Mattyblue]

Giles was a young/inexperienced loanee (as was Zeefuik), still wasn’t enough for a team on the verge of the PL, even if he had been as successful as he’d been elsewhere.

Those were not signings for a club serious about promotion.

Edited January 4, 2023 by Mattyblue

[Sweaty Gussets]

12 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Giles was a young/inexperienced loanee (as was Zeefuik), still wasn’t enough for a team on the verge of the PL, even if he had been as successful as he’d been elsewhere.

Those were not signings for a club serious about promotion.

Not sure that's fair about Giles. He was the leading assist-maker in the league up to us signing him in Jan.  Mogga ruined him. He's again leading the assists chart this season. 

[Mattyblue]

Not knocking him, he wasn’t enough, him, plus some experienced heads is what was needed…

[Exiled_Rover]

Anyway, enough about the inept Mowbray - any update on what Broughton and JDT are trying to do in the January transfer window?

[Dreams of 1995]

Giles was a signing for a serious promotion push. It was the other signings, or lack of, that showed it was never realistic

It was criminal not to have attempted to capitalise on the form we were in then

[roversfan99]

It's crazy after so many years of negligence, how reluctant so many are to point fingers at our owners.

We were 2nd with a small squad and riding the crest of a wave. We then signed a couple of youngish loanee full backs, a kid with 10 minutes of senior experience for half a million who subsequently got injured well in advance of the deadline, and then Hedges for a nominal fee.

No denying that maybe those signings could have been used better, but that wasn't the main issue.

People for some reason like to make out that there was a big warchest there that we declined to use, as if that was likely, because their cousins partners hairdresser had told them or whatever. 

[RoversClitheroe]

2 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

People for some reason like to make out that there was a big warchest there that we declined to use, as if that was likely, because their cousins partners hairdresser had told them or whatever. 

We bid £1.8m for Dembele....

[dingles staying down 4ever]

1 minute ago, RoversClitheroe said:

We bid £1.8m for Dembele....

I thought that was from the fee we would have got if we sold Rothwell, once Venky's overturned the decision to sell Rothwell I thought we pulled out of signing Dembele. I maybe wrong though

[roversfan99]

Yep, Mowbray said he wanted to sell Rothwell to bring in 2 players of his own. Makes no sense that he would want that if he had funds available anyway.

[Sweaty Gussets]

I think Mowbray said if he had sold Rothwell he had a couple of players lined up - Dembele and Wallace (Millwall) from memory. 

He also said we didn't sign a striker (target man) because we 'don't play that way'. I think he meant scoring goals and winning matches.

We really were horrendous last season during the post-Xmas death spiral. I don't think we scored for 5 games on the run. This season is like watching 70's Brazil in comparison!

[joey_big_nose]

Lots of folk after an additional experienced central midfielder. I can't see the point in that personally unless we are getting someone who is real proven quality, and what are the chances of getting that? A Wharton, Buckley, Garrett, Morton, Travis have all performed well imo, and while there is always room for improvement I think they can do that from their own development.  I am very aware that over the ten years in the Championship we have signed a lot of experienced midfielders, and none of them have really performed that much better than our current set of mids (maybe Johnson first season with us, but that's debatable. Holtby maybe), and lots of them a lot worse (Akpan, Evans, Murphy, Guthrie etc etc). People have mentioned Rothwell but he took a while to settle and be used effectively, and came as a raw signing from League 1 which is not really what people are saying we need.

For me the only real show in town is how do we find someone who can score goals regularly, ideally as a proper number 9.

[roversfan99]

It is indicative of how Venkys have run us that in such a strong position, they not only didn't provide a competitive budget but didn't even give the manager permission to trade to raise funds and strengthen the club that way.

Could the signings have been used better? Yes, perhaps. Should we have taken a loanee from the Premier League to boost our strikeforce? Maybe. But are these the main issues? No.

[roversfan99]

2 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

Lots of folk after an additional experienced central midfielder. I can't see the point in that personally unless we are getting someone who is real proven quality, and what are the chances of getting that? A Wharton, Buckley, Garrett, Morton, Travis have all performed well imo, and while there is always room for improvement I think they can do that from their own development.  I am very aware that over the ten years in the Championship we have signed a lot of experienced midfielders, and none of them have really performed that much better than our current set of mids (maybe Johnson first season with us, but that's debatable. Holtby maybe), and lots of them a lot worse (Akpan, Evans, Murphy, Guthrie etc etc). People have mentioned Rothwell but he took a while to settle and be used effectively, and came as a raw signing from League 1 which is not really what people are saying we need.

For me the only real show in town is how do we find someone who can score goals regularly, ideally as a proper number 9.

It is hard to base it on previous times in which poor recruitment has burnt us, that is based on the individuals rather than the type of player.

I think the current crop of youngsters have been very inconsistent and we struggle to win the midfield battle, often winning games when it is essentially bypassed and we barely have the ball. I feel it will be a big struggle to maintain a promotion push with that crop of young midfielders.

I would love a proven operator at this level, someone like Ben Pearson or Dan Barlaser but I suspect our owners would not support such a signing.

[ben_the_beast]

Ben Pearson would be an excellent signing. Exactly what is needed. 

Him and an adequate Hirst replacement and I'd be very happy. I highly doubt we have the funds for this though 

[phili]

4 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

It is indicative of how Venkys have run us that in such a strong position, they not only didn't provide a competitive budget but didn't even give the manager permission to trade to raise funds and strengthen the club that way.

Could the signings have been used better? Yes, perhaps. Should we have taken a loanee from the Premier League to boost our strikeforce? Maybe. But are these the main issues? No.

Funds were there last year. The problem was that old Tony was trying to get a new contract and he believed not spending their cash, selling Rothwell and generating funds for his 2 signings, would be more likely to earn a new contract.

The offer for Dembele was made after Venkys rejected the Rothwell offer as funds were available for transfers, although it was only around £3m.

In hindsight we probably should have sold Rothwell. 

[Sweaty Gussets]

1 minute ago, phili said:

Funds were there last year. The problem was that old Tony was trying to get a new contract and he believed not spending their cash, selling Rothwell and generating funds for his 2 signings, would be more likely to earn a new contract.

The offer for Dembele was made after Venkys rejected the Rothwell offer as funds were available for transfers, although it was only around £3m.

In hindsight we probably should have sold Rothwell. 

Ah, so Mowbray was talking shite when he said he didn't get those players (Dembele etc) because Venky's wouldn't let him flog Rothwell?

[nbdrovers]

looking like louie annesley will be leaving this window before his contract's up. what a weird signing he's been? i know it's only gibraltar, but when you consider his age, the load of international games he's played, and just how long he's been here (five seasons now!) it's quite odd there's never once been anything whatsoever about him coming through into the first team, or even heading out on loan to develop? seems odd we'd bother keeping him for so long if we think so little of him? i saw him play for the u21s a few times, and he always seemed decent enough, no worse than many others on the pitch. odd!

[roversfan99]

4 minutes ago, phili said:

Funds were there last year. The problem was that old Tony was trying to get a new contract and he believed not spending their cash, selling Rothwell and generating funds for his 2 signings, would be more likely to earn a new contract.

The offer for Dembele was made after Venkys rejected the Rothwell offer as funds were available for transfers, although it was only around £3m.

In hindsight we probably should have sold Rothwell. 

A theory that seems very farfetched to me personally but we can all be free to choose which rumours to believe and not believe.

Nothing that Venkys have done has made sense from a promotion (to the Premier League) perspective over all of these years so I doubt that it was all on Mowbray with such a specific plan to get a new deal.

We should have sold Rothwell, just like Brereton but they don't seem interested in making us a club like Brentford and Brighton that uses clever reinvestment of funds generated to continuously stay competitive.

[phili]

2 minutes ago, Sweaty Gussets said:

Ah, so Mowbray was talking shite when he said he didn't get those players (Dembele etc) because Venky's wouldn't let him flog Rothwell?

He messed around trying to flog Rothwell for most of Jan and left it too late. He could have easily gone after Dembele earlier in Jan and signed him.

Dembele has now rejected us last Jan and also in the summer, so maybe third time lucky this Jan if we are indeed interested again.

[nbdrovers]

3 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

A theory that seems very farfetched to me personally but we can all be free to choose which rumours to believe and not believe.

Nothing that Venkys have done has made sense from a promotion (to the Premier League) perspective over all of these years so I doubt that it was all on Mowbray with such a specific plan to get a new deal.

We should have sold Rothwell, just like Brereton but they don't seem interested in making us a club like Brentford and Brighton that uses clever reinvestment of funds generated to continuously stay competitive.

honestly think the venky's suffer a bit of sentimentality to some players, and it ends up f'ing us business wise. the fact we let so many players leave for nothing through stubbornly offering them a million contracts instead of just selling them is bizarre? and look at the brereton situation! as a fan, i get it, but as people running a football club? it's just not sensible business.

Edited January 4, 2023 by nbdelboy

[phili]

2 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

A theory that seems very farfetched to me personally but we can all be free to choose which rumours to believe and not believe.

Nothing that Venkys have done has made sense from a promotion (to the Premier League) perspective over all of these years so I doubt that it was all on Mowbray with such a specific plan to get a new deal.

We should have sold Rothwell, just like Brereton but they don't seem interested in making us a club like Brentford and Brighton that uses clever reinvestment of funds generated to continuously stay competitive.

Agreed on the Brentford and Brighton models should be followed. 

This Jan we should be selling BBD if we can reinvest all of the transfer funds. If we can't and are only getting a fraction we may as well keep him. Which really doesn't make any sense.

[Sparks Rover]

4 minutes ago, nbdelboy said:

honestly think the venky's suffer a bit of sentimentality to some players, and it ends up f'ing us business wise. the fact we let so many players leave for nothing through stubbornly offering them a million contracts instead of just selling them is bizarre? and look at the brereton situation! as a fan, i get it, but as people running a football club? it's just not sensible business.

BBD decides when and where, not Venkys.  Obviously he's decided to weigh his options up in summer.  

Edited January 4, 2023 by Sparks Rover

[davulsukur]

SSN reckon Everton and Palace are after Chuba Akpom from Boro.

Maybe Everton have moved on from BBD?