January Transfer Window.

[RevidgeBlue]

27 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

The main difficulty is our owners allowing key assets to run their contracts down.

Waggott and Mowbray

[rigger]

2 hours ago, BRFC_Polky said:

11 goals this season for a struggling Burton. It says there’s interest from a championship club…

The #wafc link would tend to point the finger at Wigan.

[RevidgeBlue]

6 hours ago, Dreams of 1995 said:

No one cares about Porteous

Every club, in every window, will be linked with players they don't land

It is not a damning indictment of the clubs' ability to get deals done, it is a damning indictment of the insatiable thirst for clicks and site traffic stemming from the 24/7 media industry

Once again the player we acquired was not spoken about once

I love the to'ing and fro'ing about should we sign, shouldn't we, is he any good, can he better us. Love it. Keeps you interested. But only a downright idiot would be foolish enough to think we 'missed out' on every single player name dropped or linked in the media

The truth will be somewhere in the middle. Some we may have missed, some we may have enquired once and moved on immediately, some we were never in for at all

 

The general gist of what you say is correct but we (the Club) obviously cared about Porteus, according to the LT, JDT confirmed to them that we submitted "a six figure bid" for him so he has to go down as yet another missed target.

Personally in this particular instance I'm actually pleased we didnt sign him as I'd rather see Scott Wharton play and (Greg speak on) would not want to see Ash Phillips' pathway into the first team blocked any further.

[roverandout]

1 hour ago, bluebruce said:

A profit machine? 🤣 I'm guessing you've never read any of the reports or posts about the annual financial statements then...

I'm talking about selling players and trying and failing to make a profit 

[roversfan99]

12 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Waggott and Mowbray

The owners intervened to prevent Rothwell and Brereton being sold. The latter had bids after Mowbray had left. 

[47er]

1 hour ago, Andy said:

I think this is a good point.

Based on the likes of Vardy and Watkins (to name 2), there are clearly unpolished / undiscovered gems down in the non-league or lower divisions.

Surely it's worth extensively scouting these areas and taking a punt here and there, rather than chase (seemingly) unobtainable targets.

Edun? Smovic?

[roverandout]

20 minutes ago, bigbrandjohn said:

There is a long term plan in place. Just not a short term plan in place. 

How do you know there's a long term plan in place? Because jdt and Broughton said so? It could be smoke and mirrors to keep themselves in a cushy job

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

2 minutes ago, roverandout said:

I'm talking about selling players and trying and failing to make a profit 

shit at getting players in  ✔️

Shit at retaining players ✔️

Shit at selling players for a profit ✔️

How did Venkys become billionaires?

It's like Trotters Independent Traders.

This time next year Rodders. 

[Guest]

Undav’s a big one to miss out on, Geldhart wouldn’t suit us or any of our players. Need a number 9 not another 10.

[Miller11]

1 hour ago, simongarnerisgod said:

i think all the scouting we do is by watching mp4`s and you tube clips sent by agents,we used to have really good contacts in scandanavia and all over britain and ireland

And over-reliant on “data”. I get the distinct feeling we spend longer looking at pages of statistics than we do watching footballers play football.

[RevidgeBlue]

3 minutes ago, Miller11 said:

And over-reliant on “data”. I get the distinct feeling we spend longer looking at pages of statistics than we do watching footballers play football.

Was about to say the above. Waggott is apparently all about the data and we have an army of analysts at the Club.

[roversfan99]

Waggott is very poor at his job and under interested owners would not stay in post but he is not the sole problem.

[RevidgeBlue]

It's now almost a week since we were fed that crap about simply "waiting for the green light" from Brighton to close the Undav deal. I called BS on it at the time. How can you agree a financial package when the parent club haven't even decided if they want the deal to go ahead in the first place?

Also is it not extremely worrying that one of our main targets this window has rocked up at errrr......the Club managed by our former manager? It would tend to suggest that the pool of talent from which we are drawing in terms of agents and agencies is still the same foul smelling cess pit it always was?

Say this every transfer window and been saying it for years now, working in our recruitment department must be the cushiest number in the world. I used to put the inactivity down to Venus being in charge of getting the deals over the line and Mowbray's "You'll have to wait your turn and learn how Corry and Richie play" pep talk. But things don't appear to have improved recruitment wise with the change in structure and the acquisition of a new DOF. In fact if anything they seem to be even worse.

[JHRover]

54 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

The owners intervened to prevent Rothwell and Brereton being sold. The latter had bids after Mowbray had left. 

Did they intervene or did they just fail to authorise it?

I think the difference is important. An intervention suggests that for right or wrong someone at the top table keeps tabs on performances, positions, results, form, key players and whilst it might not make a lot of sense financially would suggest at least some interest and ambition from the top table.

The alternative, and the one which I believe, is simply that the top table are just too far detatched and so completely disinterested in the operation of the Club that nobody could get approval back from them in good enough time to make those deals happen. 

Of course the Waggotts, Broughtons, Mowbrays of this world will tell us it is the former. They are going to want the paying public to believe the owners are interested and keeping tabs on things. My belief is that short of approving an annual budget in the summer the top owners take no part in the running of the club and instead expect Pasha and Waggott to get on with it and not darken their doorway.

But where the 'big' investment is still reserved for the top owners to approve - see purchases of Gallagher, Diaz, Armstrong - they have also reserved the power to sell assets. I don't think Waggott or similar have that authority.

[ben_the_beast]

Am I concerned yes. The Undav and Porteous deals falling through add to that. Especially Undav. 

But I like to live in hope. Even if Rovers have given me 12 years of testing that hope. Time to judge will be when the window closes. I'm hoping there are options bubbling away that the media haven't had a sniff of. 

[phili]

The thing is we are still operating at a 105% player wage to turnover %. Unless we can magically get Waggot to increase turnover with a decent commercial department we are always going to get outbid by competitors on players.

Also if we want to go down the Brighton and Brentford model, they do everything through data models and analysis for scouting. Brentford's owner also owns one of the largest statistical data providers for Gambling companies which feeds into Brentford's tools. 

[phili]

31 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

It's now almost a week since we were fed that crap about simply "waiting for the green light" from Brighton to close the Undav deal. I called BS on it at the time. How can you agree a financial package when the parent club haven't even decided if they want the deal to go ahead in the first place?

Also is it not extremely worrying that one of our main targets this window has rocked up at errrr......the Club managed by our former manager? It would tend to suggest that the pool of talent from which we are drawing in terms of agents and agencies is still the same foul smelling cess pit it always was?

Say this every transfer window and been saying it for years now, working in our recruitment department must be the cushiest number in the world. I used to put the inactivity down to Venus being in charge of getting the deals over the line and Mowbray's "You'll have to wait your turn and learn how Corry and Richie play" pep talk. But things don't appear to have improved recruitment wise with the change in structure and the acquisition of a new DOF. In fact if anything they seem to be even worse.

We have what the budget is that was agreed in the summer, that's it.

With Modi's crackdown at the moment on outside India investments to shore up the India economy during the recession, Venky's will struggle to fund anything more at the moment.

[JHRover]

14 minutes ago, phili said:

The thing is we are still operating at a 105% player wage to turnover %. Unless we can magically get Waggot to increase turnover with a decent commercial department we are always going to get outbid by competitors on players.

Also if we want to go down the Brighton and Brentford model, they do everything through data models and analysis for scouting. Brentford's owner also owns one of the largest statistical data providers for Gambling companies which feeds into Brentford's tools. 

It doesn't require magic. Just requires the replacement of Waggott with a decent CEO who is going to be allowed to do the job properly. Oh and a Commercial Director for the first time in 7 years might come in useful. 

Once again the problems we have on turnover and commercial aspects are at least in part created by our own negligent approach. So the Club cannot use that as an excuse on the old turnover/wages calculation. Take it seriously, do something about it, appoint competent people, then you can use it as an excuse.

[RevidgeBlue]

3 minutes ago, JHRover said:

It doesn't require magic. Just requires the replacement of Waggott with a decent CEO who is going to be allowed to do the job properly. Oh and a Commercial Director for the first time in 7 years might come in useful. 

Once again the problems we have on turnover and commercial aspects are at least in part created by our own negligent approach. So the Club cannot use that as an excuse on the old turnover/wages calculation. Take it seriously, do something about it, appoint competent people, then you can use it as an excuse.

Isn't Paul Feilder Commercial Director? At least that was my understanding. Don't disagree with your post as a whole.

[phili]

5 minutes ago, JHRover said:

It doesn't require magic. Just requires the replacement of Waggott with a decent CEO who is going to be allowed to do the job properly. Oh and a Commercial Director for the first time in 7 years might come in useful. 

Once again the problems we have on turnover and commercial aspects are at least in part created by our own negligent approach. So the Club cannot use that as an excuse on the old turnover/wages calculation. Take it seriously, do something about it, appoint competent people, then you can use it as an excuse.

Any normal business or wealthy person would, so why we haven't I have no idea. 

[RevidgeBlue]

17 minutes ago, phili said:

With Modi's crackdown at the moment on outside India investments to shore up the India economy during the recession, Venky's will struggle to fund anything more at the moment.

Wasn't aware of this, can you elaborate and provide a little more detail? 

Thanks in advance.

[Silas]

49 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Wasn't aware of this, can you elaborate and provide a little more detail? 

Thanks in advance.

 

On 17/01/2023 at 17:03, Miller11 said:

Rumour has it that India’s far right prime minister Modi is putting pressure on them to stop pissing away hundreds of millions on their English football team.

Might help bring this purgatory to an end.

Modi wants all investment kept in India.......supposedly. 

[Fraserkirky]

I must have missed the report that said Undav is definitely off. All I see is that it’s taking a while, big deal. Still on

Would be ecstatic if we get him.

Ugbo lad ticks a lot of boxes but hope it’s not a loan

Edited January 27, 2023 by Fraserkirky

[bluebruce]

10 minutes ago, Fraserkirky said:

I must have missed the report that said Undav is definitely off. All I see is that it’s taking a while, big deal. Still on

Would be ecstatic if we get him.

Why ecstatic? That seems strong.

I'm struggling to understand why some people are so delighted at the prospect of Undav. Yes his goals record is decent, but how good is the Belgian league really? Some strong sides better than us, but several we would likely paste. I admit I don't know it well, but always seemed a bit SPL-y to me.

He had ONE season in the top Belgian league, with a good goals record, and 8 goalless Prem games (amounting to less than 90 minutes total I was told). Before that, his football took place in the Belgian second tier (one season), German third tier (two seasons) and the German fourth tier (four seasons), and I can't say I put any stock at all in those leagues.

I'd class it as a decent, potentially interesting signing that certainly may turn out well if we manage it (after all, Brighton rated him enough to pay a few million, but only similar to what we paid for Gally and look how that turned out...a transfer fee is no guarantee of quality). But ecstatic seems a stretch, personally. I think people are just pleasantly surprised we are chasing a 26-year old striker that has actually scored goals at a good rate somewhere, and not really thinking the profile and accomplishments of the player through that much.

He's also 5 ft 10, just for those who are convinced we need to stick a big lump up top.

[yellowsubmarine]

If we are getting just 1 more player in, i will take Undav all day.

Seems like that Leeds boy is going to join Mowbray. What other targets do we have left now? The project is really taking its own sweet time.