Season 2023/24…what’s in store ?

[den]

Looking forward. Anyone positive about next season?

For me -and it’s obvious to everyone I’m sure - number one priority is we need to splash money on two proven goal scorers. One isn’t enough. Now Brereton has gone we don’t have one goal scorer at the club. That’s amazing really. Loaning strikers isn’t enough. Quality strikers cost money and it’s simply a must for me.

There will be gaps to fill in every other department as well, so 

1) two quality front men

2) general strengthening elsewhere

3) sort out the manager position immediately

Every summer is a big summer. This summer is the biggest for a while. Get the incoming transfers right and we could do as well as this season or better. Get it wrong and we could really struggle to even stay in this league.

[AllRoverAsia]

Its all about keeping JDT and the summer player recruitment.

I have no faith in our owners, GB and his recruitment staff and the suited pen pushers to do a good job.

Also this season was a clear  chance to make the playoffs. I just cannot see it being as open next season or as bang average a Championship as this was.

Because we just missed out by GD this season doesn't mean we are ready to go next. Far from it.

Edited May 8, 2023 by AllRoverAsia

[superniko]

Keep JDT, Buy a striker, 2 wingers, a CM and a LB who are all ambitious starters, keep hold of Adam Wharton and move Rankin-Costello forward and then I’ll feel optimistic about next season. 

[chaddyrovers]

Yes I am feeling positive for next season @den but for me it's vital we keep JDT here for next season and build on this season. We have improved from the start of the season until now. We have a clear way of playing and we want to a possession based team. Its vital we make quality signings this season to kick on from this season. 

 

[Hasta]

Way too early to comment.

I’ll see what the summer brings as to whether I’m feeling positive or apprehensive. Hopefully GB and the others can make up for shafting us in Jan and recruit well.

Edited May 8, 2023 by Hasta

[Upside Down]

Can't see JDT staying at the moment. 

What happened in January has made his position untenable. He'll have the feelers out big time. 

[roverandout]

Prepare for the return of Michael appleton

[RoverDom]

I feel better than a lot of other seasons. We go into the summer with something to build on rather than having to rebuild the squad. 

We've gone into previous windows just needing bodies through the door as a minimum. Now there's an expectation that we need to add quality not just quantity, the bar is already higher under the current regime than the last 

[RevidgeBlue]

I'm definitely not optimistic, I'd class missing out on the play offs as an unmitigated disaster given where we were with ten games to go. Also going into next season without a single credible striker on the books. Eerily reminiscent of when Lambert walked out.

However if Carlsberg did summers

- Sack Waggott and Broughton

- Appoint a competent and progressive CEO, bring in an actual experienced DOF if sticking with that model and if JDT is staying give him some workable backing.

- 2 decent strikers

- offload rubbish like Gallagher and Hedges

-Keep Adam Wharton at all costs

-No more shite loanees

- Let's see more of Phillips

-Let's sign some oven ready Championship performers and see where it takes us and stop talking about journeys or projects which may or may not work out in the dim and distant future.

(Then the alarm went off)

[DE.]

I'll never feel optimistic about a new season for as long as Venky's own us. 

Best case scenario JDT stays, Wharton isn't sold, and the recruitment team have worked out how to target good strikers and submit basic paperwork on time.

However, I fear that it's more likely JDT leaves, Wharton is sold and the money goes into a black hole, and we start next season with Gallagher leading the line.

Prove me wrong, Venky's. Just once.

[Aqualung]

All venkys have proved in 12 years + is that they are happy just treading water. 

It will be the same next season I'm sure. So I don't really have any optimism at all. 

[rigger]

Next season I expect us to be challenging for automatic promotion, with 5000 season ticket holders.

[Upside Down]

3 minutes ago, rigger said:

Next season I expect us to be challenging for automatic promotion, with 5000 season ticket holders.

How can you be so optimistic about the season ticket sales? 

[Bethnal]

Honestly just worried, but I’ve pretty much been worried every summer for the past few seasons.

Really don’t want to see the manager leave, I’m willing to give Broughton this summer to get the strategy right but it’s absolutely the last straw. Ideally a boardroom and commercial clear out, because that’s riddled with yesterday’s nearly men. Where’s that dafty who reckoned we were gonna sell NFTs to The Kidz? Reckon he lost all his money on Apes? Commercial especially looks at its lowest ebb for a long while.

[rigger]

2 minutes ago, Upside Down said:

How can you be so optimistic about the season ticket sales? 

It must be the drink

[JHRover]

It is obvious what is needed, and if there was a determination at the Club to succeed then confidence could be high ahead of next season.

Having missed out by the finest of margins with a young squad experience and learning should take care of a lot of things, but 3-4 additions of course essential. 

Unfortunately with these rancid owners and the likes of Waggott stinking the place out for another 12 months and raking in his salary/bonus we will see more excuses and frustration. Talk about revenue and woe be us whilst waving off investment Brereton for £0 just a year after losing £10 million of assets for nothing. Any heads rolled for those debacles yet?

[Tugayisgod]

Don't think there's any doubt that next season is going to be a tougher league with what looks like, in my opinion, Southampton, Leeds and Leicester coming down.

Depending on outgoings at those clubs it will be harder than this season  However I do believe that with the right recruitment in the right areas ( and we all know where we are talking), there's no reason we can't be competing again at the top end of the table.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

What do our owners want for Blackburn Rovers,we want to move forward but do they?

Will it be the same aimless,confused and dysfunctional shyte we have seen for the last twelve years?

I probably speak for many when I say I am sick of feeling let down by the people in charge,we the fans deserve better than this rabble.

Edited May 9, 2023 by SIMON GARNERS 194

[Groundhog]

31 minutes ago, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

What do our owners want for Blackburn Rovers, we want to move forward but do they?

This is what keeps me awake at night.

I genuinely think achieving promotion and the money it generates is a problem for their accountants.

Then again I don't think I fully understand the club's situation. Can anyone explain it in nutshell?

Are Venky's funding the debt, or just letting the black hole get deeper and deeper...

How much do they inject to keep the club running per year? 

Keeping the club ticking over by funding the debt, and operational losses in line with FFP is one thing they are doing "right" I suppose, but it feels like Stockholm Syndrome, is that the bear minimum they are doing? I must admit I need to read up on FFP. 

I suppose when we've been moping along under Waggott, Mowbray etc, letting a general malaise drift over the club, losing millions in the transfers of star players to frees, totally neglecting the season ticket offer and matchday situation, then it really is a mess from top to bottom. We are so far behind other clubs.

 

[47er]

My hope is that taking us back to the big time will attract buyers.

[JHRover]

5 minutes ago, 47er said:

My hope is that taking us back to the big time will attract buyers.

Buyers will only ever come forward with serious intent if they can see there is a genuine intent from Venkys to sell. Just like buying a house, people don't go around putting offers in for people's houses unless there is a 'for sale' sign up. This doesn't mean that there is no interest and no alternative to the current ownership.

Interested parties won't waste their time putting plans together to buy Rovers unless it is made clear Venkys want to sell. I don't think that will change with promotion. It might mean more people are interested in buying the club, but it doesn't mean for one minute Venkys will do anything to encourage a sale. If they wanted to go down that route they'd have acted on our strong January positions of 2022 and 2023 to try and get us promoted.

I don't think much would change with a promotion. I think it would take the money men in India by surprise to suddenly have a surplus of cash rather than substantial losses to plug but I think they would carry on as they are at present. Silent, disinterested, doing nothing, club on autopilot, clowns running it on their behalf. At best the transfer kitty and wage bill would be enhanced but I wouldn't hold my breath on that one given the time it takes them to do anything.

 

[philipl]

Assuming there is no personnel change at the top, this is a big summer for Greg Broughton irrespective of budget allocation.

I suspect there will be no sentimentality with Thomas Kaminsky, Bradley Dack or Daniel Ayala which will upset many fans. Have a gut feeling that Tayo Edun will do an Amari Bell away from Ewood but so be it.

There will be prices agreed with Venky's on the heads of JRC, Ashley Phillips and Adam Wharton which I expect will be too high for any potential suitors.

Getting JRC tied down to a new contract will be a major task and a land mark we need to see happen.

I am not in the camp which is seeing defence and midfield as topmost priorities as I expect the progress of Batty, Garrett, Phillips and Adam Wharton will see all four emerge amongst the best in the championship next season which in combination with Hyam, Carter, Scott Wharton, Pickering, Brittain, Travis and recuperated Sam Barnes and John Buckley gives us strength in depth as well as space for more youngsters to come through. 

So that makes the front line the place for the most drastic surgery and is where it is needed.

The dingles used the loan market to perfection and I would rather blow a million or two on a loan fee than three million on a League 1 or Madagascan mega capped striker who might not make the jump to Championship level.

All in all, setting aside the January deadline mess up, Rovers have the strongest set-up since the days of Big Sam so I am quietly optimistic. 

 

 

 

[Mattyblue]

I’m not sentimental with TK, if there’s someone better out there, by all means go and get him. But if he’s pushed out for bloody Pears…

[roversfan99]

This season was almost identical to last season, same points total and both seasons were very decent totals (69 points) but not quite enough, undermined by collapses. 11 points from the last 10 and 6 from the last 5. So progress, considering the same points total and the way that we actually got progressively worse? Not too sure.

The first question is whether Tomasson stays, I hope he does but am not convinced he will. I don't think the job he has done is remarkable and the likes of Edwards, Robins, Mowbray and Carrick have achieved what he just missed out on so come out with more good credit, but perhaps Tomasson has a mixture of doubt himself as to the running of the club off the back of January and with a summer of scrounging to come, and also more potential suitors abroad based on his prestige as a player.

On the pitch, I do worry. The team hasn't had enough to build on what seemed to be sure fire top 6 positions and lacks experience. We will lose our only goalscorer, call him what you want, he has double the goals of our second best. We need experience and we need a totally new front line for starters, and that is hard with no money.

And does anyone have faith in Broughton to make the best of a limited budget? I don't, recruitment has been poor especially in the loan market and soured by players we didn't get done and areas we failed to improve. 

[Mattyblue]

You are still looking at things very narrowly. Of course points are points. But on the flip side 7th is higher than 8th if we want to go down that road.

He was shafted in January. We’ve spent months playing with all kinds of false nine’s because we’ve hardly a striker worth the name. It’s his first year in England, his first year at Rovers against some vastly experienced ones. Doesn’t mean he’s done better than everybody else, he obviously hasn’t, largely because he’s still a green manager in the unique place that is English football and ‘he’s a lot to learn’. But he’s done well for me.
 

You need to put things into context. 

Edited May 9, 2023 by Mattyblue