The Summer Transfer Window (Press Submit)

[USABlue]

I do not understand some clamoring to have spent more money.  We seem to have got some good talent for knock down prices, should we pay more just because.  A much better window than Indreamed, now we just have to make them into a winning team.

[booth]

8 minutes ago, USABlue said:

I do not understand some clamoring to have spent more money.  We seem to have got some good talent for knock down prices, should we pay more just because.  A much better window than Indreamed, now we just have to make them into a winning team.

If we'd have signed another decent striker and CB I'd be believing we could compete for promotion as the squad would have looked strong. Maybe we'll address that in January.

Also a big question mark over the keeper. Maybe we could have invested more as we're desperate for talent in that dept. Hopefully he's much better than Leo and Pears.

[islander200]

20 minutes ago, USABlue said:

I do not understand some clamoring to have spent more money.  We seem to have got some good talent for knock down prices, should we pay more just because.  A much better window than Indreamed, now we just have to make them into a winning team.

We missed out on De Lange by not moving quickly enough and paying the fee that his club wanted , I think it was rumoured at the time we where £400k short on their valuation,  now he was clearly further up their list than the guy we have eventually signed (I'm not saying the new fella is a bad signing, I know nothing about him, ohashi and Gueye have looked good so let's hope he can be similar. But still after the money brought in its so small time to lose out on a preferred target for as little as £400k 

I didn't want Dembele, the manager did and supposedly recruitment wanted something else,  but nothing was signed for the left hand side. Where did that money go that was going to pay for that.

Half our signings leave in 12 months time 

The signings we have made look good and potential bargains but still plenty of unknowns aswell

We should have been able to strengthen a lot more longer term with the funds brought in 

This can't work long term if we want to at least stay in the championship you can't keep selling your better players for millions and replacing them for peanuts 

[roversfan99]

27 minutes ago, USABlue said:

I do not understand some clamoring to have spent more money.  We seem to have got some good talent for knock down prices, should we pay more just because.  A much better window than Indreamed, now we just have to make them into a winning team.

Because if you spend more money, you naturally open the door to a bigger range and better calibre of player?

Because if you spend money, you can end up with a higher proportion of players contracted for longer than 1 season? Rather than just 4.

Because if you spend money, it allows you to potentially sign assets that can grow and be valuable in the future? As we look thin on the ground in this regard.

Because if you have more money, we could potentially have added two or three on top of what we already have? With one or two areas/certain attributes look a bit thin on the ground.

It doesnt mean that at least some of our new signings wont be good signings nor would we have swerved them had we had more money. It isn't a reflection of their respective abilities.

I think us doing better than you dreamt perhaps shows that expectations were so low to begin with. It may well prove that recruitment has been very efficient amidst the restrictions, but assuming that is the case, those same talent spotters likely would have thrived more with more money.

[XLM]

25 minutes ago, USABlue said:

I do not understand some clamoring to have spent more money.  We seem to have got some good talent for knock down prices, should we pay more just because.  A much better window than Indreamed, now we just have to make them into a winning team.

Assuming the keeper is any good and we have reasonable luck with injuries, we've had a good window considering we had buttons to spend. But imagine if Venkys cared enough to merely fund the running costs, allowing us to spend £40 million to build a squad. Hell, even £20 million.

The mere fact that Wharton was born in Blackburn gave the club "the Brentford model" on a plate, and even then we didn't do anything meaningful with it.

All Venkys had to do was only fuck up to the level they've been fucking up for the past 6 years, and they fucked it up.

[islander200]

Wonder how much of a sell on rangers have on Cantwell. 

Be interesting if he has a release clause here 

[Fraserkirky]

So in the last few days we have signed a new #1, left back cover, experienced CM, Todd bloody Cantwell and Baby Saka. Its what most people on this board were calling for, and they actually delivered. Recruitment team have had a blinder.

Really excited now for the season after a cracking start. This type of business will more bums on seats. 
Color me impressed 

Edited August 31, 2024 by Fraserkirky

[Lucimo]

2 hours ago, islander200 said:

Wonder how much of a sell on rangers have on Cantwell. 

Be interesting if he has a release clause here 

I would say it's highly likely there's a release clause of some description there. Along the lines of the Bellamy one all those years ago. If he plays a blinder he'll be gone. Probably why Venkys coughed up £500k of the £40m they've trousered. Anyway let's hope he plays that blinder for ours and the team's sake. 

[roverandout]

Pretty shit window 

[Ricceh]

3 hours ago, islander200 said:

Wonder how much of a sell on rangers have on Cantwell. 

Be interesting if he has a release clause here 

He definitely will, probably only like £2mil I'd reckon haha

[roverandout]

I don't mean it's a shit window Just underwhelming 

Edited August 31, 2024 by roverandout

[Mattyblue]

This is the best it will be under these owners. So might as well just enjoy the feeling normal clubs get, you know, some actual decent players coming through the door in a transfer window.

As much as anything it shows what you can do on a budget in this division if you have some actual canny football people involved, not corporate wallies with their ‘pathways’ and ‘models’. Football at this level is about the here and now.

Edited August 31, 2024 by Mattyblue

[philipl]

Gut feeling beginning of window was the squad would be transformed by the end of it.

During the window I thought we'd lost the send button again.

Window outcome

Sold Szmodics, Gallagher and Wahlstad for fees, Raya sell on activated

11 incomings for peanuts including Gueye,Ohashi, Baker and Cantwell which on first look appear to be in the steal category 

10 out on loan

I can write down two completely different 11s of available players for the Bristol City game and both would be strong enough to win it. I didn't expect that.

FFP as an issue for Rovers is now in the rear view window

Factually regardless of press comments released, Venkys are no more and no less restricted by Indian official action in sending cash to Ewood today than they were whenever the last hearing which decided anything more than a date in the diary. So if I am not mistaken we are frozen as was at November 2023.

Press releases don't change that fact so IF Rovers have to use player trading to keep the lights on, this window has achieved that objective.

The litmus test of "no restrictions on owner funding" now 0asses to the January window.

IF Eustace and the is squad are good enough to be top 6ish at the turn of the year, THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR IANUARY NOT TO SEE PROMOTION WINNING SIGNINGS.

NONE

[Paul Mani]

Cast your minds back to the season ending, the relief and then immediate feeling of dread, that a) we were going to lose Sammie and b) were already a ‘shoe in’ for relegation. No money, a questionable manager and little hope. The early part of summer dragged on for what seemed like years as the Euros (remember those?) played out…As a self confessed ‘glass half full, guy’ even I couldn’t see any positivity going into the season..

And then the flurry of signings. Mcfadz, Batth and Weimann, with 1000+ championship matches between them, they somehow immediately moved us further away from relegation certainties, in my mind. Real men who would “never let us go down”, right? Closely followed by two wildcards, in Gueye and Ohashi. Surely they would be terrible? Telelovic mk2 and 3? Well 10 minutes into a friendly at Stockport, I knew that Gueye had more about him than Gally had shown in 5yrs. 20 mins into the second half, I was satisfied that Ohashi had ‘potential Rovers legend’ written all over him!

During the following transfer lull, our team have picked up 7pts from 9 available and come into todays game at Turf Moor with many of us believing we can get something…the manager, for me has dispelled any lingering worries I had about him. He’s far from a yes man, tactically astute and in stark contrast to the last man, the players actually like him. For the first time in years, we look threatening from corners and his substitutions in general have been brilliant.

Cut to this week and the additions probably couldn’t have been much better. Beck had a full season playing men’s football and looks certain to push Pick. Baker covers off the CM spot with experience and championship nous and Toth, at 26 and some of the highest performing stats in Europe looks pretty solid. Let’s hope he’s more Kaminski than Wahlstedt.

And then there was magic..Coziol Duberry followed by our new talisman, the enigmatic Todd Cantwell. On TC, it’s clear that we have a slightly troubled superstar. But for this, there’s no doubt he would be playing at the top of the premier league and be considered in and around the Dewberry-Halls and Gibbs-Whites of this world. This experiment could go sadly wrong, but I have the strongest feeling yet, that it won’t. Eustace is no fool. He has gone out on a limb for TC, as he has confirmed when joining us. I think JE will make him our focal point, a big fish in a little pond, and I think Cantwell will LOVE it!

Player of the season wild card - Amario Coziol Duberry. I can’t profess to have seen him live, but I have spoken to a couple of friends who coach / manage in the EFL and the rate him HIGHLY! They rate him like we rated Wharton…”He’s Saka but faster”.

Huge credit to John Park, Rudy Gestede and Adam Owen for making what appears to be wine out of water. I’ve gone from feeling almost certain we’d be in a relegation battle to now believing we are a comfortably mid table, and if the last lot of signings are as good as the first lot, we could, actually be THAT team that gets promoted, in spite of our absent, £40m pocketing owners.

I can only dream!

Now, let’s beat ‘that lot’ and get these players bedded in for the next instalment of being a Rovers fan.

Edited August 31, 2024 by Paul Mani

[AllRoverAsia]

36 minutes ago, roverandout said:

I don't mean it's a shit window Just underwhelming 

Still, it's 10x better than I expected.

[roverandout]

I take back what i said good window considering the garbage who own us. Eustace has done well with one arm tied behind his back. Cantwell could be the bargain of the summer.  We're still short on a few positions though 

[neophox]

Can we still sign loans or freebies?

[AJW]

I know some supporters will be upset about the lack of £s spent but really it’s not about how much you spend it’s about how much quality you bring in , we like lots of clubs have spent fortunes on duds in the past and have also got gems for very little  time will tell if this window has been a success  

[arbitro]

I'm quite happy overall considering my expectations were so low when the window opened. The wheeling and dealing has been something Del Boy would have been proud of but ultimately I think the ins and outs, wages etc will have balanced out so in my view we haven't actually spent anything. We strengthened in areas where we needed to and time will tell regarding the suitability of the players coming in. Having seen several of these already I am quite relaxed about them but the likes of Toth, Cozier-Duberry and Beck I know nothing about but they come with good reputations. The one that intrigues me is Cantwell. Having watched him at Norwich I have always thought there is a player there but that hasn't really materialised so far but I firmly believe that Eustace is the type of manager to get the best out him. In that respect I mean that I see Eustace in the Allardyce mould in terms of fixing wayward players.

[BankEnd Rover]

Sounds like Godo hasn’t gone anywhere, which is Strange…Maybe we’re working on a deal to get him permanently in January…I like the look of him and unlike Duberry, He’s got plenty of first team football under his belt.

 

Edited August 31, 2024 by BankEnd Rover

[Herbie6590]

7 hours ago, superniko said:

How much of the £40m did we spend?

Birmingham just dished out £15m for Stansfield in the league below.

”never refuse a cheque” - at Brum they’re also renovating St Andrews (out of FFP budget). 

Our owners are a disgrace and people will laud over this as a successful window

The rules are different in League One BTW. 

[Ricky]

Interesting window. Personally I think we should have been spending a bit to improve the overall team rather than replacing players who have moved on. Happy with the quantity bought in but not so sure on the quality.

We should have signed batth or fadz but not both. We didn’t need two aging CBs. Should have bought in a better and younger one to put pressure on Hyam.

Really happy with Guaye and Ohashi but it’s very early days. Would have liked to have seen another forward on a permanent deal after we lost a 30 goal attacker from the team. There should have been money spent.

I still feel we are missing a bit of pace up front. The Brighton loan is a massive one, if that works out well we could have a player who provides a similar impact to Elliot did. He’s got bags of potential and could be a key player. I do think we needed one more fast wide player though.

Im a little worried at LB tbf. Think we are light there. Arguably full back isn’t our strongest position. I’m happy with the Liverpool loan but would have been an area where I would have spent money.

CM seems fine. Surprised Buckley didn’t go out on loan after we bought in Baker from Stoke. Good signing for me as we now have a CM who can take a free kick and have a shot from range. We don’t have that with Tronstad and Travis. Actually think Baker will turn out to be a really good signing. 

Cantwell, who knows. Potentially could be the best player in the league. Got the X factor and was once a £30m plus rated player. He needs an arm around him and needs to feel loved and then potentially we may have had an absolute bargain. He could be the key to us having a decent season.

So that leaves me with the keeper. Underwhelmed is probably the best description. Good keepers have been loaned or sold and we didn’t seem to push for them. I’m worried about the new keeper, great highlight reel, but so did Leo. I actually think we’ll end up playing Pears as the new lad won’t be an improvement. That worries me and I’d love to be proved wrong. Just feel that there were better options out there who had more experience.

decent window though. 7 out of 10. Could be an 8 if Cantwell is a hit.

[Herbie6590]

33 minutes ago, matt83 said:

When you lose a 30 league goal striker and replaced him with the unknown I can never say it’s been a good transfer window. However, when you’re rovers and used to nothing but a total bloody shambles it’s been a good window. Or at least a window normal clubs must experience twice a year. Does that make it good - maybe I’ve finally succumbed to their low standards. Defo the best can hope for under the Venkys/swag. 

Yes lost Szmodics plus about 7 others from an already paper thin squad but Gueye and the jap seem solid so far. Weimann, Big Mac, batth add experience. A new keeper who surely cannot be worse than pears/whalstead. Lightening can’t strike twice. Cantwell who actually heard of. The 2 token 13 year old loan players off Brighton and lpool but the latter was in the spl team of the year and former has speed which lacking. Baker from Stoke is a proper loan signing like Ipswich got with Travis. If being picky centre back still weak cover wise.

I think the business has taken us from relegation certainties to solid mid table.  

He’s called Ohashi. 

[MarkBRFC71]

So fast forward 21 hours and although we got Cantwell as opposed to a random free - who while if his head is in the game is a good player, clearly has temperament and motivational issues - it played out almost exactly as predicted.

Jury’s out for me until we see what tune Eustace can get out of the squad.

Also think not strengthening one of our big weak spots - CB - might come back to haunt us.

[Ricky]

1 minute ago, Herbie6590 said:

The rules are different in League One BTW. 

Yep, but this year will count as one of their 3 year cycle when they come back up. Basically they will have to be promoted again or they will be in trouble. Losses for this year will be big.