The Summer Transfer Window (Press Submit)

[Neal]

2 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

I wonder if it could be Joe Wildsmith. Would your thoughts/opinions be on him?

Don't know who he is tbh

[Ewood Ace]

2 hours ago, rog of the rovers said:

I know on here we’re biased being Rovers fans, but I think we’re a top 10 team in English football when it comes to youth development and youth players being given an opportunity to showcase their talents.

If Finneran has gone, good luck to him. But I can’t help feel another 18 months here would have given him a chance to play first team football and grow in an environment without unrealistic expectations. I felt the same about Phillips, always feels like he left a year too soon.

Rovers won’t stand in your way if it’s good for you (and them) always have done and no doubt always will.

Our academy has just become a useful cheaper to fill the squad as standards have dropped at the club. Since we've been relegated from the Premier League how many players have come through our academy and gone on to play in the Premier League? Wharton is the only one I can think of off the top of my head. With the exception of Wharton all that has come through in the last decade have been average Championship players at best.

[DackDackGoose]

3 hours ago, Ewood Ace said:

Our academy has just become a useful cheaper to fill the squad as standards have dropped at the club. Since we've been relegated from the Premier League how many players have come through our academy and gone on to play in the Premier League? Wharton is the only one I can think of off the top of my head. With the exception of Wharton all that has come through in the last decade have been average Championship players at best.

Having an academy producing average championship players is better than most clubs could wish for. In fact it's not at that level even in my opinion.

18mil+ pays for the academy for how long? Look at Preston without an academy he's picked up by someone else at a young age, despite being rovers through and through. Imagine the state of this club without academy graduates in recent years, league 2 at best.

[lraC]

6 hours ago, Blow-in said:

And taking German classes

9

[Ossydave]

10 hours ago, pick32 said:

Nope hope he gets booed on his return to Ewood same with Finnernon they both have a debt to repay  

Some ridiculous comments on here regarding academy products, none more so than this.

People need to understand the difference at Rovers to playing in the youth setup at say Man Utd.

Up until a certain age most parents and kids will be happy to be at Rovers developing, things change as they get older for numerous reasons and a lot depends on the individual and also quite importantly their parents.

On top of the obvious factor of wages theres other things to consider.  Our youth teams travel to games in minibuses with a packed lunch. Man Uniteds travel in fancy coaches and have lavish lunches provided to them. Ultimately and unsurprisingly it comes down to cost cutting, at other clubs the youngsters are treated like the real deal at a younger age, it will appeal to some (lots) of them, some however will be more humble and grounded. What will really make a difference is if the youngster is an actual Rovers fan, like of course our most recent graduate who's now really hit the big time. I don't know his parents but I see comments on then saying what a lovely, humble family they are.

Hopefully Adam continues to help us as people look on and think actually yeah he was right to hang on at little Blackburn as he's cracked it now, that could be me.

[Mattyblue]

Pick isn’t worth getting into a debate with… remember he wanted someone to break Sammie’s legs, never did work out why, was it for having the temerity to keep Saint Dacky out the side who’s hardly played a game anywhere since.

[Fraserkirky]

I think at 8 years old I would have supported whoever the hell signed me up. That’s mental chat. Would be foolish to not stay here, he is already knocking on the door of the 1st team. 

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

11 hours ago, Forever Blue said:

It’s encouraging that there is a budget to spend money on Academy signings this summer. It suggests there is also a budget for the first team. 
 

Funny how people see these things differently.  To me it suggests that we have  little to no money for the first team.

Spending a little money and taking punts on promising kids on next to no salary - to develop -  is much cheaper than buying first team champ players.

We will just be throwing younger players into the first team each year ad- infinitum.  

We aren't following the Brentford model. We are now the equivalent of Crewe Alexander back in the day. 

[Uddersfelt Blue]

As far as academies are concerned, the wealthier clubs will always invest more and Rovers are doing pretty well to keep up with them. However at the end of the day the individual players, their parents/guardians and agents will have the final say which club they choose to ultimately have a professional career with.

Many clubs don’t have academies so Rovers are always going to attract some of the better kids but if we lose one or two along the way to a professional career so be it. 
 

[Forever Blue]

4 hours ago, DackDackGoose said:

Having an academy producing average championship players is better than most clubs could wish for. In fact it's not at that level even in my opinion.

18mil+ pays for the academy for how long? Look at Preston without an academy he's picked up by someone else at a young age, despite being rovers through and through. Imagine the state of this club without academy graduates in recent years, league 2 at best.

Totally agree. Our Academy, over the past few years, has become very good at  producing players for the level of first team football we are at. You’d probably need to go back to the 50s or 60s to see a greater % of homegrown players in the first team squad, and probably not even then.

As for cost, I read a couple of years ago that it costs £3m a year to run the Academy, but that the club also gets a grant that covers more than half of it. So, to answer your question, Wharton has paid for the Academy for at least the next 10 years. 

Edited May 31, 2024 by Forever Blue

[tomphil]

4 hours ago, DackDackGoose said:

Having an academy producing average championship players is better than most clubs could wish for. In fact it's not at that level even in my opinion.

18mil+ pays for the academy for how long? Look at Preston without an academy he's picked up by someone else at a young age, despite being rovers through and through. Imagine the state of this club without academy graduates in recent years, league 2 at best.

Not if the club was run and managed correctly and as for Preston they tend to out perform us regularly with mostly less running costs. The Academy doesn't run itself for free it's a 3 mill commitment from the club/owners and recently we've entered an era where it has to be made to justify itself.

So whilst i'm a fan of our academy it is a double edged sword and isn't as simplistic as giving us an advantage over others who put all available money into their first team.

The money from Wharton runs the whole club for a year, sadly it isn't set aside just to run the academy for years.

Edited May 31, 2024 by tomphil

[Exiled_Rover]

1 hour ago, Wing Wizard Windy Miller said:

Funny how people see these things differently.  To me it suggests that we have  little to no money for the first team.

Spending a little money and taking punts on promising kids on next to no salary - to develop -  is much cheaper than buying first team champ players.

We will just be throwing younger players into the first team each year ad- infinitum.  

We aren't following the Brentford model. We are now the equivalent of Crewe Alexander back in the day. 

The Brentford model is incredibly hard to follow now post-Brexit.

[chaddyrovers]

9 hours ago, Neal said:

Don't know who he is tbh

He was Derby County first choice keeper who kept 20 clean sheets last season. Derby haven't renew his contract so I wonder if Rovers might be interest given he is 28 years old. 

1 hour ago, Wing Wizard Windy Miller said:

Funny how people see these things differently.  To me it suggests that we have  little to no money for the first team.

Spending a little money and taking punts on promising kids on next to no salary - to develop -  is much cheaper than buying first team champ players.

We will just be throwing younger players into the first team each year ad- infinitum.  

We aren't following the Brentford model. We are now the equivalent of Crewe Alexander back in the day. 

We don't even what our transfer budget even is and what the plan is. 

Yes developing our own players is part of the plan and surely that why we keep academy then we can develop our own players and bring through our own players. I have no problems with us developing our own players along signing good quality players who will help in junction pushing us up the league 

[ABBEY]

We aint committed to developing our tho.

VENKYSCUM WOULD RATHER FEED THE AGENTS TROUGH FOR LOANS. NO MATTER HOW DUSTBIN LIKE MORAN OR MORTON

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

9 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

He was Derby County first choice keeper who kept 20 clean sheets last season. Derby haven't renew his contract so I wonder if Rovers might be interest given he is 28 years old. 

We don't even what our transfer budget even is and what the plan is. 

Yes developing our own players is part of the plan and surely that why we keep academy then we can develop our own players and bring through our own players. I have no problems with us developing our own players along signing good quality players who will help in junction pushing us up the league 

We know our benevolent owners haven't transferred any money since November last year and that was to cover essential costs.  No sign of them sending any more.  We were told we had to generate transfer funds when they were actually putting money in. The budget will therefore be miniscule unless a chunk of money arrives from India.

 

  

[Exiled_Rover]

6 hours ago, DackDackGoose said:

Having an academy producing average championship players is better than most clubs could wish for. In fact it's not at that level even in my opinion.

18mil+ pays for the academy for how long? Look at Preston without an academy he's picked up by someone else at a young age, despite being rovers through and through. Imagine the state of this club without academy graduates in recent years, league 2 at best.

The Academy more than washes it's own face.

The frustration comes from Premier League clubs cherry picking the exceptional ones at will. Phillips (signed a v favourable deal and Spurs took advantage), Finneran and Tyjon have suitors, Man City stole Chigwada etc etc.

The ones that keep the club ticking over in the Championship stay (and we've always produced lots of those). The ones that could help the club kick on leave - and our recruitment isn't good enough to make up the difference.

[chaddyrovers]

8 minutes ago, Wing Wizard Windy Miller said:

We know our benevolent owners haven't transferred any money since November last year and that was to cover essential costs.  No sign of them sending any more.  We were told we had to generate transfer funds when they were actually putting money in. The budget will therefore be miniscule unless a chunk of money arrives from India.

 

  

Their money covers our annual losses the club makes every season. So to have any wriggle room for transfers we need to self generate transfers meaning the owners have to put less in then allowing to spend. We have the Adam Wharton coming into the club over the season plus Raya money and maybe other possible transfer cash. 

I think we will spend some money on transfers fees. Around the 5 mil mark I think but even if we don't there is some good free transfers who would improve our squad and getting the right loans in would help aswell 

[martonrover]

23 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

We don't even what our transfer budget even is and what the plan is. 

Which is all you need to know about the shit we are in.

[Exiled_Rover]

24 minutes ago, ABBEY said:

We aint committed to developing our tho.

VENKYSCUM WOULD RATHER FEED THE AGENTS TROUGH FOR LOANS. NO MATTER HOW DUSTBIN LIKE MORAN OR MORTON

Moran will go on to have a very good career I think.

Every Championship club relies on PL loans - it's how you get your hands on talent that you'd never be able to afford in this day and age. Look at Sunderland, they were lost without Diallo last year - they're often the difference that pushes a team over the top.

[chaddyrovers]

1 minute ago, martonrover said:

Which is all you need to know about the shit we are in.

That's cos Waggott hasn't done any forms of interviews even it with Rovers TV. Other local CEO like Winter at Blackpool or Ridsdale at PNE. 

[chaddyrovers]

1 minute ago, Exiled_Rover said:

Moran will go on to have a very good career I think.

Every Championship club relies on PL loans - it's how you get your hands on talent that you'd never be able to afford in this day and age. Look at Sunderland, they were lost without Diallo last year - they're often the difference that pushes a team over the top.

We have had some very good loan signings over the years whether it Van Hecke or Khadra or Tosin. Didn't see people complaining then or the fact that people expect other clubs in league 1 or 2 to loan our young players and develop them so we see the benefits of it in the future. 

[martonrover]

7 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

That's cos Waggott hasn't done any forms of interviews even it with Rovers TV. Other local CEO like Winter at Blackpool or Ridsdale at PNE. 

……because he doesn’t know the “plan” himself, because there likely isn’t one, other than binning recruitment staff to save money.

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

9 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

Moran will go on to have a very good career I think.

Every Championship club relies on PL loans - it's how you get your hands on talent that you'd never be able to afford in this day and age. Look at Sunderland, they were lost without Diallo last year - they're often the difference that pushes a team over the top.

Didn't see much in Moran to suggest he'd have a decent prem career.  Doesn't have much physicality, not particularly quick.  Didn't seem to have the vision/ability of Harvey Elliott. Thought Khadra offered more in his spell here and he's not set the world alight. 

But then what do I know, I also thought Branthwaite was a proper clogger. 

[chaddyrovers]

4 minutes ago, martonrover said:

……because he doesn’t know the “plan” himself, because there likely isn’t one, other than binning recruitment staff to save money.

Your opinion. 

Our recruitment staff aren't being bin tho. They are moving on to other jobs at other clubs just like anyone else in their workplace.  

[martonrover]

4 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Your opinion. 

Our recruitment staff aren't being bin tho. They are moving on to other jobs at other clubs just like anyone else in their workplace.  

Yes, my opinion, which is how a message board works.

The likelihood is that we are in limbo, which is pretty much what your post insinuated .

When a company in any industry has an ongoing high turnover of staff, it’s a sure sign of problems.