January Transfer window

[BlackburnEnd75]

1 hour ago, Paul Mani said:

True - but if you were the manager and you knew the club didn’t have the money to provide a Duff or Dunn, you would probably lean harder on the Shorts and Flitcroft types to get you over the line.

I’m not saying we don’t need that quality up top mate. I’m providing a reason as to why the manger is harping on and on about leadership and character.

To quote Mr souness we need to "wee with the willy we've got". Eustace won't be given the money to add that quality so he might have to find another route. 

 

[OllieNO]

33 minutes ago, paullarrygher said:

From the Robbie Savage School of Birmingham/Blackburn geography.

If academic excellence is what we’re looking for, Bamford’s our man👍

[roversfan99]

57 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

I'll reserve judgement on Buckley until he gets a run of games. He's only played 134 mins for us in the Championship this season across 8 very short sub appearences.... and last season only played 500 odd minutes.

He's got a chance to come in and make a big impression over the next few games till Travis is available, so looking forward to him making a big impact. I think Eustace is interested in getting the most out of him, that is why he was made captain in the league cup games. 

I think hes left with little choice. He clearly hasnt wanted to use him but now he may have to with Baker having gone back, Travis injured and the best we could do in the market being Rudy's old mate signed from Plymouth's bench for "next to nothing."

Hes a bit more old school and places a lot of importance it seems in a happy dressing room. I saw giving him captaincy for the cup games when we play a second string as a bit of a token gesture 

[joey_big_nose]

27 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

I think hes left with little choice. He clearly hasnt wanted to use him but now he may have to with Baker having gone back, Travis injured and the best we could do in the market being Rudy's old mate signed from Plymouth's bench for "next to nothing."

Hes a bit more old school and places a lot of importance it seems in a happy dressing room. I saw giving him captaincy for the cup games when we play a second string as a bit of a token gesture 

Baker has got the nod over Buckley, but my feeling is it has was quite a marginal call, and that we have gone for a very low cost option to replace Baker and keep funds for attackers suggests to me that he thinks Buckley and JRC can cover the role. 

We'll have a better idea about if it was the right call or not in 4 or 5 games, as it stands Buckley hasn't had enough game time to judge. Often us as experts on here come up with definitive opinions hat players are not good enough or finished or that Rovers will get relegated etc and it turns out quite different (in recent times writing off Pears, Hyam, Szmodics, Pickering, Travis, Britain, JRC, Brereton-Diaz, that we are near the playoffs now when most said we would be in a relegation fight etc etc)

Obviously everyone will have opinions, me as much as anybody, all I am doing is making the point that as often as not they are wrong... I am hoping we will be looking back in a few months and Buckley will join that esteemed list above.

Edited 11 hours ago by joey_big_nose

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

2 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

Baker has got the nod over Buckley, but my feeling is it has was quite a marginal call, and that we have gone for a very low cost option to replace Baker and keep funds for attackers suggests to me that he thinks Buckley and JRC can cover the role. 

We'll have a better idea about if it was the right call or not in 4 or 5 games, as it stands Buckley hasn't had enough game time to judge. Often us as experts on here come up with definitive opinions on here that players are not good enough or finished or that Rovers will get relegated etc and it turns out quite different (in recent times writing off Pears, Hyam, Szmodics, Pickering, Travis, Britain, JRC, Brereton-Diaz, that we are near the playoffs now when most said we would be in a relegation fight etc etc)

Obviously everyone will have opinions, me as much as anybody, all I am doing is making the point that as often as not they are wrong... I am hoping we will be looking back in a few months and Buckley will join that esteemed list above.

I see Buckley as a stand in for Cantwell rather than a Travis replacement.  He’s better playing further forward.

[TheRevAshton]

God it's dull at the minute.

Having thought it through... I can't see us spending a single penny on transfer fees in this window. It'll be loans, with any permanent signings being free and short-term (until the end of the season).

Can't stand our owners (plus their minions Waggott and Suhail) with their shady antics.

The court case, that doesn't affect Rovers, has...

- Stopped the owners funding the Club, they don't want to match the money they send with a guarantee.
- Resulted in us selling our best players, to pay the bills for the owners.
- Prevented us from properly investing in the playing squad, despite raking in over £40m.

On second thought, maybe the court case does affect Rovers... perhaps even, a ridiculous amount.

[Torgeir]

1 minute ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I see Buckley as a stand in for Cantwell rather than a Travis replacement.  He’s better playing further forward.

The problem with Bucko and JRC are they are more prone to making mistakes and do not cover/protect our defenders in the same way that Travis and Tronstad do. Our squad might be marginally stronger on Feb 3, but I'm disappointed so far as we have only replaced like for like so far, not added anything - and certainly not improved.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I’m just reading about Taiwo Awoniyi at Notts Forest There was a time in the past when we might have been interested in players like him. Forest want £20 million for him !

[RevidgeBlue]

4 minutes ago, TheRevAshton said:

God it's dull at the minute.

Having thought it through... I can't see us spending a single penny on transfer fees in this window. It'll be loans, with any permanent signings being free and short-term (until the end of the season).

Can't stand our owners (plus their minions Waggott and Suhail) with their shady antics.

The court case, that doesn't affect Rovers, has...

- Stopped the owners funding the Club, they don't want to match the money they send with a guarantee.
- Resulted in us selling our best players, to pay the bills for the owners.
- Prevented us from properly investing in the playing squad, despite raking in over £40m.

On second thought, maybe the court case does affect Rovers... perhaps even, a ridiculous amount.

The Court case doesn't affect Rovers - they just seemingly don't want to fund us properly anymore - the legal proceedings would appear to have been  a very convenient excuse over the last couple of years. Maybe initially they were prevented from sending funds over without obtaining the permission of the authorities but that doesn't seem to be the case any longer and the excuse is wearing extremely thin now.

Even Waggott admits there's no impediment to them funding us.

[RevidgeBlue]

1 hour ago, roverblue said:

The 'no impediment' is total nonsense they haven't sent a penny since it started.

They sent over a large chunk of money relatively  recently to pay off the Crossbaron loan didn't they?.

Perhaps someone like Wilesden could confirm.

[Mashed Potatoes]

1 minute ago, RevidgeBlue said:

They sent over a large chunk of money relatively  recently to pay off the Crossbaron loan didn't they?.

Perhaps someone like Wilesden could confirm.

They sent over £11m in March 2024. That was the last receipt.

[Iceman]

26 minutes ago, TheRevAshton said:

God it's dull at the minute.

Having thought it through... I can't see us spending a single penny on transfer fees in this window. It'll be loans, with any permanent signings being free and short-term (until the end of the season).

Can't stand our owners (plus their minions Waggott and Suhail) with their shady antics.

The court case, that doesn't affect Rovers, has...

- Stopped the owners funding the Club, they don't want to match the money they send with a guarantee.
- Resulted in us selling our best players, to pay the bills for the owners.
- Prevented us from properly investing in the playing squad, despite raking in over £40m.

On second thought, maybe the court case does affect Rovers... perhaps even, a ridiculous amount.

I actually just watch the football these days, or check the scores with very little expectations. If we win, great, if we lose or draw oh well. I've lost a lot of interest in this club these days

[Emerald Isle Rover]

38 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

Baker has got the nod over Buckley, but my feeling is it has was quite a marginal call, and that we have gone for a very low cost option to replace Baker and keep funds for attackers suggests to me that he thinks Buckley and JRC can cover the role. 

We'll have a better idea about if it was the right call or not in 4 or 5 games, as it stands Buckley hasn't had enough game time to judge. Often us as experts on here come up with definitive opinions hat players are not good enough or finished or that Rovers will get relegated etc and it turns out quite different (in recent times writing off Pears, Hyam, Szmodics, Pickering, Travis, Britain, JRC, Brereton-Diaz, that we are near the playoffs now when most said we would be in a relegation fight etc etc)

Obviously everyone will have opinions, me as much as anybody, all I am doing is making the point that as often as not they are wrong... I am hoping we will be looking back in a few months and Buckley will join that esteemed list above.

3 managers now have not fancied Buckley for one reason or another 

all of them can’t be wrong?

[ben_the_beast]

For me, the issue with Buckley is in his head. He needs to play at a quicker pace, mix it up and get stuck in. Do that and he would be a good player at this level. Do the basics! 

It appears to me that he sees himself as a Pirlo type, wanting to get his head up and constantly thinking he has more time on the ball than he does. Add in that his version of mixing it up is being petulant and showing zero discipline, and he's been a bit crap.

Ability wise I do think he's one of the better technical players in our squad. Given he's now in his mid 20's I'm not sure we'll ever see him doing the basics and putting in consistent performances. 

The only other thing I'd say is, he was very good in Mowbrays final season. He didn't initially get minutes under JDT, but what he did get was a cushy 5 year contract. Is he on easy street or is it just a coincidence?

[RevidgeBlue]

8 minutes ago, Emerald Isle Rover said:

3 managers now have not fancied Buckley for one reason or another 

all of them can’t be wrong?

You'd imagine that Buckley is even less of a Eustace type player than the other two but because the "budget" such as it is hasn't stretched to bringing in anyone better than Forshaw to replace Baker, Eustace has been reduced to bulling up "Bucko" in the media as a viable option.

[RevidgeBlue]

Just now, ben_the_beast said:

The only other thing I'd say is, he was very good in Mowbrays final season. He didn't initially get minutes under JDT, but what he did get was a cushy 5 year contract. Is he on easy street or is it just a coincidence?

Easy street.

[Paul Mani]

1 hour ago, roverblue said:

Agree, since this court case the annual £20m has stopped and it seems that we are keeping hold of any money that we bring in to cover it. For how long this lasts who knows? It will run out eventually and force the issue but could be a bleak few more windows yet.

The 'no impediment' is total nonsense they haven't sent a penny since it started.

The ‘No Impediment’ bit is fact. Them not sending any cash since March 2024 is choice. 

[roverblue]

31 minutes ago, Mashed Potatoes said:

They sent over £11m in March 2024. That was the last receipt.

Have you got a source for this? I thought the last cash sent to the club was the court authorised payment in late 2023?

[J*B]

2 hours ago, joey_big_nose said:

I'll reserve judgement on Buckley until he gets a run of games. He's only played 134 mins for us in the Championship this season across 8 very short sub appearences.... and last season only played 500 odd minutes.

He's got a chance to come in and make a big impression over the next few games till Travis is available, so looking forward to him making a big impact. I think Eustace is interested in getting the most out of him, that is why he was made captain in the league cup games. 

Buckley having 134 minutes this season and 500 odd minutes last season tells me one thing - neither JDT nor Eustace thought he was good enough. 

And I agree - in my opinion it looks like he can play, but only if it’s on his terms. If he isn’t allowed to stroll around and attempt to dictate play he’s in trouble. He can’t tackle, can’t beat the press, can’t shoot and doesn’t have an outstanding engine on him. 

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

IMO Buckley has the ability to be a poor man's Adam Wharton (I mean this as a complement). I am not certain what is missing - but if he put in the effort Travis does he would be a good player at this level.

[TheRevAshton]

1 minute ago, DavidMailsTightPerm said:

IMO Buckley has the ability to be a poor man's Adam Wharton (I mean this as a complement). I am not certain what is missing - but if he put in the effort Travis does he would be a good player at this level.

An absolute poverty-stricken man's Adam Wharton, at best.

[davulsukur]

54 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I see Buckley as a stand in for Cantwell rather than a Travis replacement.  He’s better playing further forward.

Pretty sure his only decent spell in the team (under Mowbray for a few games at the end of one season), he was playing further forward. 

[RevidgeBlue]

2 minutes ago, J*B said:

Buckley having 134 minutes this season and 500 odd minutes last season tells me one thing - neither JDT nor Eustace thought he was good enough. 

And I agree - in my opinion it looks like he can play, but only if it’s on his terms. If he isn’t allowed to stroll around and attempt to dictate play he’s in trouble. He can’t tackle, can’t beat the press, can’t shoot and doesn’t have an outstanding engine on him. 

I do think he has the talent IF he were to get his head down ( which at age 25 I can't see happening now)

He was really good in the first half of Mowbray's last season before everyone imploded.

[Paul Mani]

17 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

You'd imagine that Buckley is even less of a Eustace type player than the other two but because the "budget" such as it is hasn't stretched to bringing in anyone better than Forshaw to replace Baker, Eustace has been reduced to bulling up "Bucko" in the media as a viable option.

Pre Wharton, Buckley was internally revered as the ‘next big thing’. In truth, he has all the ingredients and in spite of what is said on here, his attitude is not in question.

It’s been re-written in here (more times than I’d care to say), but 6 months after he broke in, the season he was ‘Young player of the year’ there were literally scores of Premier League clubs coming to watch him. He was being touted as the next big thing. I posted in here that I was in the players lounge at half time and I spoke to the Everton scout who said there were “a dozen or so PL clubs looking at Buckley” and that Rovers had intimated it would be £10m to even start a conversation.

To qualify this, I also stated at the time that I didn’t actually rate Buckley ‘that’ highly… (A bit which is often left out by the dullards who bring this up, year after year 🤣).

Ultimately, Buckley had all the promise of Adam Wharton and never kicked on. It’s sad and he’s literally sat in last chance saloon. Weirdly, if he just showed some fuckin urgency and desire, I think he’s a FARRR better player than Baker and he’d have a career in the Championship, no problems.

Edited 10 hours ago by Paul Mani

[Wegerleswiggle]

Bucko needs a run of games. No point bringing him on for 20 mins when we're chasing a game because that's not what he brings. If he gets his head down and puts in 75% of the effort Trav does then he's a decent player. 

However I don't think he suits playing as a 2 man midfield and there are better options further forward.