January Transfer window

[Upside Down]

Just now, Rover1984 said:

Swag should be working 7 days a week. And still isn’t worth a quarter of the wage he’s earning 🤣

He's not worth a quarter of the wage of the bloke that cleans the bogs.

If you had to get rid of one of the two I know which one I would pick.

[JHRover]

Just now, CrouchingNunhiddenCucumber said:

Our 'budget' was £1m, give or take. Capex not Opex, but whatever.

Imagine being in the play offs, with a £150m carrot, and investing £1m when you've recouped £35m in the last 12 months

It's completely and utterly inexplicable. 

 

I was saying last night to a friend that what ought to have happened at some point in December or early January is that one of our 'wonderful, kind, generous owners' who 'never refuse to sign a cheque' would have phoned John Eustace and applauded him for the job done so far, wished him all the best for the rest of the season, expressed a wish for him to extend his deal, and then offered to support him in January with an increased budget to allow him to buy or loan 3-4 top quality players this month.

Such a conversation would have taken 5 minutes. That's all. Not a lot to ask of them at all, but it could make all the difference to the club's future. 

I don't believe for one second that such a conversation has occurred or that the owners will even know or care about our league position and it is clear by the tightrope we are walking on incomings and outgoings that the budget is maxed out and we are shuffling around trying to free up wages by offloading one or two here and there.

It is totally pathetic. There's no chance on earth of us finding the required cash to pay someone like O'Brien and we are being used and conned again. The only leverage we will have is the hope that Forest eventually agree to us paying something daft like £10k a week of his wages on the understanding that we play him every game and this puts more value into him than him being sat on a bench somewhere.

It's not even a gamble at this stage because worst case we miss out but we know they'll be selling whoever they can in the summer to recoup cash anyway.

[KentExile]

8 minutes ago, CrouchingNunhiddenCucumber said:

Our 'budget' was £1m, give or take. Capex not Opex, but whatever.

Imagine being in the play offs, with a £150m carrot, and investing £1m when you've recouped £35m in the last 12 months

It's completely and utterly inexplicable. 

 

This is probably not entirely accurate for any club, but it is rather telling

Transfer income/expenditure/net spend for all Championship clubs since the start of last season

Edit - for anyone struggling to find Rovers, they are on the 2nd page with Oxford, Rotherham & Portsmouth

Edited yesterday at 10:37 by KentExile

[Admiral Nelsen]

39 minutes ago, Forever Blue said:

You’re obsessed with pace. It’s quality players we need who are athletic and can cope with the demands of the Championship. Harvey Elliott was slower than Hedges but has 10 times the quality.

Danns, from what I’ve seen, is a big powerful unit who is no slouch. He also looks a good footballer who will score and create goals. 

 

In fairness, we've been crying out for more pace for years. All of our attackers - whatever you think of their quality - are very one paced and we've not really been able to stretch teams by running in behind since Brereton/Khadra. Obviously I'm not advocating signing dross just because they're quick, but we'd be much less one-dimensional and get more out of our other forwards if we had at least one player with genuine pace. 

Especially because we often set up to play on the break. At least we have Gueye to be a decent out-ball now, but we still don't have anyone really capable of attacking space. 

[47er]

5 minutes ago, Upside Down said:

He's not worth a quarter of the wage of the bloke that cleans the bogs.

If you had to get rid of one of the two I know which one I would pick.

I'd swap then over.

[briansol]

13 minutes ago, ageoftherover said:

Leonard has plenty about him from what I've seen. Biggest issue is his body is breaking down with injuries in concerning areas early in his career, and he hasn't had enough regular first team football to build up his composure when finishing. His movement and instinctual positioning are very good which is one of the best attributes a striker can have and is something you can't train.

He needs a loan at a level in which he'd be picked week in week out, and some luck with his body. But if he gets both those things you could have a very valuable player coming out of that shell.

Spot on. I watched plenty of the golden generation (Wharton, Phillips, Leonard and Batty) a couple of years ago. It was appearant that Leonard was an intelligent footballer in his positioning, decisions and was also a good finisher. Thought he had some similarities to Teddy Sheringham.  However I predicted that he would need a couple of years to be ready for the first team. Since he's not quick, he needs to bulk-up and get senior experience. I know he was out for a significant time as 17 year old, and seems like he's been plagued with injuries since holding him back. A loan to league One would be good for him. 

Jake Batty a bit similar with injuries. Have a very high ceiling offensively with his pace and directness, but was never tested defensively and has had a lot of injuries. Hope he will grow from his Accrington spell and might be a good option for next year

[jim mk2]

You have to wonder why Portsmouth and Plymouth reportedly want Leonard. He’s a League 2 player at best 

[wilsdenrover]

18 minutes ago, 47er said:

I'd swap then over.

I’d let the cleaner use Waggott’s head as the bog brush 😁

[...]

33 minutes ago, sharpysharps86 said:

3-4 weeks.

As with Tronstadt

[joey_big_nose]

I really want Leonard to be a solid Championship forward but I haven't seen anything about him to suggest that. Even with Gueye who draws all the focus of the defence Leonard just hasn't really done anything incisive to hurt the opposition, let alone look like scoring regularly. The few goals he got a more reactive types to a fortunate bounce or loose ball rather than him doing much for them.

I agree he hasnt got the pace or skill to beat players so he going to need to bulk up and focus on his movement and finishing.

[oldjamfan1]

It’s not 100% certain Danns wants to go out on loan. He has a potential trip to Wembley and Carabou Cup final with Liverpool. Okay they aren’t certain to overturn the 0-1 first leg defeat against Spurs but it’s likely he would be involved in it in some capacity. He’s thinking about it.
 

That's from someone pretty close to that club.

[roversfan99]

With 36 hours left, presumably weve had bids accepted and are getting players in to finalise?

Nah, most likely sat waiting and hoping that Liverpool allow us to borrow a kid they have.

[Forever Blue]

44 minutes ago, Admiral Nelsen said:

 

In fairness, we've been crying out for more pace for years. All of our attackers - whatever you think of their quality - are very one paced and we've not really been able to stretch teams by running in behind since Brereton/Khadra. Obviously I'm not advocating signing dross just because they're quick, but we'd be much less one-dimensional and get more out of our other forwards if we had at least one player with genuine pace. 

Especially because we often set up to play on the break. At least we have Gueye to be a decent out-ball now, but we still don't have anyone really capable of attacking space. 

Don’t disagree we need pace, but pace and quality is a tough ask with our twatty owners. I presume Kargbo fits the pace bit, we’ll see if he’s any good. 

[Emerald Isle Rover]

1 minute ago, oldjamfan1 said:

It’s not 100% certain Danns wants to go out on loan. He has a potential trip to Wembley and Carabou Cup final with Liverpool. Okay they aren’t certain to overturn the 0-1 first leg defeat against Spurs but it’s likely he would be involved in it in some capacity. He’s thinking about it.
 

That's from someone pretty close to that club.

Didn’t play a minute in the away game and the fact they are losing im pretty sure Liverpool will go full strength at home to spurs 

[...]

1 hour ago, Waggy76 said:

What time tomorrow is the deadline 5pm or 11pm

Its 11pm just checked

 

Edited yesterday at 11:28 by ...

[Bethnal]

1 hour ago, ... said:

Do you think Danns coming here would be more attractive than Sunderland due to Beck being here? 

I’d say more attractive as he’ll get more minutes here than at Sunderland. I like Danns from the two occasions I’ve seen him play, but both were against “weaker” opposition in the FA Cup, which is a different proposition than week in week out in the championship. 

Even still, he looks like he’s got the thing you need to be a player at the top level. Would be an excellent signing.

[Forever Blue]

7 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

I really want Leonard to be a solid Championship forward but I haven't seen anything about him to suggest that. Even with Gueye who draws all the focus of the defence Leonard just hasn't really done anything incisive to hurt the opposition, let alone look like scoring regularly. The few goals he got a more reactive types to a fortunate bounce or loose ball rather than him doing much for them.

I agree he hasnt got the pace or skill to beat players so he going to need to bulk up and focus on his movement and finishing.

He makes fantastic runs, he’s a clever footballer. He’s missed quite a few chances over his appearances just because of how good his movement is. It was very evident when he played under JDT just how good he was at finding space. Let’s hope injuries don’t do for him.  He needs a loan to toughen him up. 

[Admiral Nelsen]

7 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

I really want Leonard to be a solid Championship forward but I haven't seen anything about him to suggest that. Even with Gueye who draws all the focus of the defence Leonard just hasn't really done anything incisive to hurt the opposition, let alone look like scoring regularly. The few goals he got a more reactive types to a fortunate bounce or loose ball rather than him doing much for them.

I agree he hasnt got the pace or skill to beat players so he going to need to bulk up and focus on his movement and finishing.

 

The thing that gives me hope is that he gets in scoring positions. Gallagher's time here shows you can't necessarily teach that, but chances fall to Leonard with decent regularity. So I don't think his movement is a problem. 

He hasn't played enough (or stayed fit for long enough) to really judge his potential in my opinion, but if he stays injury free I think he'll be a regular scorer at some level in the professional game. Whether that's at a Championship club or not is yet to be seen.

[Upside Down]

50 minutes ago, 47er said:

I'd swap then over.

I wouldn't, cleaning the bogs os an important job that requires someone to take pride in what they do to complete the task to an acceptable standard.

If you let the disgusting troll do that there'd be more shit in there than before he started.

[islander200]

Ihneacho medical at boro straight loan deal 

[Scoobydo]

As if being a Rovers supporter isn’t depressing enough, being a Dallas Mavericks fan compounds the misery (off topic) 

[Exiled_Rover]

21 minutes ago, oldjamfan1 said:

It’s not 100% certain Danns wants to go out on loan. He has a potential trip to Wembley and Carabou Cup final with Liverpool. Okay they aren’t certain to overturn the 0-1 first leg defeat against Spurs but it’s likely he would be involved in it in some capacity. He’s thinking about it.
 

That's from someone pretty close to that club.

He's 19 years old and has barely played senior football. If he's more worried about playing at Wembley than playing first team football for 6 months then he's never going to make it.

[B16Rover]

From an exceeding brief Google, at PL2 level Harry Leonard has a better goal scoring record than Danns 

[briansol]

26 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

I really want Leonard to be a solid Championship forward but I haven't seen anything about him to suggest that. Even with Gueye who draws all the focus of the defence Leonard just hasn't really done anything incisive to hurt the opposition, let alone look like scoring regularly. The few goals he got a more reactive types to a fortunate bounce or loose ball rather than him doing much for them.

I agree he hasnt got the pace or skill to beat players so he going to need to bulk up and focus on his movement and finishing.

Yes, needs the Danny Graham blueprint. Quite similar when he was young. Skinny teenager at Boro who grew a fat backside on in the lower leagues and didn't come into his own untill mid 20s.

[Exiled_Rover]

3 hours ago, alex l said:

So where do you draw the line, or does promotion trump decency? If we could sign a Greenwood or a Goodwillie, and it guaranteed promotion, would you be fine with that? 

After 15 years of misery with these owners - yes .