Suspect wages are also an issue - both given new contracts before the pursestrings were really tightened. Suspect even loan moves involve us paying a fair chunk of the tab

I'll nail my colours early - I reckon he's shite.

They are both pretty much run of the mill championship footballers who people obviously don't see much future potential in nor how they could go straight into their team and do a job. So there is no one prepared to pay a fee for them because their types aren't in demand they exceed supply at this level. If they became free or could be snapped up for a few hundred grand and would fit into the interested clubs pay bracket i think there'd be a taker, for Buckley at least.

Attitude, simple as that. Had it on a plate since being about 8 years old. Compare and contrast to a Szmodics who’s grafted his way to a good career (and the financial rewards that go with it). JB will drift down the leagues and at 35 may actually have some regrets.

CHADDY, THE LAST 5 YEARS SHOW IMO WE DONT OFFER ENOUGH MONEY, HENCE WHY WE HARDLY EVER RENEW CONTRACTS OF OUR TOP TALENT. You can give 5 examples well done, but the TREND IS THEY ALL LEAVE ON FREES.

Maybe clubs looking from the outside in over last 12 months don't like what they see with the two players in question - injuries in JRC's case (and his whole career history of these) and attitude in Buckley's. If I was a club looking to take a chance on either player I'd probably want a loan with option to buy - but guess that doesn't fit with our need for immediate cash as seems to be the club's operating principle at the moment.

Because I asked yourself what you would offer him in terms of salary and length of contract, It was a simple question but one you don't want to answer, instead coming up with excuse after excuse. I give up tbh You are very quick to complain Rovers haven't offered him good wages or blamed this and that.

I guess getting the need for a bond is paramount and given the reduction to 50% it was a tactic that worked. Whether they go back and try again, in the hope that they can get all impediments removed, remains to be seen. A better option, would be to admit defeat and sell the club, of course.

I noticed one other thing yesterday. An affidavit was also lodged in March 2024, another occasion on when funds were sent over (but where there was no additional court hearing) This would seem to support the theory they’ve done a deal which allows them to send funds subject to the existing court conditions (but without the need for a further court hearing). On this basis, I maintain (rightly or wrongly!) they only returned to court last month to try and vary those conditions (specifically seeking the removal of the guarantee). In other words, they could have sent the money to the club when it was requested in March but chose to go back to court instead.

I’m assuming they’ve sent all of it on the basis I’m not sure how happy the court would be with Venkys insisting a sum needs sending but then remitting a lower figure. It is only an assumption though.

As Mark says the money has to be spent on exactly the things they requested it for - this was to fulfill statutory and contractual obligations for March - June. Any fees we pay will have to be from self generated income - although clearly them being able to send monies over means funds earmarked for transfers don’t need diverting to pay wages etc instead.

This will just be money or part of it that was requested months ago for running costs, most likely to pay down the overdraft on whats already been spent. That's all they are allowed to send otherwise there wouldn't be a court case or restrictions.

Not heard of any interest yet in him or JRC who I expected to be leaving, probably end up being loaned out again.

At least they have finally sent some money, we must have been close to not paying wages to get them to finally act.

I'm pretty sure they can't use that money for any transfers. Think whatever they send has to be documented, like x amount for wages etc

Is this a coincidence or do you think this is them putting the money in for tavares?

I don’t understand why you think wage approximates will be that far off, all clubs publish their wage bills. Of course, it’ll never be exact unless you’ve a payslip with their bonuses / signing on fees on. It’s fairly easy to have a close approximate though - football manager games have researchers at every club who provide these approximates too, so it’s not as if it’s a random algorithm. I don’t think you can say for sure that he hasn’t been offered a decent extension either, but we can definitely say that his agents advice would’ve been to “stick it out, you’ll get a better deal elsewhere”…. Especially when we’ve seen that happen multiple times in recent seasons. Lenihan, Rothwell, and Brereton-Diaz all went on to sign contracts at their new clubs that would’ve been higher than what we would’ve paid them. You can point out a lack of ambition from the owners and many would agree, you can say their are external issues like parachute payments and FFP make an impact and most would also agree, but you still must acknowledge that these players have short careers and will maximise their earnings. Not forgetting their agents generally take 10% thus the more their client makes….

Any news on Batth or weimann?

Its an impossible question to answer though about any player. We dont know what hes on, what our top earner is on, what the average is etc. People like to quote random websites but you cant trust them, I suspect they get them from football manager or something similar as they cant possibly know. There is a chance of course that he as an individual has unreasonable demands. But as you touch on, 18 months ago his stock wasnt as high, nor was his bargaining power. Thats the one where I struggle to accept that he was asking for silly money beyond our pay structure. The contract he has been on will be very low because he signed it so long ago. The main issue is beyond Dolan anyway, if only one or even two players had refused to sign it might not be worrying. The other issue is the timing, when we wait so long we get to the point where the players power is higher and they also have more reason to justify a higher wage. The club can also spill out that their demands are beyond our wage structure.

Then you didn't answer the question you were asked by whoever it was (Chaddy I think?). What would you consider a reasonable offer to Dolan? The clear pattern of shite offers that have made us repeatedly lose players for peanuts or less than peanuts is a separate but related issue that nonetheless doesn't speak to answering that question. You were being evasive. It's still possible Dolan wants more than most of us would be comfortable signing him onto and the club can reasonably pay, even if I personally agree we probably aren't making a good enough offer within our means and should have sorted it ages ago when it would've been cheaper.

At least there is no impediment.

How is it a simple question to possibly know what he currently earns, what he was offered, what he wants etc? All that is clear is that we have failed to offer a number of key players in the last few years sufficient terms to get them to sign new deals, so it goes beyond one or two unreasonable sets of demands or dodgy agents.

Simple question to answer lets be honest

Well obviously not. I think we can deduct though based on the sheer quantity of important players that we have failed to renew the contracts of. That the pattern suggests that its not just isolated and silly wage demands. My response wasnt made to be taken so literally.

Chaddy, how could I possibly know what he or indeed any player would accept or is even paid? I dont need to know either. He was offered a deal 18 months ago that he didnt deem satisfactory so didnt sign it and hasnt been offered one since. Whether I thought x and you thought why is irrelevant to whether Ismael will be happy with how the squad is going into pre season tomorrow. You are keener than anyone to take every word he says as gospel, he said he wanted 90% done. I dont think that was realistic but he clearly wanted a big chunk of business done ahead of a full pre season. I would argue that 2 ins, 2 unexpected outs on top of Dolan etc who we knew about, and still crucially absolutely no clarity on 4 key players and their futures doesnt really fit that remit. On Forshaw, you havent been keen to stick to your guns and say that you dont agree with the renewal. Since it happened, in typical chaddy fashion youve just endorsed it repeatedly.