People keep mentioning his versatility when scraping the barrel for positives. Is he versatile? Is being equally ineffective on either the left or right wing versatility? Its the low cost and ease of the deal which made it inevitable.

There is an honesty and work rate to Hedges game that I've always respected, and I'm sure if you are a full back you are very happy to have him covering you. I have to say though, I thought he struggled this season and would be concerned if he played as much next season as he did this.

Hedges is a useful squad player. Triggering the extension is a good move. He'd likely be more costly to replace and I'm not sure I would actually extend his deal, but his versatility makes him useful and he wasn't bad in some of the matches towards the end of the season. He may be a good fit for our new system, but I don't want to see him starting.

A wide man with 1 goal and 2 assists in a season in which he played the majority of games. A wide man who isnt quick, isnt tricky and cant beat a man. A wide man who has lots of red flags with injury. But hes cheap and requires no negotiation so sign him up.

Good hardworking squad player, ok defensively. wouldn't have him anywhere near starting line up though. I think it's good to keep him one extra year, if kargbo doesn't work out we've no wingers..

So is the Women's team defunct ( I use the word advisedly) or not?

At best (for him) he's here to sit on the bench when Pears moves on. If Pears stay, then I imagine he's just here to travel with the 1st teams as the 3rd choice keeper. Michelski shouldn't be used for that role at his age as it will stunt his development, he needs a season playing every week where it's for our under 21's or if he can get a National League/League 2 loan somewhere and play.

Aye but even with that mantra it doesn't make sense. We have more young keepers than we need, by some distance.

Hedges is absolutely woeful. Contributes little to nothing.

Hedges Ohashi and Kargbo as our regular front 3 doesn't inspire me too much, although I do think Ohashi has done well.

Rejoice! Wide player with the annual goal return of a grizzled CB to play (start) another 30+ games next season. Now there's your season ticket incentive.

He's nowhere near good enough, but I don't think that really matters here. The only thought is "are they cheap?" If the answer is yes, then that will do.

lets hope not, simply not good enough and hardly doing well at Orient either. bench player there

I imagine his option will be triggered, just because it's the easy option for now.

Will he? he is out of contract this summer. I don't mind a loan player being sign but needs to be much better than ACD who wasn't good enough

Markanday will be one of them. The other a prem academy loan like ACD is my guess.

Cheap and easy. That's the only goal here.

we need 2 wide players aswell as players to challenge Karbgo and Hedges anyway

Personally, I don't think they even bothered trying to negotiate an extension. This just kicks the can down the road for another year, and is much easier. Hedges definitely leaves for nothing next summer like the rest of them will.

I saw yesterday that Jake Barrett has signed a new two year deal with a one year extension option, and my immediate thought was: why? 22 year old keeper (we have a lot of youth keepers) who seemingly hasn't pulled up any trees. Has he even sat our bench? Because younger keepers have. I don't get it. Whatever his wage is, just add it onto an offer for a senior player instead.

Time to rejoice everyone, Hedges contract option has been triggered, meaning that similarly to Hyam, they were unable to actually negotiate an extension with him. the same story also seems to indicate Kargbo will play left wing, & Hedges right wing next season, which in turn indicates Dolan will leave without being replaced Blackburn Rovers have triggered their clause to extend Ryan Hedges' contract by a further 12 months, The Lancashire Telegraph can reveal. The Welshman's terms were set to expire this summer, though Valerien Ismael made it clear he saw Hedges as part of his plans for 2025/26. Therefore, it was always likely that Rovers would take up their option at the least. Talks about fresh terms until 2027 were first mooted in December, as reported by The LT. However, little progress has been made on that front since then. With Blackburn Rovers needing to inform their players of their intentions by May 17, Rovers have decided to extend his deal by 12 months. That gives the two parties more time to iron out a new deal, should they still wish to. The club's official retained list does not need to be made public until June, though it's expected to be published this week, as is customary. There are unlikely to be any shocks, with it well-known that Rovers want to keep Danny Batth, Andi Weimann, Adam Forshaw and Tyrhys Dolan. Ismael is confident he can help Hedges improve his output next season. Last season was hampered by long-term injuries, whilst 2024/25 saw his numbers drop after switching to the left-wing. There have been internal discussions about a return to the right side next season, the role he played his best football in under Jon Dahl Tomasson previously. "Yes, definitely. Ryan, I expected him to be here next season," Ismael told The Lancashire Telegraph last month. "I spoke with him already. So now I think it's about the club (to sort it out). I think he's a player who's got that energy, that intensity. "With my way to play, it will be good for him. It's about to get a good pre-season for all of them. If we're able to go through that pre-season. "Six, seven weeks of hard work together to get that intensity. Then I think we can get much more out of Ryan." Hedges is currently sidelined with an ankle injury sustained against Sheffield United. He is expected to be fit for the start of pre-season, though.

Same here but I fear it's because I still can't let go! 😭

Obviously not ‘a fact’, is it, just Eddie’s opinion. It’s a thread on a message board with a few dozen regular posters. It’s akin to a few folk in a pub having a chat.. and guess what in the pubs around Wilpshire the smalltime folk will have a chat about Adam Wharton.

It's still a pretty long list of players from the last 15 years that have represented the club in the Premier League, played Premier League football elsewhere, played international football (in the case of Jones and Dunn), and played for significantly bigger clubs (in the case of Jones). It's not like we are Stocksbridge and we now have a soft spot for Leicester because of Jamie Vardy. As I said in my previous post, the level thing is too early to judge. He looks set to have a fantastic career that will see him move beyond Crystal Palace and represent England for years to come. But it could also not happen. I'll put it this way. If I were a Birmingham City supporter, I wouldn't give two f*cks about Real Madrid (or Dortmund before them). Nice to see Bellingham doing well and it's a credit to their academy and a nice story that maybe helps the club recruit local players, but he chose to leave and best of luck to him.

I don't have no connection to the area. Don't let my accent fool you just because my family moved to the US when I was 1 or the fact that my career has me based in Paris. But, either way, that isn't particularly relevant. We're all from somewhere and there's nothing unique to Blackburn that means a non-local couldn't imagine a similar relationship with an athlete/musician/actor/politican/etc from their local area. We will have to wait and see just how good of a career he goes on to have, but Phil Jones left here with a bigger reputation and higher expectations. He didn't any of the same tracking or fascination that Wharton gets. Why? Because we were a Premier League side and had better things to focus on. He was also probably hurt by the fact that he joined United, but this messageboard was certainly not filled with members talking about local-boy-done-good. There's no two ways about it. This is a reflection of the downfall of this club. That isn't me - or any other poster on here - telling people to not follow his career or to not have a soft spot for him. But it doesn't change the fact that it makes us look small-time.