[Archived] Reflections On The Transfer Window

[den]

So very disappointed with rovers.

The transfer windows over the last 12 months have seen us sell players to the tune of around £50m. All the talk and hope from some of our fans was that the money would be reinvested and we could strengthen on the back of the sales. Unfortunately, those who have been watching football long enough know there's really only one outcome when you sell big and buy small. Some fans were expecting us to be going for the Lennon's and Darren Bents with that cash. We weren't even in the discussions.

Only 12 months ago, we had a manger who set targets that could take us into Europe, now the target is what? Gone is all talk of ambition. When was the last positive message anyone heard from anyone at the club - John Williams, big Sam, - anyone?

At the end of last season the owners put forward a fantastic season ticket initiative. Alas, unless the displays improve ten fold, many of those who bought, wont be coming back, probably for a long time. Why bother with the ticket initiative if the club simply sells it's best players and doesn't even compete for the decent replacements?

John Williams always said that a clubs wage bill should reflect the final league position. The owners demanded that the wage bill should be cut by £5m. We scraped to safety last season, so where do they expect the team to finish this season?

Our club has taken a massive step backwards this summer - in my opinion. It's not going to be easy to recover from that. This Kalanic better be good because a lot, very unfairly, will rest on his young inexperienced shoulders.

Sorry to place another depressing post, but that's how I feel.

[magicalmortensleftpeg]

I think Sam has done very well this summer. People complaining about selling our best players:

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU FINISH 15TH!!!!!!

Why are you so surprised????

It doesnt show a 'lack of ambition' it shows that players are always going to jump at the chance to play for a better club and that its stupid to turn down silly money for players who arent really worth it. Do people seriously believe we shouldnt have sold Roque for £17m?????, Bentley for £16m??? SERIOUSLY??

Also,

Stop complaining about the lack of funds, we are a SMALL club - a vast amount of money has to go to banks, on wages etc and its only what is left over that can be spent on new players. Shoot me if im 'lacking ambition' but I think its sensible to firstly put the financial safety of the club ahead of anything else.

And then we get to the players:

Roque - Barely played or scored at all last season, has been replaced with: Hoillet - one of the brightest prospects we've had in a long long time. Kalinic - Young, buckets of potential, Croatian international with a brilliant track record in Croatia. Van Heerden is obviously one for the future.

Id say we're stronger.

Warnock - Chimbonda looks a decent replacement albeit only based on a single appearance. Jacobsen is a very solid RB and Salgado is a vastly experienced champions league winning full back. - Givet, has looked brilliant so far, Ewood cult hero in the making.

Overall, Stronger.

Derbyshire - struggled in the prem. only, at best an impact substitute - replaced with Di Santo - One of the brightest youngsters from Chelsea who impressed on their American pre season tour.

Stronger

Mokoena - useless. - replaced with Nzonzi. Young, tall and already looks more suited to the league than the Axe ever did

Stronger.

NOW, exactly how have we become weaker this summer??

[RevidgeBlue]

Our decline dates back almost two years to the day when we were near the top of the table with 21 points from ten games. We'd just beaten Spurs 2-1 at the Lane that day but Savage broke his leg and Hughes was seemingly denied funding to replace him the following January no doubt hastening his departure.

Since then the speed of our decline has been alarming. In just twelve months we've sold Friedel, Bentley, Roque, Warnock, and Derbyshire and finally lost Tugay from the squad. Savage was never replaced either and imo the only real quality addition in the last three windows has been Robinson. So it's not hard to see why we're struggling at the wrong end of the table.

I think this has been a shocking window, we've sold players for 29m and still haven't addressed our longstanding midfield problem.

Up front from a purely footballing perspective we needed to replace RSC with a proven Premiership performer like Bent or Crouch. We opted to take a cheaper punt instead on a young lad who is completely unproven and Derbyshire wasn't even replaced by a permanent signing!. We got a loanee and only one until January at that! So potentially I think we could be just as weak up front.

I'm not happy either Den, but what can we do about it other than rattle our gums on here? Not bother going to the games? Not renew our season tickets next season?

That's probably not the answer either as it will harm the club and there will be a point when the current owners/manager and Board aren't here whereas most of us us fans still will be as always.

[RibbleValleyRover]

Its hard to judge really whether or not we are stronger or weaker, that will be decided on where we finish in the league, how well our new players perform and how the players who have recently left have performed.

There are a hell of a lot of question marks over most of our signings:

Hoilett- Not really a signing but he is a new face to the senior squad, Young and unproven.

Kalinic- Young and unproven.

Di Santo- Young and unproven.

Van Heerden- Hasn't featured yet.

Salgado- Where is he going to play?

Jacobsen- Looked decent so far, but potentially faces a lot of competition.

Chimbonda- Really a RB, will he be happy playing left back often? Will there be no off the field issues?

N'Zonzi- Young and unproven.

I think a lot is resting on Salgado, if he can't play midfield then where the hell is he going to play? We have Jacobsen, Emerton, Chimbonda and in emergencies, Andrews and Reid who can play RB.

My gut feeling is that signing Salgado was a mistake, if we had sold Warnock could we have used the transfer fee and wages of Warnock and the wages Salgado would have been on to buy a proper natural CM/AMC? If so i think that would have seen us in better shape and solved the major weakness of our side for the past two years.

[Brfcrule1]

I don't believe some of you we have made 9 signings this summer with sub young goalie from asteris, Jacobsen, Givet, Chimbonda, Salgado, Elrio, NZonzi, Kalinic & Di Santo. We have addressed some of the problems we have had in the squad but as they say Rome was not built in a day!. You can't always solve all problems in one window as they say you need at least 2 windows. It would have been nice to have had Nolan in and Zurab out but it did not happen so we have to make do,also if people think about it it would have been detriment to the squad to add many more. It is good for SA to bring his own players but usually it is done over 2-3 windows not all at once. Also when you take on 9 players at once the bedding in time for the team to gel and function properly as a team takes time bringing in any more would make it even more difficult for the players to gel. I think given the problems we have faced in many seasons SA has rectified all but 1 of those problems. We just have to be a bit patient till Jan then I am sure SA will look to rectify our M/Field problem.

[DeadlyDirk]

Wow nightmare at work, missed the entire day's dealings.

I'm pleased today that Benni didn't go simply to bring in someone like Nolan, if we are going to improve the midfield it needs to be with significantly better players, not ones that are perhaps slightly better than Andrews, just my opinion, the board seemed pretty split on Nolan, I thought he was good 3-4 years ago but has been useless and lazy since.

Anyway all in all it's not a bad window, agree with nicko's analysis that we are perhaps slightly stronger.

So who's gone?

We got huge money for Roque and considering his injury troubles look well and truly back we might never have got an offer of even half of that if we'd have kept him to sit in the treatement room. He was obviously a fantastic talent but last season he wasn't the same player and as I mentioned he has his injury troubles.

Warnock, Hmm I'm 50/50 now on this one, I wasn't fussed about him going as although he can be a very good player at times I feel he has his flaws and when he makes a mistake it tends to be a big one. Disappointed we didn't sign a natural left back to replace him but at 7-8m again it's not a bad fee.

Tugay, you will be sadly missed but age caught up with him, I don't think we've lost anything in terms of what he could have offered us this season other than experience. Saying that a one year deal again if he was interested might have been worth a shout.

Mokoena, I think the club he went to tells you enough about his ability, sorry Pompey fans, he always worked hard and tried his best but was little more than a midfield hatchet man who in my opinion can only play in a 5 man midfield if you want to see the best of him.

Ooijer, shame he went I feel but I guess he wanted to go home for a year with the world cup coming up and be guaranteed first team football. He wasn't at his best when he played RB and currently we have at least 3 people better than him at CB, no real loss in my opinion other than experience.

Derbyshire of course went, 3m I guess was a decent price but I'm sure he went because Sam thought all he had to his game was goals, seems a little ironic now but I can see his point, not sure if he was ever going to make it as a starter and 3m is a fair bit for someone who you only see as a ten minute impact player.

Who's in?

Jacobsen, Not done a lot wrong so far, for a free tranfer he looks decent, at least we have a right back now. Good experience, good replacement for Ooijer in that respect.

Salgado, Well we've certainly all got excited about this one, it'll be interesting to see how he performs on the pitch, and talking of experience, he's done it all and can hopefully mould the younger players into real battlers that play to win. Great replacement for Tugay in experience terms. At least we have a right back as well, did I say that already?

Chimbonda, I've not been his biggest fan over the last year but Spuds have been known to ruin plenty of careers, he was fantastic at Wigan and when I heard the fee was around 1.5m I thought it was a decent deal. Very good debut and at least we have a right back now As I said in the Warnock comment I was hoping we'd sign an out and out left back but Chimbonda can at least play there, not much of a left foot though so may become predictable against some more experienced players. Good bit of business on the hole though, you won't get much better for that price.

Kalinic, Well we were all excited about this one again, shown glimpses of talent but it would be good to see him get on the scoresheet just to give the lad a break because if the media keep criticising him it takes a very strong player to keep ignoring it and not start doubting your own ability. Hopefully he's strong enough to come though this unfair criticism so early in his Rovers and premiership career. I'm not sure who said it, maybe philip but we could really do with this guy coming good as there is a lot of pressure, albeit unfair, on his shoulders right now to come up with the goals.

Di Santo, It's always hard to get excited about a loan signing, especially with it only being 6 months and two of Chelsea's strikers off to Africa around January, add to that them not bringing in a forward today but hopefully he can be a good player for us and we'll be allowed to keep him for the season. Can't judge him too much so far as he's not played a great deal due to his injury, unfortunately it might be a few more weeks before we see him again.

Hoilett, Not technically a signing but as good as one, looks very promising even from his early cameo's. Don't want to tempt fate or put too much pressure on him but come May he could well be a first team regular for us, depending on how our other strikers do and what happens with Di Santo.

N'Zonzi, Raw but looks like an immense talent, I see a lot of potential in this guy, needs someone decent alongside him until he learns his trade a bit more. Dunny will be a great foil for him, let's just hope he can stay fit. Already some people are speculating that he could be the next big money departure in a few years time. Although I'm excited about him it does kind of sum up the midfield problem when our two regulars this year have come a French 2nd tier side relegated to the third tier and an English 4th tier side. We could be on to a bargain though, if he can become a bit more of a 'footballer' and learn from the likes of Salgado, Dunn and other experience players then he really could be one to watch in the future, hopefully in a Rovers shirt.

Van Heerden, Another freebie, Sam wasn't lying when he said we wouldn't see him for a while until he adapts. Looks very small and weak for the premiership but it's hard to grumble about a free transfer, hopefully he can be a decent option for us on the future, I'll judge him when I've actually seen him play a bit more!

So all in all I feel it's been a decent window for us, the players that have gone all wanted to leave for one reason or another so it's hard to argue about any of them going, the new signings are a mixture of older experience players, young up and coming players and a few with something to prove, not a bad mix really. The midfield still seems to have a glaring hole in it but when you have half a dozen central midfielders I guess you can't bring anyone else in unless someone wants to buy one of your current crop, we missed the boat with Andrews and the rest have injury doubts so were never going to attract many bids

I guess we could grumble about where the money has gone and I'd perhaps have liked us to show a little ambition but you only have to look at the likes of Leeds, Newcastle and Portsmouth from recent times to show how quickly things can go wrong if you start splashing cash around that you can only afford if you continue to be succesful. Not always a bad thing to keep a bit lying around to see what tomorrow brings.

[dj54nna]

Chimbonda £1.5m, Warnock sold for £8m.

I'm hoping the £6.5m profit will be held over for the January window for one really decent player. Depending on which is more dire until then, our toothless attack or our perma-crippled midfield, will hopefully get a much needed boost.

I don't think, with the current state of the market, Sam has been left with much choice other than to operate a 'suck it and see' policy for the time being. If we don't get enough decent results by January I think we'll see funds being made available then. If they do pick up, i should imagine that money will probably go to the bank as well. Just hoping that by the time January comes it's not too late.

What I can see happening is Givet getting player of the season and being flogged for £10m next summer for us to spend 25p of it on mediocre replacements.

[Veevs]

I guess the biggest problem many of us have is we should of cleared the remaining debt we had prior to the sale of warnock.. yet Sam was not allowed to spend more than 30% of the funds received from Warnock, we have reduced the wage bill and got rid of the dead wood in the squad.

However allot of us believe that the investment of that 5m on the wages for another player would of made a considerable difference to our season (IMO 4-5 places).. There where plenty of players available on loan this transfer window.

I really think this pre-season we have taken too much of a gamble to make the club salable rather than trying for a top 10 finish.. you cant sell a championship club and a few places in the league would of paid for the added player, and this season given the strength of the clubs in the league would of been ideal for gaining places.

Sure I doubt we will be relegated, we certainly wont be pushing for Europe though.. with the likes of Wolves, Stoke, Bolton, the dingles, Hull, Birmingham, Wigan, Portsmouth all looking a bit iffy.. that one signing could have made a hefty difference to us.

Just my opinion but although we have improved the squad a little (IMO) and we are not that far off a very decent team we wont be pushing for a decent league position this season.

And please stop slating Sam and JW.. I have no doubt that if the money was available then a player would of been signed for midfield... but neither of those two really hold the purse strings..

I am sure Sam had to sign a player with the versatility of Pascal because he was only given one purchase and he felt he needed the cover across the back line.

[tcj_jones]

Posts moved over

Den's post was one I wanted to reply to and what kinda kicked it off, so I thought I'd begin there.

So very disappointed with rovers.

The transfer windows over the last 12 months have seen us sell players to the tune of around £50m. All the talk and hope from some of our fans was that the money would be reinvested and we could strengthen on the back of the sales. Unfortunately, those who have been watching football long enough know there's really only one outcome when you sell big and buy small. Some fans were expecting us to be going for the Lennon's and Darren Bents with that cash. We weren't even in the discussions.

Only 12 months ago, we had a manger who set targets that could take us into Europe, now the target is what? Gone is all talk of ambition. When was the last positive message anyone heard from anyone at the club - John Williams, big Sam, - anyone?

At the end of last season the owners put forward a fantastic season ticket initiative. Alas, unless the displays improve ten fold, many of those who bought, wont be coming back, probably for a long time. Why bother with the ticket initiative if the club simply sells it's best players and doesn't even compete for the decent replacements?

John Williams always said that a clubs wage bill should reflect the final league position. The owners demanded that the wage bill should be cut by £5m. We scraped to safety last season, so where do they expect the team to finish this season?

Our club has taken a massive step backwards this summer - in my opinion. It's not going to be easy to recover from that. This Kalanic better be good because a lot, very unfairly, will rest on his young inexperienced shoulders.

Sorry to place another depressing post, but that's how I feel.

For what it's worth, Den, I thought you made some very good points. I too had really high hopes at the start of the summer. I thought that we'd keep the current playing staff together, while adding a new striker and a new CM. I had high hopes of seeing the likes of Crouch, K. Jones or Darren Bent coming in, but came to realize what dire straights the club is in financially. As such, all the positive talk of spending big on a striker seemed pretty misleading and got my hopes up somewhat.

With this in consideration, however, I think Sam has done a good job at shuffling the pack whilst keeping the banks at bay and we have a few promising youngsters to look forward to. Saying that, we will have to rely heavily on these youngsters coming good and on injured players getting and staying fit, and that is a big gamble.

On the whole, it is something of a depressing time for Rovers fans with no hint of ambition coming out of the club and the manager already moaning and complaining at every turn. Right now, I think we'll be OK. However, I have a niggling worry that Sam might not be as effective as I first believed and will leave us in the midst of a relegation fight with a squad of HIS players, built to play HIS kind of football and that we won't find another Hughes to keep us in the league.

I guess that time will tell.

[Ricky]

My only worry of the transfer window is the lack of funds for Sam to address weaknesses in the squad. I was under the impression that the banks demands were met from the Derbs and RSC sales, yet when Sam sells Warnock he is not given the money to strengthen. I feel Sam has done his best in the window after the extremely poor backing from the board.

All of our hopes now lay at the feet of an injury prone midfield. We could all see midfield was the problem and it has not been addressed. If we can keep the players fit we should have enough quality to be ok, I like what I've seen from Grella when fit, I think he and Dunn could form an excellent midfield partnership. You have a natural ball winner and a ball player in there. The only question mark for me comes down to fitness.

I think Sam also did the best he could with the front line, I'm sure we tried for players but were knocked back due to excessive demands from selling clubs and also the fact that bigger teams were in for the players. Both Bent and Crouch moved in the summer and I dont personally believe we could get near either of them. Bent was on silly money at Spurs and a cash rich Sunderland must be paying him 60-70k a week, Crouch is probably on the same as that if not more. We cant afford to pay wages like that if we are also shelling out big fees.

Kalanic is regarded inhis country as a hot prospect, he may take some time to settle but hopefuylly he can reproduce that form in the blue and white of rovers. He has shown some decent touches but doesnt appear to be able to get a shot away on target at the moment. Di Santo is also a massive talent, he was givent he number 9 shirt at Chelsea last season which probably shows how highly they regard him. Unfortunately his injury came at the wrong time for us and him, it meant that Kalanic was bought in sooner than Sam would have wanted.

I guess the other concern I have with the transfer window is the RB situation, why have we bought in 3 players to play RB. I guess it may become clear soon but at present I'm not quite sure. I personally see Sam going with Givet, Samba, Nelsen, and Chimbonda and playing Salgado in a holding midfield position. We will see if it works!!!

[bubblerrovers]

I think it depends which way you want to look at it, if want to be positive we've signed some young players with potential, or negative unproven and past it.

Elrio: why, why why why??? never heard of him got him for free off Bruges, says alot.

Givet: Class, best buy of the summer, will move on within two 2 years at a healthy profit.

Jacobsen: Steady and assured, never guna be better than average signing.

Salgado: No one can really comment yet as not seen play, at the end of his career so could go either way.

Chimbonda: If plays how he did on Saturday, great signing.

Kalinic: Massive gamble, i personally think he'll flop, looks average showed no good signs, looks like a headless chicken,

Di Santo: Another gamble, will be gone before we see the best of him anyway

SO..... overall happy with defence but think Sam has made a massive mistake in ignoring the midfield, Reid is so overated and will never play more than 3 games a season, Dunn can unlock a Gillingham defense but not a West Ham defense, Andrews works hard but no talent. Grella could be good if gets a run of games but not much attacking flair. Upfront i think we'll score goals but not many, It will be down to Roberts and Mccarthy and Hoilett coming good, As said before think Kalinic will prove to be Grabbi in disguise and Di Santo will be gone before gets a good run.

[Bazzanotsogreat]

I am sorry but I don’t buy these supposed bank demands. Rovers had a net debt of circa 20 million before the sale of Bentley. A miniscule amount compared to other comparable clubs.

When other clubs sell there players- we don’t hear of the bank swallowing up over 50% of the money generated. Yes we are a small town club- fact. However we are a small town club that has a turnover of over 55 million a turnover which rather than shrinking will only grow (barring a few million drops this accounting cycle) due to the wealth the sky TV deal brings.

We have sold two of our top three players - replacing a left back with a right-back. Last season we had the poorest midfield in the premiership IMO- yet we have arguably weekend this area with the release of Tugay, we have been crying out for a passing midfielder for the past 2-3 seasons, yet Sam is not given a quarter of the funds he himself has generated.

To reiterate we have seen three different stances taken by the trust in the past 18 months

• First it was “we are not investing the three million per season; that the trust normally invest”

• Then it was sell before you can buy

• Now after receiving a record windfall from sky; we are observing that we have to sell to stay afloat- this is after apparently paying off all the clubs small debt

This is nothing more than asset stripping- no matter what the trust lovers propose- this is how I see things. After last seasons extremely close scrape with relegation the club needed to strengthen. As people with a wealth of business acumen I believed the club would allow the manager to at a minimum be allowed to spend the money he has garneted. It appears to me that the club has resigned itself to relegation even before the season has started.

[sloth_frattelli]

I think we've done reasonably well and possess the ideal manager for a club surviving on a shoe-string budget. We've been carrying a lot of deadwood for a long time and Sam seems to have begun weeding these out and securing players with a bit more promise.

Who needs Dingles with fans like ours? Lighten up people.

[modes98]

Kalinic: Massive gamble, i personally think he'll flop, looks average showed no good signs, looks like a headless chicken,

Buying a player who has performed at international level isn't really much of a gamble. He is getting in positions to score goals and is linking up well with Hoillett. It is a safe gamble as any transfer is.

Overall I think we have come out of the window a little stronger. We have a better strike force and a better defence. Midfield is a year older and without Tugay. MGP has shown glimpses of his past self and with Dunn/Grella/Reid/Emerton all threatening to make a return, things could improve but it relies on keeping those players fit!

We are good enough to finish 8th-13th, but we really need to pick up some points vs the big boys this season.

Happy that the debt should now have been satisfied. With the amount of money that has been taken out of the transfer fund we must be in a very good financial state, coupled with increased attendances.

[roversmum]

I'd feel a lot happier if we could get some comprehensive league wins under our belt. Fed up with draws, and last season was such a nightmare. Sorry to see Warny go - especially to a rival club, but I suppose it had to be and very happy with Pascal, if Sam can tame his wanderlust he will do well for us. The others seem okay, interested to see how they come on, but it's been big changes for us and we are bound to worry a bit.

Hope Sam comes back more cheerful after his break. There's enough doom and gloom about the place, but it was ever thus I suppose.

Come a week on Saturday, the flask will be in the bag with the rug and flag, let's get behind Sam and the lads.

[thenodrog]

So very disappointed with rovers.

The transfer windows over the last 12 months have seen us sell players to the tune of around £50m. All the talk and hope from some of our fans was that the money would be reinvested and we could strengthen on the back of the sales. Unfortunately, those who have been watching football long enough know there's really only one outcome when you sell big and buy small. Some fans were expecting us to be going for the Lennon's and Darren Bents with that cash. We weren't even in the discussions.

DEN THAT IS A LOAD OF ###### AND YOU KNOW IT! HUGHES NEVER HAVE HAD THAT SORT OF MONEY TO GO IN FOR THOSE TWO EITHER. AND QUITE RIGHTLY SO COS THEY ARE AT THE TOP OF THEIR VALUE! ALL THOSE PLAYERS THAT HAVE BEEN SOLD FOR BIG MONEY WERE BOUGHT RELATIVELY CHEAPLY. IS YOUR MEMORY LETTING YOU DOWN? GIVE OR TAKE 'A FEW QUID' BENTLEY, RSC, AND WARNOCK WERE SOLD FOR 42M (GROSS OF COURSE). NEED I REMIND YOU THAT THEY WERE BOUGHT IN THE BARGAIN BASEMENT TO THE TUNE OF £5M?

DO I NEED TO REMIND YOU THAT THE LAST REALLY BIG PURCHASE WE MADE WAS ANDY COLE (6-7M) AND WE ENDED UP GIVING THE BGUGGER AWAY! SO WHO THE HELL CAN RUN A BUSINESS LIKE THAT? NOT US THATS FOR SURE WITH OUR 3 FOR 30 TICKETS AND £2 PER HOUR POPULATION. THE KALINIC MONEY WAS A HUGE HUGE INVESTMENT FOR OUR BOARD TO MAKE AND A HUGE SHOW OF SUPPORT FOR THE MANAGER AND ALL THATS HAPPENING IS THAT THEY ARE GETTING DISSED FOR IT ON THE EVIDENCE OF A MARE OF A DEBUT BY AN INCREASING NUMBER OF MANIC DEPRESSIVES! wAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE FFS.

Only 12 months ago, we had a manger who set targets that could take us into Europe, now the target is what? Gone is all talk of ambition. When was the last positive message anyone heard from anyone at the club - John Williams, big Sam, - anyone?

MANAGERIAL STYLES ARE VERY DIFFERENT. GS USUALLY TALKED US DOWN TOO WHILST INCE TALKED UP OUR OPPOSITION!

At the end of last season the owners put forward a fantastic season ticket initiative. Alas, unless the displays improve ten fold, many of those who bought, wont be coming back, probably for a long time. Why bother with the ticket initiative if the club simply sells it's best players and doesn't even compete for the decent replacements?

DEN YOU ARE OLD ENOUGH TO KNOW BY NOW THAT BY AND LARGE YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR IN THIS LIFE.

John Williams always said that a clubs wage bill should reflect the final league position. The owners demanded that the wage bill should be cut by £5m. We scraped to safety last season, so where do they expect the team to finish this season?

TELL YOU WHAT YOU ARRANGE THE FINANCE THEN! HAVE YOU NOT HEARD THAT WE ARE IN THE GRIP OF A RECESSION AND THAT THE £ IS WORTH SWEET FA COMPARED TO 2 YEARS AGO. A LOT OF WALKERS WEALTH IS IN INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY I THINK AND WE ALL KNOW WHATS HAPPENED TO THAT RECENTLY.

Our club has taken a massive step backwards this summer - in my opinion. It's not going to be easy to recover from that.

SO HAS THE WORLDS ECONOMY!

This Kalanic better be good because a lot, very unfairly, will rest on his young inexperienced shoulders.

Sorry to place another depressing post, but that's how I feel.

PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER YOU'VE BEEN SPOILED BY THE WALKER YEARS AND YOU'VE FORGOTTEN WHERE OUR RIGHTFUL PLACE IS IN THE FOOTBALL WORLD.

We have got some top players in but my only worry / criticism is that down to their age too many of SA's purchases will not appreciate in value as many of Mark Hughes's recruits did. I'm sure that you rem that I got roundly dissed on here in the past for suggesting a lucrative performance based commision / bonus system to richly reward Mark Hughes and his team for unearthing quality talent, increasing their value and moving them on. He really had a rare talent for it as your 50m estimate confirms but how much of that 50m did Hughes see? He must feel like he's been mugged. It's common practice to offer huge rewards for success in the City and we should have done it then. Of course it's too late now cos we lost Golden Goose Mark Hughes to a dodgy neighbour with a crook as chairman.

Moving on we should view a reward system as a way forward now. Managers only stay 2-3 years at 90% of clubs so where is the incentive for any and in particular SA to make money for this club? No wonder he buys tried and trusted players but unfortunately who have no residual value once their contract is over is it?

btw I suggest that if you are suffering depression that for your own good you take a break from here and maybe BRFC too Den. It's only 22 grown men chasing a bag of wind after all. Oh and if he doesn't improve buy two fishing rods and take Rev with you.

[den]

btw I suggest that if you are suffering depression that for your own good you take a break from here and maybe BRFC too Den. It's only 22 grown men chasing a bag of wind after all.

I'm fine thanks Gord. Just thought I would post my thoughts.

[den]

To reiterate we have seen three different stances taken by the trust in the past 18 months

• First it was “we are not investing the three million per season; that the trust normally invest”

• Then it was sell before you can buy

• Now after receiving a record windfall from sky; we are observing that we have to sell to stay afloat- this is after apparently paying off all the clubs small debt

I think you're right there Bazza.

The argument from some, is that we are a small club and can't compete any more. However, Prior to Ince we could compete. The trust's withdrawal of the three million would have made little if the monies from sales had been given back to use for team rebuilding. The trust have moved the goalposts that's for sure.

Anyway, seeing as this is the transfer window thread, to my mind the money we have spent is a gamble - Givet and to some extent, Chimbonda excepted. As another aside, the money Burnley have spent will be of much better use if we do go down. At least the players they have brought in will mean they will compete at the top of the Championship if they go down this season. I'm not sure ours will.

[philipl]

I had anticipated this window to be an absolute nightmare and that hasn't happened.

We haven't lost some of the better players I thought were vulnerable and we haven't signed the likes of Barton and Smith. We could have been deep in the mire if Sam had not successfully achieved the Di Santo loan and Kallinic purchase.

There is a pretty high proportion of flair amongst the players Sam has brought in and overall we are not weaker in any department at the end of the window except losing the irreplaceable (when fit) RSC. There are enough crowd pleasers at the club that I anticipate Rovers will be good to watch once Sam has a settled established side.

Would Sparky have stayed had we succeded with our midfielder bids in Jan 2008? I doubt it- £3.5m a year would still have talked and Rovers would not have doubled his salary to keep him.

Has Ince set us back by about £15m? Yes

Is it a sensible idea to nearly wipe all debt at one window? In this environment who knows but perhaps it was a risk worth taking. At least it gives the club a fighting chance of bouncing back if we get relegated.

Will Sam walk at the first opportunity? Probably

Will Sam have immensely improved on the situation he inherited? Absolutely. We have a much younger, deeper, better-balanced squad and the potential for some real gems to come through.

Are Rovers a selling club? Sadly yes but have the strength to stay in the PL for many years to come with the physical and personnel infrastructure the club posesses.

So a good window? Not bad and possibly very good indeed if Nzonzi and Kallinic fulfill promise, Salgado is the new Campo and the bet on the injured quartet of midfielders recovering to their best form pays off.

[thenodrog]

I'm fine thanks Gord. Just thought I would post my thoughts.

Well change your thoughts. I know that you are old enough to rem the bad old days. Our club has done bloody well in recent years to even stay in the top div. As I said you and lots like you have been spoilt. If I was a member of the board / trust ungrateful people like you and to a gretaer degree the idiotic waggy and Spency would make me feel like throwing the bloody towel in.

Q. Amidst lots of uninformed talk about money being diverted away from the club recently, it's fair to say that the fans/supporters of BRFC have gained massively from the input of the Walker Trust but what has the Walker Trust to show for it's support for BRFC?

[PAFELL]

So very disappointed with rovers.

The transfer windows over the last 12 months have seen us sell players to the tune of around £50m. All the talk and hope from some of our fans was that the money would be reinvested and we could strengthen on the back of the sales. Unfortunately, those who have been watching football long enough know there's really only one outcome when you sell big and buy small. Some fans were expecting us to be going for the Lennon's and Darren Bents with that cash. We weren't even in the discussions.

Only 12 months ago, we had a manger who set targets that could take us into Europe, now the target is what? Gone is all talk of ambition. When was the last positive message anyone heard from anyone at the club - John Williams, big Sam, - anyone?

At the end of last season the owners put forward a fantastic season ticket initiative. Alas, unless the displays improve ten fold, many of those who bought, wont be coming back, probably for a long time. Why bother with the ticket initiative if the club simply sells it's best players and doesn't even compete for the decent replacements?

John Williams always said that a clubs wage bill should reflect the final league position. The owners demanded that the wage bill should be cut by £5m. We scraped to safety last season, so where do they expect the team to finish this season?

Our club has taken a massive step backwards this summer - in my opinion. It's not going to be easy to recover from that. This Kalanic better be good because a lot, very unfairly, will rest on his young inexperienced shoulders.

Sorry to place another depressing post, but that's how I feel.

To be honest Den I cannot understand the depression. Results - so far - I agree have not gone rovers way. Yet against City who have spent more than Rovers bring in over two season, city were out played for most of the game. IF Rovers had put the many chances away they would have won the game. Against Sunderland again the bettter side - a goal disallowed which should have stood imo. Sunderlands forward line that day was better than Rovers - but again for most of the game Rovers were the better side. Against whu, injuries played a large role in the defensive display - the defence that day looked unbeatable. Maybe only picked up a point, but it is a start.

This side is very young and very inexperienced - but I suggest that when they start to gell together it will be a very good exciting team. Patience is a virtue. Hopfully this international break will help some of the injured players to recover.

Rovers will do well this season and if the side can be kept together will gain by the experience.

Thankfully all the transfer speculation has finished and the players know they are staying at Rovers. Now they can get on doing what they are payed to do - play football.

[den]

To be honest Den I cannot understand the depression.

Didn't say I'm depressed Pafell, I said I was disappointed.

[modes98]

Poll added. Just looking at if you think the team is stronger or weaker than last season.

[PAFELL]

Didn't say I'm depressed Pafell, I said I was disappointed.

Sorry - still no need to be disappointed. I believe the squad is also younger now.

[thenodrog]

Anyway, seeing as this is the transfer window thread, to my mind the money we have spent is a gamble - Givet and to some extent, Chimbonda excepted.

Everybody is a gamble ffs.

Bellamy's temperament made him a gamble.

Cole ditto.

Yorke ditto

Ferguson the swindler was a huge 6m gamble that bombed.

RSC's injury laden (6 games in two years for Munich) career made him a huge huge 3.5m gamble.

Plucking Samba from Hertha's 2nd and 3rd team was a gamble.

Nelsen was virtually unknown playing in a minor league so he was a gamble.

Taking the perrenially injured Dunny back was a gamble.

Brad's Lpool career made him a gamble.

Even British record signing Shearer was hardly prolific at Soton was he? So for that money he was a huge gamble too.

Some gambles work some don't........ Martin Britt, Dahlin, Agnew were all gambles that failed horribly

Den Please tell me any signing that you have known that has NOT been a gamble.