2025 Summer Transfer Thread. 😂

[Tom]

I often think of Hedges assist of an assist of an assist that one time as well, cracking stuff 

[davulsukur]

2 hours ago, wilsdenrover said:

Don’t celebrate too soon…

‘As the summer transfer window progresses, the club will keep in close contact with midfielder Adam Forshaw, who made 17 appearances after arriving at Rovers from Plymouth Argyle in January, however the 33-year-old is entitled to explore other options.’

Very much a "if we don't land our centre midfield targets, Forshaw is our back up option" type situation here. Essentially we'll keep him hanging for a most of the window and probably end up signing him back up because we've offered peanuts for any other targets we've picked out.

[roversfan99]

Obviously he will be bigged up in the media. But is there really much more to come from him?

Hes about to turn 30 so its not as if he is a raw prospect. Hes never been someone who offers much going forward and that minimal offering seems if anything to be declining, and off the back of 2 serious hamstring injuries and now an ankle injury, its not really that surprising.

We will probably end up bringing in another underwhelming wide man, most likely a kid on loan, Hedges will remain first choice until next summer and then this situation will play itself out again.

[bluebruce]

3 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

we paid 500k for him, but he has hardly been a success at Orient in the second half and was on the bench for their playoffs game. 

How much do you really think we would get and surely its best we done the right thing and get rid, he isn't good enough and we didn't take easy call as others say we would? 

About 200-300k, or less than that with a sell on for if he comes good. Still worth triggering though. Not that it matters as nothing adds to the budget anyway, but I'm surprised we didn't activate it.

I also don't think he's anywhere near as bad as some suggest. No worse than Hedges.

[bluebruce]

3 hours ago, wilsdenrover said:

Don’t celebrate too soon…

‘As the summer transfer window progresses, the club will keep in close contact with midfielder Adam Forshaw, who made 17 appearances after arriving at Rovers from Plymouth Argyle in January, however the 33-year-old is entitled to explore other options.’

 

3 hours ago, KentExile said:

Forshaw I imagine they have low balled and will approach him late in the window (similar to McFadzean last summer) if he hasn't sorted himself out by then

Ffs... hope he finds himself another club promptly.

[chaddyrovers]

1 minute ago, bluebruce said:

About 200-300k, or less than that with a sell on for if he comes good. Still worth triggering though. Not that it matters as nothing adds to the budget anyway, but I'm surprised we didn't activate it.

I also don't think he's anywhere near as bad as some suggest. No worse than Hedges.

I'm pleased we didn't. Not good enough. Hedges is better for me. 

[JPTSwindon]

Out of interest, where do you think Vale will end up?  League One / Two, or back to Scotland?

[bluebruce]

3 hours ago, cesus said:

Markanday not being offered anything may show just how little money the manager has to play with next season.

Hard to say. It could also mean they plan to get another player in that area. I don't expect much this summer though, we are obviously brassic. That said the directors have made a rod for their own back by saying the budget is similar to last summer, and by also saying incoming transfer funds don't affect the budget, made it clear what we spent last summer wasn't boosted by the Raya, Gally money etc.

So in theory we should be able to spend about 3 million in fees I think it was? Which aye is still shit, but enough to recruit a few positions at a better standard than Markanday.

[bluebruce]

6 minutes ago, JPTSwindon said:

Out of interest, where do you think Vale will end up?  League One / Two, or back to Scotland?

Scotland or League Two. Probably the former.

[bluebruce]

2 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

Your hatred for Hedges which I think is clear to see is baffling. 3 head coaches had mostly picked him as a regular which tell you alot and maybe they see what you can't or won't see

That's not a vindication of a player. Jason Lowe was picked by several consecutive managers, and he was dogshit. Then when he left he fairly promptly sank down to League Two. Not before getting his third relegation by age 27. Sometimes managers are wrong.

[...]

Hedges 20 goals next season 

[Leonard Venkhater]

20 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

That's not a vindication of a player. Jason Lowe was picked by several consecutive managers, and he was dogshit. Then when he left he fairly promptly sank down to League Two. Not before getting his third relegation by age 27. Sometimes managers are wrong.

or....were other forces at work again?

[Neal]

Lot of talk about Hedges, I'll sum it up for you... He's a "it'll do" type signing for the club. Wages, versatility, professionalism...

 

Has he got the quality to help improve our league position? No. 

 

Do the club care about that either? No. 

 

An uninspiring player, for an uninspiring club.

[Waggy76]

13 minutes ago, Leonard Venkhater said:

or....were other forces at work again

Could well have been! 

[Fraserkirky]

Hedges is a fine enough squad player probably on a low wage. We will be wanting warm bodies by the time opening day comes.

[K-Hod]

It said in black and white, in the retained list article ‘7 goals in 121 appearances.

Shouldn’t be enough to trigger anything but the exit door tbh.

[OldEwoodBlue]

Don't forget we need to sell to fund our transfer budget (Gestede interview).

Probably around 3 to be sold, just a case of which 3.

Hedges may be one.Brittain and Pickering ? 

The most likely scenario is 1 first team player per position with an U21 as backup (pathways).

This is only the first season of a 3 year project to maybe challenge again in 3 years (Gestede interview).

Priority is self sustainability (purgatory) with the owners putting no more funds in. Well they can't, even if they wanted to.

[KentExile]

6 minutes ago, OldEwoodBlue said:

Don't forget we need to sell to fund our transfer budget (Gestede interview).

Probably around 3 to be sold, just a case of which 3.

Hedges may be one.Brittain and Pickering ? 

The most likely scenario is 1 first team player per position with an U21 as backup (pathways).

This is only the first season of a 3 year project to maybe challenge again in 3 years (Gestede interview).

Priority is self sustainability (purgatory) with the owners putting no more funds in. Well they can't, even if they wanted to.

2 flaws in that reasoning

Sales do not impact the transfer budget - the other (more recent) Gestede interview/podcast

Our 3 year projects never last more than 18 months 😉 

[Tomphil2]

Gestede talks shite it's just the same soundbites lifted from previous people except he contradicts himself and shows the novice that he is.

Plus he repeatedly told everyone the owners are putting money in the owners are funding us despite all available evidence for over a year showing otherwise.

I'd suggest nobody knows the budget yet until the V's summer meeting, nothing unusual in that with this lot but this is where major problems manifest.  Those at the club 'assume' the budget will be the same and set the stall out for that... then......meeting in the farmhouse and 'no you must cut another 10/20% off it' !

Edited 5 hours ago by Tomphil2

[Mike E]

12 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

Your hatred for Hedges which I think is clear to see is baffling. 3 head coaches had mostly picked him as a regular which tell you alot and maybe they see what you can't or won't see

was the pass to Ohashi to score the winner at Luton an easy one or the pass to Woodrow at Sunderland for Dolan's winner? 

I’ve said to you before, that argument means Jason Lowe should never have played below Championship level. He made his debut in the PL and was picked regularly by 7 different managers.

[Mike E]

9 hours ago, Neal said:

Lot of talk about Hedges, I'll sum it up for you... He's a "it'll do" type signing for the club. Wages, versatility, professionalism...

 

Has he got the quality to help improve our league position? No. 

 

Do the club care about that either? No. 

 

An uninspiring player, for an uninspiring club.

Exactly this. Has the same feeling for me as Elliott Bennett, who at least has the bonus trivia of being the only Rovers player to have 4 lots of double-letters in his name.

[MarkBRFC]

14 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

Well Mark it wasn't triggered and the easy option wasn't taken here

I'm amazed about that really, I thought they would trigger him and Vale just to have bodies around for pre season before shipping them both out again.

The retained list seems a bit more ruthless than usual, which I am a fan of.

13 hours ago, bluebruce said:

Surprised to see Markanday released though, didn't we have a 1 year option? Surely we could have got a small fee for him, or at least a sell on. We paid money for him, a fair bit, you'd think we want some return for that. I can only think his wages are too high for the level of club we think would be interested.

I'm glad we are getting no return on him, pointless at this club.

13 hours ago, BigHoz said:

You’re happy we’ve triggered hedges, who hasn’t been a success at rovers. 

I'm not a huge fan of Hedges, but he's a much better option that Markanday.

[BigHoz]

28 minutes ago, MarkBRFC said:

I'm amazed about that really, I thought they would trigger him and Vale just to have bodies around for pre season before shipping them both out again.

The retained list seems a bit more ruthless than usual, which I am a fan of.

I'm glad we are getting no return on him, pointless at this club.

I'm not a huge fan of Hedges, but he's a much better option that Markanday.

I agree I don’t mind hedges, along as there is someone better in front of him 👍

[Browjd]

Please please can we not refer to how selling a player will provide more transfer funds. It won't as has been proved - simply being pocketed by Venkys. Would keep anyone that isn't a bad influence just as a body. Trading players is not giving us anything back financially.

[Lancaster Rover]

16 hours ago, bluebruce said:

We've got about 5 of them. We don't need him. He's 22 and pretty low down the backup keeper rankings. It's an odd contract to give.

Across a squad it's not that many for training, getting up and down as a keeper is exhausting so any finishing drills will need at least 2 keepers rotating in and out, you don't want that to be your numbers 1 and 2 as they'll blow a physical gasket