2025 Summer Transfer Thread. 😂

[Upside Down]

32 minutes ago, oneandycrawford said:

Totally agree that support is good relative to size of town and the large number of surrounding clubs (a fact supporters of the likes of Norwich and Leicester tend to ignore when criticising our support).

However that does mean in absolute terms our support will always be limited compared to many other clubs. I remember the 92 play-off final and the Old Trafford FA cup semi-final as two occasions when we couldn't sell our allocation. 

The area being deliberately and maliciously deprived for the last 40 odd years plays a part in those big games not selling too well also. Those games are massively overpriced. 

There's a lot of factors at play here, not just location and what division we're in.

Our attendance at the league cup final was great and showed what great support the club has.

[islander200]

6 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

Is Gestede doing the scouting or is people like Michael Cairney and Piotr Sadowski doing the actually scouting of players? 

Gestede will be dictating where the scouts are looking, and the majority of the links are foreign players, we need to be looking at domestic players aswell and I don't just mean loaning kids from prem academy's 

[Tugayisgod]

10 hours ago, simongarnerisgod said:

he`ll keep you in the division with 10/12 goals a season,proper honest championship centre forward,works his arris off as well

Have no doubt that Wrexham will be fine in the championship this season, just unsure they will be as high flying as some seem to think. 

 

[MarkBRFC]

12 hours ago, simongarnerisgod said:

relegation is going to happen isn't it, sooner or later

Yes, and it's exactly what they all want, and as I have thought for a while, it's all completely by design.

It's much cheaper for our billionaire owners to fund a league one club run on academy players, plus the odd lower division journeyman and a few foreign 2nd/3rd division players, than it is to fund a middling/top end Championship side that needs experienced, competent 26-31 year old players as the core of the team.

There's a reason we're not signing anyone up to new contracts anymore despite all the talk of willing to do this, or willing to offer that. Fact's are that no senior players have signed a new contract since December 2023.

Our only contracted players past June 2027 are Connor O'Riordan, Tom Atcheson & Dion De Neve. One or two will have options too (Pickering, Ohashi & Gueye from memory).

I believe that the club is gearing up to be a league one side by the 27-28 season at the latest, using 90% academy players as the first team squad.

In reality it will probably happen before that.

 

[Mercer]

12 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

Gestede is a novice who possibly doesnt appreciate the importance of the core of Championship proven quality we already have or the need to sprinkle some more i  amidst potential signings from abroad.

Strikes me as having neither nous nor gravitas.  IMO, Gestede should simply not be in that role, novice or otherwise - he is fathoms out of his depth.

10 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

Is Gestede doing the scouting or is people like Michael Cairney and Piotr Sadowski doing the actually scouting of players? 

and there you have it - IMO, 3 footballing nobodies and the dumbing down process to all things Rovers is further entrenched.

28 minutes ago, Tugayisgod said:

Have no doubt that Wrexham will be fine in the championship this season, just unsure they will be as high flying as some seem to think. 

 

There is absolutely no doubting the club's ambition.

The one factor that might just hold them back is their manager Phil Parkinson.  A decent track level BELOW Championship level but he's failed to cut it as Championship level with other clubs.  Would not surprise me if Parkinson is not an early managerial casualty as the ownership want success and quickly - they aint interested in 'consolidation' or 'projects'. 

Edited 5 hours ago by Mercer

[RevidgeBlue]

26 minutes ago, MarkBRFC said:

Yes, and it's exactly what they all want, and as I have thought for a while, it's all completely by design.

It's much cheaper for our billionaire owners to fund a league one club run on academy players, plus the odd lower division journeyman and a few foreign 2nd/3rd division players, than it is to fund a middling/top end Championship side that needs experienced, competent 26-31 year old players as the core of the team.

There's a reason we're not signing anyone up to new contracts anymore despite all the talk of willing to do this, or willing to offer that. Fact's are that no senior players have signed a new contract since December 2023.

Our only contracted players past June 2027 are Connor O'Riordan, Tom Atcheson & Dion De Neve. One or two will have options too (Pickering, Ohashi & Gueye from memory).

I believe that the club is gearing up to be a league one side by the 27-28 season at the latest, using 90% academy players as the first team squad.

In reality it will probably happen before that.

 

I'm not actually sure it is cheaper to fund a League 1 side. Didn't someone post a table the other week showing the massive hit in TV revenue you take if you get relegated?

Difference was just over £1m instead of £6m or £7m from memory.

What they would probably ideally like is to stay bobbing about in perpetuity in the lower reaches of Championship using academy kids and cheap loans.

Unfortunately that won't happen as other Clubs have ambition and try to improve instead of treading water or regressing at a rate of knots like we are.

[MarkBRFC]

3 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

I'm not actually sure it is cheaper to fund a League 1 side. Didn't someone post a table the other week showing the massive hit in TV revenue you take if you get relegated?

Think the new TV deal that started last season is a bit better for league one/two clubs than it has been previously.

Plus we will have zero high earners on the books, so that would offset that to a huge degree anyway. Academy lads will be on what a couple of grand a week at best? I'm not even sure they would be on that.

I believe that's there plan, plus in league one you are even more out of the spotlight than you are now in the champ, especially with "huge clubs" like Wrexham and Birmingham coming up that we couldn't possibly dream of competing with.

Edited 5 hours ago by MarkBRFC

[Tomphil2]

40 minutes ago, MarkBRFC said:

Yes, and it's exactly what they all want, and as I have thought for a while, it's all completely by design.

It's much cheaper for our billionaire owners to fund a league one club run on academy players, plus the odd lower division journeyman and a few foreign 2nd/3rd division players, than it is to fund a middling/top end Championship side that needs experienced, competent 26-31 year old players as the core of the team.

There's a reason we're not signing anyone up to new contracts anymore despite all the talk of willing to do this, or willing to offer that. Fact's are that no senior players have signed a new contract since December 2023.

Our only contracted players past June 2027 are Connor O'Riordan, Tom Atcheson & Dion De Neve. One or two will have options too (Pickering, Ohashi & Gueye from memory).

I believe that the club is gearing up to be a league one side by the 27-28 season at the latest, using 90% academy players as the first team squad.

In reality it will probably happen before that.

 

I think they'd prefer to stay at Championship level and will try simply because it adds more value and the execs are on good wages which will no doubt be cut in lge 1.

However they absolutely know the pitfalls and know without substantial regular owner money it is inevitable we'll drop we nearly did 2 years ago. So i think those on the ground here are definitely preparing for that kind of future and probably advising the owners 'we'll manage if it happens it's our natural level now just think of the lower cost base and less input needed. We'll grow a team to go back up then consolidate whilst its book value increases, then sell it'.

These owners ultimately call the shots but they clearly rely on what gets fed to them from this end.

Edited 5 hours ago by Tomphil2

[chaddyrovers]

4 hours ago, islander200 said:

Gestede will be dictating where the scouts are looking, and the majority of the links are foreign players, we need to be looking at domestic players aswell and I don't just mean loaning kids from prem academy's 

Will he? given that most of the scouting especially overseas will be done by watching Videos of games and using Wyscout to find players which alot of clubs used to find players. 

Ismael has been clear what he wants in terms of players qualities and attributes like Pace. 

Yes we are looking overseas for what we want cos the market is cheap in terms transfer fees and wages. I'm sure we will be looking domestic for players but how many good pacey players can we get for our budget here. How much would a Tyler Goodham cost us this summer or Sirki Dembele cost? 

 

[47er]

9 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Will he? given that most of the scouting especially overseas will be done by watching Videos of games and using Wyscout to find players which alot of clubs used to find players. 

Ismael has been clear what he wants in terms of players qualities and attributes like Pace. 

Yes we are looking overseas for what we want cos the market is cheap in terms transfer fees and wages. I'm sure we will be looking domestic for players but how many good pacey players can we get for our budget here. How much would a Tyler Goodham cost us this summer or Sirki Dembele cost? 

 

or a Dolan?

[47er]

46 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

What they would probably ideally like is to stay bobbing about in perpetuity in the lower reaches of Championship using academy kids and cheap loans.

When Premier League clubs are looking to nab one of our 13 year olds, what chance does this strategy have?

[Old Codger]

1 hour ago, MarkBRFC said:

Yes, and it's exactly what they all want, and as I have thought for a while, it's all completely by design.

It's much cheaper for our billionaire owners to fund a league one club run on academy players, plus the odd lower division journeyman and a few foreign 2nd/3rd division players, than it is to fund a middling/top end Championship side that needs experienced, competent 26-31 year old players as the core of the team.

 

 

The question is, what do the Venkys actually get from owning a league one club?

I can't for the life of me see any logic in their association with something so relatively trivial. Premier League yes, Championship not so much, but anything less than that surely just tarnishes their brand and marks them as useless.

Simples for me. 

VENKYS OUT!

[London blue]

12 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Yes we are looking overseas for what we want cos the market is cheap in terms transfer fees and wages. I'm sure we will be looking domestic for players but how many good pacey players can we get for our budget here. How much would a Tyler Goodham cost us this summer or Sirki Dembele cost? 

Love the inference here that De Neve is at the same level as the two you mentioned.

You've got to wonder why all these clubs waste millions on Championship players when there's the same quality available for peanuts abroad.

[MarkBRFC]

2 minutes ago, Old Codger said:

The question is, what do the Venkys actually get from owning a league one club?

I can't for the life of me see any logic in their association with something so relatively trivial. Premier League yes, Championship not so much, but anything less than that surely just tarnishes their brand and marks them as useless.

Simples for me. 

VENKYS OUT!

There is no logic to anything they have done for 15 years.

[islander200]

17 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Will he? given that most of the scouting especially overseas will be done by watching Videos of games and using Wyscout to find players which alot of clubs used to find players. 

Ismael has been clear what he wants in terms of players qualities and attributes like Pace. 

Yes we are looking overseas for what we want cos the market is cheap in terms transfer fees and wages. I'm sure we will be looking domestic for players but how many good pacey players can we get for our budget here. How much would a Tyler Goodham cost us this summer or Sirki Dembele cost? 

 

He is their boss, he will be dictating what markets the scouts are looking at.

Stop defending everything the club does. IF we lose Batth,Brittain and Travis and they are replaced by cheap foreign signings with no championship experience coming in then it will be inevitable that we will be down towards the bottom of the table

[chaddyrovers]

30 minutes ago, islander200 said:

He is their boss, he will be dictating what markets the scouts are looking at.

Stop defending everything the club does. IF we lose Batth,Brittain and Travis and they are replaced by cheap foreign signings with no championship experience coming in then it will be inevitable that we will be down towards the bottom of the table

Why would you have scouts who have good knowledge of the European market and not allow them to used that to find players? 

Also given that type of player we want for the wide position we want it's clear you would be looking in the French and Belgium markets? You wouldn't be looking to Spanish or Italian market for that type of player? 

[Tomphil2]

50 minutes ago, 47er said:

When Premier League clubs are looking to nab one of our 13 year olds, what chance does this strategy have?

Something in football governance needs to drastically change in regards to this.

As for Rovers now the hierarchy will just see it as another income stream flogging them before they've cost anything really.

[Exiled_Rover]

10 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Why would you have scouts who have good knowledge of the European market and not allow them to used that to find players? 

Also given that type of player we want for the wide position we want it's clear you would be looking in the French and Belgium markets? You wouldn't be looking to Spanish or Italian market for that type of player? 

We want cheap players, which is why we're looking in the French, Belgian and Dutch markets (and I assume Scandinavia and Eastern Europe).

[Blow-in]

1 hour ago, chaddyrovers said:

Will he? given that most of the scouting especially overseas will be done by watching Videos of games and using Wyscout to find players which alot of clubs used to find players. 

Ismael has been clear what he wants in terms of players qualities and attributes like Pace. 

Yes we are looking overseas for what we want cos the market is cheap in terms transfer fees and wages. I'm sure we will be looking domestic for players but how many good pacey players can we get for our budget here. How much would a Tyler Goodham cost us this summer or Sirki Dembele cost? 

 

The problem is that pace is so highly valued that the only pacey players this club is going to capture for VI will have absolutely no other talents.

[RevidgeBlue]

8 minutes ago, Blow-in said:

The problem is that pace is so highly valued that the only pacey players this club is going to capture for VI will have absolutely no other talents.

*cough*

Kargbo.

[islander200]

1 hour ago, islander200 said:

He is their boss, he will be dictating what markets the scouts are looking at.

Stop defending everything the club does. IF we lose Batth,Brittain and Travis and they are replaced by cheap foreign signings with no championship experience coming in then it will be inevitable that we will be down towards the bottom of the table

I'm not against signing players from abroad if they are coming into a squad with a core of championship experience. 

We lose the players that have only a year left plus Batth Weimann and Dolan and replace them with cheap foreign buys then it is extremely worrying.

 

[TugaysMarlboro]

3 hours ago, Tugayisgod said:

Have no doubt that Wrexham will be fine in the championship this season, just unsure they will be as high flying as some seem to think. 

 

My thinking too, a season or 2 of consolidation for Wrexham I would've thought. Which makes signings like Hardie shrewd business.

[rigger]

9 minutes ago, islander200 said:

I'm not against signing players from abroad if they are coming into a squad with a core of championship experience. 

We lose the players that have only a year left plus Batth Weimann and Dolan and replace them with cheap foreign buys then it is extremely worrying.

 

If the Rovers are successful, I don't give a shit who we sign.

[bluebruce]

12 minutes ago, rigger said:

If the Rovers are successful, I don't give a shit who we sign.

You realise there's a link between the two things though, right?

[bluebruce]

1 hour ago, 47er said:

When Premier League clubs are looking to nab one of our 13 year olds, what chance does this strategy have?

What 13 year old?