2025 Summer Transfer Thread. 😂

[TurkishDelight]

4 minutes ago, ... said:

I think this is a Sheffield Rag however the things I'm picking up on are Trav and Tronstadt were in the preseason video of players returning but no footage of Callum, Ty, cantwell, Batth and Weimann.

Obviously can't read into it too much but a smidge of light for holding on to our midfield mainstays

Callum and Cantwell in many photos though. 

[...]

2 minutes ago, USABlue said:

Sadly Rev much if what you say is gonna happen.  This upcoming season WILL see us return to the 3rd division where we will linger for quite sometime.  Mid table mediocrity in the third, right up Venkies alley.  Until the time they end us forever.

Well last season had us touted for drop outs and ended up at Brammall Lane staring into the playoffs

[Eddie]

1 hour ago, davulsukur said:

I wouldn't consider them all to be first team players but as it stands you'll have Travis, Tronstad, Tavares, Montgomery and Forshaw all classed as 1st team players by the club, and the extra one you wanted to sign gives you 6.

By Centre mid, I mean players who will play as one of the two, in a 4-2-3-1 formation which we usually play. Of course, Ismael might try and adopt a different formation for the coming season.

Buckley & Garrett probably being moved on but currently they are part of the pre-season squad.

So, we've just gone from 8 to 5? One of those is a youth player who we can't expect to feature too heavily. 

One is an older player who is probably in the squad more for his experience than anything else (and, again, hopefully won't feature too heavily). 

Even an optimistic view of the non-Travis or Tronstad options would see that we need another central midfielder. 

[...]

back online new vid

 

 

 

[USABlue]

On 20/06/2025 at 10:42, Danny O.Brien said:

Buckley is awful. It's no coincidence our season fell apart when both Travis and tronstadt were out injured. Lewis baker was class and was real competition for them both. Forshaw resigning reminds me of us resigning uncle fadz last summer. An experienced head to have around and hopefully will do more off the pitch than on it.

Baker never really impressed me, how has he got to be so good in peoples minds.  Is he another one of the many many players who got great once they leave us?

Edited 5 hours ago by USABlue

[Eddie]

6 minutes ago, USABlue said:

Sadly Rev much if what you say is gonna happen.  This upcoming season WILL see us return to the 3rd division where we will linger for quite sometime.  Mid table mediocrity in the third, right up Venkies alley.  Until the time they end us forever.

I'd be very surprised if we were relegated or even involved in a relegation battle at any stage this season.

[simongarnerisgod]

Just now, Eddie said:

I'd be very surprised if we were relegated or even involved in a relegation battle at any stage this season.

what makes you so positive about that???

[USABlue]

3 minutes ago, Eddie said:

I'd be very surprised if we were relegated or even involved in a relegation battle at any stage this season.

Really?  Hope you end up right and me wrong.

[simongarnerisgod]

i find it quite alarming that val is bigging forshaw up in the local press🙄,like he`s going to be a regular starter

[sharpysharps86]

13 minutes ago, USABlue said:

Baker never really impressed me, how has he got to be so good in peoples minds.  Is he another one of the many many players who got great once they leave us?

A little bit of that yeah, he definitely wasn't amazing for us...but I think he's better a better option than Forshaw, which is where I think it comes from.

[Eddie]

17 minutes ago, simongarnerisgod said:

what makes you so positive about that???

I think Ismael showed enough at the back-end of the season to believe that he has a clear sense of style and structure and the players are relatively bought in. 

We've lost a couple of important players, but we have still kept the core part of most of our team and can expect some improvement from some of them (I think a season of Toth will be worth a 6-9 point improvement over a season with Pears). 

I do think we will add some more players and basically end up with a squad that is of a similar quality to last year. I don't think the Championship is particularly strong. Birmingham and Wrexham are better-than-usual promoted sides, but the three sides that are dropping down are weaker than normal. 

I don't think we will be in the playoffs, but I'd be less surprised by a playoff appearance than I would be by relegation. 

[Paul Mani]

13 minutes ago, simongarnerisgod said:

i find it quite alarming that val is bigging forshaw up in the local press🙄,like he`s going to be a regular starter

Eh? Where has he insinuated that Forshaw will be a ‘regular starter’? Has been quoted as saying he’s great “On and Off the pitch and knows his role” - which is basically code for ‘he’s a good lad’ aka McFadz mkII.

[NeilInBristol]

2 hours ago, J*B said:

I'm not one to argue the clubs point of view, but if he's only on 2K a week then its entirely of his own doing. He could have demanded a contract on much more money 18 months ago, but clearly thinks leaving on a free is going to be better for him in the long run - and is probably right. 

I love rovers as have done since I can remember but the way these lot treat our club, the ladies, the youth, coaches, I don't blame him or anyone else in his shoes. He's not the best player in the league but he's not the worst so fair play if he isn't accepting their low ball he should do what wants. He's given his best effort in the years and even tho we've not seen a complete player we can't argue with his efforts 

[Theaxe15]

23 minutes ago, simongarnerisgod said:

i find it quite alarming that val is bigging forshaw up in the local press🙄,like he`s going to be a regular starter

Be a bit mad to come out and call him shite after he’s just signed a contract 

[simongarnerisgod]

3 minutes ago, Paul Mani said:

Eh? Where has he insinuated that Forshaw will be a ‘regular starter’? Has been quoted as saying he’s great “On and Off the pitch and knows his role” - which is basically code for ‘he’s a good lad’ aka McFadz mkII.

hes not going to come out in the press and state it is he,he`s quoted as saying "he`ll be better than last season with a preseason behind him"which is manager code for  he`ll be starting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

10 minutes ago, Eddie said:

I think Ismael showed enough at the back-end of the season to believe that he has a clear sense of style and structure and the players are relatively bought in. 

We've lost a couple of important players, but we have still kept the core part of most of our team and can expect some improvement from some of them (I think a season of Toth will be worth a 6-9 point improvement over a season with Pears). 

I do think we will add some more players and basically end up with a squad that is of a similar quality to last year. I don't think the Championship is particularly strong. Birmingham and Wrexham are better-than-usual promoted sides, but the three sides that are dropping down are weaker than normal. 

I don't think we will be in the playoffs, but I'd be less surprised by a playoff appearance than I would be by relegation. 

it all depends on wether we keep the core of the team,tronstadt,travis and brittain,we`ve already lost a leader in batth and dolan,who always works his backside off is seemingly next,if we lose those any more key players  then it`s goodnight imo and league one await

venkys have no intention of extending contracts,thats clear and probably the main reason why eustace walked out,hence im`e not looking forwards to the coming season

[B16Rover]

Nahki Wells a free agent.  I've not yet checked the stats but hes surely averaging a goal per game based on his Ewood performances 

[davulsukur]

1 hour ago, Eddie said:

So, we've just gone from 8 to 5? One of those is a youth player who we can't expect to feature too heavily. 

One is an older player who is probably in the squad more for his experience than anything else (and, again, hopefully won't feature too heavily). 

Even an optimistic view of the non-Travis or Tronstad options would see that we need another central midfielder. 

Not really, we've still got 7. 

Forshaw will play, he'll be subbed on when we have the lead to help "see games out", he'll probably start a few as well.

Of course Montgomery will play, Gestede is on record as saying we need to get back to putting Academy players on the pitch.

Edit:

Just to be clear, I'd happily sign another (always good to have more quality) but we'd have to shift out a few to accommodate.

Edited 4 hours ago by davulsukur

[davulsukur]

Also, forgot that Connor O'Riordan was back at the club now.

Any hope? Or nah?

[Tomphil2]

1 hour ago, USABlue said:

Baker never really impressed me, how has he got to be so good in peoples minds.  Is he another one of the many many players who got great once they leave us?

Baker was a solid steady Eddie a bit like Forshaw but better imo however this is how it's set to go as wages get cut and cut cheaper doesn't mean better.

There's a lot riding on this Portugeezer lad being a player because he'll have some big boots to fill in the near future.

[rigger]

1 hour ago, ... said:

I think this is a Sheffield Rag however the things I'm picking up on are Trav and Tronstadt were in the preseason video of players returning but no footage of Callum, Ty, cantwell, Batth and Weimann.

Obviously can't read into it too much but a smidge of light for holding on to our midfield mainstays

One year contract extensions taken up, by the Rovers ?

Edited 3 hours ago by rigger

[Emerald Isle Rover]

Obviously a lot of guesswork goes into how a season might pan out before it starts 

if we keep Travis / tronstad / Brittain and add couple more we should have more than enough to be top half again

If we lose one or more from that lot then I guess it’s dependant on if they are replaced sufficiently or not 

but it’s literally the unknown nobody would have predicted that Luton would have been relegated given the squad they had and I see a lot bigging up both Birmingham and Wrexham - personally not sold on Wrexham yet but brum should be decent enough 

but to reiterate other posters - the contract situation is very alarming and it needs addressed one way or another so we have clarity going forward 

[rigger]

1 hour ago, simongarnerisgod said:

i find it quite alarming that val is bigging forshaw up in the local press🙄,like he`s going to be a regular starter

I just hope VI is proved right.

[chaddyrovers]

4 hours ago, TurkishDelight said:

If Blackburn is playing a 3-5-2 or a 4-3-3 you need at least 5, maybe 6. Not some players that can play midfield and 3 other positions. You have to have specialists. 

Even if we are playing 4-2-3-1 formation you still need 5 centre midfielder cos injuries and suspensions will happening throughout the season. That's the formation, I expect us to start most games as. Maybe going to 5 at the back in some games towards end of the game to see out the result

3 hours ago, JCRovers said:

Sad if true if Dolan currently has a salary of merely 2K / week given he's a regular starter. Contract situation should've been sorted long time ago as he quickly broke into first team since arriving and has been playing over 1 700 minutes in the Championship for the past four seasons (according to Transfermarkt). 

Like you said, a weekly salary of around 10K / week is more than reasonable given his current status which could've enabled us getting a relatively large fee this summer instead of (probably) having him leave on a free. Club is getting punished for being cheap.

GB tried during his 2 years to get Dolan to sign a new contract so if he is only on 2k a week and he didn't accept GB offer then that is surely on him and his agent. 

I would offer him 15k a week on 4 year contract. 

I don't see him going to PL club. 

2 hours ago, Eddie said:

So, we've just gone from 8 to 5? One of those is a youth player who we can't expect to feature too heavily. 

One is an older player who is probably in the squad more for his experience than anything else (and, again, hopefully won't feature too heavily). 

Even an optimistic view of the non-Travis or Tronstad options would see that we need another central midfielder. 

why can't you rely on Montgomery as a squad player? 

1 hour ago, simongarnerisgod said:

i find it quite alarming that val is bigging forshaw up in the local press🙄,like he`s going to be a regular starter

The LT has picked on Ismael's comments to Rovers website, he speaks about the experience and what he did last season. He will be squad player who will come off the bench alot. 

[M_B]

21 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

What relevance does that have?

People weren't buzzing when Szmodics signed. But surely he left a big hole because of what he did do, not what the fans consensus was when he joined.

Utterly bizarre logic.

Fair comment.

Regarding Batth, he did play well, but he's one player, you know what point I was making. 

[roversfan99]

23 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Even if we are playing 4-2-3-1 formation you still need 5 centre midfielder cos injuries and suspensions will happening throughout the season. That's the formation, I expect us to start most games as. Maybe going to 5 at the back in some games towards end of the game to see out the result

GB tried during his 2 years to get Dolan to sign a new contract so if he is only on 2k a week and he didn't accept GB offer then that is surely on him and his agent. 

I would offer him 15k a week on 4 year contract. 

I don't see him going to PL club. 

why can't you rely on Montgomery as a squad player? 

The LT has picked on Ismael's comments to Rovers website, he speaks about the experience and what he did last season. He will be squad player who will come off the bench alot. 

"Its on him and his agent." You dont seem to acknowledge that theres a chance we simply did not offer a reasonable wage for a player at his level.

Also, how can we "rely" on a player who has made only 1 start above the 8th tier, at right back, when he got sent off? As well as 3 or 4 other cameos.

We could hope he will at some stage be ready, but we cant or at least shouldnt just assume that he is ready now.

By all means keep him around and give him a chance here and there where required, but we cant "rely on him yet as we would do so without any evidence.