2025 Summer Transfer Thread. 😂

[Gordon Ottershaw]

3 hours ago, Exiled_Rover said:

How long are Rovers fans meant to watch the life being strangled out of their club?

I guarantee every other fanbase would be down to the bare bones in the ground, like we are, if they found themselves in our situation.

Other fanbases.......Bolton, Charlton, Coventry, Blackpool got rid of their undesirable owners. Ours are on.........what is it? 14 years?

[JHRover]

20 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

We aren't Skint JH. We just don't invest at the levels we would like to see. Plus the problems in India which hopefully get sorted shortly for good 

Are we skint? If we were skint why are paying transfer fees for 2 summer signings so far? 

 

Yes we are skint. That should be obvious to anyone with a passing interest in what goes on at Rovers.

Look at the stadium, look at the cost cutting, look at the fact that there has been zero investment in anything beyond limited small transfer fees on the squad, look at the state of Ewood Park, 

Look at the fact that JDT and Eustace both threw the towel in after a few months of trying and failing to work under the restrictions imposed by the owners and their stooges.

Look at the fact that there has been an exodus - some voluntary and some redundancies - of numerous staff behind the scenes, be that coaching, backroom staff, Waggott, the ladies at Brockhall, now David Lowe, this doesn't happen at a club that doesn't have major operational or financial issues. 

This isn't, despite your attempts to convince yourself it is, a situation where everything is normal and hunky dory and the only issue is that the money being spent isn't as much as we'd prefer.

The club is in total and utter crisis, caused by these owners, their legal issues and their decisions. 

Expecting credit for us signing a couple of cheap players from Portugal and Belgium after bringing in millions from sales, sell on fees and compensation money is laughable. We all know those sort of deals are low cost punts on wages more akin to League One than the Championship. I bet that Eustace's compensation cash has comfortably covered whatever we've paid out.

'Problems in India' - a bit more serious than that Chaddy. This isn't just some minor technical issue that should all get sorted and then everything is fine.

The radical cost cutting began before the Indian legal issues emerged so that particular excuse doesn't really stack up. But even if it did we are now 2 years into the 'problems' coming to light and they still haven't been resolved. The owners have to go to Court or comply with various onerous requirements just to be able to send enough cash to cover their obligations. Not investment, or a transfer kitty, but just to meet the wage and tax bill each month. 

If the owners wake up one day and decide they can't be arsed or perhaps if their issues don't go away for another few years or perhaps they get found guilty of whatever it is they are being investigated for, then the entire operation is in danger of collapse. So serious stuff.

I'm also intrigued as to what the Venky apologists would think or have to say if they do get found guilty of financial misdemeanours / crimes in India whether these people are content / comfortable with their club being entangled in such activity and potentially used as a vehicle for some of this activity. 

Presumably all ok as well because at least they've paid the bills on time and the lads are still there to cheer on every fortnight?

Edited June 30 by JHRover

[roversfan99]

1 hour ago, chaddyrovers said:

Unless we are in the room none of us. We all have our opinions but thats all they are. We tried to negotiate with him 2 years ago and he stonewall us then cos he had no agent 

Are we skint? No. They owners have had their well documented problems in India. You know this. We spent around 4-5 million last season and spent this summer also and still looking to spend more. Not its not 10 millions budget we are spending some money

You are literally just an echo chamber for what comes out of the club without the ability to develop your own opinions on what is said.

Suhail and Gestede both said £4-5m was spent so you are happy with that. Gestede literally used that 10s of millions line that you are now parroting. No one is asking for that, its an attempt by Gestede to make people seem unreasonable for expecting more reinvestment by gaslighting people into thinking theyve demanding a massive warchest.

As has been said, the club is skint. Look whats gone out, look whats come in. 

And crucially, look at the core of proven Championship players we have. Brittain, Travis, Tronstad, Hyam all going into their last year. Dolan, Batth and Weimann all out the door. We clearly are not offering reasonable, competitive Championship wages.

Your usual line is to say "well our wage bill hasnt gone down from 5 years ago." Purpoesefully or otherwise dismissing inflation, £1 today doesnt equate to £1 then. Our wage bill now will be higher than our title winning side in 1995, if we are just dismissing the time value of money.

Its all well and good spending small fees on players from lesser leagues abroad because their wages wont be high.

[Ricceh]

Chaddy we have been trading at a massive loss for years, and the only thing the bailed us out recently was Wharton and Sammie. 

These are exceptional items.

[Exiled_Rover]

44 minutes ago, Gordon Ottershaw said:

Other fanbases.......Bolton, Charlton, Coventry, Blackpool got rid of their undesirable owners. Ours are on.........what is it? 14 years?

Were any of their undesirables foreign billionaires completely insulated from any criticism?

[TheRevAshton]

Fascinating how there still hasn't been any movement on the contracts of Travis, Tronstad or Brittain...

Don't get me wrong, i'm not surprised in the slightest - but it just never ceases to amaze me how badly run our once great Club is. We really are a basket case of the absolute highest order.

[wilsdenrover]

3 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Do you pay the wages of loanees until June 30th or merely until the end of the playing season?

It seems to be rubbing salt in the wound to have to pay the wages of the likes of Dennis and Woodrow whilst they go on their jollies.

 

3 hours ago, MarkBRFC said:

I think loans are usually until the end of May, aren't they?

I think 30th June is the latest a loan can run ‘til but most run to the end of May.

[Gordon Ottershaw]

13 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

Were any of their undesirables foreign billionaires completely insulated from any criticism?

I think you could possibly make a case that Coventry's and Charlton's were.

[wilsdenrover]

3 hours ago, davulsukur said:

Assume we've just chucked a poor contract offer on the table, knowing he won't sign it, in order to get the compo but we won't have made any serious bid to keep him

The contract we’ve offered (if indeed we have) is taken into account when deciding the compensation amount.

I guess most of us think we’ve either done as you say = lower compensation or failed to offer one at all = no compensation.

It would be lovely just to have one competent person in the club’s senior management. 

 

[alcd]

3 hours ago, JHRover said:

Go and read about their finances. Their owner is not wealthy in footballing terms and he has been desperately searching for new investment for the last 12 months to help them. He's been putting in circa £13 million a year for 3 years to keep them ticking over (oh look, another club that loses an 8 figure sum every year even when they get better gates than we do and have managed to find a new owner prepared to fund it - one for the negative Venkys in people to keep in mind). 

You've answered half of your own question - they are going around trying to sign free agents - a clear sign of a club working to a limited budget yet still able to sign up our players.

How are we skint when we've brought in £40 million from sales and spent very little of it?

The £40m has funded the losses in the past 2 seasons. It's gone, which accounts for the funding request to the court. 

[davulsukur]

17 minutes ago, wilsdenrover said:

The contract we’ve offered (if indeed we have) is taken into account when deciding the compensation amount.

I guess most of us think we’ve either done as you say = lower compensation or failed to offer one at all = no compensation.

It would be lovely just to have one competent person in the club’s senior management. 

 

The club will only push it so far though. Imagine if they stuck a decent offer on the table to push the compo up and he signed it! They'd be hawking him around the championship the following day!

[chaddyrovers]

59 minutes ago, JHRover said:

Yes we are skint. That should be obvious to anyone with a passing interest in what goes on at Rovers.

Look at the stadium, look at the cost cutting, look at the fact that there has been zero investment in anything beyond limited small transfer fees on the squad, look at the state of Ewood Park, 

Look at the fact that JDT and Eustace both threw the towel in after a few months of trying and failing to work under the restrictions imposed by the owners and their stooges.

Look at the fact that there has been an exodus - some voluntary and some redundancies - of numerous staff behind the scenes, be that coaching, backroom staff, Waggott, the ladies at Brockhall, now David Lowe, this doesn't happen at a club that doesn't have major operational or financial issues. 

This isn't, despite your attempts to convince yourself it is, a situation where everything is normal and hunky dory and the only issue is that the money being spent isn't as much as we'd prefer.

The club is in total and utter crisis, caused by these owners, their legal issues and their decisions. 

Expecting credit for us signing a couple of cheap players from Portugal and Belgium after bringing in millions from sales, sell on fees and compensation money is laughable. We all know those sort of deals are low cost punts on wages more akin to League One than the Championship. I bet that Eustace's compensation cash has comfortably covered whatever we've paid out.

If we were skint as you say then we wouldn't buying players for transfers fees would we? and still looking more money on centre back signing. 

Yes there are some jobs need doing around the stadium, etc but that down to Rovers owners and management authorising for the work to get done and financing it. 

You know the reasons why both head coach threw the towel in as you say. 

People have been wanted Lowe out for years and now he has gone, you are complaining about and you have said that each head coach should be allow to bring in their own staff in. 

Waggott? didn't you want him gone anyway? 

Yes some staff and left but their roles have been advertised or filled already. Did I want those good people to go who have been here for years of course not but their roles are still there and been advertised last month. 

The transfers fees that we have received over the last 2 years have gone to fund the losses the club have made over those 2 years. 

final point, nowhere have I said everything is hunky dory have I but I reply to your skint comment which isn't true as I said but we want the club to be run very differently and under new owners with people who know what the clubs means, be here to run the club and make the club the heartbeat of the community. 

[chaddyrovers]

54 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

You are literally just an echo chamber for what comes out of the club without the ability to develop your own opinions on what is said.

Suhail and Gestede both said £4-5m was spent so you are happy with that. Gestede literally used that 10s of millions line that you are now parroting. No one is asking for that, its an attempt by Gestede to make people seem unreasonable for expecting more reinvestment by gaslighting people into thinking theyve demanding a massive warchest.

As has been said, the club is skint. Look whats gone out, look whats come in. 

The money receive the bulk of it has funding their losses we made the last 2 seasons. I thought that was obvious to everyone. Clearly not

The club isn't skint, if it was why are buying players for transfers fees, both can't be true can it? if we skint we wouldn't buying players would we? 

who said I'm happy with just £4/5m spent? Please show me I am said this cos this is most annoying thing about you now, the way you make shit up to suit your arguments every time. 

54 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

And crucially, look at the core of proven Championship players we have. Brittain, Travis, Tronstad, Hyam all going into their last year. Dolan, Batth and Weimann all out the door. We clearly are not offering reasonable, competitive Championship wages.

We had this debate only on Saturday, do we need to have it again SERIOUSLY?. Unless we are in room we don't know. We tried for 2 years with Dolan to get a new contract and he didn't want to sign here. 

54 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Your usual line is to say "well our wage bill hasnt gone down from 5 years ago." Purpoesefully or otherwise dismissing inflation, £1 today doesnt equate to £1 then. Our wage bill now will be higher than our title winning side in 1995, if we are just dismissing the time value of money.

I think you have miss understood my point on the wage bill which I addressed only a couple of weeks ago. I am not keep going over the same points week in week out with yourself. Its boring RF99. 

54 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Its all well and good spending small fees on players from lesser leagues abroad because their wages wont be high.

Plus you can find similar quality for less money and wages than British players. Nothing wrong with doing that and clubs have been doing that for years. 

[bluebruce]

39 minutes ago, alcd said:

The £40m has funded the losses in the past 2 seasons. It's gone, which accounts for the funding request to the court. 

The losses have never been more than 20 mill in a season before, so that only makes sense if the owners haven't sent us any money at all in the past 2 seasons, which is demonstrably false.

In fact there was also at least one recent season where we made a profit in the accounts. In which case, what losses?

[Gamst]

22 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Plus you can find similar quality for less money and wages than British players. Nothing wrong with doing that and clubs have been doing that for years. 

The strategy of buying cheaper overseas is fine but it’s the lack of planning beyond this which is frustrating as we don’t seem to offer follow up contracts. Tronstad is a good example. If a player does well, they will rightfully expect to have a pay rise or they will look elsewhere. Once they are established in England they are going to expect the same pay as an equivalent English player. If you are unwilling to do this then you don’t protect the asset and they will leave on a free transfer. 

[roverandout]

39 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

The money receive the bulk of it has funding their losses we made the last 2 seasons. I thought that was obvious to everyone. Clearly not

The club isn't skint, if it was why are buying players for transfers fees, both can't be true can it? if we skint we wouldn't buying players would we? 

who said I'm happy with just £4/5m spent? Please show me I am said this cos this is most annoying thing about you now, the way you make shit up to suit your arguments every time. 

We had this debate only on Saturday, do we need to have it again SERIOUSLY?. Unless we are in room we don't know. We tried for 2 years with Dolan to get a new contract and he didn't want to sign here. 

I think you have miss understood my point on the wage bill which I addressed only a couple of weeks ago. I am not keep going over the same points week in week out with yourself. Its boring RF99. 

Plus you can find similar quality for less money and wages than British players. Nothing wrong with doing that and clubs have been doing that for years. 

English players.  Scottish and Welsh players are usually as cheap as foreign ones

[MB Rover]

Can’t believe we’re still debating Dolan tbh, the guys shit and should’ve been offloaded in January. 

[Tomphil2]

4 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

 

How are Derby skint when they signings players for fees and offering contracts to free agents

We were skint last summer but still paid a couple of fees and took 3 free agent Championship players on. I think the point here is Derby won't be offering wages much different to Rovers but their 'project' and Head coach are a lot more appealing.

If Derby is the only offer he has had then maybe it tell you that either his terms are too higher or other clubs don't rate him that highly. I do rate him and I would have like him to stay here long term. I have the feeling that Dolan for the 18 months he wants to move on from us. 

There'll be loads of interest in Dolan on a free. but whether he's interested in them or they are interested enough to pay enough to get him to sign is another matter. Sheff U, Millwall and Norwich just three of the rumoured interested parties.

Don't we have to offer him a new contract in order to receive a compensation fee from his next club? 

 

[Tomphil2]

34 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

The losses have never been more than 20 mill in a season before, so that only makes sense if the owners haven't sent us any money at all in the past 2 seasons, which is demonstrably false.

In fact there was also at least one recent season where we made a profit in the accounts. In which case, what losses?

Well i think they have been way over 20 million on a number of occasions but not for a long time.

[Neal]

4 hours ago, Waggy76 said:

 The main thing is Derby have ambition , we don't !

 

To be fair, Derby need to have ambition because they almost got relegated. Most Rovers fans would ideally want us to be more ambitious than re-signing the likes of Weimann, Batth and Dolan. It's unlikely we will improve on those given our lack of financial support of course. 

[USABlue]

7 hours ago, davulsukur said:

Twitter rumour (so take it for what it is) gathering pace that Dolan will sign for Derby, along with Weimann and Batth.

Pretty much what I thought, easy that one, who needs Nicko.

[roversfan99]

33 minutes ago, MB Rover said:

Can’t believe we’re still debating Dolan tbh, the guys shit and should’ve been offloaded in January. 

He clearly isnt "shit." Hes a decent Championship wide man.

[USABlue]

7 hours ago, Emerald Isle Rover said:

If Dolan goes to Derby it’s just for money I don’t want to hear about Eustace or ambitious owners etc it’s purely a money based decision. We have tried with him for 2 years even Gregg the egg couldn’t get him to sign on

It's always been about the cash in my opinion.  He was gone even before Eustace left but once JE went to Derby I always felt that is where Dolan would end up.  Putting together a known outfit is JE, clever.  They'll be streets ahead of us this coming season.

[USABlue]

22 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

He clearly isnt "shit." Hes a decent Championship wide man.

If he ever develops a better football mind and a more frequent end product he will be quite a valuable player.  The IF is the gamble.  I think we will miss him more that we expect.

Personally I would like to have seen him try his luck at one of the Scottish giants.  I would have had more respect for him that way.  Right now he has made a lateral move as far as his level of playing.  Rovers or Derby we both play the same teams and there fore he is playing at the same level.  Thing is he deffo not Prem level so Scotland might have made sense.

Edited June 30 by USABlue

[USABlue]

7 hours ago, JHRover said:

Just for money? Derby are skint. The difference is their owner still wants them to progress and backs his manager as much as he can.

There's no evidence other than the words of liars on the Venky payroll that any serious efforts have been made to keep any of our players.

Most of the players have admitted this in public in the last few months. If we had really tried the odds suggest that at least one of them would have signed up.

The fact that 0 have signed tells me that we aren't trying.

I would bet there has been very little effort to keep these players.  We never seem to let our players they are wanted and important.  Almost just oieces of meet, no love from above.  Not like Jack.  Even post Jack we showed we cared.