2025 Summer Transfer Thread. 😂

[47er]

22 hours ago, alexanders said:

 I agree that Venkys have been horrible owners in a lot of aspects, but it is impossible to say if we would be better off with other owners

What sort of vanilla argument is that? You agree that "Venkys have been horrible owners in a lot of aspects" (interested in how that implies they have been good owners in other aspects---care to share that, I must have missed it?).

"It's impossible to say we would be better off with other owners"--- of course it is! You're stating a  hypothesis which is incapable of being contradicted!

In the real world what's the chances of new owners being better than Venkys? 99.99999% recurring?

 

 

Edited 12 hours ago by 47er

[bluebruce]

Not sure if it's been mentioned, but some of the relegation odds are out. William Hill, SkyBet and Paddy Power, as far as I can see. The most generous (as in lucrative) odds offered are 6-1, which in a table of most generous odds puts as the 8th most likely team to be relegated. Sheff W are most likely at 1.62 to 1, and at the other end of the spectrum are Ipswich at 101 to 1. So whoever in this thread was saying we were 350 to 1 couldn't be more wrong.

A glance around tells me more bookies than that are giving odds, like Betfred, offering 5.5 for us, but this is just what shows on Oddschecker. Looks like the bookies fancy us to struggle this season despite finishing 7th, and I'm sure most of us can see why.

Personally I'm very confused at why everyone thinks Ipswich are most likely to win the league, but hey. I guess it's because of Leicester's likely points deduction and Southampton having such an awful season last year, making Ipswich theoretically the best of the three relegated...but personally I doubt they finish top 2.

[roversfan99]

Ipswich have a lot of players that are stand out Championship players that are unlikely to get Premier League moves. Greaves, Philogene, Clarke, Szmodics, Davis, Broadhead, Chaplin, O'Shea etc. Can see why they would be favourites.

Even though they were so bad last year, it says a lot about the gap between the leagues that Southampton also have lots of really good Championship players. Leicester are the ones of the 3 who maybe look the least likely even before a points deduction.

[...]

7 hours ago, bluebruce said:

Not sure if it's been mentioned, but some of the relegation odds are out. William Hill, SkyBet and Paddy Power, as far as I can see. The most generous (as in lucrative) odds offered are 6-1, which in a table of most generous odds puts as the 8th most likely team to be relegated. Sheff W are most likely at 1.62 to 1, and at the other end of the spectrum are Ipswich at 101 to 1. So whoever in this thread was saying we were 350 to 1 couldn't be more wrong.

A glance around tells me more bookies than that are giving odds, like Betfred, offering 5.5 for us, but this is just what shows on Oddschecker. Looks like the bookies fancy us to struggle this season despite finishing 7th, and I'm sure most of us can see why.

Personally I'm very confused at why everyone thinks Ipswich are most likely to win the league, but hey. I guess it's because of Leicester's likely points deduction and Southampton having such an awful season last year, making Ipswich theoretically the best of the three relegated...but personally I doubt they finish top 2.

I said we were 350/1 however that was what came up from a search I did. 

[Mercer]

8 hours ago, bluebruce said:

Any of our players could get injured. That's what happens when you play football.

Oh but we will lose the transfer income? That we have been told won't be reinvested? Yeh I don't give a shit.

We will also have a very disaffected footballer on our books who will deeply harbour the notion we have denied him an opportunity.  That is no good for the club.  His race is run here and he needs to be out the door.

[alexanders]

8 hours ago, 47er said:

What sort of vanilla argument is that? You agree that "Venkys have been horrible owners in a lot of aspects" (interested in how that implies they have been good owners in other aspects---care to share that, I must have missed it?).

"It's impossible to say we would be better off with other owners"--- of course it is! You're stating a  hypothesis which is incapable of being contradicted!

In the real world what's the chances of new owners being better than Venkys? 99.99999% recurring?

 

 

They did destroy the club from the off, and the Steve Kean era was absolutely devastating. It felt like slow torture that never ended. I was at Stamford bridge when we got relegated and it was not the club I had fallen in love with. 
 

Slowly they have taken better decisions. They have invested a lot in our academy which is of great importance for a small club like ours (attendance, turnover etc). 

over two the part about the summer transfers:

We have a wage/turnover ration we have to live by. We didn’t have to that under Jack. This is what makes the football world extremely difficult nowadays. Those American owners (having entered the marked lately) have a completely different nous for social media, media expose and how to create turnovers. 
 

I remember at the time the potential owner who went on to buy Racing Santander. We would not be better off with him. Let’s talk about the Cardiff owner, Sheff wed. At least Venkys doesn’t send us to misery and for me after Mowbray came in the family feel for the club came back. We have a lot to be proud of and we are pushing for playoff every season. Never a dull game. Homegrown talents. 

over to the part about the summer transfers:

I mean, this is just my opinion. Not everything works and is rousy, but as I said earlier; every transfer comes with a risk and you are taking to big of a risk by having too much players without any resell value; this is both Weimann and Batth. Likely not the smallest wages coming from several clubs having increased their wages everytime. Then I am more in favor of saving those wages to be able to give more wages to an exciting prospect from our own academy (such as Trav) or when we try to aquire someone: 

We did say the exact same things last summer and then both Gueye and Ohashi got signed late July and then Cantwell and Toth, all money signings. 

Edited 11 hours ago by alexanders

[47er]

24 minutes ago, alexanders said:

They did destroy the club from the off, and the Steve Kean era was absolutely devastating. It felt like slow torture that never ended. I was at Stamford bridge when we got relegated and it was not the club I had fallen in love with. 
 

Slowly they have taken better decisions. They have invested a lot in our academy which is of great importance for a small club like ours (attendance, turnover etc). 

over two the part about the summer transfers:

We have a wage/turnover ration we have to live by. We didn’t have to that under Jack. This is what makes the football world extremely difficult nowadays. Those American owners (having entered the marked lately) have a completely different nous for social media, media expose and how to create turnovers. 
 

I remember at the time the potential owner who went on to buy Racing Santander. We would not be better off with him. Let’s talk about the Cardiff owner, Sheff wed. At least Venkys doesn’t send us to misery and for me after Mowbray came in the family feel for the club came back. We have a lot to be proud of and we are pushing for playoff every season. Never a dull game. Homegrown talents. 

over to the part about the summer transfers:

I mean, this is just my opinion. Not everything works and is rousy, but as I said earlier; every transfer comes with a risk and you are taking to big of a risk by having too much players without any resell value; this is both Weimann and Batth. Likely not the smallest wages coming from several clubs having increased their wages everytime. Then I am more in favor of saving those wages to be able to give more wages to an exciting prospect from our own academy (such as Trav) or when we try to aquire someone: 

We did say the exact same things last summer and then both Gueye and Ohashi got signed late July and then Cantwell and Toth, all money signings. 

We were the 2nd lowest spenders last season after Rotherham. To say we over-achieved is a big under-statement.

As for the wage/turnover issue, we are well clear of difficulty there after sales but hardly any money is ever made available for transfers.

As for the Academy, I'm suggesting that while we think its there to provide players for the first team squad, increasingly its looking like its there to earn money to keep the club going. And, of course, while they're here these young players are cheap.

As for "we have a lot to be proud of" tell that to the women's team. In truth we have a lot to be ashamed of and so much to be angry about. The club is dying season by season.

No better decisions, it's a tale of wasted opportunities which suck the life-blood out of us and will lead to relegation and administration. That's my firm belief. You'll call it negativity, I'll call it realism.

And as for Racing Santander and the rest, what about Wrexham or even Bolton and Burnley? No good telling me things could be worse. Venkys have had 15 years and things get worse every season.

[Waggy76]

37 minutes ago, alexanders said:

They did destroy the club from the off, and the Steve Kean era was absolutely devastating. It felt like slow torture that never ended. I was at Stamford bridge when we got relegated and it was not the club I had fallen in love with. 
 

Slowly they have taken better decisions. They have invested a lot in our academy which is of great importance for a small club like ours (attendance, turnover etc). 

over two the part about the summer transfers:

We have a wage/turnover ration we have to live by. We didn’t have to that under Jack. This is what makes the football world extremely difficult nowadays. Those American owners (having entered the marked lately) have a completely different nous for social media, media expose and how to create turnovers. 
 

I remember at the time the potential owner who went on to buy Racing Santander. We would not be better off with him. Let’s talk about the Cardiff owner, Sheff wed. At least Venkys doesn’t send us to misery and for me after Mowbray came in the family feel for the club came back. We have a lot to be proud of and we are pushing for playoff every season. Never a dull game. Homegrown talents. 

over to the part about the summer transfers:

I mean, this is just my opinion. Not everything works and is rousy, but as I said earlier; every transfer comes with a risk and you are taking to big of a risk by having too much players without any resell value; this is both Weimann and Batth. Likely not the smallest wages coming from several clubs having increased their wages everytime. Then I am more in favor of saving those wages to be able to give more wages to an exciting prospect from our own academy (such as Trav) or when we try to aquire someone: 

We did say the exact same things last summer and then both Gueye and Ohashi got signed late July and then Cantwell and Toth, all money signings. 

When Venkys took over , we were in the top ten of the Premier League .

I rest my case !

[alexanders]

no point using this thread to discuss this more, I think we agree on a lot of things and we disagree on others. 
 

I think we are going in a healthy direction, and having been involved in a board for a football club I know how extremely difficult running a football club is. There is small margins for error which can lead to a negative spiral. This is spending too much, too high wages and investing wrongly. 
 

With Rovers as with my kids when they say the other kids can do that or get that, I don’t give two pennies. I care about me, myself and my family and try to make the most out of it.  I don’t care what other clubs spend, because in my book big money spendings are not necessarily the ones that shine the most. 
 

looking forward to seeing our biggest signing this summer Tavares who comes with English language, Arsenal academy, International experience and network and ticks most boxes. 
 

Looking forward to see the blue and whites against Elche later 🙂 

Edited 10 hours ago by alexanders

[roversfan99]

A healthy direction! Wow. Under Venkys, with Suhail, Gestede etc making decisions? Im not sure many if any will agree.

(Also, Tavares came through at Leicester)

[RoverPedro]

At the kit launch yesterday Ismael spoke a lot about Montgomery. Heaped praise on him for his on and off the pitch attitude. Can see him being used a lot this season. 

Said Scott Wharton is unfit and needs to improve on this to play the way Ismael wants to play. So can see us really pushing for CB, ala Mcloughlin, as he clearly doesnt see Wharton as the answer to replace Batth.

Said he has no interest in loan players when asked about using our relationships with Liverpool and Brighton. So can see the academy getting a lot of minutes this season. Also fits with Gestedes words. 

Think thats a mistake personally. Logic would dictate that lads at Liverpool academy are better than ours. 

I know most of this is common knowledge but interesting to hear direct from the horses mouth. 

Edited 10 hours ago by RoverPedro

[RoverPedro]

1 minute ago, roversfan99 said:

A healthy direction! Wow. Under Venkys, with Suhail, Gestede etc making decisions? Im not sure many if any will agree.

(Also, Tavares came through at Leicester)

Apart from the happy clappers on LET i think pretty much every other fan would absolutely detest the way our club is run. 

[alexanders]

My apologies, it was Ryan Alebiosu who was an Arsenal academy kid. 
 

I have been furious with us playing loanees such as ACD and  Tyler Morton instead of our own. I personally love the route we are taking with our own more playing time. 
 

in some cases it has worked out well with JVP and Harvey Elliot, but the club has no gain on it afterwards. 

 

 

 

Edited 10 hours ago by alexanders

[roversfan99]

7 minutes ago, RoverPedro said:

At the kit launch yesterday Ismael spoke a lot about Montgomery. Heaped praise on him for his on and off the pitch attitude. Can see him being used a lot this season. 

Said Scott Wharton is unfit and needs to improve on this to play the way Ismael wants to play. So can see us really pushing for CB, ala Mcloughlin, as he clearly doesnt see Wharton as the answer to replace Batth.

Said he has no interest in loan players when asked about using our relationships with Liverpool and Brighton. So can see the academy getting a lot of minutes this season. Also fits with Gestedes words. 

Think thats a mistake personally. Logic would dictate that lads at Liverpool academy are better than ours. 

I know most of this is common knowledge but interesting to hear direct from the horses mouth. 

Quite interesting to hear that he said publically that Wharton isnt fit to play how he wants. Obviously hes been out for ages so its not quite like calling out any random player but still. Presumably he will want another centre back after McLoughlin.

Did he say which position he sees Montgomery playing in?

Also, we know that he isnt interested in loans so if any come they arent necessarily to his approval. Its a market we have relied too much on but its probably not one to totally dismiss, if you use it purely to bring one or two bits of quality we couldnt ordinarily afford.

Did he say anything else about how many he wants to sign or anything else interesting?

[Emerald Isle Rover]

If someone with significant quality comes up and is available for loan it would be silly not to have a look at it. Can’t see any way come sept we haven’t filled one or two loan spots 

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

2 minutes ago, Emerald Isle Rover said:

If someone with significant quality comes up and is available for loan it would be silly not to have a look at it. Can’t see any way come sept we haven’t filled one or two loan spots 

Yes,we may have a look but buying is another matter altogether with these Clowns.

[Emerald Isle Rover]

3 minutes ago, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

Yes,we may have a look but buying is another matter altogether with these Clowns.

In the main we don’t tend to buy loan players 

[alexanders]

12 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

Quite interesting to hear that he said publically that Wharton isnt fit to play how he wants. Obviously hes been out for ages so its not quite like calling out any random player but still. Presumably he will want another centre back after McLoughlin.

Did he say which position he sees Montgomery playing in?

Also, we know that he isnt interested in loans so if any come they arent necessarily to his approval. Its a market we have relied too much on but its probably not one to totally dismiss, if you use it purely to bring one or two bits of quality we couldnt ordinarily afford.

Did he say anything else about how many he wants to sign or anything else interesting?

saying Wharton isn’t fit and he wants a new CB could be a way to set himself up for «being happy» when McLoughlin is here. Then he has his CB. 

[chaddyrovers]

1 hour ago, alexanders said:

They did destroy the club from the off, and the Steve Kean era was absolutely devastating. It felt like slow torture that never ended. I was at Stamford bridge when we got relegated and it was not the club I had fallen in love with. 
 

Slowly they have taken better decisions. They have invested a lot in our academy which is of great importance for a small club like ours (attendance, turnover etc). 

over two the part about the summer transfers:

We have a wage/turnover ration we have to live by. We didn’t have to that under Jack. This is what makes the football world extremely difficult nowadays. Those American owners (having entered the marked lately) have a completely different nous for social media, media expose and how to create turnovers. 
 

I remember at the time the potential owner who went on to buy Racing Santander. We would not be better off with him. Let’s talk about the Cardiff owner, Sheff wed. At least Venkys doesn’t send us to misery and for me after Mowbray came in the family feel for the club came back. We have a lot to be proud of and we are pushing for playoff every season. Never a dull game. Homegrown talents. 

over to the part about the summer transfers:

I mean, this is just my opinion. Not everything works and is rousy, but as I said earlier; every transfer comes with a risk and you are taking to big of a risk by having too much players without any resell value; this is both Weimann and Batth. Likely not the smallest wages coming from several clubs having increased their wages everytime. Then I am more in favor of saving those wages to be able to give more wages to an exciting prospect from our own academy (such as Trav) or when we try to aquire someone: 

We did say the exact same things last summer and then both Gueye and Ohashi got signed late July and then Cantwell and Toth, all money signings. 

Stick to your opinion Alexanders

[MarkBRFC]

Loan players should be the cherry on top, real quality that's too good to turn down.

For far too long we have just padded out the squad with poor to average loan players, I would much rather get some young lads on the fringes/bench instead.

[chaddyrovers]

34 minutes ago, RoverPedro said:

At the kit launch yesterday Ismael spoke a lot about Montgomery. Heaped praise on him for his on and off the pitch attitude. Can see him being used a lot this season. 

Said Scott Wharton is unfit and needs to improve on this to play the way Ismael wants to play. So can see us really pushing for CB, ala Mcloughlin, as he clearly doesnt see Wharton as the answer to replace Batth.

Said he has no interest in loan players when asked about using our relationships with Liverpool and Brighton. So can see the academy getting a lot of minutes this season. Also fits with Gestedes words. 

Think thats a mistake personally. Logic would dictate that lads at Liverpool academy are better than ours. 

I know most of this is common knowledge but interesting to hear direct from the horses mouth. 

Thanks. Ismael has praised Montgomery alot recently and he seem a big fan of him. 

I wonder if we will go for centre back given his comments about Wharton and Carter's injury. 

Interesting comments about loan players. There is upside to loaning players in but also a downside. Ismael's comments seem to suggest he thinks the negatives outweigh the positives. I think a couple of quality loans can push higher in the league and worth it if you got quality loans in. If you bring in average players on loan, might aswell use the academy players surely?

[roversfan99]

1 hour ago, alexanders said:

They did destroy the club from the off, and the Steve Kean era was absolutely devastating. It felt like slow torture that never ended. I was at Stamford bridge when we got relegated and it was not the club I had fallen in love with. 
 

Slowly they have taken better decisions. They have invested a lot in our academy which is of great importance for a small club like ours (attendance, turnover etc). 

over two the part about the summer transfers:

We have a wage/turnover ration we have to live by. We didn’t have to that under Jack. This is what makes the football world extremely difficult nowadays. Those American owners (having entered the marked lately) have a completely different nous for social media, media expose and how to create turnovers. 
 

I remember at the time the potential owner who went on to buy Racing Santander. We would not be better off with him. Let’s talk about the Cardiff owner, Sheff wed. At least Venkys doesn’t send us to misery and for me after Mowbray came in the family feel for the club came back. We have a lot to be proud of and we are pushing for playoff every season. Never a dull game. Homegrown talents. 

over to the part about the summer transfers:

I mean, this is just my opinion. Not everything works and is rousy, but as I said earlier; every transfer comes with a risk and you are taking to big of a risk by having too much players without any resell value; this is both Weimann and Batth. Likely not the smallest wages coming from several clubs having increased their wages everytime. Then I am more in favor of saving those wages to be able to give more wages to an exciting prospect from our own academy (such as Trav) or when we try to aquire someone: 

We did say the exact same things last summer and then both Gueye and Ohashi got signed late July and then Cantwell and Toth, all money signings. 

Slowly they have taken better decisions?

In recent years, two successive managers have decided they had no choice but to leave such is the running of the club. 3 potential signings fell through due to "admin issues." A one off talent through the academy was pushed out the door for a knock down price and the money wasnt reinvested. The womens team has had the rug pulled from under it. The stadium has not been maintained. The club has been submerged under the shadow of a court case due to the owners dodgy doings. Has the academy been invested in or has it just been kept going, and are they getting praise because its an area of the club they havent closed? Attendances are really low due to disengagement and also high prices. The owners havent attended in about 10 years. Im not sure the public liason woman who was binned off after 30 years agrees with the family feel.

We tried to keep Weimann and Batth so it wasnt a strategic choice for resale purposes. Forshaw still signed so how does that fit in.

Wage to income % will never be healthy as a Championship club.

[Forever Blue]

Good to hear we’re not going to waste money on developing other team’s players. For every Harvey Elliot there are 5 Morton’s. 
 

The Academy lads who are good enough and ready, like Montgomery, should be utilised in the first team squad. 

[jim mk2]

1 hour ago, RoverPedro said:

 

Think thats a mistake personally. Logic would dictate that lads at Liverpool academy are better than ours. 

 

Elliott was excellent; Beck very good; Morton average; Clarkson poor.  Overall, unless they're obviously potentially outstanding like Elliott I don't see the point and would rather give our own academy lads a go. They have to believe there is a route to the first team if they work hard and play well and their career path is not going to be blocked by interns from "bigger" clubs.

Edited 9 hours ago by jim mk2

[bluebruce]

1 hour ago, Mercer said:

We will also have a very disaffected footballer on our books who will deeply harbour the notion we have denied him an opportunity.  That is no good for the club.  His race is run here and he needs to be out the door.

No I don't care. He is under salary and we should play him until a deal is struck. Sick of always letting players have all the cards whilst being paid generously. And if he is professional and wants a good deal when he moves on in January or the summer, he will have to play well.