2025 Summer Transfer Thread. 😂

[sal]

4 hours ago, wilsdenrover said:

Yes, I mentioned he’d be an exception panels case yesterday but omitted to do so this time - my mistake.

I’m not sure whether he’d get through that way as the regulations are very subjective on this - all they say is it must be demonstrated that the player only failed to get to 15 points because of ‘exceptional circumstances’.

There’s also the £5,000 + VAT fee the club would need to pay (up front) which needs to be considered - would Pasha sign off on that????

 

 

Can you imagine if mafoumbi comes on for 5 mins and turns out to be a star. Wilsdenrover could have just changed a boys life.

[alex l]

1 hour ago, Exiled_Rover said:

This is what I hate the most about the transfer window.

We've dropped one point already because we've gone into the season with an incomplete squad and seem in no rush.

Anyone arriving now will take weeks to get up to speed (see Henriksson), if they're even match fit.

We'll rue these dropped points at the end of the season - as we always do.

Whilst I see your point it's not necessarily true. The Swedish league runs April to October, Henriksson if anything should be match fit, if not up to the pace of the league. Ohashi arguably hit the ground running due to the Japanese League being mid-season. 

[BuddieBoy]

Hi Folks,

St. Mirren fan here.

As someone who watched both Alebiosu and Lewis Miller extensively in the Scottish Premiership, I can confirm that Alebiosu is a far superior RWB.

Just bear with him. He was initially a slow burn with us while he settled, but he soon became a fantastic player. We were desperate to get him back this season. 

Like most WBs these days, his defensive qualities aren’t his main strength, but if you are going to be the type of team that will give him licence to go forward, then you won’t be disappointed. Not suggesting he’s a poor defender, just that it’s not his main attribute. 

Hope he does well, really likeable big fella. 

[Bohinen1983]

11 minutes ago, BuddieBoy said:

Hi Folks,

St. Mirren fan here.

As someone who watched both Alebiosu and Lewis Miller extensively in the Scottish Premiership, I can confirm that Alebiosu is a far superior RWB.

Just bear with him. He was initially a slow burn with us while he settled, but he soon became a fantastic player. We were desperate to get him back this season. 

Like most WBs these days, his defensive qualities aren’t his main strength, but if you are going to be the type of team that will give him licence to go forward, then you won’t be disappointed. Not suggesting he’s a poor defender, just that it’s not his main attribute. 

Hope he does well, really likeable big fella. 

Nice one! I liked the look of Miller too.. Looks a right dirty sod! Is he any good at centre half?

[wilsdenrover]

1 hour ago, sal said:

Can you imagine if mafoumbi comes on for 5 mins and turns out to be a star. Wilsdenrover could have just changed a boys life.

I’d request a cut of his transfer fee but we all know he’d leave on a free.

[BuddieBoy]

21 minutes ago, Bohinen1983 said:

Nice one! I liked the look of Miller too.. Looks a right dirty sod! Is he any good at centre half?

Don’t think I’ve seen him play CB.

Miller took a lot of stick from the pundits up here for a lot of heavily punished defensive errors, but he had his moments too. I’d say he’s more of a  “no nonsense” type of player. Different type of wing back to Alebiosu. Maybe it’ll be a bit of a horses for courses situation for you guys depending on who you’re playing and what tactics you want to employ.

Alebiosu is a much more impactful player in my opinion though.  

[Hasta]

6 hours ago, Penwortham Blue said:

Average on the vast majority of appearances, sometimes downright poor.

And yet in the last 10 years I can’t think of many better holding central midfielders we have had than Travis or Tronstadt (Wharton excepted).

He’s been better than Lowe, Evans, Grimes, Guthrie, Akpan, Bennet, Tunnicliffe, Williamson, Smallwood, Trybull, Whittingham, JRC, Davenport, Buckley, Johnson, Holtby, Garrett, Morton, Baker, Forshaw, Baker.

The only one I can find is possibly Harrison Reed. 
And most of those above were brought in during eras when we probably paid more like the going wage in salaries and loan fees. 

Tronstadt is an absolute one off. There is very little chance that if Travis leaves we will get someone in of the same quality in the Euro bargain bucket we shop in.

The damage was done 6 to 18 months ago by not renewing his contract. I reckon a lot of these would have renewed last November / December under JE. Money brought in doesn’t help the squad, so for the sake of our Championship status I hope we keep him and he walks on a free next summer,

 

Edited 3 hours ago by Hasta

[TimmyJimmy]

Re the pushback on my Mafoumbi  comments:

'Exceptional' to my knowledge is the 'E' in 'ESC' not my assessment.

There's a difference in my mind to someone being told they're not good enough and to find another club in private, it's another to force the guy to walk on to the pitch for 30 seconds with 10K+ people sniggering about how useless he is and he's there only to free up an admin glitch.

Hedges - funny quip, like it.

I'm just saying we're fairly decent supporters at this club and I'd like to think we'd agree it would be a painful and embarrassing thing to witness. That's all.

[TimmyJimmy]

Actually thinking about it, if it was me I'd get the ball and whack it into my own net walk to the dug out and drop my shorts. But that's just me.

[Hasta]

I’ve not been following this, but if Mafoumbi came on for his 30 second cameo and converted his whatever to a whatever, could we then send him on loan?

Because if I were him I’d want to go somewhere in league two where I might get some senior minutes, and would gladly make a first team appearance just to be able to get that?

Or am I misunderstanding this?

[roversfan99]

Our recruitment has been a bit strange when you think about it.

We signed a player who had been playing at left back for last season and much of his career as a winger. A central midfielder to play as a number 10. And 2 right backs, one who has kicked on playing as a wing back and the other as a right sided centre back. 

I wonder if we will end up playing a back 3/5 this season purely by accident because of imbalances in the squad and recruitment.

[wilsdenrover]

9 minutes ago, TimmyJimmy said:

Re the pushback on my Mafoumbi  comments:

'Exceptional' to my knowledge is the 'E' in 'ESC' not my assessment.

There's a difference in my mind to someone being told they're not good enough and to find another club in private, it's another to force the guy to walk on to the pitch for 30 seconds with 10K+ people sniggering about how useless he is and he's there only to free up an admin glitch.

Hedges - funny quip, like it.

I'm just saying we're fairly decent supporters at this club and I'd like to think we'd agree it would be a painful and embarrassing thing to witness. That's all.

This clearly doesn’t affect your overall point but the E is Elite (Elite Significant Contribution).

[wilsdenrover]

2 minutes ago, Hasta said:

I’ve not been following this, but if Mafoumbi came on for his 30 second cameo and converted his whatever to a whatever, could we then send him on loan?

Because if I were him I’d want to go somewhere in league two where I might get some senior minutes, and would gladly make a first team appearance just to be able to get that?

Or am I misunderstanding this?

I can’t see why not.

[TimmyJimmy]

2 minutes ago, wilsdenrover said:

This clearly doesn’t affect your overall point but the E is Elite (Elite Significant Contribution).

My bad but as you say the point holds (I think).

[aletheia]

8 hours ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

so the gates won’t drop off to the same extent.

They might, the fabric is getting a bit ropey. 😉

[ObiWhan8t7]

Can anyone confirm if Travis has changed his bio. Im positive it mentioned rovers but could be wrong

[wilsdenrover]

Charge your battery!

[bluebruce]

2 hours ago, Hasta said:

And yet in the last 10 years I can’t think of many better holding central midfielders we have had than Travis or Tronstadt (Wharton excepted).

He’s been better than Lowe, Evans, Grimes, Guthrie, Akpan, Bennet, Tunnicliffe, Williamson, Smallwood, Trybull, Whittingham, JRC, Davenport, Buckley, Johnson, Holtby, Garrett, Morton, Baker, Forshaw, Baker.

The only one I can find is possibly Harrison Reed. 
And most of those above were brought in during eras when we probably paid more like the going wage in salaries and loan fees. 

Tronstadt is an absolute one off. There is very little chance that if Travis leaves we will get someone in of the same quality in the Euro bargain bucket we shop in.

The damage was done 6 to 18 months ago by not renewing his contract. I reckon a lot of these would have renewed last November / December under JE. Money brought in doesn’t help the squad, so for the sake of our Championship status I hope we keep him and he walks on a free next summer,

 

Fantastic post, well put. (Except perhaps  the very last point, I'm starting to not believe the club's line on that in a literal sense, but I won't go into that now)

That list really shows how rare good CMs have been for us, and yet I'm sure certain posters will still say they expect a Travis level replacement.

[BankEnd Rover]

3 minutes ago, ObiWhan8t7 said:

Can anyone confirm if Travis has changed his bio. Im positive it mentioned rovers but could be wrong

Nope, not said it for a while now.

[bluebruce]

2 hours ago, TimmyJimmy said:

Re the pushback on my Mafoumbi  comments:

'Exceptional' to my knowledge is the 'E' in 'ESC' not my assessment.

There's a difference in my mind to someone being told they're not good enough and to find another club in private, it's another to force the guy to walk on to the pitch for 30 seconds with 10K+ people sniggering about how useless he is and he's there only to free up an admin glitch.

Hedges - funny quip, like it.

I'm just saying we're fairly decent supporters at this club and I'd like to think we'd agree it would be a painful and embarrassing thing to witness. That's all.

Well unless I'm misremembering, it would also allow him to be sold to another UK club, as once you have the exemption thingy you don't need to reapply at another club. So it would increase his pool of suitors, helping him get a move, plus put 'Championship experience' on his CV rather than 'signed but never played a game'. I also think it's less disrespectful than the alternative - outright cancelling his contract to make way for the deal, which is absolutely what will happen if we need the space and he isn't exempt from needing to use it.

[wilsdenrover]

16 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

Well unless I'm misremembering, it would also allow him to be sold to another UK club, as once you have the exemption thingy you don't need to reapply at another club. So it would increase his pool of suitors, helping him get a move, plus put 'Championship experience' on his CV rather than 'signed but never played a game'. I also think it's less disrespectful than the alternative - outright cancelling his contract to make way for the deal, which is absolutely what will happen if we need the space and he isn't exempt from needing to use it.

A permanent transfer requires a new work permit - I guess the benefit would lie in him not taking up an ESC slot of any prospective new club.

This might be particularly helpful if he were to move to a L1 or L2 club as they only get up to 2 ESC players. 

It would also make it easier to loan him out as currently he’d count as an ESC player for both us and the club we sent him to.

Edited 1 hour ago by wilsdenrover

[TimmyJimmy]

38 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

Well unless I'm misremembering, it would also allow him to be sold to another UK club, as once you have the exemption thingy you don't need to reapply at another club. So it would increase his pool of suitors, helping him get a move, plus put 'Championship experience' on his CV rather than 'signed but never played a game'. I also think it's less disrespectful than the alternative - outright cancelling his contract to make way for the deal, which is absolutely what will happen if we need the space and he isn't exempt from needing to use it.

You and Wilsden clearly have a better handle on the process. My weakness is a permanent overload of emotional intelligence rather than the garden variety type (tongue in cheek) of process intelligence. Just seems harsh on a young lad whose hopes and dreams of making it as a pro end with being wheeled out for a ritual humiliation. Ignore me, I'm just a softy.

[wilsdenrover]

10 minutes ago, TimmyJimmy said:

You and Wilsden clearly have a better handle on the process. My weakness is a permanent overload of emotional intelligence rather than the garden variety type (tongue in cheek) of process intelligence. Just seems harsh on a young lad whose hopes and dreams of making it as a pro end with being wheeled out for a ritual humiliation. Ignore me, I'm just a softy.

I guess how they’d handle the conversation with him would influence how he’d feel about the situation.

Of course with our lot they’d almost certainly handle it badly.

One final thing, showing empathy isn’t, and never will be, a weakness. 

Edited 57 minutes ago by wilsdenrover

[bluebruce]

46 minutes ago, wilsdenrover said:

A permanent transfer requires a new work permit - I guess the benefit would lie in him not taking up an ESC slot of any prospective new club.

This might be particularly helpful if he were to move to a L1 or L2 club as they only get up to 2 ESC players. 

It would also make it easier to loan him out as currently he’d count as an ESC player for both us and the club we sent him to.

Yes that's what I meant, wouldn't need an ESC slot, the work permit would be a formality essentially. And yes I had L1 or L2 in mind, nobody in the Championship would bother. Wow didn't know they only got 2 spaces, though can't imagine they have the scouting networks for it to really matter, generally. Outside of some bigger L1 clubs.

[wilsdenrover]

3 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

Yes that's what I meant, wouldn't need an ESC slot, the work permit would be a formality essentially. And yes I had L1 or L2 in mind, nobody in the Championship would bother. Wow didn't know they only got 2 spaces, though can't imagine they have the scouting networks for it to really matter, generally. Outside of some bigger L1 clubs.

Edited 49 minutes ago by wilsdenrover