2025 Summer Transfer Thread. 😂

[RoverCanada]

tldr: boring shit

It can be a bit simplistic talking about a player being on £10k or £20k/wk. All contracts will have numerous perfomance-related bonuses (Trav himself was laughing about the 'win bonus' being the best part of winning on our socials last year). You can convert all this to per week as a benchmark, but while Travis may currently be on a 'base' salary of £10k/wk, as a regular starter, various bonuses will boost the effective weekly rate. Add in employer NI, pension contributions for another 15+%.

As a bottom-up exercise, suppose you assume Rovers' 25 senior players are on an average of £8k/wk. So, 25 x £8k x 52 = £10.4m (excl. NI+pensions). However, our 23-24 staff costs were around £22m (excl. NI+pensions). Perhaps subtract £3m for admin / academy staff and players / directors, £1m for the senior coaching staff, and let's say £1m for loan wages, that still leaves a gap of ~£6.5m, suggesting our average weekly cost per senior player is more like £17m / 25 / 52 = ~£13.1k/wk. I'm sure someone will pop in about something shady going on (to which I have no response 🙃), but, at least from the accounts, its been more about real than nominal wage cuts in recent years. Who knows where Travis lies, but that would suggest he's effectively earning well north of £13k/week.

Even if we negotiate up that £1.5m offer, Derby know they're getting an out-of-contract Travis at a discount, so can add on a chunky signing bonus. Offering, say, a £500k signing bonus on top of a 3-year contract works out to an added £3k/week (moreso from a PV perspective!). Perhaps we've offered to boost Travis' base salary to, say, £12k/week (although suspect the regime are happy to think they can replace him with a £500k + £8k/wk import), but his agent can easily demand various bonuses knowing what Travis can demand in the offseason/that bidders are circling. 'Free' transfers allows agents to push for hefty signing-on bonuses for in-demand players. I'm not criticising Travis as greedy, more highlighting where our apparent budget inflexibility and lack of contract impetus bites us in the ass.

One of my suspicions is we manage paying below-average-ish Championship weekly salaries ok (never been a suggestion of missing payroll like some other basketcase clubs), but the powers that be step in whenever major one-off payments come into play due to our inflexible 'budget' heavily restricting 'discretionary' cashflow.

---

While I'm at it with boring things, I was curious about Derby's financials. Extrapolating their 2023-24 accounts (in L1), I put them at ~£12m of matchday revenue, £8m commercial, £10m broadcasting, or £30m total. In comparison, we're at about £5m, £7m, and £10m, respectively, or £22m.

Assuming the same wage-to-turnover budget, that would put them at £30m to our £22m (excl. NI+pensions). I assume they haven't hit that yet since their promotion, but, along with being net transfer sellers in recent years, they should have plenty of dry financial powder.

[Emerald Isle Rover]

1 minute ago, JHRover said:

If you've got ambition as a player then surely Coventry more attractive than Derby. Stronger financial position, a few years ahead on development, play-offs last year and managed by 'Super Frank' Lampard which will probably appeal to players. 

You would think that but it sounds like he has an agreement with Derby in principle pending an offer being accepted 

again whether that’s because they are the only team officially in for him remains to be seen but I agree Coventry would be more ambitious but won’t be an easy gig for him there either

they have Allen torp grimes and sheaf all competing for centre mid 

[bb1rover]

I think there are issues behind the scenes, however the fact they're all going to Eustace isn't a massive indication that they love him and are leaving to be with him, so far he's taken the old men and is due to take Travis who has wanted to leave for a long time but has had no takers.

The fact that Dolan, Travis, Tronstad and Hyam were/are all refusing to sign contracts yet had/have no one queuing up to get a bargain, begs the question are they all already being paid over the odds hence why no one wants to give what they want and neither do Blackburn any more?

Edited 2 hours ago by bb1rover

[TheKitGuy]

This season will be the one where the academy streak ends. The sense of pride knowing our academy regularly churning out quality championship standard players, I'd say right now not a single player in the academy is of championship standard. A crying shame. 

[KentExile]

7 minutes ago, Emerald Isle Rover said:

You would think that but it sounds like he has an agreement with Derby in principle pending an offer being accepted 

again whether that’s because they are the only team officially in for him remains to be seen but I agree Coventry would be more ambitious but won’t be an easy gig for him there either

they have Allen torp grimes and sheaf all competing for centre mid 

Isn't Sheaf essentially in the same position as Travis? (out of contract at the end of the season, not signing a new contract, and wanted by clubs higher up the ladder?).  

Coventry like to sign replacements before selling, (Kessler-Hayden whilst they still have Van Ewijk), and also like to have strength in depth

I would personally see Travis & Grimes as the 2 main men out of what would be left should Sheaf be sold

Edit - Sheaf is injured at the moment anyway

Edited 2 hours ago by KentExile

[Tugayisgod]

28 minutes ago, alexanders said:

Elliot Jackson: 

Lewis Travis state of play: #Rovers are not budging from their valuation and Derby have yet to up their offer. Understand they’ve bid twice with latest around £1.5M plus bonuses. It’s an impasse that needs resolving quickly. Hard to see how he features on Sat right now.

 

Can see this turning rotten. Dont think Derby will pay what we want. 

Don't think Derby have a bottomless pit. Paid a decent amount for the USA striker (who is injured, sound familiar). Also had 2 bids turned down for right back Max Johnstone at £1.4m and £1.6m. Think we would have looked at him before settling on Miller

 

[TheKitGuy]

8 minutes ago, RoverCanada said:

tldr: boring shit

It can be a bit simplistic talking about a player being on £10k or £20k/wk. All contracts will have numerous perfomance-related bonuses (Trav himself was laughing about the 'win bonus' being the best part of winning on our socials last year). You can convert all this to per week as a benchmark, but while Travis may currently be on a 'base' salary of £10k/wk, as a regular starter, various bonuses will boost the effective weekly rate. Add in employer NI, pension contributions for another 15+%.

As a bottom-up exercise, suppose you assume Rovers' 25 senior players are on an average of £8k/wk. So, 25 x £8k x 52 = £10.4m (excl. NI+pensions). However, our 23-24 staff costs were around £22m (excl. NI+pensions). Perhaps subtract £3m for admin / academy staff and players / directors, £1m for the senior coaching staff, and let's say £1m for loan wages, that still leaves a gap of ~£6.5m, suggesting our average weekly cost per senior player is more like £17m / 25 / 52 = ~£13.1k/wk. I'm sure someone will pop in about something shady going on (to which I have no response 🙃), but, at least from the accounts, its been more about real than nominal wage cuts in recent years. Who knows where Travis lies, but that would suggest he's effectively earning well north of £13k/week.

Even if we negotiate up that £1.5m offer, Derby know they're getting an out-of-contract Travis at a discount, so can add on a chunky signing bonus. Offering, say, a £500k signing bonus on top of a 3-year contract works out to an added £3k/week (moreso from a PV perspective!). Perhaps we've offered to boost Travis' base salary to, say, £12k/week (although suspect the regime are happy to think they can replace him with a £500k + £8k/wk import), but his agent can easily demand various bonuses knowing what Travis can demand in the offseason/that bidders are circling. 'Free' transfers allows agents to push for hefty signing-on bonuses for in-demand players. I'm not criticising Travis as greedy, more highlighting where our apparent budget inflexibility and lack of contract impetus bites us in the ass.

One of my suspicions is we manage paying below-average-ish Championship weekly salaries ok (never been a suggestion of missing payroll like some other basketcase clubs), but the powers that be step in whenever major one-off payments come into play due to our inflexible 'budget' heavily restricting 'discretionary' cashflow.

---

While I'm at it with boring things, I was curious about Derby's financials. Extrapolating their 2023-24 accounts (in L1), I put them at ~£12m of matchday revenue, £8m commercial, £10m broadcasting, or £30m total. In comparison, we're at about £5m, £7m, and £10m, respectively, or £22m.

Assuming the same wage-to-turnover budget, that would put them at £30m to our £22m (excl. NI+pensions). I assume they haven't hit that yet since their promotion, but, along with being net transfer sellers in recent years, they should have plenty of dry financial powder.

Really good post.

[Angry_Pirate]

So the club likes to semi themselves with this "proud academy" stuff...

With Travis leaving - and somebody please correct me if I am missing a time period - (Edit - I think there was a period in the mid 00's), this may be the first time in the entire Premier League era that a Blackburn Rovers best XI (ignoring injuries) does not feature an academy player?

Maybe you could squint and say Carter/Wharton as a CB, but I think we will see McLaughlin as the CB2.

Looking through the entire timeline from 1992: Jason Wilcox, Damien Duff, David Dunn, Phil Jones, Martin Olsson, Junior Hoilett, Jason Lowe*, Marcus Olsson, Grant Hanley, David Raya, Darragh Lenihan, Ryan Nyambe, Adam Wharton, Lewis Travis.

All those players seem to cover the majority of the past 23+ years - maybe there is a gap when Dunn/Duff left in 2003 in the Souness/Hughes eras. Which would make sense with the 720+ match streak putting us around that time.

Still though, for where we are nowadays (as shell of a club), with an apparently excellent Academy, to say none would be in our best XI, is scandalous.

[Moptop1]

3 hours ago, MarkBRFC said:

We could be relegated 3 years in a row and the owners would still be here.

Just cutting things even more to the level we operate at.

Do the owners realise we can be relegated? 😉 

[JHRover]

18 minutes ago, RoverCanada said:

 

While I'm at it with boring things, I was curious about Derby's financials. Extrapolating their 2023-24 accounts (in L1), I put them at ~£12m of matchday revenue, £8m commercial, £10m broadcasting, or £30m total. In comparison, we're at about £5m, £7m, and £10m, respectively, or £22m.

Assuming the same wage-to-turnover budget, that would put them at £30m to our £22m (excl. NI+pensions). I assume they haven't hit that yet since their promotion, but, along with being net transfer sellers in recent years, they should have plenty of dry financial powder.

So basically the Sam Szmodics sale last year wipes out the difference and then some.

Luckily for us we've also got billionaire owners to support us, unlike Derby.

[roversfan99]

1 hour ago, rovers11 said:

I agree it's a blow to lose him but it's really not a surprise. His leadership and championship know how will be missed more than anything.

Tavares is very highly rated and far superior in terms of technical ability than Trav. Baradji too is very highly rated and has been watched by much bigger clubs. Both have high ceilings whereas Trav is and always will be a championship battler.

How do you know that either has a "ceiling" that is higher than a player that a player who has repeatedly proven to be a very good Championship midfielder.

Baradji should be a non starter anyway if he needs an operation. And likely will be anyway for work permit reasons.

Also, you say that Tavares is very highly rated. By who? I liked the look of him admittedly against a League 1 second string. But he WAS highly rated by Leicester years ago, then went to Porto and stayed with the B team aside from a brief and unsuccessful MLS loan, then was in and out at Moirinense. If he is better than Travis or even on par then its a hell of a signing.

[BigHoz]

Big worry for me is the “togetherness” weve had top managers over the years, we’ve had a squad over the last few years who would die for each other, that is what made us playoff contenders. Now we have a squad full of strangers, no connections, nobody who the fans can call their own, get behind etc. There aren’t any players left in that squad that I think “he will win this for us” he’ll bang the lads heads together. There isn’t even a real captain left tbh. 
 

rough year ahead. 

[Torgeir]

25 minutes ago, TheKitGuy said:

This season will be the one where the academy streak ends. The sense of pride knowing our academy regularly churning out quality championship standard players, I'd say right now not a single player in the academy is of championship standard. A crying shame. 

Streak will remain intact, for sure. Several academy products still in the squad.

[pick32]

2 minutes ago, BigHoz said:

Big worry for me is the “togetherness” weve had top managers over the years, we’ve had a squad over the last few years who would die for each other, that is what made us playoff contenders. Now we have a squad full of strangers, no connections, nobody who the fans can call their own, get behind etc. There aren’t any players left in that squad that I think “he will win this for us” he’ll bang the lads heads together. There isn’t even a real captain left tbh. 
 

rough year ahead. 

I think Wharton needs to be that guy, local lad, old school enforcer CB

[TheKitGuy]

1 minute ago, Torgeir said:

Streak will remain intact, for sure. Several academy products still in the squad.

Apart from Wharton and Carter nobody comes close to being championship standard. i'd argue both Wharton and Carter are top end L1.. So it does make you question.. the only way it stays in tact is the sheer lack of quality elsewhere and having to throw 17year olds who last played on loan at Blue Star and Darwen Rangers. 

[Emerald Isle Rover]

26 minutes ago, KentExile said:

Isn't Sheaf essentially in the same position as Travis? (out of contract at the end of the season, not signing a new contract, and wanted by clubs higher up the ladder?).  

Coventry like to sign replacements before selling, (Kessler-Hayden whilst they still have Van Ewijk), and also like to have strength in depth

I would personally see Travis & Grimes as the 2 main men out of what would be left should Sheaf be sold

Edit - Sheaf is injured at the moment anyway

Didn’t realise he was injured but torp is and has been an ever present when fit he chips in with more goal contributions whilst grimes will do the holding role - Travis doesn’t get in ahead of torp for me - Travis much more aligned to grimes and he doesn’t get ahead of him either imo 

[rigger]

5 minutes ago, Torgeir said:

Streak will remain intact, for sure. Several academy products still in the squad.

But they shouldn't be.

[Torgeir]

2 minutes ago, TheKitGuy said:

Apart from Wharton and Carter nobody comes close to being championship standard. i'd argue both Wharton and Carter are top end L1.. So it does make you question.. the only way it stays in tact is the sheer lack of quality elsewhere and having to throw 17year olds who last played on loan at Blue Star and Darwen Rangers. 

That's beside the point because we will still have academy products making the matchday squad in Michalski, Wharton, Carter, Tyjon, Montgomery and Leonard. Buckley is still in the squad, so is Travis for the time being. From the U21's Atcheson and Mullarkey-Matthews will probably make a few md squads as well, 

[rigger]

3 minutes ago, Torgeir said:

That's beside the point because we will still have academy products making the matchday squad in Michalski, Wharton, Carter, Tyjon, Montgomery and Leonard. Buckley is still in the squad, so is Travis for the time being. From the U21's Atcheson and Mullarkey-Matthews will probably make a few md squads as well, 

Having a squad bulked out with sub-standard players is not a good position to be in.

[Torgeir]

2 minutes ago, rigger said:

Having a squad bulked out with sub-standard players is not a good position to be in.

Why are you telling that to me?

[rigger]

7 minutes ago, Torgeir said:

Why are you telling that to me?

 

7 minutes ago, Torgeir said:

Why are you telling that to me?

because to me your earlier posts, made it sound like you where supportive of the situation.

Edited 2 hours ago by rigger

[aletheia]

13 hours ago, Paul Mani said:

So, that’s potentially between 2-8 players in and 1-5 out. In the next 20 days. What could go wrong?

So that's on top of our 6 (?) in and 7 (?) out already? Stability, hmm. Who profits?

[Theaxe15]

After watching Montgomery last night I’d take his squad number off him

[ChickenBolty]

What exactly are Rudy’s credentials to be in charge of spending for a Championship side that finished 7th last season? There’s a reason Middlesbrough and Derby are willing to pay millions for our players - they recognise proven quality.

Overseas investment can work when you add one or two signings to a strong, established squad. That’s a calculated risk. But trying to replace almost all of our Championship-proven experience with bargain European options? That’s gambling the entire season. If this is the club’s new ethos, we’re in real trouble.

And then there’s the Travis deal - which, in my opinion, is far worse. Technically, he might not be at the same level as a Tronstad or others in the squad. But what he offers in leadership, dressing-room presence, fan connection, on-pitch gamesmanship, and influence over referees is priceless at this level.

We’ve all heard him say in post-match interviews: “I love this club.” If that’s true, why not fight for his teammates and the badge for one more year and then leave on a free? Selling him now feels like a betrayal of the spirit he’s shown and erases much of his previous good work.

One thing’s certain - this is going to be a long, difficult season. All we can do as fans is stay motivated and keep backing the lads on the pitch. But there’s only so much we can take. The sooner these owners, and their yes-men in the boardroom, are gone, the better.

[G Somerset Rover]

43 minutes ago, BigHoz said:

Big worry for me is the “togetherness” weve had top managers over the years, we’ve had a squad over the last few years who would die for each other, that is what made us playoff contenders. Now we have a squad full of strangers, no connections, nobody who the fans can call their own, get behind etc. There aren’t any players left in that squad that I think “he will win this for us” he’ll bang the lads heads together. There isn’t even a real captain left tbh. 

rough year ahead. 

Agreed. It must be a pretty miserable place to ply your trade at the moment. All your mates have left, any decent players and managers have fled the building at the first opportunity, others are blatantly leaving, there are no new contracts for performing players. etc. etc.

Two things stand out to me. Firstly, a severe lack of Championship experience throughout the squad. These new boys are going to be like fish out of water in a dog fight IMO. And secondly, Travis aside, two key players of our first 11 are 100% going next summer (if not before. three if you count Hedges - ha). Put yourselves in their shoes - they both probably have one good move left in them to set themselves up for the immediate years after football. Will they be giving 100%, going into the 50/50s with the same conviction as before? I highly doubt it. We're relying on kids, players with no experience in this league and mainstays who won't be giving 100%.

Trying not to be reactionary following two poor performances (and results), but I will be stunned if we're not in and around the bottom 5 come Christmas.

Edited 1 hour ago by G Somerset Rover