2025 Summer Transfer Thread. 😂

[Devon Rover]

It is all pretty depressing and embarrassing, isn't it?

I thought the club had reached the absolute nadir of lack of class and professionalism with the non-transfers back along. Then it got worse with the handling of the Eustace departure, followed now by our own manager touting out our first team players for sale in post-match interviews alongside, wholly unsurprising, suggestions of the occasional contract offer to a player being based on not even an inflationary pay-rise. 

We all really need to stop blaming Eustace, out of contract players, Hyam being apparently easy to upgrade on, referees, etc. Smell the coffee - there are no upgrades going on here, on Dolan, Hyam, Travis, anyone. There is no agenda against our club except in our own boardroom and in Pune. Just an accelerating stripping down of our playing squad towards wholly consisting of unprepared academy players and cheap cast-offs from the dwindling pool of "smaller" clubs. This ends in relegation, nothing else.

This situation is getting worse and worse and I honestly don't see an end to it. But, for me, my pride in supporting this club is fading away. I just can't align myself with, nor fund in any way, this total shambles of an ownership and their utter lack of competence, respect and class. I'm trying to hold on to what remains of my love for Blackburn Rovers. But I'm struggling to see it, anymore. Venkys have taken it away for me and for my son.

[roversfan99]

I see the owners aided by their minions Suhail and Rudy are keen to make our 150th season a memorable one by getting rid of good Championship players and replacing with cheap crap from here there and everywhere which will lead to League 1.

Clearly also keen to push a narrative of helplessness through the media and also Ismael. He has had question marks over man management in the past and he is happy to throw players under the bus in public if need be. People lap up his "honesty" but I suspect the squad wont appreciate it.

People also seem keen to underestimate the importance of these players. Talk of Tavares off the back of one decent game against Bradford's second string being an able replacement for a midfielder who has proven to be a good Championship midfielder over a number of seasons. Hyam has never been popular but hes our best centre back and has excelled in 2 of his 3 seasons here.

[islander200]

1 minute ago, alexanders said:

Carlton Morris's wage at Luton Town is £520,000 annually. This translates to roughly £10,000 per week. This salary was for the 2023-2024 season, when Luton Town was in the Premier League. 

 

 

Where you getting that wage from?

These websites that put up players wages all differ and they won't be correct 

[oneandycrawford]

54 minutes ago, KentExile said:

 

"The 29-year-old, who played every minute of Rovers' Championship season in 2024/25, has been offered a new two-year contract on the same terms as the deal he signed in 2021 when he arrived from Coventry City."

 

So in other words, a pay drop taking into account inflation etc

And, considering the injury records of our other centre-halves, the fact he stays fit is a big plus. I'm not saying he is the greatest player in the world (!) but reliability is a big factor when you have shallow squad like we currently have. 

[DE.]

3 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

I dont see how he would offer anything to any Championship club.

Interesting. Massive mistake from Mowbray to sign him then, in your view? 

[Lancaster Rover]

Getting relegated in your 150th anniversary season is so Venky’s. Might as well give derby the points now for the official anniversary game. 

[den]

It’s clear now that the overall wage bill is being cut. I don’t expect replacements for these players being offered the same as those leaving, they will be offered less. 
 

Either the club is in a worsened financial position, or the owners and probably Pasha as well don’t know what they’re doing.

Probably both.

[KentExile]

21 minutes ago, alexanders said:

Carlton Morris's wage at Luton Town is £520,000 annually. This translates to roughly £10,000 per week. This salary was for the 2023-2024 season, when Luton Town was in the Premier League. 

 

 

No chance

Luton threw  load of money at their team during that period, during which period Morris signed a new contract following promotion

"As a result, wages more than doubled from £27.6m to £56.9m"

 

Don't take sites like capology etc as gospel truth, they are random stabs in the dark 

Edited 2 hours ago by KentExile

[roversfan99]

1 minute ago, DE. said:

Interesting. Massive mistake from Mowbray to sign him then, in your view? 

I dont think it was a "massive mistake." He cost a nominal fee and has seriously declined since suffering 2 bad hamstring injuries. I dont think he has been a good signing though.

I cant understand why we extended his deal. Well, I can. Because I suspect his wage isnt that high.

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

29 minutes ago, pick32 said:

Don’t think Hyam would be hard to replace, never stood out to me as anything but an ok cb, need a real leader a captain at the back 

Like a Baath maybe 🤔.

Shit. It will be Forshaw won't it.

[Exiled_Rover]

3 minutes ago, den said:

It’s clear now that the overall wage bill is being cut. I don’t expect replacements for these players being offered the same as those leaving, they will be offered less. 
 

Either the club is in a worsened financial position, or the owners and probably Pasha as well don’t know what they’re doing.

Probably both.

The owners seem determined to hang on to the club for the lowest possible amount of money.

They've put nothing in for years with the Wharton / Szmodics / Raya sales funding the club.

They've put a nominal amount in this year to keep the lights on.

There simply has to be some massive skeletons in the closet for them not to sell as you simply can't run a football club like this.

A shoestring budget with morons in charge.

[alexanders]

https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/carlton-morris-luton-town-championship-strikers-wages/

This one says something different

 

Active Squad:

Player Name	Weekly Wage	Yearly Salary	Age	Position	Nationality
Marvelous Nakamba	£34,000	£1,768,000	30	DM	Zimbabwe
Carlton Morris	£32,000	£1,664,000	28	AM L, ST	England

Edited 2 hours ago by alexanders

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

22 minutes ago, DE. said:

Hedges might be a decent pickup as a squad player for a team at the lower end of the division. Probably wouldn't be able to afford him until his contract expires next year though, as one imagines whatever he's getting at Rovers are unlikely to be matched by the type of club he's likely to attract. 

We are a team at the lower end of the division.  We can't  afford his fee.  We will offer him less than he's on at Rovers now. 

[Exiled_Rover]

9 minutes ago, alexanders said:

Carlton Morris's wage at Luton Town is £520,000 annually. This translates to roughly £10,000 per week. This salary was for the 2023-2024 season, when Luton Town was in the Premier League. 

 

 

That can't possibly be true because I don't recall a story about Morris' agent coming to an untimely death.

[alcd]

1 hour ago, KentExile said:

 

"The 29-year-old, who played every minute of Rovers' Championship season in 2024/25, has been offered a new two-year contract on the same terms as the deal he signed in 2021 when he arrived from Coventry City."

 

So in other words, a pay drop taking into account inflation etc

Hyam joined in 2022 not 2021 as Jackson states. He could at least get his facts right. He then says the deal offerd is 2 years when actually it's only 1year from the expiry of the current deal in 2026. 

[MarkBRFC]

35 minutes ago, pick32 said:

Don’t think Hyam would be hard to replace, never stood out to me as anything but an ok cb, need a real leader a captain at the back 

This lot will make it an impossible job to replace him. Look at the replacements of the lads who have left so far.

26 minutes ago, DE. said:

Hedges might be a decent pickup as a squad player for a team at the lower end of the division. Probably wouldn't be able to afford him until his contract expires next year though, as one imagines whatever he's getting at Rovers are unlikely to be matched by the type of club he's likely to attract. 

Might as well keep him though, as we'll be at the lower end of this division this season, I have no doubts about that the way things are going.

[Exiled_Rover]

2 minutes ago, alexanders said:

Which makes sense that we "earlier" gave new contracts and increased wages on Bucko, Garrett and Pears. Because they were developing and we saw a good profit in them. 

Hyam, Trav have little potential to recoup much money. We can sell now for 2m or increase Travs wages by 10k x 3y (3.6m) and not expect any value after 3y. 

 

When we offered Buckley, Garrett et al new deals we had a competent Director of Football and thought we had a reasonable Championship budget. We were securing assets - whether for our first team or to sell to someone else.

Hyam had just been signed and Travis had multiple years on his deal.

Now we're clearly trying to stretch a miniscule budget as far as it can go, with absolutely no guarantees that any more money is coming across. 

Hence the short term contracts to new signings, a £10k a week salary cap and selling anyone of value to fund the transfers (i.e. Brittain and JRC's transfer fees will have more than covered any outgoing transfer fees).

[Angry_Pirate]

"Losing Travis, Dolan, Pears, Brittain, Hedges, Hyam, Batth, Buckley and Leonard doesn't bother me one bit."  (Below Average Fan)

What the club and (some) supporters need to realise is the prices of British players are ridiculous (which Rovers will not pay). Shipping out over ⅓ of last years squad - all of whom are British - will severely bite when they realise only a maximum of 1 more foreign player can be brought in (Mafoumbi leaving first).

Its an absolute disaster. A Burnley fan playing Football Manager couldn't do a better job at sabotage.

Edited 2 hours ago by Angry_Pirate

[DE.]

2 minutes ago, MarkBRFC said:

Might as well keep him though, as we'll be at the lower end of this division this season, I have no doubts about that the way things are going.

Don't think we'll have a choice tbh, as even if we shopped him around for free I'm not sure he'd have many takers. 

Haven't heard anything about interest in Pears either. Need to get someone at Man Utd to remind Amorim to get that one done soonish. 

[KentExile]

12 minutes ago, alexanders said:

https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/carlton-morris-luton-town-championship-strikers-wages/

This one says something different

 

Active Squad:

Player Name	Weekly Wage	Yearly Salary	Age	Position	Nationality
Marvelous Nakamba	£34,000	£1,768,000	30	DM	Zimbabwe
Carlton Morris	£32,000	£1,664,000	28	AM L, ST	England

That looks more in line with what Lutons accounts indicate, but will again, like all of these sort of sites, be an educated guess (at best)

 

Edited 2 hours ago by KentExile

[Miller11]

It’s been the case for years that we have always opened negotiations with our established players by offering them the exact same money for an extended period. Was the case with Lenihan and Nyambe, both of which were declined but further negotiations didn’t happen “because of covid”. Then it became too late.

It improved under Broughton as Suhail was too far removed from the process, which he won’t have liked. It went Broughton - Waggott - Babu. Broughton actually got some deals done (although one of the main reasons he was dispatched with was he was seen to be too generous with contracts. Wahlstead was nearly our highest paid player, Jake Batty was on several times more than all other youngsters, JRC got a huge pay hike). Reckless spending, or bringing our wage structure up to the going rate?

With Broughton gone things initially went Waggott - Babu - Suhail, then simply Gestede + Suhail.

Last summer there were attempts to get Szmodics to stay by treating him as an exceptional circumstance and obliterating the fairly loose wage structure. He was certainly open to discussing it, but too much dithering from Venky’s end meant the Ipswich move became inevitable. 

Before the end of last season there was an idea to offer Dolan a hefty loyalty payment - basically a big (million plus) signing on fee to incentivise him to sign on lower wages than he could get elsewhere. Dolan and his Dad were open to this - the offer was never put in writing.

Travis and Hyam will all have been given contact offers a while ago - extensions on the same money. No follow up will have taken place after the initial rejections so Rovers can say “we offered them a deal”. This is Suhail 101.

Gestede was always a Suhail man, but he further ingratiated himself with the signings of Ohashi and Gueye. Yuki took a pay cut to come to England. Gueye came from the notoriously poorly paid Belgian League. Between Suhail and Gestede they have now decided that there is no need to pay more than 10k a week for a player with those two as their proof. 11 “A” players on a max of 10k. 11 “B” Players on a max of 6k. And 11 Young players on a max of 1k. Any exceptions will be phased out.

Edited 2 hours ago by Miller11

[JHRover]

22 minutes ago, Devon Rover said:

It is all pretty depressing and embarrassing, isn't it?

I thought the club had reached the absolute nadir of lack of class and professionalism with the non-transfers back along. Then it got worse with the handling of the Eustace departure, followed now by our own manager touting out our first team players for sale in post-match interviews alongside, wholly unsurprising, suggestions of the occasional contract offer to a player being based on not even an inflationary pay-rise. 

We all really need to stop blaming Eustace, out of contract players, Hyam being apparently easy to upgrade on, referees, etc. Smell the coffee - there are no upgrades going on here, on Dolan, Hyam, Travis, anyone. There is no agenda against our club except in our own boardroom and in Pune. Just an accelerating stripping down of our playing squad towards wholly consisting of unprepared academy players and cheap cast-offs from the dwindling pool of "smaller" clubs. This ends in relegation, nothing else.

This situation is getting worse and worse and I honestly don't see an end to it. But, for me, my pride in supporting this club is fading away. I just can't align myself with, nor fund in any way, this total shambles of an ownership and their utter lack of competence, respect and class. I'm trying to hold on to what remains of my love for Blackburn Rovers. But I'm struggling to see it, anymore. Venkys have taken it away for me and for my son.

Agreed, we all have a decision to make at some point along this winding road which ends with a cliff-edge as to whether we can in good conscience continue to throw our money, time and energy into such an organisation.

A limited, honest poor, struggling club, poor standard of football, lower leagues I can accept.

What I cannot accept is a lack of effort, pride, lies, disgraceful mismanagement and conduct.

Some continue to live in la la land but for me the way this regime has treated the fans, its staff, players, the women's team, Eustace, JDT, the signings that we pulled the plug on at the 11th hour - all abhorrent shameful episodes presided over by charlatans of the highest order

[alexanders]

12 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

When we offered Buckley, Garrett et al new deals we had a competent Director of Football and thought we had a reasonable Championship budget. We were securing assets - whether for our first team or to sell to someone else.

Hyam had just been signed and Travis had multiple years on his deal.

Now we're clearly trying to stretch a miniscule budget as far as it can go, with absolutely no guarantees that any more money is coming across. 

Hence the short term contracts to new signings, a £10k a week salary cap and selling anyone of value to fund the transfers (i.e. Brittain and JRC's transfer fees will have more than covered any outgoing transfer fees).

Axel Henriksson got 4 years if my memory serves me correcly.

In hindsight giving out those contract deals was a big mistake and I can understand owners/management being reluctant and trying to learn by past mistakes and try to avoid the same hapening. The problem is that it is NO WHERE IN BETWEEEN! 

Either its Ronaldinho coming, splashing cash, giving out new contracts like drunken sailors or complete misery and full stop

Mismanaged and poorly run football club. 

[KentExile]

6 minutes ago, alexanders said:

Axel Henriksson got 4 years if my memory serves me correcly.

In hindsight giving out those contract deals was a big mistake and I can understand owners/management being reluctant and trying to learn by past mistakes and try to avoid the same hapening. The problem is that it is NO WHERE IN BETWEEEN! 

Either its Ronaldinho coming, splashing cash, giving out new contracts like drunken sailors or complete misery and full stop

Mismanaged and poorly run football club. 

Long contracts on decent wages were also given to Adam Wharton, Szmodics, Travis, Hyam, Brittain.. before Venkys pulled the plug 

You win some, you lose some, and if we look on a purely cost/benefit basis, I think overall, they are well up

Edited 2 hours ago by KentExile

[K-Hod]

1 hour ago, Somersall Ram said:

all the rhetoric from your management is quite frankly just to cover up their inability to fund the team. 
 

and you’re manager throwing him under the bus is disgusting for a long serving academy player

Unwillingness, not inability.