2025 Summer Transfer Thread. 😂

[BRFC.]

46 minutes ago, Christopher said:

For me right now I prefer Ismaël. Why? Eustace was for the here and now, yes it worked to a degree, yes you earn your luck but I felt he had some lucky wins last season.

 

Ismaël is looking to play a more attacking style with players of a better age, Ok we've lost Dolan but we've brought in money with other sales and replaced with players with good potential ceilings. Building for the future. 

Coincidentally “lucky wins” had a Birmingham side in a play offs that went down when he left had us in the play offs and an awful derby team staying in the championship 

[Emerald Isle Rover]

3 minutes ago, BRFC. said:

Coincidentally “lucky wins” had a Birmingham side in a play offs that went down when he left had us in the play offs and an awful derby team staying in the championship 

Eustace is gone 

let’s revisit come May as to his credentials 

he’s had full pre season he’s been backed so no excuses 

exact same with val 

[Leonard Venkhater]

24 minutes ago, lraC said:

Gestede was with him in Australia at Melbourne Victory, signing for then in November 2020.  and Owen at Hibernian, where Kaean was academy director and Owen was assistant manager.

If "they" are still involved / increasing their involvement here again, I guess Rovers won't be the only club? Is there a chain of several clubs? 

I guess it will be a bit like those diagrams of rock music family trees!

Weirdly, it "appears" that some of the recent signings might be ok. ..unlike the January window, when I was a bit suspicious about how, why -and in whose interests-most of the recruits arrived....

[BRFC.]

15 minutes ago, JHRover said:

Sometimes I find it hard to believe that any Rovers fan can have confidence in 'building for the future' under this regime. 

Yes Eustace was for the here and now - he's a Championship manager who on average might get a couple of years to deliver and that's what any manager should be judged on - immediate results and league position. He found a way of delivering play-off form over 7 months on a shoestring after selling Szmodics. 

Whatever it is we are doing now it will have to be a total masterstroke to eclipse the results and league position Eustace was providing us with. 

Fortunately for those running the show they aren't employed to get us promoted, and aren't employed based on league position, so provided we can scrape our way to 50 points they will be quite comfortable. We are now embarking on a few years of the gravy train road to nowhere as they 'build' - but they didn't need to build - if they'd have kept what we had we would have been very well placed for promotion last season. 

How on earth anyone can say this club is building for the future in a summer where we've watched basically the entire spine of the team walk out the door as a direct result of a negligent failed approach to contract renewals baffles me. 

This is just life in the Venky cycle - someone else gets their foot in the door and oversees another rebuild, and then in a couple of years they'll have left or the owners will have changed track again. It never ends. Yet because we've got a revolving door of players people get giddy and think there's some grand plan or ambition. 

 

I find it bizarre how it was a disaster last week with Trav leaving and a win and a signing and a smokescreen rumor (the £5M striker) and now it’s all “trust in Ismael and Rudy” 

 

if it didn’t work for broughton and JDT I don’t think  Rudy or Ismael will succeed imo

Edited 4 hours ago by BRFC.

[wilsdenrover]

6 minutes ago, KentExile said:

The loophole I see there is that the rule seems to be aimed at players who already are taking up an ESC slot, before being loaned out.  I couldn't see one for players who were never allocated an ESC slot, if you get my meaning

I do see what you mean but I still think it’s covered by ‘shall fill an ESC place of both the parent club and the loaning club’

 

 

[Leonard Venkhater]

40 minutes ago, MarkBRFC said:

No they haven't to be fair, seems to be silence on his fitness status.

The only thing we have is from Nixon who said at the time of this signing that he was going for his op and will be out "a few weeks".

I am sure someone told me years ago that Nixon had some kind of involvement in our agent feeding frenzy...

[Exiled_Rover]

12 minutes ago, BRFC. said:

I find it bizarre how it was a disaster last week with Trav leaving and a win and a signing and a smokescreen rumor (the £5M striker) and now it’s all “trust in Ismael and Rudy” 

 

if it didn’t work for broughton and JDT I don’t think  Rudy or Ismael will succeed imo

We could easily be on 7 points with competent refereeing.

The problem is the squad is paper thin and won't survive the brutal Championship winter. 

[Exiled_Rover]

1 hour ago, davulsukur said:

Well Tronstad has turned 30 today, so they are likely looking at getting rid in the last week of the window!

30?! Absolutely past it.

He should sign a new contract and settle down in Lancashire...

[wilsdenrover]

1 minute ago, Exiled_Rover said:

We could easily be on 7 points with competent refereeing.

The problem is the squad is paper thin and won't survive the brutal Championship winter. 

The same as last year, the year before and so on then.

Maybe one day they’ll learn, then again maybe they don’t want to.

[bluebruce]

43 minutes ago, Ossydave said:

I certainly haven't seen it confirmed or denied anywhere. Nixon insisted he needed an operation for a stress fracture and its been taken as gospel. He played for his 'old' team the other week.

It might be a case of playing him and seeing how he gets on, it certainly isn't a serious injury and one that could most probably be managed.

Unless Nixon has very good contacts within our medical setup and has had it confirmed, possible I suppose.

He played a game for Yverdon, yes, then if I understand rightly he missed the rest before he left. Possibly a case of putting him in a game to prove he could play, then when that didn't get a sale over the line they either gave him the operation or rested him in case he worsened the injury before the sale. It's still all a bit of a mystery though and we do know for a fact there was an issue with his medical the first time. The club needs to explain things since they've gone on to sign him anyway.

[Leonard Venkhater]

21 minutes ago, BRFC. said:

Coincidentally “lucky wins” had a Birmingham side in a play offs that went down when he left had us in the play offs and an awful derby team staying in the championship 

Nailing my own colours to the mast, I think Eustace's obvious man management and preparation skills would have had us in the play offs, had he only been backed.

I think Rudy, Suhail et al wanted him out because he wasn't "aligned".

Now doesn't that word do a lot of heavy lifting?!!!

[Paul Mani]

Here’s my take…

Comparing Eustace and Ismael is irrelevant. Theres arguments both sides, but under our currebt regime, and the focus on scouting lower European leagues for diamonds in the rough. Then developing them on a fraction of the wage of their English counterparts and no doubts selling them for a profit where possible. - It’s Ismael over Eustace every single time.

The player downgrade argument is also moot, because a) we don’t actually know if these players are better than what we had, because we haven’t seen enough of them. And b) either way, the manager wants a different type of player. Eg Baradji and Tavares are completely different to Trav and Bucko, so we’re not comparing apples with apples.

All we can do is see who we finish up with, get down to the matches and make our own mind up. Right?

[Exiled_Rover]

35 minutes ago, JHRover said:

Sometimes I find it hard to believe that any Rovers fan can have confidence in 'building for the future' under this regime. 

Yes Eustace was for the here and now - he's a Championship manager who on average might get a couple of years to deliver and that's what any manager should be judged on - immediate results and league position. He found a way of delivering play-off form over 7 months on a shoestring after selling Szmodics. 

Whatever it is we are doing now it will have to be a total masterstroke to eclipse the results and league position Eustace was providing us with. 

Fortunately for those running the show they aren't employed to get us promoted, and aren't employed based on league position, so provided we can scrape our way to 50 points they will be quite comfortable. We are now embarking on a few years of the gravy train road to nowhere as they 'build' - but they didn't need to build - if they'd have kept what we had we would have been very well placed for promotion last season. 

How on earth anyone can say this club is building for the future in a summer where we've watched basically the entire spine of the team walk out the door as a direct result of a negligent failed approach to contract renewals baffles me. 

This is just life in the Venky cycle - someone else gets their foot in the door and oversees another rebuild, and then in a couple of years they'll have left or the owners will have changed track again. It never ends. Yet because we've got a revolving door of players people get giddy and think there's some grand plan or ambition. 

 

It's the life under Venkys in the sense that they've changed tack again:

• under Mowbray it was 'slow down and let's build sustainably' (spunking £14m on Gallagher, Armstrong and Brereton-Diaz!) - until the taps were turned off and Tony left in a huff
• under JDT it was a 'project' around a style of play and building through the Academy - until we sold A. Wharton from under him, the taps were turned off again and JDT paid to get get out of his contract
• under Eustace it was 'cobble together a squad of freebies and loans' - until they refused to tie down the core of his squad, lumbered him with a crap, panicked January transfer window and Eustace jumped ship to a relegation threatened Derby

That's three different directions in four years. That is the problem (on the playing side - obviously off the pitch we're a mess). 

We're changing tack again (one I actually quite like - similar to how I though the JDT project would work). Whether it works or not, at least there's a plan - young, athletic players that we own.

Yes it's resulted in us slashing the wage budget, again, and it's seen the core of a squad that finished 7th walk out the door (or perhaps more excitingly, get sold), but at least you can see the method to the madness. 

[Exiled_Rover]

14 minutes ago, wilsdenrover said:

The same as last year, the year before and so on then.

Maybe one day they’ll learn, then again maybe they don’t want to.

Oh they know, it just costs money to have a proper squad. 

[Old Codger]

38 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Hedges is better on the left.

On recent years' form, Hedges can be comfortably discounted now for a couple of seasons, in terms of any attacking contribution. If you are reading this, Ryan, prove us wrong 😉 All we want is for our players to give everything on the pitch, and to be good at what they are paid to do, with reasonable consistency. After all, the mighty Mr Shearer didn't score every week, did he? But we always knew we would get a shift from him, regardless of the opposition.

Anyway, I suppose the upshot is we are beginning to now have options where there were none, which moves us a lot further on than many had anticipated for this season (including me)! I'm not getting optimistic and misty-eyed yet though, as it is a long hard slog in this league, and some of our new recruits are in for a nasty shock!

On that front, what the actual fook is going on with the Yuki-bashing this season? Refs seem to think it is ok to have open-season on him, including (on Saturday) getting kicked in the chest without there being the slightest chance of a foul being awarded. VI needs to school him in the dark arts and get some of these cynical cloggers called to account for their bully-boy tactics with our Oriental maestro (maestroes now, I guess).

Watching on with interest...

COYB!

 

[chaddyrovers]

8 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

The problem is the squad is paper thin and won't survive the brutal Championship winter. 

Is the current squad, really paper thin, if we sign another striker and midfielder, but Buckley, Travis, Pears and Leonard leave? we have 2 players or more for each position so is that paper thin? 

I would still like another keeper in with some experience to give Toth and Michalski competition for the number 1 and 2 jersey 

[KentExile]

9 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

Oh they know, it just costs money to have a proper squad. 

Unless Adam Owen & Rudy Gestede are a pair of magicians 😉 

Edited 3 hours ago by KentExile

[Old Codger]

3 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

It's the life under Venkys in the sense that they've changed tack again:

• under Mowbray it was 'slow down and let's build sustainably' (spunking £14m on Gallagher, Armstrong and Brereton-Diaz!) - until the taps were turned off and Tony left in a huff
• under JDT it was a 'project' around a style of play and building through the Academy - until we sold A. Wharton from under him, the taps were turned off again and JDT paid to get get out of his contract
• under Eustace it was 'cobble together a squad of freebies and loans' - until they refused to tie down the core of his squad, lumbered him with a crap, panicked January transfer window and Eustace jumped ship to a relegation threatened Derby

That's three different directions in four years. That is the problem (on the playing side - obviously off the pitch we're a mess). 

We're changing tack again (one I actually quite like - similar to how I though the JDT project would work). Whether it works or not, at least there's a plan - young, athletic players that we own.

Yes it's resulted in us slashing the wage budget, again, and it's seen the core of a squad that finished 7th walk out the door (or perhaps more excitingly, get sold), but at least you can see the method to the madness. 

What hasn't changed is the fact that football is a results business, and the patience of those with the purse strings wears thin very quickly if the results don't meet expectations. The confounding factor that we have had to contend with at the Rovers since the Venky era began is that there doesn't seem to be any clear set of expectations. The closest we got recently was the odious Waggott claiming that survival was the goal a couple of seasons back. No wonder we lack direction, there's nobody setting a Vision, so the Mission is confused and contradictory. Basic strategic management. Absence of. End.

That's what is most frustrating for those of us who have lived through eras where there WAS a clear plan, there WAS a coherent strategy (even if it was shoe-string stuff) and there WAS a clear identity and cohesion on the pitch week in, week out.

It's about time we had another era where we all felt like we could pull together.

[Leonard Venkhater]

26 minutes ago, wilsdenrover said:

The same as last year, the year before and so on then.

Maybe one day they’ll learn, then again maybe they don’t want to.

Yes, an obvious pattern. Hard not to think it is deliberate sabotage...

[chaddyrovers]

2 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

Oh they know, it just costs money to have a proper squad. 

aren't we spending money this window? £7.5m spent and possible more so. This summer we seem to back Ismael with money but also permanent signings. Gestede, Owen and Ismael are all aligned and thinking the same way but they appears to be allowing to spend more money than we have done since the Mowbray spending on BBD and Armstrong

[lraC]

44 minutes ago, Leonard Venkhater said:

If "they" are still involved / increasing their involvement here again, I guess Rovers won't be the only club? Is there a chain of several clubs? 

I guess it will be a bit like those diagrams of rock music family trees!

Weirdly, it "appears" that some of the recent signings might be ok. ..unlike the January window, when I was a bit suspicious about how, why -and in whose interests-most of the recruits arrived....

There are some rumours surfacing about Myles Anderson being involved. 

[Theaxe15]

3 minutes ago, lraC said:

There are some rumours surfacing about Myles Anderson being involved. 

We signing him as centre half backup?

[Leonard Venkhater]

5 minutes ago, lraC said:

There are some rumours surfacing about Myles Anderson being involved. 

Yeah, I heard that. Need to check the source, though..

And I did find him on LinkedIn.." Unleash the player Ltd"..

It looks like an agency or a tentacle of one, but I am not sure..

Edited 3 hours ago by Leonard Venkhater

[magicalmortensleftpeg]

29 minutes ago, Leonard Venkhater said:

Nailing my own colours to the mast, I think Eustace's obvious man management and preparation skills would have had us in the play offs, had he only been backed.

I think Rudy, Suhail et al wanted him out because he wasn't "aligned".

Now doesn't that word do a lot of heavy lifting?!!!

Eustace wasn’t sacked, he decided to leave. Clearly he saw the writing on the wall over the summer regarding contracts expiring etc and recruitment going in a different direction. 

BTW, I noticed Batth, Sanderson, Nyambe and Weimann all started for Derby at the weekend. If that was us, I’d be fuming.

 

[Leonard Venkhater]

2 minutes ago, magicalmortensleftpeg said:

Eustace wasn’t sacked, he decided to leave. Clearly he saw the writing on the wall over the summer regarding contracts expiring etc and recruitment going in a different direction. 

BTW, I noticed Batth, Sanderson, Nyambe and Weimann all started for Derby at the weekend. If that was us, I’d be fuming.

 

Not sure it is that simple.

Why did he decide to leave? What messages was he receiving from Suhail and Gestede?