2025 Summer Transfer Thread. 😂

[Trinidad Rover]

Seems to be a lot more attention and pic up of the shambles in the media/socials this morning.

Not that it will make a difference but somewhat good to see the outside world recognising what is happening at Rovers.

[Herbie6590]

1 hour ago, joey_big_nose said:

Incidentally I believe NDAa are in practice unenforceable to hide illegal or improper conduct by the employer, and the government have are bringing in legislation to make them illegal in October 2025.

If there is really things that can be properly evidenced I would say its worth going to a lawyer to look at what options there are. There must be an employment lawyer in the Rovers fan base, or even on this site, who could advise?

Never underestimate the amount of personal turmoil that this would load onto an individual. It's a load of grief to have your motives questioned & your morals/ethics dragged over the coals. 

It sounds great in principle...whistle blow, expose the club...but in practice it's incredibly time-consuming, expensive & emotionally draining. 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

24 minutes ago, TimmyJimmy said:

So much sense being posted.

Suhail Shaikh and RG, the master and his emissary or perhaps the dark lord and Gothmog (chief orc) depending on your taste.

After 15 years we know that nothing will change - ever. There's no amount of nashing of teeth or wailing going to change anything - the moving finger writes and having writ moves on. Done.

Only the nuclear option remains and that's what I've taken. Rovers will always be my passion but I'm done. I'm not going to any matches, not buying any merch, not subscribing to any channels.  It's for you to examine your consciences and decide for yourselves but that's me done - yes even if we got promoted.

An empty ground is the only visible evidence to the world that something is rotten at the heart of Rovers.

It won't happen of course but at least my conscience is clear, they'll get no more of my money.

Perhaps me walking away is an example of what Suhail Shaikh meant when talking about his strategy of 'cutting the head off the snake" - I don't care, I'm no longer associating myself with his destruction of my club (and our club).

It will hurt loads but that's what I'm doing.

Still passionate, still Rovers through and through but now absentee along with my family.

My breaking point was when they appointed Coyle. Not because he was an ex-dingle but because he’d been an abject failure in every job he’d had since leaving them. An unfathomable appointment ! I knew in my bones that relegation was on the cards from that moment. I did as little as possible concerning Rovers after that, to the extent of just looking at the scores at 5.00 pm on Saturday and that was it. They didn’t get another penny from me. I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. 

Then a few years ago one of my grandsons started to take an interest in football and Rovers in particular. So he’s dragged me back in. That’s my excuse. How long this will last for is another question.

Edited 4 hours ago by Tyrone Shoelaces

[davulsukur]

12 minutes ago, bb1rover said:

When your info is from ex employees you have to take it with a large pinch of salt.

It's very plausible that under Waggot there were non playing staff that weren't doing much. Waggot leaves and this paves the way for the rest of management to shake things up. This happens at most companies. No one leaves/gets pushed out in these situations and says yes its cos I never used to do much. They have big conspiracy theories.

In fact a few weeks back I was chatting to a member of staff at costco, she told me she worked at Asda but she was managed out because one day the EG brothers visited and one of them just randomly looked at her and snarled you wont be staying here.

So is it that a whole bunch of players who were too old or weren't signing new contracts as the wage wasn't at the going rate, were defending innocent staff??

Or

New guy comes, wants to make a mark. Gets rid of non playing staff that don't do much or aren't great at their job. Thinks he can get rid of all the high earners and replace them with players from Europe??

I'd go with number 2. He's got no prior experience, so chances are this will end badly, but one can hope.

As an aside, I know a guy that works at Asda (office based, not in store) and they sound like they would give Rovers a run for their money for the "worst run business" award.

[Devon Rover]

2 minutes ago, Herbie6590 said:

Never underestimate the amount of personal turmoil that this would load onto an individual. It's a load of grief to have your motives questioned & your morals/ethics dragged over the coals. 

It sounds great in principle...whistle blow, expose the club...but in practice it's incredibly time-consuming, expensive & emotionally draining. 

Totally agree. It is easy for any of us to comment on what departed staff should do but, having been in a similar position before, it can impact on your self-confidence, health, and anxiety levels about future career opportunities (if you have years ahead still to work). In my situation, I became nervous, withdrawn, and just desperately keen to find a way to move on. Blowing a whistle, or engaging a lawyer, were the last things I, or my family needed me to do. For others, it might be exactly what is needed to move on, but I think it's important not to judge what someone should or shouldn't do - even if it seems like the logical/ required thing. The greater good doesn't always come into it when it is family, health and mortgage payments on the line.

This is all desperately sad stuff, though, for all except those very senior at our club, Whilst they are here, it isn't my club.

[Inferi]

45 minutes ago, alexanders said:

Gardner-Hickman shone under Ismael playing CM. Hardworking midfielder with lots of defensive attributes. Perfect if we are going to deploy defensive midfielders.  

During the 2021/22 season Ismael was sacked by WBA after 29 league matches. According to transfermarkt Gardner Hickman started only 6 of those matches and only one of them as a central midfielder

[J*B]

Just now, Inferi said:

During the 2021/22 season Ismael was sacked by WBA after 29 league matches. According to transfermarkt Gardner Hickman started only 6 of those matches and only one of them as a central midfielder

Let's not get bogged down with the details please, Inferi. 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 minute ago, davulsukur said:

As an aside, I know a guy that works at Asda (office based, not in store) and they sound like they would give Rovers a run for their money for the "worst run business" award.

My mates wife worked in our local store and she would agree with that.

[Herbie6590]

11 minutes ago, Rover down South said:

Two things I have questioned this past few weeks.

1. Where is Pears? Why has he not been in the matchday squad? Why has he not been seen on social media posts? Given Glens post about what’s gone on, did he speak out and been banished to train with the kids? He needs to be our #2 keeper regardless of previous performances.

2. Why was the captaincy given to Todd Cantwell when Sonny has taken the role in Trav’s absence? Seems an odd decision. No disrespect to TC but why was Sonny overlooked?

1. Pears - we were trying too sell him

2. Tronstad - we were trying to sell him 😆

[Mike Graham]

2 hours ago, Mattyblue said:

Makes perfect sense to me. Rudy is ‘the club’ as he works there. Travis, JE left it, so are no longer the club. The Club must be defended at all costs.

Classic tribal loyalty… endearing in a way, unfortunately these fans have never remembered the famous Bobby Robson quote that ‘WE, the fans’ are the club, its gatekeepers. Just because individuals, could be nefarious individuals, could be incompetent ones, happen to wear club ties they get full throated support.

It is called the ‘Comical Ali’ approach.

[Mike E]

2 minutes ago, davulsukur said:

As an aside, I know a guy that works at Asda (office based, not in store) and they sound like they would give Rovers a run for their money for the "worst run business" award.

I worked at Asda once as a temp over Christmas when I was a supply teacher (extra money in holidays).

They questioned ‘who the fuck do you think you are, leaving us in the lurch after all the training (how to use a till… for two weeks) we’ve given you’?

Lovely bunch. 

[StHelensRover]

Another milestone for the Venkys and Pasha.

England's tenth most successful football club now unable to keep hold of their best defender because he would rather play for *checks notes*... Wrexham.

Good luck to Hyam and Wrexham, enjoying their own journey and nothing against them personally, makes no difference to me. Just shows what these owners have done to this football club with how far down the footballing pecking order we are. Venkys, chickens, pecking, what does it all mean.

[davulsukur]

3 minutes ago, Herbie6590 said:

1. Pears - we were trying too sell him

2. Tronstad - we were trying to sell him 😆

Tronstad strikes me as a good guy, one who would probably be stood with the rest of the lads calling out any bullying/poor treatment of staff by our Snr management.

You can bet your bottom dollar they were trying to ship him out. He'll be gone in January, no doubts.

[den]

9 hours ago, glen9mullan said:

This was never about contracts 

This is ALL on Rudy gestede, his treatment of staff and players and total arrogance.

This started in the last summer when JE invited Weimann to train at Rovers to earn a contract. Gestede hit the roof and wanted him off the training ground.

JE convinced Waggott Weimann could do a job, against Gestedes wishes. That was the beginning of the end of JE and Gestedes relationship.

The day JE left Weimann was summoned by Gestede and informed his days at Rovers were over. Weimann opted to then have a little op to ensure he could get new club in summer.

This was pure spite by Gestede as he didn't forgive JE for bringing Weimann in.

Gestede then pushed a number of employees out the door for none performance related issues . One employee due to not covering her arms at the training ground.

Ive spoken to a number of employees who have departed and some there, but to protect their identities and in some cases NDAs I wont name them 

The senior players and sadly Leonard challenged Gestede for dressing down employees and being nasty and in some cases making them cry.

Leonard for his part was banished to train with the kids.

The rest for none footballing reasons and certainly not for contractual reasons (you actually need to be offered a contract to sign one) have all been dismissed this window (all members of the players council).

How anyone can defend the ciub is beyond me.

The best thing about x now is no one can see who likes your tweets. My own tweets its rather damning given the amount of players,,relatives and staff are liking what im posting. (As people know I wil never post a thing i can't prove).

No Gestede , JE would not have exited thats a fact.

These lads not being offered contracts which was RG job, is not an error. It was deliberate to drive them out the club.

I believe (my opinion) the damage hes created in one summer is more than any single person has at any time in the last 15 years.

This aint a plan of success, this is malicious and been made personal due to people refusing to accept bullying at our training ground 

Many current staff are walking on egg shells in fear .

One significant departed member of staff i spoke to for 2 hours on the phone a couple of weeks ago and it was extremely alarming whats gone down at the training ground.

Strangely Suhail is barely mentioned in any if these conversations. Its always Gestede.

This aint gonna end well unless that man is removed 

I suspect Gestede has been tasked with getting rid of all the high earners and his ego ( which we all know about because he refused to play at one point) allows him to be a right bastard and walk all over anyone who disagrees with him. 

[Goozburger]

2 hours ago, 47er said:

Remarkably ungenerous view of Glen's work over the years but if you're judging the club only on what happens on the pitch, your views would converge wouldn't they?

Its a shit show.

I think these players will gel together. Results have been poor, but I don't think the performances have been that bad. Against West Brom, both teams were as good/bad as each other. We were the better side against Birmingham and definitely against Hull. Norwich we were dreadful.

Why do my views have to conform to what other people think?

[RutlandRover]

Absolute bloody shambles that we didn't buy another experienced centre back if there was always a chance we'd sell Hyam. However let us not forget the season before JE and Danny Batth when Hyam was an absolute liability and crumbled consistently under pressure. There was every chance he'd have another season like that with the set up we have so would keeping him have actually been a good thing? We'll never know now of course. Terrible that we didn't have anything lined up to replace him. Basically chucking everything on Carter getting fit, having the season of his life and not getting injured. 

[Kernow Rover]

6 hours ago, Goozburger said:

It all sounds plausible, Glen, but you're expecting us to take your word for it given you're the one airing the accusations.

I'm just a supporter with zero inside knowledge. People post stories, like this one, online, and I've no idea how true it is. I don't know how you get this information or what puts you in this sort of position to do so, if what you get told is hearsay with added VAT, or if it's wholly accurate. While it certainly fits the narrative of nasty owners and people within the club, I can't just take your word for it. The only thing I can judge the club on is what happens on the pitch. The rest is hearsay.

Following the general trend of both your MB and Twitter posts @Goozburger (both created Summer 2025), it smacks less supporter with zero inside knowledge and more club plant. 

[davulsukur]

It certainly seems like Gestede has been given full control over this summers transfer business.

Make no mistake, Pasha is showing his true snake form here, letting Gestede off the lead puts all the pressure on him and takes the focus away from himself.

When this all goes tits up, he shoves RG in front of the firing squad and gives the order "ready, aim, fire".

He goes back to his masters with the solutions and the cycle restarts again.

[StHelensRover]

10 minutes ago, Goozburger said:

I think these players will gel together. Results have been poor, but I don't think the performances have been that bad. Against West Brom, both teams were as good/bad as each other. We were the better side against Birmingham and definitely against Hull. Norwich we were dreadful.

Why do my views have to conform to what other people think?

We managed three shots on target against Birmingham and West Brom (combined). They were both poor teams on the day and we couldn't beat either of them. We didn't come close to laying a glove on Albion, it was a stroll. That's all there is to it.

Everyone got excited when we beat Hull but it turns out they're absolutely rubbish as well. Norwich not a very good team and we didn't manage to beat them either. We missed some sitters but so did they, we lost 2-0 but it might have been 4-2 to Norwich if both teams had scored the sitters they missed. Puzzling that we looked better with ten men than eleven, that's not a good sign.

We seem to have forgotten as well that we played against a team newly promoted from Division four who made 6 changes to their starting eleven and they also dispatched us out of the cup.

I have seen one good performance from our opening 5 games and it was against a team I expect us to be scrapping with to stay up.

I'm not having that the performance against Birmingham was a good one. We played like we were away at Anfield or the Etihad against the mighty Birmingham City at Ewood Park, it wasn't a performance to be proud of.

Edited 4 hours ago by StHelensRover

[G Somerset Rover]

10 minutes ago, davulsukur said:

Tronstad strikes me as a good guy, one who would probably be stood with the rest of the lads calling out any bullying/poor treatment of staff by our Snr management.

You can bet your bottom dollar they were trying to ship him out. He'll be gone in January, no doubts.

Sure it’s part and parcel of being a footballer that your mates move on, you move on. But to this extent in one window? He’s a model pro but naturally he’ll solely now have eyes on his next move. And Cantwell aside, that’s our most important player we are talking about.

We’re beyond fucked. 

[B16Rover]

18 minutes ago, Inferi said:

During the 2021/22 season Ismael was sacked by WBA after 29 league matches. According to transfermarkt Gardner Hickman started only 6 of those matches and only one of them as a central midfielder

Yes but that one game... 

[DutchRover]

Even Elliot writing up criticism of Hyam decision and general downgrading of squad in the LT:

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/25433888.blackburn-rovers-transfer-narrative-fuelled-huge-risk/ 

It is utterly irresponsible/vindictive by Gestede/Suhail and condemns us to a near certain relegation fight rather than pushing on from 7th. The only motivating factors have been to cut the wage bill and remove anyone with an opinion/link to the club.

 

 

[47er]

2 hours ago, Emerald Isle Rover said:

I fall on the other side of that unfortunately 

you can’t claim to love rovers knowing what’s going on in the background but be happy to be paid off for silence 

Travis not a word / Buckley not a word / Leonard not a word 

Iv slight sympathy for your standard employee but at the end of the day accepting a payoff is wrong if you feel so strongly about something and feel there is genuine gross misconduct at the work place  

Come off it. If a contract depends on it and there's nothing better in the offing, what choice does a player have?

[Goozburger]

12 minutes ago, Kernow Rover said:

Following the general trend of both your MB and Twitter posts @Goozburger (both created Summer 2025), it smacks less supporter with zero inside knowledge and more club plant. 

Exactly what about my posts suggests to you that I'm a club plant? That they're different from the common opinions on here? Are you really that paranoid?

[Wendal]

4 minutes ago, davulsukur said:

It certainly seems like Gestede has been given full control over this summers transfer business.

Make no mistake, Pasha is showing his true snake form here, letting Gestede off the lead puts all the pressure on him and takes the focus away from himself.

When this all goes tits up, he shoves RG in front of the firing squad and gives the order "ready, aim, fire".

He goes back to his masters with the solutions and the cycle restarts again.

Exactly this. Hunt, Senior, Shaw, Broughton, Waggott and now Gestede they’re all the sacrificial lambs ready to be thrown under the bus once the vile Pasha has got them to front up for the decisions he and Venkys are making.

The disgusting and confrontational way in which Pasha talked about the club, fans and players in the radio Lancs interview told us everything. That was him on his best behaviour, imagine what he’s like behind closed doors?

Sure enough we’re seeing the playbook run again - already we’re seeing leaks and the usual suspects claim this is all Gestedes doing. He will get thrown under the bus with the promise of better times when he’s gone and a new project. Then the cycle will rinse and repeat.

Pasha is the only decision maker at Rovers - JDT and JE have been clear on this.