2025 Summer Transfer Thread. 😂

[Lancaster Rover]

9 minutes ago, Miller11 said:

Don’t underestimate how aligned things are behind the scenes right now.

There is very little point trying to differentiate between Suhail and Gestede - they are both very much on the same page. They are extremely close, holiday together, socialise etc. They might have different roles and responsibilities, but they are working towards the same goal. Same applies to the senior people still employed and recently promoted at Ewood.

I was told just after Eustace left that Rudy had decided that there was no need to pay more than 10k per week in wages and that would be the policy this summer, and Suhail was right behind it. Waggott was trying to push back on this - going as far as calling it a “suicidal strategy”, look how that worked out for him.

Nobody in the “senior management team” is remotely interested in doing anything that might rock the apple cart. Everyone who did has gone… Waggott, Fraser Read, Eustace, LOADS more whose names aren’t so well known but were frustrated/bullied out of the door.

I have absolutely no reason to doubt @glen9mullan’s info on what’s happening on the playing side, and I’ve got plenty of first hand accounts to suggest it’s just as toxic on the off pitch side of things.

Someone should ask Rudy whether he was on more than 10k as a Rovers player or the club he left to join and whether if he were still a player now would be sign for 10K.

[Miller11]

7 minutes ago, Tricky said:

finally some rational thinking and optimism 

its a transition and project we have to get behind regardless

This implies that the players aren’t backed on the pitch, which I think is an incredibly lazy false narrative, usually peddled by fans on social media who rarely (if ever) attend games at Ewood.

The team gets 100% backing and support from the crowd (the crowds aren’t big enough, but that’s the fault of Venky’s, Pasha and the brain trust), and the crowd is what matters. Criticising the regime causes no detriment to on pitch performances, just as delusional positivity towards them does no good.

[K-Hod]

10 minutes ago, lraC said:

I think Ismael is Muslim too, bit not 100%.

Can't see anything online about that and I wouldn't have thought Pasha was Muslim.

[TheKitGuy]

You just know this so called podcast, will be an absolute terrible listen.. not due to the censorship that's an absolute given and it's almost pointless submitting a question. The audio quality will be dreadful, recorded in some shabby cupboard at the training ground 1 mic plugged into a Lenovo ThinkPad. It'll sound like a GCSE media project and what else can you expect with this lot. 

[...]

47 minutes ago, RoverDom said:

Your Questions (Filtered) Answered

I was gonna say hand picked questions

[Miller11]

8 minutes ago, Lancaster Rover said:

Someone should ask Rudy whether he was on more than 10k as a Rovers player or the club he left to join and whether if he were still a player now would be sign for 10K.

Might ask when he is serving his ban from the training ground for refusing to play while a contracted Rovers player.

Edited 5 hours ago by Miller11

[KentExile]

3 hours ago, arbitro said:

This is not as enlightening as Glen's post but I was told last week that all the meat bought in for the STC and Academy is now Halal at the insistence of Gestede.

Whilst not trying to defend Gestede, this may have simply been a lazy cost cut rather than anything specifically ideological.

Kargbo, Gueye & Kahn & Gestede (there may be more, Ismael, Pasha & Baradji maybe? we also have a couple of Indian data analysts who may be) are Muslim if I recall rightly, so unless anyone else "kicked up a stink" about it, it may well have just been a case or having 1 meat order rather than 2

I am not discounting the possibility that it may well be a case of Gestede imposing his beliefs upon others, just giving another possibility

Edited 4 hours ago by KentExile

[Miller11]

2 minutes ago, K-Hod said:

Can't see anything online about that and I wouldn't have thought Pasha was Muslim.

Pasha definitely is.

[rob_of_the_rovers]

The name Suhail is Arabic in origin, the name Pasha is Persian in origin. 

[JHRover]

This is the bit where the Facebook/Twitter/Venkygraph bots line up to applaud the club for 'honesty' and 'transparency' for this stage managed stunt to quell anger following another humiliating and disgraceful transfer window. 

Doesn't matter whether they talk any sense or indeed the truth or not. The questions will be vetted in advance, Jackson and Chaddy along with hundreds of others can praise the communication and 'honesty' of the trio (Suhail hides away of course) and on we go.

They're able to tick a box on transparency and communication and there we have it, it really doesn't take much for the Venky stooges to manipulate the narrative.

[Tomphil2]

17 minutes ago, lraC said:

I think Ismael is Muslim too, bit not 100%.

It would add more weight to the theory they are 3 peas in a pod.

Now back to that word 'transition' and the 'next chapter' phrase all constantly being trotted out....

[Lancaster Rover]

5 minutes ago, Miller11 said:

Might ask when he is serving his ban from the training ground for refusing to play while a contracted Rovers player.

He did it at Boro too if I remember rightly, downed tools towards the end of his spell there. All points to his character being that of an arrogant and self important man.

[alexanders]

The backing has nothing to do with the thinking behind this.

My opinions are based on being very close (at boardroom level) in a football club for 6 years now.

I have seen lots of different strategies, some complete failure, some has worked to an extent but been very costly and some have given results. 

I will reserve my verdict on the footballing matter 

Edited 4 hours ago by alexanders

[DutchRover]

7 minutes ago, KentExile said:

Whilst not trying to defend Gestede, this may have simply been a lazy cost cut rather than anything specifically ideological.

Kargbo, Gueye & Gestede (there may be more, Ismael, Pasha & Baradji maybe?) are Muslim if I recall rightly, so unless anyone else "kicked up a stink" about it, it may well have just been a case or having 1 meat order rather than 2

I am not discounting the possibility that it may well be a case of Gestede imposing his beliefs upon others, just giving another possibility

A fair number of places will only serve halal meat now to save on the associated cost of buying and separately storing different meats.

[Tomphil2]

7 minutes ago, KentExile said:

Whilst not trying to defend Gestede, this may have simply been a lazy cost cut rather than anything specifically ideological.

Kargbo, Gueye & Gestede (there may be more, Ismael, Pasha & Baradji maybe?) are Muslim if I recall rightly, so unless anyone else "kicked up a stink" about it, it may well have just been a case or having 1 meat order rather than 2

I am not discounting the possibility that it may well be a case of Gestede imposing his beliefs upon others, just giving another possibility

The need for halal meat has risen, local supplier offers good rates, Rudy says right all meat comes from this source now because it's cheaper to do it that way.

Certainly fits the script..... as do one or two other suggestions.

[Roverthechimp]

Do we know if Posh increased the offer/price or did RG manage to overrule Suhails veto? If the latter then things could get very interesting...

[Tomphil2]

3 minutes ago, Lancaster Rover said:

He did it at Boro too if I remember rightly, downed tools towards the end of his spell there. All points to his character being that of an arrogant and self important man.

There isn't a set of fans speak well of him in England from his former clubs i know that much.

Villa fans were trying to lynch him at the end of one game for one reason or another.

[B16Rover]

Are we really entertaining that everyone's a secret Muslim cohort and there is a caliphate at Brockhall? 

[Tricky]

15 minutes ago, Miller11 said:

This implies that the players aren’t backed on the pitch, which I think is an incredibly lazy false narrative, usually peddled by fans on social media who rarely (if ever) attend games at Ewood.

The team gets 100% backing and support from the crowd (the crowds aren’t big enough, but that’s the fault of Venky’s, Pasha and the brain trust), and the crowd is what matters. Criticising the regime causes no detriment to on pitch performances, just as delusional positivity towards them does no good.

I’m not saying the players don’t get backed, they clearly do but the wider mood around the club matters too. Criticism of the owners is fair, but it’s about balance: hold the regime accountable, but also get behind the team and project with some belief, otherwise what’s the point?

[philipl]

Lunchtime so skimmed through this thread which is as depressing as I feel about Rovers. 15 years of pain with occasional bright glimpses snatched away by even more excruciating incompetence.

Went to the club website which of course is out of date.

Based on the evidence we have to date, there are 3 players who are probably good enough to get us into the play-offs:

Ribeiro, Tronstad, Cantwell

10 players good enough to keep us in the Championship:

Toth, Alebiosu, Pickering, McLoughlin, Wharton, Carter, Tavares, Hedges, Morishita, Ohashi 

Relegation bound- the other 13.

Ismael has a huge job on his hands.

[Goozburger]

4 minutes ago, Tricky said:

I’m not saying the players don’t get backed, they clearly do but the wider mood around the club matters too. Criticism of the owners is fair, but it’s about balance: hold the regime accountable, but also get behind the team and project with some belief, otherwise what’s the point?

I can only watch Rovers from afar. From what I can tell, most do get behind the team at Ewood, but the atmosphere seems totally flat. I think everyone, even those that still go, are worn out by the chaos under the Venky's. You don't have to turn up for that to happen to you, actually. 😄

[rigger]

16 hours ago, alexanders said:

Rovers are bigger than Venkys! 
 

you can’t sing rovers till I die if you don’t mean it 

Yes you can, I have been going since 1969, I won't be going again under these owners. But I will always be a Rovers supporter.

[superniko]

I feel a lot is going to fall on Morishita, Gudjohnson and Baradji, and I would have had some hope had we not shipped Hyam off last minute. Relying on McLoughlin (new), Carter and Wharton (crocks) and youth team players or full backs is a recipe for disaster defensively.

[Goozburger]

9 minutes ago, B16Rover said:

Are we really entertaining that everyone's a secret Muslim cohort and there is a caliphate at Brockhall? 

I find it extremely difficult to believe that a woman was fired because their sleeves were uncovered on the training ground. Surely that news, and the inevitable legal action, would be everywhere in the public domain if it were true.

[Tomphil2]

10 minutes ago, B16Rover said:

Are we really entertaining that everyone's a secret Muslim cohort and there is a caliphate at Brockhall? 

That clearly hasn't been implied the discussion is surrounding a halal meat only rumour and why that might be the case.

What isn't rumour is that Brockhall has been taken over by a brand new clique and we want to know to what or whose tune are they dancing.