2025 Summer Transfer Thread. 😂

[bluebruce]

4 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

I like my CFs to be able to hold the ball up (especially in any variety of formation where they're the tip of the spear). Gudjohnsen is 6'2", clearly has good body control and wins balls in the air. 

The ball always comes straight back when Ohashi is up front. If he's not scoring he's not contributing anything to the side imo.

e.g. against Norwich they were pressing our wingers and daring us to play a long ball to Ohashi because they knew what the outcome would be. 

I like them to put the ball in the net. Especially when we only play with one.

[Leonard Venkhater]

4 minutes ago, wilsdenrover said:

Do we suspect he has a lack of self awareness?

Brilliant!

Are you Thomas Hardy in disguise?

[Lancaster Rover]

2 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

I like my CFs to be able to hold the ball up (especially in any variety of formation where they're the tip of the spear). Gudjohnsen is 6'2", clearly has good body control and wins balls in the air. 

The ball always comes straight back when Ohashi is up front. If he's not scoring he's not contributing anything to the side imo.

e.g. against Norwich they were pressing our wingers and daring us to play a long ball to Ohashi because they knew what the outcome would be. 

The key is going to be getting players around Gudjohnssen if he is playing the hold up man role, whilst I think Cantwell has improved his performances considerably so far he spends a lot of time in deeper positions so unlikely to be immediately around Gudjohnssen. Same goes for the two wide players in Hedges and Kargbo, Hedges drifts in and plays in the 10 more than Kargbo for sure but he's not a natural finisher. Kargbo looks to get behind but again we need someone off Gudjohnssen to play the up-back and through ball to an on rushing Kargbo. Can only hope that Morishita is good at playing off a target man.

[bluebruce]

13 minutes ago, StHelensRover said:

Everyone has a right to have an equal say and all views welcome on the message board etc. 

Having said that, I can't help but think there is some unusual behaviour on the message board recently. Some new accounts with extremely optimistic outlooks on our shite performances and shite transfer dealings. Some other accounts which have been around a while which have occasionally gone on a flurry of just down voting criticisms of the club are back and active too. Wonder if they belong to people at the club who just want some feedback for their podcast? 🤔

In fairness I think some just end up here from FB etc, when posts or info on brfcs is referenced on there. The overwhelming mentality there is that everything is rosey and disagreement with that is often shouted down, so they come here with that mentality as they haven't been exposed to how shit Venkys reign is in the same level of detail as gets explored here.

[roversfan99]

2 hours 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?

Its not as if the players as a whole are miles off the standard and we will start getting battered every week.

Narrow games will regularly go against us. The narrative after them like with the Birmingham game we "deserved" to win (apparently) might be a common one. 

We no longer have a solid defence capable of churning out clean sheets. We dont have the experience in the team with the know how to grind out results especially when not playing that well. We dont have the goal threat in the team to nick tight games.

And we no longer have a good manager IMO capable of getting the team playing like Eustace did beyond the sum of its parts.

1 hour ago, alexanders said:

See this window as a 8/10 - Club operation wise 

5/10 - performance wise 

On the running of the club (I know results are the only that matter) there has been a big overhaul. Lots of players who we cherish, had connection with the fans, academy lads and solid player leaving the club is not good at all. 
In-depth though: 

* "old players" - Hyam turning 30 in December and Trav 28 in a month (is in his peak)

* Some didnt perform well enough to build our future on: JRC, Markanday, Buckley

* Some injury prone: Harry Leonard and

* Some didnt want to sign a new contract so we had to cash in: Brittain and to some extent both Hyam and Trav. 

* One who didnt want to sign and wanted to go to Barcelona to try a new life. 

This lays a good economic foundation of turning the playing staff, who havent been able to reach the playoffs yet, upside down in an effort to reach the playoffs. 

We have reduced the wage bill significantly (hopefully) and brought in new players with potential for sales value, just like we did with Hyam and Brittain.  Both deemed relatively successes, but not able to push us to playoffs. 

We have replaced the aforementioned players with: 

5 players aged 23

3 players aged 24

and 2 players aged 28. 

In addition we have kept the promising Igor Tyjon and starting to mould Montgomery into a role in the first team. 

Its a lot of uncertainty around the team. Some of the signings I think look extrmely promising and our First XI of 

Toth

Alebiosu - Carter - McLoughlin - Ribeiro

  Tronstad - Tavares

Hedges - Cantwell - Miro 

Ohashi 

 

We have Wharton, Hickman, Gueye, Gudjohnson, Henriksson, Kargbo, Tyjon, Pickering, Miller

 

I am not so sure we look so much weaker than last season. 

 

 

 

 

 

The window is only 8 out of 10 purely from a perspective of cost cutting. 

Its not a cause of celebration to witness these "older" key players jettisoned. 27-29 is not old. You cant just strip out all of the experience in a squad and expect good things.

The squad (and manager) are much weaker.

1 hour ago, Tricky said:

finally some rational thinking and optimism 

its a transition and project we have to get behind regardless

The fans are always behind the players. But if you see merit in the project then you are going to be badly let down.

[Exiled_Rover]

13 minutes ago, wilsdenrover said:

Thanks

We’ll get some more up to date figures (both wages and turnover) when Venkys London’s accounts are published later this year*.

* Last year these were submitted in November. 

Do you want a bet now that the gap is still circa £20m a year?

[Old Codger]

1 hour ago, alexanders said:

See this window as a 8/10 - Club operation wise 

5/10 - performance wise 

On the running of the club (I know results are the only that matter) there has been a big overhaul. Lots of players who we cherish, had connection with the fans, academy lads and solid player leaving the club is not good at all. 
In-depth though: 

* "old players" - Hyam turning 30 in December and Trav 28 in a month (is in his peak)

* Some didnt perform well enough to build our future on: JRC, Markanday, Buckley

* Some injury prone: Harry Leonard and

* Some didnt want to sign a new contract so we had to cash in: Brittain and to some extent both Hyam and Trav. 

* One who didnt want to sign and wanted to go to Barcelona to try a new life. 

This lays a good economic foundation of turning the playing staff, who havent been able to reach the playoffs yet, upside down in an effort to reach the playoffs. 

We have reduced the wage bill significantly (hopefully) and brought in new players with potential for sales value, just like we did with Hyam and Brittain.  Both deemed relatively successes, but not able to push us to playoffs. 

We have replaced the aforementioned players with: 

5 players aged 23

3 players aged 24

and 2 players aged 28. 

In addition we have kept the promising Igor Tyjon and starting to mould Montgomery into a role in the first team. 

Its a lot of uncertainty around the team. Some of the signings I think look extrmely promising and our First XI of 

Toth

Alebiosu - Carter - McLoughlin - Ribeiro

  Tronstad - Tavares

Hedges - Cantwell - Miro 

Ohashi 

 

We have Wharton, Hickman, Gueye, Gudjohnson, Henriksson, Kargbo, Tyjon, Pickering, Miller

 

I am not so sure we look so much weaker than last season. 

 

 

 

 

 

Yup.. I see what you did there...

[Exiled_Rover]

5 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

I like them to put the ball in the net. Especially when we only play with one.

He probably shouldn't miss so many chances / opportunities to shoot then, eh?

[Ricky]

Just to put our £10k per week wage cap into perspective. Yesterday Josh Brownhill turned down a deal which could have been worth £100k per week at Leicester. £40k a week basic and £3m promotion bonus.

[Old Codger]

7 minutes ago, Lancaster Rover said:

The key is going to be getting players around Gudjohnssen if he is playing the hold up man role, whilst I think Cantwell has improved his performances considerably so far he spends a lot of time in deeper positions so unlikely to be immediately around Gudjohnssen. Same goes for the two wide players in Hedges and Kargbo, Hedges drifts in and plays in the 10 more than Kargbo for sure but he's not a natural finisher. Kargbo looks to get behind but again we need someone off Gudjohnssen to play the up-back and through ball to an on rushing Kargbo. Can only hope that Morishita is good at playing off a target man.

And there you have this season's mission.. 'can only hope' Not an actual plan, just a vague wave in a possible direction.

[TimmyJimmy]

1 hour ago, rob_of_the_rovers said:

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

You know is name is Suhail Shaikh right? Pasha is just a name the 'fans' gave him.

[roversfan99]

This "ask us questions" is a crafty attempt at appearing to be open, engaging and transparent. And sadly, some of the more gullible will be taken in by it.

Suhail has swerved it and the questions this way have to be heavily vetted. 

Gestede and Owen should be given a P45 at any self respecting club. Before even considering snake Suhail and obviously the owners.

Take contracts. The question about our total inability to sort them full stop will be swerved. Individual circumstances will be put down to location, players downing tools, clubs offering uncompetitive wages, all sorts of shit excuses and no justification as to the overriding pattern.

Ismael needs to be asked if he is happy. He will probably say yes but if he has a shred of ambition and credibility, he cant be. He didnt want this window.

[Goozburger]

1 minute ago, roversfan99 said:

The narrative after them like with the Birmingham game we "deserved" to win (apparently) might be a common one.

After the Birmingham game, I had that rare feeling of being punched in the stomach. I was pretty gutted we threw it away at the end because I honestly thought we were the better side (by how much or how little doesn't really matter). I'm not saying we were outstanding, but I think Birmingham came to Ewood with a lot of momentum and didn't really do much until the silly mistakes we made at the end.

It's worrying to lose a game like that, but I don't think the performance was bad. Last weekend against Hull, we were superb. On the pitch, the results aren't coming off, but I'm not alarmed by the performances. The bad one was against Norwich, where we sat off them far too much (we seem to start too negatively in all our games under Ismael), and it dug ourselves a hole that we couldn't get out of.

[roversfan99]

Just now, Goozburger said:

After the Birmingham game, I had that rare feeling of being punched in the stomach. I was pretty gutted we threw it away at the end because I honestly thought we were the better side (by how much or how little doesn't really matter). I'm not saying we were outstanding, but I think Birmingham came to Ewood with a lot of momentum and didn't really do much until the silly mistakes we made at the end.

It's worrying to lose a game like that, but I don't think the performance was bad. Last weekend against Hull, we were superb. On the pitch, the results aren't coming off, but I'm not alarmed by the performances. The bad one was against Norwich, where we sat off them far too much (we seem to start too negatively in all our games under Ismael), and it dug ourselves a hole that we couldn't get out of.

But again, I suspect that sort of result will happen more than once.

We dont have a squad at a level that isnt competitive. But we have lost the experience, the know how, the whole defence, the above average manager and didnt have the goal threat to begin with to swerve tight games in our favour.

[MarkBRFC71]

38 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

Hedges still starting games is criminal.

I'd also expect Gudjohnsen to quickly displace Ohashi - he'll offer far more upfront. 

Not a Hedges fan, but he's been our best wide player this season.  Which is probably indicative of how shite the rest are.

And which part of 5 goals in 34 games in a shit league leads you to think Gudjohnsen will offer far more upfront than Yuki?

We've just borne witness to a massive downgrade of the squad.  Not a single player brought in is better than we already had at the end of last season.  Our only hope of survival is that somehow there are 3 worse and/or bigger basket case clubs than us.

Edited 6 hours ago by MarkBRFC71

[TimmyJimmy]

44 minutes ago, rigger said:

I thought Halal meat had to be slaughtered humanely.

Non topic. I'm hungry and the cows made of beef, that's the just way it us.

[glen9mullan]

1 hour ago, Goozburger said:

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.

She was told to not dress this way , a club uniform could be provided if she has not got one ,as this is not the image the club will accept going forwards. Baring in mind she was dressing this way at Rovers when Rudy was still at school and has always dressed that way which is smart casual.

There is other parts to this but I really can't add to what ive posted previously.

[glen9mullan]

On pork being banned from the training ground, I asked Steve Waggott who confirmed this was the case in writing. 

[bluebruce]

15 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

He probably shouldn't miss so many chances / opportunities to shoot then, eh?

If you mean Ohashi, Gudjohnsen doesn't seem to be better at it from the stats. We will see what happens obviously but it seems premature to assume he will easily displace Ohashi based on what is known.

[Lancaster Rover]

5 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

But again, I suspect that sort of result will happen more than once.

We dont have a squad at a level that isnt competitive. But we have lost the experience, the know how, the whole defence, the above average manager and didnt have the goal threat to begin with to swerve tight games in our favour.

The Brum game is a brilliant example of the difference between top players at this level and what we've got. With top players/winners that corner get's played short in a corner and we aim to win endless throw in's, draw a foul, etc ending any momentum that Brum had built with a late equaliser. If for some unfathomable reason you insist on crossing it in, prepare for a transition. Thirdly if all those options fail then someone takes responsibility and clamps their player on the half way line and takes a booking. 

We did none of the above, Hyam (formerly of this parish) makes an awful attempt at bringing their man down and Tavares proceeds to jog alongside their man into the corner and inexplicably lets him cross. 

[den]

1 minute ago, glen9mullan said:

On pork being banned from the training ground, I asked Steve Waggott who confirmed this was the case in writing. 

Oh dear.

[bluebruce]

1 minute ago, glen9mullan said:

On pork being banned from the training ground, I asked Steve Waggott who confirmed this was the case in writing. 

If that's been sent to you in writing, could you post it up?

[aletheia]

1 hour ago, Miller11 said:

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

 

1 hour ago, JHRover said:

This is the bit where the Facebook/Twitter/Venkygraph bots line up

Did you forget on these boards too....

[bluebruce]

1 minute ago, Lancaster Rover said:

The Brum game is a brilliant example of the difference between top players at this level and what we've got. With top players/winners that corner get's played short in a corner and we aim to win endless throw in's, draw a foul, etc ending any momentum that Brum had built with a late equaliser. If for some unfathomable reason you insist on crossing it in, prepare for a transition. Thirdly if all those options fail then someone takes responsibility and clamps their player on the half way line and takes a booking. 

We did none of the above, Hyam (formerly of this parish) makes an awful attempt at bringing their man down and Tavares proceeds to jog alongside their man into the corner and inexplicably lets him cross. 

Actually that's down to coaching and tactics, not player quality.

[CambridgeRover]

4 minutes ago, glen9mullan said:

On pork being banned from the training ground, I asked Steve Waggott who confirmed this was the case in writing. 

Was any reason given?