2025 Summer Transfer Thread. 😂

[RevidgeBlue]

45 minutes ago, Mercer said:

Nail on head.

I think the reality is we've spent sweet feck all!

Throw in the the bits and pieces from add ons for previous sales etc and I reckon we are in the black by about £5million so the reality is we will be running £10million favourable to budget plus huge savings on wages, getting on for £5million including employers' NI.

We are not investing.

Sadly, there are far too many gullible and naive in our fan base and they swallow, IMO, the substantially over-hyped transfer fees and subsequent bullsh1t from Ewood and LT hook, line and sinker. 

 

Im sure there'll be net savings on incidentals as well but Im not really bothered by that.

I just can't get my head round anyone trying to spin a £2.5m trading surplus over the summer as a £4m - £5m overspend on a £5m transfer budget.

To me that would mean purchases of £9m and sales of zero.

Each to their own though.

[roversfan99]

45 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

that what rumours says Travis wanted wage wise? 

for whatever reasons we couldn't agree new contract cos they demands are too high for our wage budget, so I will ask this very simple question, should Rovers have broken their wage budget to get a Travis or Brittain to get a new contract? 

Well you said Ismael throw Travis under the bus cos he told the supporters that he wanted out. still stand by that opinion? 

 

You are making massive assumptions, including assuming massive wage demands, and are also trying to pull the debate off onto tangents about individual players. 

Again, the worry is that we havent got a new deal sorted for any key player in years. Its not one or two, its EVERYONE. 

So that suggests that even if its true that we would have to "break our wage structure" to get any to sign. Then our wage structure is too restrictive to begin with. And it wont help that we wait so long to offer deals in the first place.

You are fixated by this Ismael throwing him under the bus situation. Yes, I still think the same but its not very important in the grand scheme of things, its not the problem. Ismael had question marks over man management at previous clubs and with incidents like that and also the Pears one, I can see why. Obviously you after a blip are fully in defence of everything he does, but in this case as I said its not a big deal and not the problem so dont fixate over it.

[M_B]

1 hour ago, roversfan99 said:

It will work in reducing the wage bill. It wont help from a footballing perspective.

Nothing has changed in terms of being able to sort out contracts. And I suspect you know that, even if you have now been trying to claim that Ismael just was happy to let them go anyway.

By "sort out contracts", you mean give them better terms. It's obvious that wasn't going to happen.

I've never claimed Ismael was happy to let any players go, I just said it's a possibility. You didn't even think to consider it an option. 

[NeilInBristol]

55 minutes ago, BRFC. said:

“Past mistakes” Gueye, Ohashi, Toth, McLoughlin, Ribeiro, Cantwell and Kargbo’s will all have a year left by next season

The errors continue and they feel like they can blame previous coaches it’s ridiculous 

we all know the real issue at the club 

[roversfan99]

3 minutes ago, M_B said:

By "sort out contracts", you mean give them better terms. It's obvious that wasn't going to happen.

I've never claimed Ismael was happy to let any players go, I just said it's a possibility. You didn't even think to consider it an option. 

Offer better terms and also offer deals earlier.

I know it is obvious that its not happening. We clearly arent offering competitive Championship wages hence why only Ribeiro has signed a deal in 2 years from our first team. And believe it or not, thats my grievance.

[London blue]

11 minutes ago, M_B said:

By "sort out contracts", you mean give them better terms. It's obvious that wasn't going to happen.

I've never claimed Ismael was happy to let any players go, I just said it's a possibility. You didn't even think to consider it an option. 

Sure, it's a possibility that VI was happy to let Hyam, Brittain, Trav and Dolan go. 

It's slimmer than a gnats pube, but it's a possibility.

[M_B]

57 minutes ago, BRFC. said:

“Past mistakes” Gueye, Ohashi, Toth, McLoughlin, Ribeiro, Cantwell and Kargbo’s will all have a year left by next season

I'm trying to see it as they are.

They're obviously not going to give everyone a 4 and 5 year deal. The players you mentioned, I'm guessing, will be on the lower scale and should be easier/cheaper to renew if they're still wanted.

Some players are also just allowed to run out of contract at every club. 

[M_B]

21 minutes ago, London blue said:

Sure, it's a possibility that VI was happy to let Hyam, Brittain, Trav and Dolan go. 

It's slimmer than a gnats pube, but it's a possibility.

For what it's worth,in my opinion , Dolan was never a chance, he was always going no matter what.

He said he tried to keep Britain, that one upset him. 

Ismael was always replacing Travis, hence the "what contract?" comment.

£2.7 million was simply too good to turn down for Hyam. 

But it isn't just those 4 that have left. 

Edited 17 hours ago by M_B

[BRFC.]

20 minutes ago, M_B said:

I'm trying to see it as they are.

They're obviously not going to give everyone a 4 and 5 year deal. The players you mentioned, I'm guessing, will be on the lower scale and should be easier/cheaper to renew if they're still wanted.

Some players are also just allowed to run out of contract at every club. 

Cantwell and Toth will be difficult because both will have good seasons and have interest from clubs with ambition

[roversfan99]

12 minutes ago, M_B said:

For what it's worth,in my opinion , Dolan was never a chance, he was always going no matter what.

He said he tried to keep Britain, that one upset him. 

Ismael was always replacing Travis, hence the "what contract?" comment.

£2.7 million was simply too good to turn down for Hyam. 

But it isn't just those 4 that have left. 

It wasnt too good to turn down for Hyam. Maybe you could argue earlier in the window. But his value to us massively increased so late in the window.

Take Guehi as an example. £40m was a great offer for someone who will otherwise leave for free. But they couldnt get a replacement so had to keep him. That £2.7m taken will be offset by a much greater risk of relegation.

There wasnt clearly any chance of getting any of them to sign because we cant sort the contracts of current players. Which is a massive problem that undermines any other plans we have, and any other decisions we make.

He played Travis in every game and he remained as his captain. Theres no suggestion that he was happy to move him on as if he had fallen behind in the "plan."

[London blue]

10 minutes ago, M_B said:

For what it's worth,in my opinion , Dolan was never a chance, he was always going no matter what.

He said he tried to keep Britain, that one upset him. 

Ismael was always replacing Travis, hence the "what contract?" comment.

£2.7 million was simply too good to turn down for Hyam. 

But it isn't just those 4 that have left. 

Whether Dolan was likely to go or not wasn't the question.

Again, you're trying to isolate each player as a one-off, an anomaly.

The truth of the matter is that the spine of our team has left and their contract status has had a part to play in all of them, to greater or lesser extents.

Signing cheap players on comparatively low contracts does not disprove that. We HAD to sign players or we wouldn't have been able to fill the bench.

The greater signifier is the amount of starters that over the next 12 months will have to be sold or will leave on a free.

Because nothing has changed.

No lessons have been learned.

The king is dead, long live the king.

[M_B]

6 minutes ago, BRFC. said:

Cantwell and Toth will be difficult because both will have good seasons and have interest from clubs with ambition

Aye, good point. 

I'm guessing  that is where they'd use the selling option. 

[NeilInBristol]

10 minutes ago, BRFC. said:

Cantwell and Toth will be difficult because both will have good seasons and have interest from clubs with ambition

That is exactly the MO here at rovers 

buy cheap 

hope they play well 

sell on for profit ideally 

put money back into “running costs” and give a new coach (after previous one leaves due to lack of ambition after 1 &1/2 transfer windows) a nominal sum to spend in their first window

rinse

repeat

 

[M_B]

1 minute ago, roversfan99 said:

It wasnt too good to turn down for Hyam. Maybe you could argue earlier in the window. But his value to us massively increased so late in the window.

Take Guehi as an example. £40m was a great offer for someone who will otherwise leave for free. But they couldnt get a replacement so had to keep him. That £2.7m taken will be offset by a much greater risk of relegation.

There wasnt clearly any chance of getting any of them to sign because we cant sort the contracts of current players. Which is a massive problem that undermines any other plans we have, and any other decisions we make.

He played Travis in every game and he remained as his captain. Theres no suggestion that he was happy to move him on as if he had fallen behind in the "plan."

They were always signing Baradji, and Travis, by his own admission, wasn't offered a contract. That sorts that out.

Hyam, I agree with you regarding the timing , but if it wasn't too good to turn down, why didn't they turn it down ? 

 

[roversfan99]

21 minutes ago, M_B said:

They were always signing Baradji, and Travis, by his own admission, wasn't offered a contract. That sorts that out.

Hyam, I agree with you regarding the timing , but if it wasn't too good to turn down, why didn't they turn it down ? 

 

Again, I am saying what the decision IMO should have been. 

You are just taking everything literally and assuming that if the club did it, then its probably correct.

Equally, replacing Travis with an injured loanee doesnt make sense.

[K-Hod]

1 hour ago, M_B said:

By "sort out contracts", you mean give them better terms. It's obvious that wasn't going to happen.

I've never claimed Ismael was happy to let any players go, I just said it's a possibility. You didn't even think to consider it an option. 

If it was obvious it wasn’t going to happen, is that it then?

Or should we maybe try the going rate?
Players of ours don’t even need to go to teams at the top of the league to earn their dues, teams finishing below us last season pay more. 
Doesn’t that indicate a problem above?

[JCRovers]

Transfer history over the past five seasons:

Summer transfer window 25/26
Net profit: £ 3.4 million

Winter transfer window 24/25
Net expenditure: £ 1 million

Summer transfer window 24/25
Net profit: £ 8 million

Winter transfer window 23/24
Net profit: £ 17.6 million

Summer transfer window 23/24
Net profit: £ 3.5 million

Winter transfer window 22/23
Net profit/expenditure: £ 0

Summer transfer window 22/23
Net expenditure: £ 5 million

Winter transfer window 21/22
Net expenditure: £ 650 K

Summer transfer window 21/22
Net profit: £ 14.2 million

Winter transfer window 20/21
Net expenditure: £ 600 K

Summer transfer window 20/21
Net expenditure: £ 900 K

Net profit over the past five seasons (including this year's summer transfer window): £ 38.55 million
Biggest signing during this period: Sammie Szmodics (£ 2.5 million)
Biggest sale during this period: Adam Wharton (£ 17.5 million)

Total transfer expenditure during this period (year over year): 1.5 + 1.1 + 5 + 1.7 + 4.5 + 8.5 = £ 22.3 million
Total transfer income during this period (year over year): 0 + 14.65 + 0 + 22.8 + 11.5 + 11.9 = £ 60.85 million

Percentage of player sales reinvested back into the squad during this period: 36,6 %

Reported player wage bill for season 2024-25: £ 12 million (17th in the Championship)

Some important notes to make from all of this:

- We seem to have been cutting wages for some time now, making it harder to attract good players.

- We no longer have any 'high-profile' players in the club that the team can rely on for goalscoring purposes 
(Brereton Diaz, Armstrong, Szmodics etc.). 

- We seem to have 'burnt bridges' (i.e. damaged our reputation) among domestic players (including some of our own) after the Eustace debacle last season. I see this as one of the main reasons as to why players like Brittain, Hyam, Batth, Travis and Dolan never extended their contracts (apart from any salary demands). Could also be a reason as to why our recruitment focus has shifted lately to mainly look at foreign players. We also seem to no longer be able to attract high-quality loans from PL clubs (the likes of van Hecke, Adarabioyo, Elliott etc.) even though the club will never admit it.

- Club will always be in a 'transition' mode if we're not able to renew contracts or convincing key players to stay. 
Natural consequences of not being able to renew contracts will be high player turnover every other season, lack of consistency in terms of performances on the pitch and lack of team cohesion. 

- We don't make any statements on the transfer market by spending 'big money' on a single player. 
Nine other clubs in the Championship have spent more than £ 5 million on a single player this summer transfer window alone. Thirteen clubs have outspent us this summer as well despite our income from player sales.

- We've been relegated on the last two occasions when our centerback pairing has been sold (Jones/Samba back in season 11/12, Hanley/Duffy back in season 16/17). During this summer, we've lost Hyam/Batth. Hopefully, history won't repeat itself for a third time...
 

[47er]

1 hour ago, M_B said:

I'm trying to see it as they are.

We know!

[Upside Down]

2 hours ago, JCRovers said:

Transfer history over the past five seasons:

Summer transfer window 25/26
Net profit: £ 3.4 million

Winter transfer window 24/25
Net expenditure: £ 1 million

Summer transfer window 24/25
Net profit: £ 8 million

Winter transfer window 23/24
Net profit: £ 17.6 million

Summer transfer window 23/24
Net profit: £ 3.5 million

Winter transfer window 22/23
Net profit/expenditure: £ 0

Summer transfer window 22/23
Net expenditure: £ 5 million

Winter transfer window 21/22
Net expenditure: £ 650 K

Summer transfer window 21/22
Net profit: £ 14.2 million

Winter transfer window 20/21
Net expenditure: £ 600 K

Summer transfer window 20/21
Net expenditure: £ 900 K

Net profit over the past five seasons (including this year's summer transfer window): £ 38.55 million
Biggest signing during this period: Sammie Szmodics (£ 2.5 million)
Biggest sale during this period: Adam Wharton (£ 17.5 million)

Total transfer expenditure during this period (year over year): 1.5 + 1.1 + 5 + 1.7 + 4.5 + 8.5 = £ 22.3 million
Total transfer income during this period (year over year): 0 + 14.65 + 0 + 22.8 + 11.5 + 11.9 = £ 60.85 million

Percentage of player sales reinvested back into the squad during this period: 36,6 %

Reported player wage bill for season 2024-25: £ 12 million (17th in the Championship)

Some important notes to make from all of this:

- We seem to have been cutting wages for some time now, making it harder to attract good players.

- We no longer have any 'high-profile' players in the club that the team can rely on for goalscoring purposes 
(Brereton Diaz, Armstrong, Szmodics etc.). 

- We seem to have 'burnt bridges' (i.e. damaged our reputation) among domestic players (including some of our own) after the Eustace debacle last season. I see this as one of the main reasons as to why players like Brittain, Hyam, Batth, Travis and Dolan never extended their contracts (apart from any salary demands). Could also be a reason as to why our recruitment focus has shifted lately to mainly look at foreign players. We also seem to no longer be able to attract high-quality loans from PL clubs (the likes of van Hecke, Adarabioyo, Elliott etc.) even though the club will never admit it.

- Club will always be in a 'transition' mode if we're not able to renew contracts or convincing key players to stay. 
Natural consequences of not being able to renew contracts will be high player turnover every other season, lack of consistency in terms of performances on the pitch and lack of team cohesion. 

- We don't make any statements on the transfer market by spending 'big money' on a single player. 
Nine other clubs in the Championship have spent more than £ 5 million on a single player this summer transfer window alone. Thirteen clubs have outspent us this summer as well despite our income from player sales.

- We've been relegated on the last two occasions when our centerback pairing has been sold (Jones/Samba back in season 11/12, Hanley/Duffy back in season 16/17). During this summer, we've lost Hyam/Batth. Hopefully, history won't repeat itself for a third time...
 

Hard to argue with facts, although I'm sure that some absolute lemons will give it a good go.

[Tomphil2]

But we only have 12k...

We've always sold our best players....

It's all the fans fault....

20 mill a year, just bad advice (since 2010 and counting...)

[BRFC.]

13 minutes ago, Tomphil2 said:

But we only have 12k...

We've always sold our best players....

It's all the fans fault....

20 mill a year, just bad advice (since 2010 and counting...)

Stockholm Syndrome is some of our fans (I see it on x quite a bit) constantly blaming fans, it’s why we won’t get change. 

[NeilInBristol]

8 hours ago, JCRovers said:

Transfer history over the past five seasons:

Summer transfer window 25/26
Net profit: £ 3.4 million

Winter transfer window 24/25
Net expenditure: £ 1 million

Summer transfer window 24/25
Net profit: £ 8 million

Winter transfer window 23/24
Net profit: £ 17.6 million

Summer transfer window 23/24
Net profit: £ 3.5 million

Winter transfer window 22/23
Net profit/expenditure: £ 0

Summer transfer window 22/23
Net expenditure: £ 5 million

Winter transfer window 21/22
Net expenditure: £ 650 K

Summer transfer window 21/22
Net profit: £ 14.2 million

Winter transfer window 20/21
Net expenditure: £ 600 K

Summer transfer window 20/21
Net expenditure: £ 900 K

Net profit over the past five seasons (including this year's summer transfer window): £ 38.55 million
Biggest signing during this period: Sammie Szmodics (£ 2.5 million)
Biggest sale during this period: Adam Wharton (£ 17.5 million)

Total transfer expenditure during this period (year over year): 1.5 + 1.1 + 5 + 1.7 + 4.5 + 8.5 = £ 22.3 million
Total transfer income during this period (year over year): 0 + 14.65 + 0 + 22.8 + 11.5 + 11.9 = £ 60.85 million

Percentage of player sales reinvested back into the squad during this period: 36,6 %

Reported player wage bill for season 2024-25: £ 12 million (17th in the Championship)

Some important notes to make from all of this:

- We seem to have been cutting wages for some time now, making it harder to attract good players.

- We no longer have any 'high-profile' players in the club that the team can rely on for goalscoring purposes 
(Brereton Diaz, Armstrong, Szmodics etc.). 

- We seem to have 'burnt bridges' (i.e. damaged our reputation) among domestic players (including some of our own) after the Eustace debacle last season. I see this as one of the main reasons as to why players like Brittain, Hyam, Batth, Travis and Dolan never extended their contracts (apart from any salary demands). Could also be a reason as to why our recruitment focus has shifted lately to mainly look at foreign players. We also seem to no longer be able to attract high-quality loans from PL clubs (the likes of van Hecke, Adarabioyo, Elliott etc.) even though the club will never admit it.

- Club will always be in a 'transition' mode if we're not able to renew contracts or convincing key players to stay. 
Natural consequences of not being able to renew contracts will be high player turnover every other season, lack of consistency in terms of performances on the pitch and lack of team cohesion. 

- We don't make any statements on the transfer market by spending 'big money' on a single player. 
Nine other clubs in the Championship have spent more than £ 5 million on a single player this summer transfer window alone. Thirteen clubs have outspent us this summer as well despite our income from player sales.

- We've been relegated on the last two occasions when our centerback pairing has been sold (Jones/Samba back in season 11/12, Hanley/Duffy back in season 16/17). During this summer, we've lost Hyam/Batth. Hopefully, history won't repeat itself for a third time...
 

Excellent post

Scary stuff 

 

“We've been relegated on the last two occasions when our centerback pairing has been sold (Jones/Samba back in season 11/12, Hanley/Duffy back in season 16/17). During this summer, we've lost Hyam/Batth. Hopefully, history won't repeat itself for a third time...”

 

 

 

 

[MarkBRFC]

12 hours ago, BRFC. said:

“Past mistakes” Gueye, Ohashi, Toth, McLoughlin, Ribeiro, Cantwell and Kargbo’s will all have a year left by next season

Also add Carter, Wharton and Pickering to that too.

[chaddyrovers]

11 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

You are making massive assumptions, including assuming massive wage demands, and are also trying to pull the debate off onto tangents about individual players. 

Again, the worry is that we havent got a new deal sorted for any key player in years. Its not one or two, its EVERYONE. 

Its 3 players who have left this summer. Dolan was always going. We have recoup around 9/10 million pounds for those 3 players. 

So if I making making assumptions on wage demands then surely it yourself blaming Rovers and totally and utter resolving the players or agents off any blame 

11 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

So that suggests that even if its true that we would have to "break our wage structure" to get any to sign. Then our wage structure is too restrictive to begin with. And it wont help that we wait so long to offer deals in the first place.

So its quite clear we have a limit on what we will pay and we won't pay above that. 

you complain about us not paying enough then in other topic you complain about players taking all the money out of game and fans being ignored

11 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

You are fixated by this Ismael throwing him under the bus situation. Yes, I still think the same but its not very important in the grand scheme of things, its not the problem. Ismael had question marks over man management at previous clubs and with incidents like that and also the Pears one, I can see why.

I'm not the one who complained about Ismael answering the question directly and proper instead of not. He did that with the Brittain situation and he was the Travis situation. He is straight to the point and doesn't sugar coated situation. 

Pears situation? what is the situation? please tell us all

11 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

Obviously you after a blip are fully in defence of everything he does, but in this case as I said its not a big deal and not the problem so dont fixate over it.

full defence of what? 

I have said Rovers were wrong to sell Hyam so late and without any form of proper replacement. Had Rovers sold Hyam and then brought in a replacement like Callum Chambers or Mattie Pollock then none of this would be a debate 

[roversfan99]

46 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

Its 3 players who have left this summer. Dolan was always going. We have recoup around 9/10 million pounds for those 3 players. 

So if I making making assumptions on wage demands then surely it yourself blaming Rovers and totally and utter resolving the players or agents off any blame 

So its quite clear we have a limit on what we will pay and we won't pay above that. 

you complain about us not paying enough then in other topic you complain about players taking all the money out of game and fans being ignored

I'm not the one who complained about Ismael answering the question directly and proper instead of not. He did that with the Brittain situation and he was the Travis situation. He is straight to the point and doesn't sugar coated situation. 

Pears situation? what is the situation? please tell us all

full defence of what? 

I have said Rovers were wrong to sell Hyam so late and without any form of proper replacement. Had Rovers sold Hyam and then brought in a replacement like Callum Chambers or Mattie Pollock then none of this would be a debate 

Its only Ribeiro as a first teamer (and even he was a weird short term deal that then got extended) out of any of our players that have signed new contracts over the last 2 seasons.

That is the fact. Go off on all the tangents you like to try and justify it, but that is not normal.

Brittain, Travis, Dolan, Batth, Hyam, Weimann. And Tronstad also unsigned. But yes, just 3.