Jordan Rhodes =Loans Manager

[Ness]

I’ve heard this is a fairly standard role in many clubs, and it makes sense when it comes to the academy and developing our talents. Hopefully, he’s good at what he does. But hiring someone for this kind of position isn’t exactly newsworthy. When have you ever seen headlines about us appointing someone like Michael Cribley as Head of Academy Recruitment? This feels more like the club trying to spin a story out of bringing back an old hero to a backoffice role to cover up losing your captain and our leader in defence. But this it is not us signing the attacker Rhodes, it's the coach.

Again, hopefully, a good appointment, but for it to be in the news is just crazy.

[KentExile]

4 minutes ago, nesskj said:

But hiring someone for this kind of position isn’t exactly newsworthy. When have you ever seen headlines about us appointing someone like Michael Cribley as Head of Academy Recruitment?

Like this you mean?

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/manchester-united-announce-new-role-31961488

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/clygyyzex7yo

https://www.manutd.com/en/news/detail/jonny-evans-appointed-head-of-loans-and-pathways-at-man-utd

Edited Thursday at 19:46 by KentExile

[Bronzed A Donis]

My only gripe, is in the interview with the LET he's openly calling it a stop gap before he finds something else and admits he's learning on the job. It reads as though this was hastily offered to him.

Perhaps he's just too honest. It's definitely jobs for the boys but that is football it's a boys club, a lot of the time. Bigger fish to fry in terms of criticism of the club.

Ultimately, I don't think it's a role that's too taxing, he should be able enough to judge the right level a player should be playing at and what support they need.

Personally I'd give it to @KentExile who's basically doing half the job anyway

 

Edited yesterday at 06:09 by Bronzed A Donis
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[KentExile]

31 minutes ago, Bronzed A Donis said:

My only gripe, is in the interview with the LET he's openly calling it a stop gap before he finds something else and admits he's learning on the job. It reads as though this was hastily offered to him.

Perhaps he's just too honest. It's definitely jobs for the boys but that is football it's a boys club, a lot of the time. Bigger fish to fry in terms of criticism of the club.

Ultimately, I don't think it's a role that's too taxing, he should be able enough to judge the right level a player should be playing at and what support they need.

Personally I'd give it to @KentExile who's basically doing half the job anyway

 

According to the job description, its only a 1 year contract, at which point the project will probably change again, so it probably is a stop gap 😉 

 

Edited yesterday at 06:16 by KentExile

[sharpysharps86]

13 hours ago, KentExile said:

You must imagine Ismael has the patience of a saint if Rhodes won't be taking his job until June 😉

Most of our head coaches don't last much beyond Christmas these days

Oh I'm sure there'll be someone else between Ismael and him 😂

[Ness]

21 hours ago, KentExile said:

Like this you mean?

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/manchester-united-announce-new-role-31961488

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/clygyyzex7yo

https://www.manutd.com/en/news/detail/jonny-evans-appointed-head-of-loans-and-pathways-at-man-utd

Except these news could be interesting since it’s a player at the club retiring and taking up a new role. In Rovers case it was obly about the role. 

For me, seeing Gestede shaking hands with Rhodes just feels like spin—trying to frame it as some kind of partnership reunion. But hey, if others find that news exciting, who am I to say its not. Just my opinion.

 

 

[KentExile]

20 minutes ago, Ness said:

Except these news could be interesting since it’s a player at the club retiring and taking up a new role. In Rovers case it was obly about the role. 

For me, seeing Gestede shaking hands with Rhodes just feels like spin—trying to frame it as some kind of partnership reunion. But hey, if others find that news exciting, who am I to say its not. Just my opinion.

 

 

ok, how about this one then?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/68301522

 

It is obviously newsworthy, any attempt to pretend it is not, is misguided

It can also be spin, and probably is... member Rudy & Jordan playing up front together?

But still newsworthy nonetheless

Edited yesterday at 18:22 by KentExile

[Tomphil2]

I wonder if he's still registered as a player ?

[riverholmes]

Rhodes has only stepped through the door, I guess, so hard to know how much influence he has on this one, but James Edmondson's loan move to Macclesfield, announced yesterday, doesn't look good, in my opinion.

How can it be that one of the best performers for the U21s (a low bar, admittedly), who performed well at Macclesfield in NL North heads back to the same level?

Surely NL at least or Div. 2 should be the target for him? I find it hard to believe a club wouldn't have had a punt. And if not, keep him at the club and involve him with the firsts.

Edit: Could still work out, if, as expected, he gets regular games and progresses quickly. However, still looks a missed opportunity, I feel.

More generally, will have to await to see how Rhodes does. I was not aware clubs, especially, Champ, had dedicated loan managers. It seems odd to me that existing staff, coaches can't cover it. It's not as if we're Chelsea, farming out players across seven continents. 

I just hope a more sensible approach is applied at U21s level. The quantity over quality of loans seems unproductive - especially, the micro-loans in the lower non-leagues where injuries seem to be abound.

I would be interested to know if the club profits financially, at all, from youth loans.

Edited yesterday at 21:51 by riverholmes

[KentExile]

12 hours ago, riverholmes said:

How can it be that one of the best performers for the U21s (a low bar, admittedly), who performed well at Macclesfield in NL North heads back to the same level?

I would be interested to know if the club profits financially, at all, from youth loans.

He is not back at the same level, Macclesfield got promoted last season, and are one of the favourites to do so again.  so Edmondson has gone from a 2 month loan at a top end tier 7 team to a half season loan at a top end tier 6 team

For a comparison, Montgomery was at this level (tier 6) last season, but is 2 years Edmondson's senior (Montgomery turns 22 later this season, Edmondson turns 20 later this season), and Montgomery was originally at Marine who where one of the favourites for relegation, before getting his move to Chorley after Christmas

 

RE if Rovers  profits financially from sending players out on loan, there are generally some % of wages covered (although this is less the lower down the pyramid you get, especially as we get into part time clubs), and there may be loan fees involved for longer term loans, although this again is probably negligible below EFL level.  Longer term loans like O'Riordan, may have other bonuses factored in, like Rovers getting a bonus if Doncaster are promoted etc. 

However, major profits with loaning out players tend to only happen if you are loaning out to Championship level or above, which seeing as that is where Rovers find themselves, that isn't going to happen, so the main focus of loans is player development, both for the benefit of Rovers, and the individual players themselves

Edited 13 hours ago by KentExile

[riverholmes]

12 hours ago, KentExile said:

He is not back at the same level, Macclesfield got promoted last season, and are one of the favourites to do so again.  so Edmondson has gone from a 2 month loan at a top end tier 7 team to a half season loan at a top end tier 6 team

For a comparison, Montgomery was at this level (tier 6) last season, but is 2 years Edmondson's senior (Montgomery turns 22 later this season, Edmondson turns 20 later this season), and Montgomery was originally at Marine who where one of the favourites for relegation, before getting his move to Chorley after Christmas

 

RE if Rovers  profits financially from sending players out on loan, there are generally some % of wages covered (although this is less the lower down the pyramid you get, especially as we get into part time clubs), and there may be loan fees involved for longer term loans, although this again is probably negligible below EFL level.  Longer term loans like O'Riordan, may have other bonuses factored in, like Rovers getting a bonus if Doncaster are promoted etc. 

However, major profits with loaning out players tend to only happen if you are loaning out to Championship level or above, which seeing as that is where Rovers find themselves, that isn't going to happen, so the main focus of loans is player development, both for the benefit of Rovers, and the individual players themselves

Thank you, I stand corrected and appreciate your knowledgeable updates. With this info, it looks a far better move but, nonetheless, I do wonder if a League 2 move might've been possible. I suppose, arguably, it may not be of great quality difference.

Edmondson is, supposedly, one of the brighter U21 prospects and Rovers are in dire need of some these to come through, at least as squad players.

 

[chaddyrovers]

On 04/09/2025 at 08:40, Parsonblue said:

Most clubs have this role.  Last season Stuart Jones did it.  Rhodes is the ideal choice for the role.  As a young lad at Ipswich, he had a number of loans to other clubs as he was developing as a professional footballer.  He knows the problems youngsters would have going to other clubs on loan because he's been there and done it himself.  He's also had loans at the end of his career so knows the problems it can cause late in your career.  Thus he has the experience for the role and he has a knowledge of Blackburn Rovers.  For me this is an excellent appointment in so many ways.

Hard to argue with you on your points. Rhodes understand how important it is for young players to get the right loans and last season we witness Jake Garrett get 2 loans where he didn't play and his development stopped. That's what I will judging Rhodes is the kind of loans he gets our young players and whether they are playing enough to develop 

[chaddyrovers]

On 04/09/2025 at 18:54, Mike E said:

Could’ve been given to David Lowe? Or Stuart Jones’ replacement.

Didn't we offer David Lowe this role but wasn't he interested in that role? 

I actually thought it was ideal role for him given his background in youth development and experience

On 04/09/2025 at 19:00, Mike E said:

I’ll put it this way. If it were common knowledge we were advertising for one, who on here would have thought ‘I bet Jordan Rhodes would be perfect for that’?

Mike, we have been looking for a loan manager for around 12 months. 

Edited 4 hours ago by chaddyrovers

[Hasta]

Have we had any young players remotely ‘make it’ to some degree in our first team who were on loan at non-league level in their 20’s? Or indeed at any age 18+

(Genuine question, I can’t think of any)

Edited 4 hours ago by Hasta

[JBiz]

13 minutes ago, Hasta said:

Have we had any young players remotely ‘make it’ to some degree in our first team who were on loan at non-league level in their 20’s? Or indeed at any age 18+

(Genuine question, I can’t think of any)

Raya sprung to mind, can’t think of many others. 

[Mike E]

1 hour ago, chaddyrovers said:

Didn't we offer David Lowe this role but wasn't he interested in that role? 

I actually thought it was ideal role for him given his background in youth development and experience

Mike, we have been looking for a loan manager for around 12 months. 

And found an ex-player with no particular qualifications for the role. Some ‘search’ that was.

[chaddyrovers]

2 minutes ago, Mike E said:

And found an ex-player with no particular qualifications for the role. Some ‘search’ that was.

Which some loan managers don't but they have player experience of loans. 

 

[broadsword]

It's never heard of a loans manager before. And my first thought was that it was a completely made-up role and completely pointless. Admittedly we're have our struggles inputting passwords or whatever in order to register player transfers. But a specific person who actually does the paperwork for all of our loans? How many players do we loan or and how many in per season? Averaged over nine months, about one, maybe one and a half, per month. What else is he going to be doing or is it just that? 

We can afford someone to just look after loans but we can't afford a club shop in town or a matchday program.

Bring back the late eighties, I was happier then

 

[Waggy76]

1 hour ago, broadsword said:

It's never heard of a loans manager before. And my first thought was that it was a completely made-up role and completely pointless. Admittedly we're have our struggles inputting passwords or whatever in order to register player transfers. But a specific person who actually does the paperwork for all of our loans? How many players do we loan or and how many in per season? Averaged over nine months, about one, maybe one and a half, per month. What else is he going to be doing or is it just that? 

We can afford someone to just look after loans but we can't afford a club shop in town or a matchday program.

Bring back the late eighties, I was happier then

 

I could not agree more, we had not a pot to piss in, but we had a far superior team, to what we have now.... 

Just maybe our  scouting system and manager  had more idea than the  ones  employed since 2010 ? 

Data running rules over footballing ability today...

I just want Venkys Out, end of! 

I long for the days of Garner, Sellars, Hendry, Moran, Gayle etc etc

We had far better footballers in those days.. Than this shower of shit we have today and the alleged legend Gestede would not get in the team..

A poor mans Jimmy Quinn!

I forgot about Simon Barker and Alan Ainscow was three times the player Forshaw is! 

Venkys Out! 

 

 

Edited 34 minutes ago by Waggy76

[Mike E]

1 hour ago, chaddyrovers said:

Which some loan managers don't but they have player experience of loans. 

 

Like I’ve said, I don’t specifically have a problem with Rhodes in the role, he COULD be fine.

But I feel like a club of our stature, utilising a relatively new role (previously an in-house responsibility of other staff) we would get someone who at least had experience of coaching or scouting, let alone the actual role itself.

Even purely thinking of ex-players, Dunn, Neill, even ex-academy Keith Brown all have more qualification than Rhodes.

[riverholmes]

3 hours ago, Hasta said:

Have we had any young players remotely ‘make it’ to some degree in our first team who were on loan at non-league level in their 20’s? Or indeed at any age 18+

(Genuine question, I can’t think of any)

Not sure about his age at the time, but David Raya is the only one I can think of. For all the propaganda about 'becoming men' by going off to the fifth or sixth tier (George Pratt's just gone to Chorley to play "regular" football for "a month" (note the contradiction)), it appears unlikely that many, if any, will return to be Rovers first teamers. Montgomery is favoured by the manager and he was at Chorley, but not sure he'll make the cut long-term.

Players like Darragh Lenihan, Scott Wharton, Hayden Carter and so on, cut their teeth at L2 and then L1 levels. Then, players like Travis, JRC, Nyambe, Buckley, broke into the team/squad without going away on loan, as far as I recall.

 

Edited 48 minutes ago by riverholmes

[broadsword]

56 minutes ago, Waggy76 said:

I could not agree more, we had not a pot to piss in, but we had a far superior team, to what we have now.... 

Just maybe our  scouting system and manager  had more idea than the  ones  employed since 2010 ? 

Data running rules over footballing ability today...

I just want Venkys, end of! 

I long for the days of Garner, Sellars, Hendry, Moran, Gayle etc etc

We had far better footballers in those days.. Than this shower of shit we have today and the alleged legend Gestede would not get in the team..

A poor mans Jimmy Quinn!

I forgot about Simon Barker and Alan Ainscow was three times the player Forshaw is! 

Venkys Out! 

 

 

Those were great days. And I really do miss them. What we have now is a fucking insult. Andy Kennedy. Steve archibald. Ossie. Chrissy price. Try gennoe in goal. 

 

Marvelous days. Some really great players. And a much better support to the club

[Waggy76]

10 minutes ago, broadsword said:

Those were great days. And I really do miss them. What we have now is a fucking insult. Andy Kennedy. Steve archibald. Ossie. Chrissy price. Try gennoe in goal. 

 

Marvelous days. Some really great players. And a much better support to the club

They were and all the  fans stood together as one  :

There's only Simon Garner !