Is the team stronger or weaker after the transfer window?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I’ll know better after Saturdays game,  it’ll be the first time I’ve been able to see them in the flesh in a competitive game. Ipswich will provide a proper test.

[Exiled in Toronto Mk2]

I’m mildly optimistic, not least because by far the biggest upgrade in my eyes is the defence. Credit to VI who didn’t fanny about on dumping Pears, there’s 10 soft goals not conceded straight away. But equally important is how much Pears’s indecision with the ball stunted our play. Add in, hopefully, a season of Carter and Wharton (I don’t buy the “made of glass” mantra, they have 300+ appearances between them) a beast of a RB and an extra half season of Ribeiro vs Pickering and I think we are miles better at the back.

As to all these thousands of championship appearances we sold, not one of them achieved anything. Cantwell’s experience at this level is far more valuable imo. Not all 10 signings will succeed, they never do, but finding out will at least be more interesting than another season of highly predictable nothingness.

[Leonard Venkhater]

Honestly, we just won't know until the season builds up-Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday etc...

I am absolutely positive that a risk assessment carried out on this season's squad would show a likelihood of key injuries ( e.g. to centre halves) as pretty high and the the severity of the consequences of such injuries, as very high.....

Meanwhile, I was delighted for Scott and Hayden....

And I have just listened to the LT podcast and talk of supporters needing blind faith.

The problem is that Blackburn Rovers is an earthly business -not "the panting heart of Rome"!

Edited yesterday at 14:46 by Leonard Venkhater

[roversfan99]

1 hour ago, Exiled in Toronto Mk2 said:

I’m mildly optimistic, not least because by far the biggest upgrade in my eyes is the defence. Credit to VI who didn’t fanny about on dumping Pears, there’s 10 soft goals not conceded straight away. But equally important is how much Pears’s indecision with the ball stunted our play. Add in, hopefully, a season of Carter and Wharton (I don’t buy the “made of glass” mantra, they have 300+ appearances between them) a beast of a RB and an extra half season of Ribeiro vs Pickering and I think we are miles better at the back.

As to all these thousands of championship appearances we sold, not one of them achieved anything. Cantwell’s experience at this level is far more valuable imo. Not all 10 signings will succeed, they never do, but finding out will at least be more interesting than another season of highly predictable nothingness.

But we have lost a hell of a lot in defence. And that defence did really well last season and earnt lots of clean sheets. Hyam, Batth and Brittain were all excellent last season.

Of course there is something to the injury concerns between Carter and Wharton. Carter has repeatedly picked up muscular injuries over the last 2 seasons and picked up another 30 minutes into pre season. Wharton missed 16 months with a terrible knee injury. But the issue is compounded with only having one other senior centre back.

If theres any area of the team that is most likely to be downgraded, its the back 4.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

18 hours ago, Displaced Rover said:

Club propaganda is getting more obvious by the week…

It has been noticed..incredible what a few wins can do.

[aletheia]

2 hours ago, Exiled in Toronto Mk2 said:

As to all these thousands of championship appearances we sold, not one of them achieved anything.

7th.

[aletheia]

2 hours ago, Exiled in Toronto Mk2 said:

but finding out will at least be more interesting than another season of highly predictable nothingness.

I predict worse than last season -nothingness of mid to low table. (And let's see if we can get beyond the quarter final of the cup).

Edited yesterday at 16:24 by aletheia

[Admiral Nelsen]

I'm happy enough to say that I'm pleasantly surprised by some of the early performances. First impressions can obviously be misleading (in both directions, as anyone seeing Andre Ooijer's debut would testify!). But Alebiosu has impressed me more than a lad with his pedigree had any right too. Gudjohnsen and Morishita appear to have something about them. McLoughlin looks better than you'd expect for Hull City's fourth choice centre back, and even Tavares has had his moments which suggests he could have a pretty high ceiling. 

 

But stronger than last year? I seriously doubt it, and we can only really say one way or another when we see the sorts of performances they're capable of in February after they've had some exposure to a Championship winter and regular three game weeks. 

[M_B]

Despite signing 10,only 3 new players started on Saturday. Obviously injuries and suspensions will be a factor, but it will be interesting going forward to see how that changes. It will maybe be a good indication of just how successful the window was.

I'm more intrigued than anything, beyond Dolan and Britain, can't say I'm too fussed about the ones who've left. 

[Exiled_Rover]

21 hours ago, Herbie6590 said:

We finished 7th last season. I cannot conceive that this squad will finish as high as that. 

Hope to be proved wrong. 

I think that was down to the manager more than anything. 

[Exiled_Rover]

4 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

But we have lost a hell of a lot in defence. And that defence did really well last season and earnt lots of clean sheets. Hyam, Batth and Brittain were all excellent last season.

Of course there is something to the injury concerns between Carter and Wharton. Carter has repeatedly picked up muscular injuries over the last 2 seasons and picked up another 30 minutes into pre season. Wharton missed 16 months with a terrible knee injury. But the issue is compounded with only having one other senior centre back.

If theres any area of the team that is most likely to be downgraded, its the back 4.

However we've improved tremendously between the sticks so it'll probably roughly even out. 

I also think Hyam's best ability was availability (50 consecutive starts is a heck of an effort). He was a mid-table CB - too soft and quiet for mine. 

Edited 22 hours ago by Exiled_Rover

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

4 hours ago, aletheia said:

7th.

How many “ crunch “ matches did we fail to win ? I’m going back a few seasons now.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

44 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

However we've improved tremendously between the sticks so it'll probably roughly even out. 

I also think Hyam's best ability was availability (50 consecutive starts is a heck of an effort). He was a mid-table CB - too soft and quiet for mine. 

You could argue that if you’re a centre half and you don’t miss one game in 50 for injury or suspension - maybe you’re not putting yourself about as much as you should be ? 

Edited 21 hours ago by Tyrone Shoelaces

[roversfan99]

Surely we arent potentially criticising a player for being available every week?

[davulsukur]

As it stands right now, we are weaker. We've allowed so much championship experience to leave and replaced with hardly any. As the season progresses and the players get more and more games under their belts, the gap should start to close but I think we'll only know for sure by the season end. 

We'll see how the new boys cope when the games are coming thick and fast.

[joey_big_nose]

If we had kept Hyam and Travis I think there would be an argument that we could be stronger or ateast the same. Mori, McCloughlin, Alebiouso and Gudjonsen all look very promising.  We look to have mitigated Batth, Brittain and Dolan well. Hopefully Gudjonsen can do the same for Weiman. But Hyam for Miller and Travis for Tavares/Baradji is a huge stretch.

[47er]

1 hour ago, joey_big_nose said:

If we had kept Hyam and Travis I think there would be an argument that we could be stronger or ateast the same. Mori, McCloughlin, Alebiouso and Gudjonsen all look very promising.  We look to have mitigated Batth, Brittain and Dolan well. Hopefully Gudjonsen can do the same for Weiman. But Hyam for Miller and Travis for Tavares/Baradji is a huge stretch.

 

its conceivable that we might score more goals this season than last. I don't believe we're equal to last season's side anywhere else.

[JCRovers]

Remains to be seen at the end of the season whether the squad has gotten stronger or weaker given the quality of the players coming in are unknown until they have proven themselves over a number of matches. On paper, it looks weaker due to the loss of Championship experience. 

Main problem is that the owners and board are treating the club solely as a business and completely disregarding the footballing side of it. We saw in the transfer window that there's no commitment to spend on top of what we recovered in transfer fees (club made roughly £3.5 million in profit instead). There's no real ambition to compete, only to maintain status quo. Stay in the Championship, cut wages, and collect transfer fees for players refusing to sign new contracts or are entering their final year.

We keep changing direction and projects because head coaches/ managers walk away when they truly realise the lack of ambition coming from the top. How many times during the past few seasons have we been in or around play-off spots come December only to see it all collapse due to injuries and lack of investment in the following January window? Mowbray (3rd place, season 2021-22), Tomasson (3rd place, season 2022-23) and Eustace (5th place, season 2024-25) all having done a remarkable job to put the club in a very favorable position after matchday 23. What permanent January transfers did the owners and board sanction to push the club to compete for promotion during those three seasons? Markanday, Hedges (season 2021-22), none (season 2022-23) and Kargbo (season 2024-25) for less than £2 million in total. What was the impact of those three players during the remaining half of their respective seasons? Markanday (2 matches, 46 minutes, zero goals/assists), Hedges (11 matches, 396 minutes, zero goals, 1 assist), Kargbo (8 matches, 182 minutes, zero goals, 1 assist). Think it's fair to say that all three managers/head coaches were let down heavily and left on their own to fight an uphill battle. 

The owners want the club to become self-sustainable so that they can forget about it. They don't know anything about football and have no passion for the sport or the club. They received bad advice when they bought it and are now stuck with their pride and foolish naivety, refusing to sell because they don't want to cut their losses and admit that they made a mistake.

[London blue]

11 minutes ago, JCRovers said:

How many times during the past few seasons have we been in or around play-off spots come December only to see it all collapse due to injuries and lack of investment in the following January window? Mowbray (3rd place, season 2021-22), Tomasson (3rd place, season 2022-23) and Eustace (5th place, season 2024-25) all having done a remarkable job to put the club in a very favorable position after matchday 23. What permanent January transfers did the owners and board sanction to push the club to compete for promotion during those three seasons? Markanday, Hedges (season 2021-22), none (season 2022-23) and Kargbo (season 2024-25) for less than £2 million in total. What was the impact of those three players during the remaining half of their respective seasons? Markanday (2 matches, 46 minutes, zero goals/assists), Hedges (11 matches, 396 minutes, zero goals, 1 assist), Kargbo (8 matches, 182 minutes, zero goals, 1 assist). Think it's fair to say that all three managers/head coaches were let down heavily and left on their own to fight an uphill battle. 

This dire reading.

You can't call it anything other than systematic failure.

[Exiled in Toronto Mk2]

2 hours ago, 47er said:

 

its conceivable that we might score more goals this season than last. I don't believe we're equal to last season's side anywhere else.

Not even in goal? Pears played 40 games!

[Crimpshrine]

On 15/09/2025 at 20:37, bigbrandjohn said:

I have been reflecting on this over a perfect Guinness pour in a Young's pub. 

I think we had a sell by date on the team. By making the moves we did, we took a risk but I feel good about the replacements.

It is the manager's team and model and so we shall see how we progress.

 

I'm not convinced he had much influence on who was bought or sold.  It was probably a case of Yes Rudy, thanks Rudy.

[metalrover]

Central midfield obviously weaken & centre back not enough depth. Overall weaken, but if Tavares can eventually comes good, and Hickman / Henriksson yet to show what they can do, i'll be willing to change my opinion.