The January 2026 Transfer Window

[Tomphil2]

1 hour ago, yankfan said:

Mowbary had to work for that budget. He had to fly to prune and get on his knees like vegrant. And it worked. He has the luxury few have. He somehow had money to buy Downing to watch on the sideline, his old mates kid Ansley for £500,000. Gally for £7 million, Diaz for £7 million to play for the. 21s. Mowbary was backed to a level we will never see again. 
 

JDT either had too much trust in the Egg or too much pride to beg the owners for money. Eustace too…seems and manager that wants any funding is required to go to India, kids arse, and remind the owners they own a football club. 

Maybe it's because they have to bypass those in the middle who filter information back to India to serve their own purposes.

[bluebruce]

8 hours ago, Andy said:

So apparently we have a budget.

If that is the case, it won't just be a black & white '£x for transfers / £x for salaries'.

It's a bit more flexible than that - they can spend a bit more on wages when needed, but it lowers the amount in the overall pot (including for fees).

Signing Dennis and Wickham on loan last season was an example of this - both on (relatively) large wages, but very little paid in loan fee, as opposed to spending more on the transfer fee but being restricted by lower weekly wages.

We can't spend a bit more in wages because we have self-imposed a stupid 10k pw wage cap. It came in this summer, so you won't see a Dennis style wage splurge again, even on a loanee I'd imagine.

Was Woodrow a relatively large wage? Christ that's even more mystifying why we ever bothered. That's not a hindsight thing either, his goals record was absolutely atrocious for a few consecutive seasons before he came. He had just come off the back of 3 goals in his last 66 league appearances! Or 7 in his last 94 if we want to make it look more 'generous'.

[Upside Down]

15 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

We can't spend a bit more in wages because we have self-imposed a stupid 10k pw wage cap. It came in this summer, so you won't see a Dennis style wage splurge again, even on a loanee I'd imagine.

Was Woodrow a relatively large wage? Christ that's even more mystifying why we ever bothered. That's not a hindsight thing either, his goals record was absolutely atrocious for a few consecutive seasons before he came. He had just come off the back of 3 goals in his last 66 league appearances! Or 7 in his last 94 if we want to make it look more 'generous'.

There would have been some lovely commission with that deal though, and that's all that matters at this club.

[bluebruce]

50 minutes ago, Upside Down said:

There would have been some lovely commission with that deal though, and that's all that matters at this club.

Do agents get commissions on loans?

[KentExile]

1 hour ago, bluebruce said:

Do agents get commissions on loans?

they get commission of anything where money is involved

[Commondore]

21 hours ago, Gamst said:

If you don’t pay championship wages the inevitable outcome is relegation. Whether that’s this season or somewhere down the line. If we survive this season which is quite possible then we will be without even more senior pros next year (Tronstad, Hedges, Cantwell, Pickering) and we will need to sell promising players like Alebiosu and Toth as they will want more money to sign a new contract and we won’t want to lose them for a free transfer. Once again we will need to find 10 + unknown players from overseas to fill the gaps. They will have no championship experience because any player with any experience will want a higher salary. This model is flawed and the only logical endpoint is relegation. This is so obvious that you would need to assume that relegation and a league 1 team with smaller costs is the objective. So once again you have to ask the question why the hell do they bother?? 

That's actually a pretty good way to run a football club though, if you do it correctly. Get young and/or "unknown" players in the door, develop them, sell them for a substantial profit, re-invest. If our main transfer business would concern players with Championship experience and high wages, we'd just end up with Paul Downing, Matt Kilgallon, and Chris Brown again (unless we're bought by modern slavers or become vassals in a "multi-club project" of course). You'd of course still have to have a solid backbone of experienced players likely to stay at the club for at least 3 or so seasons, and the economical infrastructure to re-invest transfer fees rather than patching holes in a massive wage bill, but in theory I'd like us to go down that road.

[Crimpshrine]

1 hour ago, Commondore said:

That's actually a pretty good way to run a football club though, if you do it correctly. Get young and/or "unknown" players in the door, develop them, sell them for a substantial profit, re-invest. If our main transfer business would concern players with Championship experience and high wages, we'd just end up with Paul Downing, Matt Kilgallon, and Chris Brown again (unless we're bought by modern slavers or become vassals in a "multi-club project" of course). You'd of course still have to have a solid backbone of experienced players likely to stay at the club for at least 3 or so seasons, and the economical infrastructure to re-invest transfer fees rather than patching holes in a massive wage bill, but in theory I'd like us to go down that road.

You used the word re-invest twice. I don't think you have been paying attention.

[Eddie]

1 hour ago, Commondore said:

That's actually a pretty good way to run a football club though, if you do it correctly. Get young and/or "unknown" players in the door, develop them, sell them for a substantial profit, re-invest. If our main transfer business would concern players with Championship experience and high wages, we'd just end up with Paul Downing, Matt Kilgallon, and Chris Brown again (unless we're bought by modern slavers or become vassals in a "multi-club project" of course). You'd of course still have to have a solid backbone of experienced players likely to stay at the club for at least 3 or so seasons, and the economical infrastructure to re-invest transfer fees rather than patching holes in a massive wage bill, but in theory I'd like us to go down that road.

This is the problem, and it is why the situation in which we find ourselves is so dangerous. 

I can see how the model can be sold to the owners. I can even see how it leaves them confused as to why the supporters are so unhappy. 

Reduce the wage bill. Invest in young players. Make a profit off of those players. Reinvest. Build a good squad. 

We've done the first bit. We've kind of done the second bit. We've definitely done the third bit. We've never done the fourth bit. And we've never been further from the 5th bit. 

What worries me is that our current senior management will spin our current predicament and leave our owners feeling as if they are on the right path. 

They'll call the fans ungrateful. They'll say the players who have wanted out are ungrateful. But they're here to steady the ship and guide us on our path. If you didn't follow football much, knew nothing about the sports, and had minimal to no interest in a relatively small investment within your portfolio...well...you might just buy it. 

[Waggy76]

I do not think we will sign anyone permanently ,who will make any difference to the squad !

 

Edited 3 hours ago by Waggy76

[Torgeir]

Easy to label Leonard as the second coming now that he's gone, but remember he's doing the business in League One after not having done the business here. I always thought he had talent but bad luck with injuries, plus he didn't really take his chances, and Peterboro insisted the deal was made permanent so as long as we're penny-pinching that's what happens. 

Alongside Ohashi he would be good but a bad fit with Andri imo.

Need another striker that can put the ball away but also has good workrate.

[Tomphil2]

7 minutes ago, Torgeir said:

Easy to label Leonard as the second coming now that he's gone, but remember he's doing the business in League One after not having done the business here. I always thought he had talent but bad luck with injuries, plus he didn't really take his chances, and Peterboro insisted the deal was made permanent so as long as we're penny-pinching that's what happens. 

Alongside Ohashi he would be good but a bad fit with Andri imo.

Need another striker that can put the ball away but also has good workrate.

I don't think anyone is labelling him the second coming but to many he had enough about him to be kept around.

By rights he should've been loaned to Posh and he'd be recalled now fit and ready to have another go.

However it seems Gestede was actively trying to sell him and even offered him to Peterbrough for less than they were prepared to go to to get him.

[DutchRover]

How is Nixon working out we are selling Gueye for an 800k profit at 1.8 million, when the reported fee when we bought him was 1.8 million? Am I misremembering or are they just lying about the add-ons as usual...

[islander200]

34 minutes ago, DutchRover said:

How is Nixon working out we are selling Gueye for an 800k profit at 1.8 million, when the reported fee when we bought him was 1.8 million? Am I misremembering or are they just lying about the add-ons as usual...

Nixon believes we only paid £1 million for Gueye initially 

[Hasta]

42 minutes ago, DutchRover said:

How is Nixon working out we are selling Gueye for an 800k profit at 1.8 million, when the reported fee when we bought him was 1.8 million? Am I misremembering or are they just lying about the add-ons as usual...

It was widely reported as the fee being €1.8 million. This is reported on several sites and the Telegraph reported it to be "in excess" of 7 figures. Of course this will be including lots of adds on's and stuff, but I imagine the selling fee will also include this. 

edit - 

"Blackburn target striker Gueye, 2.5mill could seal the deal" said Alan Nixon back in July 2024 before he signed.

Edited 2 hours ago by Hasta

[RoversClitheroe]

32 minutes ago, Hasta said:

It was widely reported as the fee being €1.8 million. This is reported on several sites and the Telegraph reported it to be "in excess" of 7 figures. Of course this will be including lots of adds on's and stuff, but I imagine the selling fee will also include this. 

edit - 

"Blackburn target striker Gueye, 2.5mill could seal the deal" said Alan Nixon back in July 2024 before he signed.

An agenda is at play for sure.

[Browjd]

[davulsukur]

We need a back up for Alebiosu for sure but unless this lad can play at LWB, he's not much use to us right now, as isn't Alebiosu back after the next game?

[Elrovers]

2 minutes ago, davulsukur said:

We need a back up for Alebiosu for sure but unless this lad can play at LWB, he's not much use to us right now, as isn't Alebiosu back after the next game?

Yes should be back after next game.

[RevidgeBlue]

4 minutes ago, davulsukur said:

We need a back up for Alebiosu for sure but unless this lad can play at LWB, he's not much use to us right now, as isn't Alebiosu back after the next game?

Cheap squad fillers in positions which aren't the priority.

It's our modus operandi.

[roversfan99]

I think we do need a right wing back to cover Alebiosu.

But Ismael said the other day that we arent getting one so file this under nonsense rumour.

[Emerald Isle Rover]

4 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

I think we do need a right wing back to cover Alebiosu.

But Ismael said the other day that we arent getting one so file this under nonsense rumour.

What val says and what actually might happen could be two very different things

[RevidgeBlue]

4 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

I think we do need a right wing back to cover Alebiosu.

Not getting at you but we always also generally target back up in various positions when many of the starting X1 aren't good enough to begin with.

Again cheaper.

[RoversClitheroe]

8 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

I think we do need a right wing back to cover Alebiosu.

But Ismael said the other day that we arent getting one so file this under nonsense rumour.

Does it not say to you that the rumours about Ryan Alebiosu being offered to other clubs is true? That's how it feels to me.

[MarkBRFC]

@RoversXtra on X has an "exclusive" that we want Davis Kellor-Dunn.

Edited 55 minutes ago by MarkBRFC

[RevidgeBlue]

17 minutes ago, MarkBRFC said:

@RoversXtra on X has an "exclusive" that we want Davis Kellor-Dunn.

Had a quick look online and as at 24 hours ago it appeared Norwich, Charlton and Portsmouth were after him.

So you'd imagine that the existence of anyone willing to pay actual money for him would rule us out but theoretically he looks like he'd be a good signing for someone.