The January 2026 Transfer Window

[MarkBRFC]

Two strikers and a left wing back will see us through this season I think, if they are loans then so be it.

You can't be worrying about long term prospects in Jan when you are in our position, get the best players possible to see you through the season.

Then major surgery AGAIN in the summer. Amazing that every summer always needs an incredible amount of work.

[KentExile]

9 minutes ago, MarkBRFC said:

Then major surgery AGAIN in the summer. Amazing that every summer always needs an incredible amount of work.

But but but, "lessons learned" " contracts are our priority once the window is closed" etc

Turns out they are all just "greedy" & Rovers "did their best"

Who could have possibly predicted such a thing?

Edited 5 hours ago by KentExile

[BankEnd Rover]

I like the look of that Boura - Hopefully one which is accurate.

[roversfan99]

We are well past the point where we need to "target" players. We need them signed. Although O'Rourke seems particularly active at the moment in linking us and numerous other clubs with various players which suggests agents at work.

[Torgeir]

1 hour ago, Browjd said:

He's clearly(!) going to be a serious talent and will be worth significant multiples of that. We absolutely have £5M - but we won't because we have no ambition. 

Or he could be another Harry Chapman. 

£5m is too much for a relatively unknown, and definitely too much considering how much we've spent on transfers the past few seasons.

[Torgeir]

1 hour ago, MarkBRFC said:

Two strikers and a left wing back will see us through this season I think, if they are loans then so be it.

You can't be worrying about long term prospects in Jan when you are in our position, get the best players possible to see you through the season.

Then major surgery AGAIN in the summer. Amazing that every summer always needs an incredible amount of work.

Yeah... then we sign them late in the window so they're not up and running when the season starts. Unbelievable that we have only signed CB (!) on loan so far.

[Madon]

How have we got to the 13th Jan with still no sign of a striker? 

They should have been signed on Jan 1st!!!

[philipl]

Loans are likely to be signed after the deadline... oops!

[Eddie]

1 hour ago, MarkBRFC said:

Two strikers and a left wing back will see us through this season I think, if they are loans then so be it.

You can't be worrying about long term prospects in Jan when you are in our position, get the best players possible to see you through the season.

Then major surgery AGAIN in the summer. Amazing that every summer always needs an incredible amount of work.

Except you should be.

That's just kicking the can down the road and completely goes against the approach that our leadership claims to have.

We should be using every window to sign young players, especially in a period with an ever-closing P&S window. 

Based on everything Gestede says, we have the same budget for every window. That means that we can never expect a future window where we will realistically be able to sign 6 or 7 players. In order to build a good squad, we have to sign 2 or 3 players every window. Each time we don't we set ourselves back 12 to 18 months. 

Not only that, but if the focus is on signing young players then we have to accept 2 things. The first? It takes time for them to develop. The second? Some of them will be misses (as is the case with any signing, but the risk is exponentially greater with younger players). 

So, what you're endorsing is a pragmatic approach for a club that is sensibly run. But we aren't sensibly run and we can't be pragmatic. We will lose more players this summer on free transfers. We will be faced with having to sign 5 or 6 players JUST to get our squad back to the numbers that we started this season with. 

If the club had any sense about them, they would know that every window requires 4/5 signings and they would plan that out weeks and months ahead of time. 

But we can't be giving them an out by saying 'the sensible thing to do is to bring in a couple of players to get us out of a relegation scrap'. 

To be perfectly honest, if the commitment is to implement some kind of quasi-Bournemouth/Brentford/Brighton model, then we shouldn't even be that concerned about relegation. The focus should be on squad building, amassing young talent, and knowing that, in the long run, that will deliver results on and off the pitch. 

I would actually find that messaging somewhat refreshing. The problem is, we don't have a strong enough commitment to anything. Our strategy is determined by whichever way the wind blows based on a bit of public pressure, the right agents making calls, and whichever side of the bed a couple of key people wake up on.

But signing a couple of quick-fixes to a relegation scrap this season guarantees problems next year. 

[bluebruce]

1 hour ago, MarkBRFC said:

Two strikers and a left wing back will see us through this season I think, if they are loans then so be it.

You can't be worrying about long term prospects in Jan when you are in our position, get the best players possible to see you through the season.

Then major surgery AGAIN in the summer. Amazing that every summer always needs an incredible amount of work.

The reason for what you say in your last paragraph is in the other two paragraphs. 

[RoversClitheroe]

We will get relegated if we don't sign a few strikers asap.

Valerian, Gestede and Pasha grossly incompetent 

[dallydally]

42 minutes ago, Madon said:

How have we got to the 13th Jan with still no sign of a striker? 

They should have been signed on Jan 1st!!!

Money or should I say lack of!

[Inferi]

 

2 hours ago, MarkBRFC said:

Two strikers and a left wing back will see us through this season I think, if they are loans then so be it.

You can't be worrying about long term prospects in Jan when you are in our position, get the best players possible to see you through the season.

Then major surgery AGAIN in the summer. Amazing that every summer always needs an incredible amount of work.

Not looking forward to another another major surgery after the major surgery last summer when they butchered the body, left the disease intact, and stapled a smile over the corpse.

Edited 3 hours ago by Inferi

[bluebruce]

53 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Except you should be.

That's just kicking the can down the road and completely goes against the approach that our leadership claims to have.

We should be using every window to sign young players, especially in a period with an ever-closing P&S window. 

Based on everything Gestede says, we have the same budget for every window. That means that we can never expect a future window where we will realistically be able to sign 6 or 7 players. In order to build a good squad, we have to sign 2 or 3 players every window. Each time we don't we set ourselves back 12 to 18 months. 

Not only that, but if the focus is on signing young players then we have to accept 2 things. The first? It takes time for them to develop. The second? Some of them will be misses (as is the case with any signing, but the risk is exponentially greater with younger players). 

So, what you're endorsing is a pragmatic approach for a club that is sensibly run. But we aren't sensibly run and we can't be pragmatic. We will lose more players this summer on free transfers. We will be faced with having to sign 5 or 6 players JUST to get our squad back to the numbers that we started this season with. 

If the club had any sense about them, they would know that every window requires 4/5 signings and they would plan that out weeks and months ahead of time. 

But we can't be giving them an out by saying 'the sensible thing to do is to bring in a couple of players to get us out of a relegation scrap'. 

To be perfectly honest, if the commitment is to implement some kind of quasi-Bournemouth/Brentford/Brighton model, then we shouldn't even be that concerned about relegation. The focus should be on squad building, amassing young talent, and knowing that, in the long run, that will deliver results on and off the pitch. 

I would actually find that messaging somewhat refreshing. The problem is, we don't have a strong enough commitment to anything. Our strategy is determined by whichever way the wind blows based on a bit of public pressure, the right agents making calls, and whichever side of the bed a couple of key people wake up on.

But signing a couple of quick-fixes to a relegation scrap this season guarantees problems next year. 

It doesn't even have to be as deep as all this. Our biggest problem has been refusing to sign up senior players to reasonable contracts. Exacerbated by an overreliance on loans to pad the squad out (often very poor ones) and a refusal to adequately reinvest received transfer funds, even though that can yield even bigger profits down the line. Instead we buy a load of cheap dross which very rarely works out, and you know what they say - buy cheap, buy twice.

Because of all this, every window is playing catch up. If we hadn't been ballsing those three things up, we'd have been promoted by now.

Edited 2 hours ago by bluebruce

[StHelensRover]

Just got a push notification from club via WhatsApp that big mak has made his big move to Shanghai.

Edited 2 hours ago by StHelensRover

[bluebruce]

[RTM08]

1 minute ago, bluebruce said:

Now that's gone through there's really no excuses for having a striker in for the weekend.

[bluebruce]

Just now, RTM08 said:

Now that's gone through there's really no excuses for having a striker in for the weekend.

Gestede: Hold my beer!

[cesus]

The pathetic penny pinching nature of this club screams out that we couldn't sign a striker until somebody took Gueye of us. All on the chumps running recruitment now.

[Browjd]

Where has all the money gone?! 

[Tim Southampton Rover]

Good luck to him. It didn't work out on the pitch but he won't be forgotten off the pitch. 

I think we were lucky to get as much as we did for him. I hope the recruitment team take this as a lesson learnt when it comes to future signings. 
 

[cesus]

3 minutes ago, Browjd said:

Where has all the money gone?! 

There isnt any money per se, like at every other Championship club. Every club needs an owner/benefactor model, ours won't spend the money needed to be continually competitive in this league.

[roversfan99]

Good riddance to a terrible excuse for a striker.

[roversfan99]

10 minutes ago, Tim Southampton Rover said:

Good luck to him. It didn't work out on the pitch but he won't be forgotten off the pitch. 

I think we were lucky to get as much as we did for him. I hope the recruitment team take this as a lesson learnt when it comes to future signings. 
 

They wont.

[TheRevAshton]