RoverCanada

Absolutely pathetic.

ha, I was skimming the Canadian soccer nerds forum and their ongoing thread on Luca Koleosho: https://www.canadiansoccernews.com/topic/78146-luca-koleosho/page/73/ - lots of dual-national will-he-won't-he angst in Canadian soccer, a la good ol' Junior Hoilett (who eventually became a gem for Canadian soccer!)... ...and stumbled upon fans rhapsodising about him being surpassed by some winger from 'Blackburn' named Dolan!

ok cool.

Whatever the manner/reason for his departure, I'm going to miss Tronstad ☹️

Bit of a shame that, in other circumstances, that would look like a positive loan for O'Grady-Mackens, but rumoured to be more about shipping him out. Strange fall off after earning an FA Cup sub (under Eustace...) only this past January... Happy O'Riordan's doing well. I've been somewhat vocal that we need to be patient with his pathway, and not to write him off too quickly due to that Cambridge loan. Too bad that Olson hasn't broken through with Oldham yet, but may just need to bide his time. Barrett was such an odd signing/re-signing. I'm a (perhaps ironic 🙂) Benson defender and have been curious what they've been trying to build with our stable of youth GKs (and Barrett's not even that young, which prevented him from being even a 3rd GKer when we hit the senior roster cap last year!), but didn't get anything out of the likes of Stergiakis, Eastham, Hilton, or Fisher (except, presumably nominal, fees for the latter two). I guess we'll see with Michalski, Goddard, Honor, Khan, etc. Heck, maybe Barrett will get a chance and show something at Tranmere (seems to be replacing their previous backup, a 44 yo player-coach!) Duru with a couple subs so far. I was curious how much gametime he'd actually get given San Diego are in 2nd in the league (impressive for an expansion team!), so that's kind of encouraging. However, another one where it's hard to get too excited given all signs point to that move also being about shipping him out. edit: forgot to add, a bit disappointing/surprising that Batty didn't get a loan with Ribeiro/Pickering clearly in his way at the moment.

To be fair, having just listened to the podcast, whoever submitted the question originally gets it wrong that Mowbray gave Wharton his debut. Now, Mowbray doesn't correct the record after the question is read out to him, but he doesn't say anything himself about giving Wharton his debut or getting him into the squad (scanning back, I think Wharton's first bench appearance was in the FA Cup vs Wigan on 8 Jan 2022, which was under Mowbray...). He actually downplays his role in Wharton's development at the end of his ramble. He rhapsodises about how good Wharton was in training, hanging onto the ball with Travis snapping at him, etc., and that he was keen to keep including him in senior training, but that he still needed to develop physically. A slightly interesting tidbit is he mentions he was taking calls from Palace (and maybe one other club?) about Wharton even back then. Of course further highlighting the insanity of Suhail's 'nobody knew how good Wharton was going to be' quote...

Charlie Methven was (rightly) mocked for being a bit of a knob and having plenty of David Brent moments in that Sunderland 'Til I Die doc, but I also remember thinking while watching it 'yeah, but his staff do seem pretty useless...'

You're slipping! Olson got his first start for Oldham in the EFL Trophy, in a 5-1 battering by Man City's u21s :): https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/live/ce35d425r4rt Had a glance at their forum and the general consensus is Olson's CB partner had an absolute mare.

Given the flagged medical issues, re-negotiating a loan-to-buy for Baradji is perfectly sensible. It's that it's seemingly paired with shipping Travis out (and possibly having to wait for the first instalment of that sale to hit the bank account to make the Baradji deal work...) that leaves a sour taste. So why not hang on to him and wait for the big boys to start circling? I agree that there were some doubts about Wharton at the time. He had some inconsistent performances (I recall telling a friend to watch him when he came on against Millwall; he rightly wondered why he wasn't starting!), he needed to develop physically and show he can handle the rigours of pro football, and there are still questions about his general body language (his stride can look awkward, but he's faster than he looks). It drew some ire, but JDT might have had a point when he benched him due to alleged immaturity. All part of why he was still relatively under the radar. Plus, Broughton had just signed him to a new long-term deal and he wasn't itching to leave, unlike other Academy prodigies (Phillips, Finneran, etc. I try to be realistic and not blame them too much...) I agree it's fanciful to think we could've gotten something close to the fees being rumoured now for a player with only Champ experience (the Scott deal was 'up to' £25m, the Gray deal was linked to Leeds buying Roden, etc), but getting a bidding war going that summer (or later!) and securing an extra, say, £5-7m (and further add-ons) is nothing to scoff at given that's probably how much any 120+% wage-turnover club usually needs in net incomings (that's apparently the price of ~2 out-of-contract Championship players 🙂). You have to be a realistic that a talent like him will be snapped up eventually as we stagnate in the 2nd tier, but you squeeze that golden goose for all its got. Realism about finances aside, it generally saddens me that we only really got to watch two half-seasons of him at Rovers... The bigger question is why he was available at all for £18m+ (emphasis on the '+' given some purposefully over-emphasise £18m, but I digress...) The club will never admit it, but it was because we desperately needed cashflow due to the owners being (apparently) legally prevented from sending enough money over (even if you question that story, it still looks bad on Venky's).

Travis is the obvious / already rumoured suspension, but can maybe imagine Pears... depending on insurance/contract stipulations, it can't have gone down well if he's unable to play (or be sold!) due to rumoured (voluntary...) cosmetic surgery... That allrovers account suggesting Crystal Palace is after one of our u21s, who apparently isn't keen to leave. Twitter randos suggesting it's either O'Grady-Macken or Isaac Dunn. A 'promising' young forward is also being threatened with banishment to the u21s if he doesn't go out on loan. Can guess that's Leonard. Sounds odd. Can usually guess there are financial motives with this regime, but perhaps Leonard is refusing to agree to a loan thinking he should be in our first team picture. While I'm at it with chasing silly rumours (work procrastination babyyyyy), Tom Bloxham (still unattached) commented "Made it out *heart eyes emoji*" on Duru's Insta post about his move to San Diego. (Further insta creeping: Duru went to Ibiza with Georgie Gent and Bloxham this past summer, oooo) Huh. Dan Diego's the same pseudonym I use when I procure prostitutes..

I did some 'back of a napkin' bottom-up tallying of our staff costs suggesting our all-in average cost per senior player was in the range of £10-11k/wk in 23-24 (My previous guesstimate was ~£13k/wk!). Perhaps there's a number of shady hangers-on, consultants, etc. making more than I broadly assumed, but, unless they're making millions (shrug emoji), it won't move the needle that much. Part of my previous point that while maybe senior guys like Hyam, Travis, etc. are currently on '£10k/wk', there are plenty of bonuses, etc. that push up 'staff costs'. Probably quite a split within the squad, with Academy grads on relative buttons, a few on 'decent' Championship wages (with Cantwell a potential outlier on top of that), while you can attract the likes of Tronstad, De Neve, Henriksson, etc. with, say, £8/wk-ish packages. It's all guesswork! --- Suppose we had a (mere) multi-millionaire owner who loved the club, had (or built up) a local connection, etc. but was open about only being able to sustainably burn, say, ~£5m/year (so, no FFP risk either), with occasional major sales helping stem those losses (with some % allowed for reinvestment). Furthermore, we'd likely still be well into the lower quartile of league turnover due to inherent financial inequalities (would hope we'd have higher turnover under this jollier scenario, but there are limits, especially relative to parachute payment clubs; as an aside, I've often wondered how much of our current commercial revenue is Venky's-related). In such a scenario, you'd probably have to accept that we'd have a relatively strict wage cap and would need to get creative (and lucky) with lower-league or Euro player trading, but at least we could start building back some pride in this club. Hence, you could maybe conclude there is some logic (even if frustrating) to what we're currently doing... However, we have multi-billionaire owners, where we have no idea how much they care or why they still own the club, have apparently deluded themselves into making a Championship club 'sustainable' even though their alleged wealth suggests they can easily absorb (FFP-compliant, after deductions!) losses of ~£17m/year (where, combined with semi-regular sales (and allowing some reinvestment!), we could probably manage a wage bill in the high £20s million). Whatever the merits of the model they're trying to impose, the fact that we again risk losing out-of-contract (or are chaotically offloading them) betrays a continued complete lack of strategic direction (and we thus should already be hearing murmurs of extensions for Carter, Toth, etc.). Bah, I say!

It's an interesting debate. A buddy played in Southampton's Academy with Oxlade-Chamberlain. He told me AOC didn't really stand out in everyday drills, but there was a running test where everyone else was clocking ~12s while AOC clocked ~10s, and it was clear that he was 'the annointed one'. Perhaps an outlier anecdote (AOC's had a mixed career, but hardly a failure. And paid off nicely for the Academy), but you'd generally expect measureable physical talent is the first thing that will catch coaches' eye. Does that mean less physically gifted prospects are neglected, and perhaps where a 'lesser' Cat 1 Academy like us can look to poach castoffs? JRC from Man Utd a (mixed) example that comes to mind... --- Noticed O'Grady-Macken only coming off the bench last night. Has been absent from the last two preseason camps. Maybe injury-related? Am I misremembering that he was one that allegedly caught JDT's eye? Perhaps has fallen out of favour under Ismael despite an FA Cup sub app + 7 bench apps under Eustace. Had me wondering about which youth players were brought along to recent camps as an indicator of 'catching the manager's eye'. Ignoring obvious ones like Leonard, Markanday, Vale, etc. Some of which will reflect incomplete squads at the time... 2023 Austria under JDT (https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2023/july/09/austria-bound/) Barnes - Well-documented injury issues, which is a shame. Signed with Altrincham in NL this year, but left on their bench so far. Davies - Not sure why he was brought along as a fresh 16-year-old at the time (joined from Man U at 13). Signed a pro deal in 2024, but has barely played at PL2 since. Turns 19 in Oct. Eastham - Finally released this summer. Signed with Ashton in NPL. Edmondson - I've been curious about him after scoring as a sub during that Cup stomping of Harrogate back in 23-24. Made a couple benches last year and apparently did well on a NPL loan with Macclesfield, but wasn't part of the last two camps. Started for the u21s last night. Turns 21 in Nov. Gamble - Released this summer after a mixed loan with AFC Fylde. I recall he was on our bench a bunch in 22-23 or 23-24, likely more reflecting a lack of squad depth. Currently unttached. Gilsenan - Released. Now with Grimsby. Hasn't made their squad yet. O'Grady-Macken - see above. Weston - Released last year after a brief NL Kidderminster loan. Had spells with Barrow and Rochdale last year. Now at NLN Curzon Ashton. 2024 Austria under Eustace (https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2024/july/14/austria-bound/) Barrett - An odd one... His age prevented him from even being 3rd string when we hit the roster cap last year. Had a NPL loan with Workington. Wasn't included in this year's preseason camp (in favour of Goddard?) despite signing a new deal until 2027 (+ option). Duru - Showed some promise with a couple appearances + apparently doing ok during his L2 loan with Barrow before injury. Strange he was omitted from this year's camp, but may be injury-related. Let's see about the rumoured MLS loan. Gamble - See above. Gent - Sold to Barnsley, where he had 30 apps last year. Let's see how he develops, but probably fine that we (mildly) cashed-in after impressing during his SPL loan. Saadi - Ha, surprised he was included. Released after last year's Cypriot 1st Division loan. Unattached at the moment. Tyjon - Showing some promise, but we'll see... Wood - Didn't seem to do much across Scottish League One (Annan), NLN (Radcliffe), and NPL (Warrington) loans last year, after scoring a decent amount in PL2/UPL. Was a sub last night. Just turned 21. Somewhat surprised we took up his option this year. Maybe simply looking to find him a landing spot (there is an empathetic case for not just casting off youth players). 2025 Spain under Ismael (https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2025/july/20/spain-squad-confirmed/) Atcheson, Batty (I presume injuries prevented him from joining previous outings), Goddard, Litherland, Michalski, Montgomery, Mullarkey-Matthews, Pratt, Tyjon. Atcheson and Litherland getting some mild hype. Getting Gamble vibes from Pratt as an ageing out CB (he turns 23 in Sep), but no actual insight. Gestede and/or Ismael seem to like Montgomery and Mullarkey-Matthews. No idea about Goddard, who doesn't get the same hype as Michalski, but he did sign a new deal until 2027 (+option). Turns 22 in March. His litany of non-league loans - NPL loans with Lancaster (2 apps), Bamber Bridge (37 apps), and Marine (26 apps), LOI with Dundalk (6 apps), and NL with Ebbsfleet (2 apps) - look odd, but perhaps a sign of actively trying to develop him. I know non-league loans get scoffed at, but I've wondered if they're of some use for longer-term GK development.

Re: a yearly Academy minutes target...: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart's_law And who counts in that regard? Surely Carter, Travis, Wharton, Buckley, etc still count as the Academy paying off (to mixed effect). The worth/output of the Academy needs to be assessed over 5-10 year windows. Decent players like Travis, Nyambe, JRC, etc should emerge every 2-3 years, while you hope unicorns like A. Wharton or Jones emerge every 5-7 years. (Just pulling those numbers out of my ass, but would be interesting to see how our output compares to other Cat 1 academies, on a per pupil basis of course!) Expecting/financially imposing that 1-2 Academy lads will break through every year is insane.

tldr: boring shit It can be a bit simplistic talking about a player being on £10k or £20k/wk. All contracts will have numerous perfomance-related bonuses (Trav himself was laughing about the 'win bonus' being the best part of winning on our socials last year). You can convert all this to per week as a benchmark, but while Travis may currently be on a 'base' salary of £10k/wk, as a regular starter, various bonuses will boost the effective weekly rate. Add in employer NI, pension contributions for another 15+%. As a bottom-up exercise, suppose you assume Rovers' 25 senior players are on an average of £8k/wk. So, 25 x £8k x 52 = £10.4m (excl. NI+pensions). However, our 23-24 staff costs were around £22m (excl. NI+pensions). Perhaps subtract £3m for admin / academy staff and players / directors, £1m for the senior coaching staff, and let's say £1m for loan wages, that still leaves a gap of ~£6.5m, suggesting our average weekly cost per senior player is more like £17m / 25 / 52 = ~£13.1k/wk. I'm sure someone will pop in about something shady going on (to which I have no response 🙃), but, at least from the accounts, its been more about real than nominal wage cuts in recent years. Who knows where Travis lies, but that would suggest he's effectively earning well north of £13k/week. Even if we negotiate up that £1.5m offer, Derby know they're getting an out-of-contract Travis at a discount, so can add on a chunky signing bonus. Offering, say, a £500k signing bonus on top of a 3-year contract works out to an added £3k/week (moreso from a PV perspective!). Perhaps we've offered to boost Travis' base salary to, say, £12k/week (although suspect the regime are happy to think they can replace him with a £500k + £8k/wk import), but his agent can easily demand various bonuses knowing what Travis can demand in the offseason/that bidders are circling. 'Free' transfers allows agents to push for hefty signing-on bonuses for in-demand players. I'm not criticising Travis as greedy, more highlighting where our apparent budget inflexibility and lack of contract impetus bites us in the ass. One of my suspicions is we manage paying below-average-ish Championship weekly salaries ok (never been a suggestion of missing payroll like some other basketcase clubs), but the powers that be step in whenever major one-off payments come into play due to our inflexible 'budget' heavily restricting 'discretionary' cashflow. --- While I'm at it with boring things, I was curious about Derby's financials. Extrapolating their 2023-24 accounts (in L1), I put them at ~£12m of matchday revenue, £8m commercial, £10m broadcasting, or £30m total. In comparison, we're at about £5m, £7m, and £10m, respectively, or £22m. Assuming the same wage-to-turnover budget, that would put them at £30m to our £22m (excl. NI+pensions). I assume they haven't hit that yet since their promotion, but, along with being net transfer sellers in recent years, they should have plenty of dry financial powder.

- I suspect Gestede got overexcited by Montgomery shining at Chorley and saw him as a pet prospect he can tout (and fill the squad with someone who can't be on more than £2k/week!). Kinda feel for Montgomery, who deserves praise for showing some promise on a couple (non-league) loans, but is now getting needlessly exposed when a L2ish loan would do him well. (Having said that, he's 21 and will be 22 by the end of the year, so he's not that young). - Tyjon needs to bulk up a bit, like any 17 year old, and needs to develop some 'guile' (was regularly caught out by Bradford players earning 'clever' fouls), but definitely has something in finding space, slippery movements, ball control/passing. Doubt he'll turn into a speed demon, but looks to me like he'll turn into a player who will find a way to succeed in spite of lacking size/speed. Of course, the question is whether he'll stick around with PL clubs allegedly circling... - Shame about the gaffe, as I thought Michalski otherwise looked fine. In fact, thought his distribution was quite good the rest of the game (or at least I was relieved after being nervous every time he touched the ball thereafter!). Although I note Parsonblue's observation he's also made such errors for the u21s... If/when Pears is shipped out, we obviously need to find an experienced ~35ish keeper to sit on the bench (which should be affordable...) and find a L2/NL loan for Michalski, but whether that'll actually happen... - I'd be curious to see how Buckley would do at L1/L2 as he's absolutely walked some of our past cup games against lower league opponents. Just gets caught out too much by the added intensity of the Championship. Didn't get much of a chance to do much last night... Would've thought he'd have been started to showcase him if they are keen to ship him out, but perhaps need to get Tronstad back into shape. - I've been worried about Kargbo's seeming inability to cross with his left foot. His cutbacks and crossing didn't work at all against West Brom... but he actually managed a couple clever ones last night, including the one Ohashi should've buried..