RoverCanada

I think you can rationally judge a number of our signings as adequate/passing grades, while still damning our overall window/direction of travel. Most of the new signings seem to be decent guys, graft hard, have at least some good qualities, etc., and you can also qualify some signings according to their low cost, but wider context still shows major failings, particularly at CB (only somewhat mitigated by some decent performances by Pratt!) Running through my own grades (I definitely lean toward 'on the one hand, on the other hand' caution, to a fault! And also less confident in my own assessment abilities than some posters, ha): Alebiosu - A: I was saddened/annoyed to see Brittain go, but pretty much exemplifies a trading 'model' working perfectly. The problem is we probably needed a least a couple more like this one. Morishita - B+: A couple subpar showings, needing time to adjust to the Championship (a common theme for why you can give some signings an individual pass, while lamenting the wider window), but I think he's a joy to watch and one of few capable of a killer pass. Gudjohnsen - B: All around play needs work, but hard to get too down about a good poacher. Should continue to improve too. TGH - B: I pigeon-holed him as a typical carthorse MF, which is fine, but has shown some decent talent too. Nothing exceptional, but has been a saving grace at MF given our other attempts to replace Travis (see below). The B grade is for the player alone, but I'd give it a C as a transfer, as it's a bit weird that we had to loan him in to simply make up MF numbers. Miller - B-: I struggle to assess Miller. Sometimes looks like an absolute donkey, but brings some needed passion, physicality, and at least tries to be forward-looking in his passes. Long throws a plus too. I think he's a decent pickup in isolation, particularly at his price/age. But it was unfair to him that he was suddenly held up as the reason we could dispatch Hyam last second, which was obviously BS. McLoughlin - C: Probably would've given him a B earlier in the year as he seemed like the only stable part of a disrupted backline, but has had some really shaky appearances of late. Decent CB depth, and maybe an ok replacement for Batth in terms of having an old head back there, and but not a replacement for Hyam. Baradji - C-???: Really hard to grade this one. Some promising cameos and could be a revelation if/when fit for starts, but that wider health context, along with Tavares below, are part of a significant failure trying to replace Travis in MF. Hell, I wouldn't be that surprised if we're looking at this one as an A signing in a year's time, but the wider failing is we didn't have time for that this year. Henriksson - D I wouldn't blink at someone giving him an F grade, but I truly think he simply hasn't been able to find a rythmn yet, plus some unfortunate injuries. Apparently not that cheap either at £1.5m, but I'm at least hopeful he'll emerge ok eventually (but, again, we needed most of these signings to hit the ground running...) De Neve - F: He does have an exciting burst of pace, and maybe still an ok late sub if we're behind (but not if we're ahead!), as you can see him tearing up a slower footed RB, but poor end product limits what he can actually make of that, and simply terrible defensively. Must've been a cheap punt, so not disastrous (and thankful that Hedges has looked revitalised), but simply not good enough. Tavares - F: Might be capable of a decent ball here and there... but otherwise, has simply looked crap and apparently not that cheap. Seemed to be touted as our starting MF and immediately fell down the pecking order. Perhaps the most consequential failure of the window, only mitigated by TGH stepping up ok. So, I may be giving too many passing grades above, yet I'd probably assess our transfer window as an F at midfield (TGH maybe brings this up to a D, but that's a stretch!), D in defence (Miller/McLoughlin are ok and Alebiosu a star, but selling Hyam as we did was criminal), and maybe a B+ in attack.

If our quasi-oligarch owners really are so rich, why aren't they treating us like a frivolous plaything, like other unfathomably wealthy, psychopath owners? Yeah yeah, FFP limits how much they can invest in the playing squad... fine (I probably accept, and espouse, such arguments more than I should). But what's stopping them from investing millions in Ewood and reviving it such that it's one of the best stadiums and matchday experiences in England? (or at least a goddamn drainage system that actually works?) What's stopping them from subsidising a top-flight women's team? Boom, obvious goodwill and PR. Why all the murmurs and handwringing about the immense costs of a Cat 1 Academy? Fuck the cost. You should be able to take legitimate pride in producing the likes of Adam Wharton, not belatedly mumbling about not realising how good he is. Sustainability this, financial implications that... fuck that. Sell some tract of land in India that you own for god knows why and blow it on Rovers infrastructure and the wider community. Stop pretending Rovers are some sort of long-term investment that will eventually pay off* and embrace the insanity of being rich enough to own a sports club. *Probably the fiction they need to spin to India's 'Enforcement Directorate'. (I honestly wonder if this line of attack could effectively hit their pride...)

I'd pigeon-holed him as a carthorse, journeyman-type we'd all forget about in a few years time, but he's actually surprised me with some little bits of skill here and there.

Pears is a below-average Championship keeper. Nothing more, nothing less. And that includes spells where he's been terrible or where he's been excellent (Nov-Dec 2024 under Eustace springs to mind) Can imagine the bean counters have been fuming that he's sitting on the bench on a decent-ish wage (if it wasn't for Toth's injury, I presume they were going to try to flog him off again in January. To be fair, now that Toth has supplanted him, they probably should try to reallocate the budget accordingly...), but could certainly do worse for a backup keeper.

i beg everyone to never pay attention to any of those online wage 'resources'. (FM salaries might be in the right ballpark, but, at least from back when I played the game years ago (RIP RoverCanada with free time), you'd often find teams' reported wage bills way below the numbers you see in their actual accounts as they don't tally all the various bonuses etc, plus non-playing staff, on that main screen... I digress) --- Overall, Pickering's been quite a good L1 pickup. Never a top LB, but steady enough. 125 Championship apps ain't too shabby for, what was it, £500+k? Have to suspect his lacking physicality hasn't endeared him to VI, and he doesn't really fit in a 5-3-2 system. I was surprised Hedges was put in at LCB over him (or Ribeiro)... Although thought Hedges managed ok in the end (was only able to half watch that game, so happy to be corrected!)

Aren't pretty much all of these Tier 7-8 loans essentially local loans too? I mean, do the players even move house? Given they're semi-pro outfits, isn't it simply a matter of joining their loan team for maybe 1-2 practices + 1-2 games a week for a month or so, while otherwise they're probably still staying at home and being coached by our Academy staff a couple days a week? I'm happy to be corrected! Can debate if it's a worthwhile level of football, but I don't see that much harm in a few games here and there against some adults. I'd be surprised if a few games with Bootle ever ruined a player's development... Frankly, in some cases, it may be more of a sign that the Academy player never had that much potential in the first place, so doing them a bit of a favour to see if they can at least hack it at the semi-pro level. Generally thinking there's a distinction between local youth loans and 'proper', 'character-building', 'learn pro football' loans (like O'Riordan, or what we would've hoped for with Olson's loan...)

In McGuire's defence, he's dealt with back-to-back shoulder surgeries over the past 12 months. His shoulder issues may have been due to crop up, so perhaps we can be thankful the deal was scuppered in retrospect... but thought I'd add that context!

Yeah, Magloire did both his ACL and MCL, so, tough one to come back from... especially for him, who, if I remember right, had absolutely top tier speed, but not much else. If he lost a step... could be a sharp fall off. Part of why I suspect he was able to secure four straight decent loans, even if he never seemed up to it in his Rovers cameos. Managers probably thinking they could do 'something' with his athleticism, but then getting found out quick. He did manage to hang on with Northampton for a bit, so perhaps I'm being too harsh, and would be happily corrected! I try not to shame Academy products who have at least managed to hang on in L1 or L2, which is no joke!

Ehh, I guess we'll see in January, but going back to the weird contradictions in the original loan press releases, I've long assumed Duru's already a permanent outgoing. San Diego's was top of MLS this season and battling in the playoffs now, so always thought it was a bit of an odd team for Duru to try to break into mid-season. So, they may have seen it as a future signing themselves. Saw a couple reddit posts assuming they'll make Duru a permanent signing, but no real indication otherwise... For those interested in that sorta thing, MLS recently updated their published salaries (https://mlsplayers.org/resources/salary-guide) and Duru has a base salary of $80,622 and $98,234 guaranteed. Presuming San Diego's covering all his salary, that translates to about £1.2k/wk base or £1.4k/wk guaranteed.

My 2 cents/pence: - O'Riordan: A successful loan so far. - Edmondson: Good he's getting regular gametime at NLN, and a step up from last year's loan, but he is turning 20 next month, so you start to wonder if he should be moving up the pyramid soon. I presume that will be revisited in January when his loan is due to expire. - Olson: A shame he's struggling to break into a middling L2 side. Maybe he's simply hitting his level and he is turning 21 next month, but you also want to give CBs a bit more growing space. There can still be some value in 'unsuccessful' loans in terms of sniffing out whether a player's good enough (if he can't force his way into a L2 side...), but looking like a poor loan. - Pratt: huh, didn't realise how little he's played so far, but presumably a reason they extended that loan. Kinda like Olson, I don't think he's considered one of our blue chip CBs in the first place, like Atcheson/Litherland (I'm more curious if/when those two will get a loan!) - Barrett: He was an odd signing (and re-signing...) in the first place, so who knows with that one! Not too bothered with him only getting that one Cup app so far... - Duru / O'Grady-Macken: Lumping these together as, whatever the merits/success of their loans, it sounds like both cases were more a matter of shipping a player out than a development loan, which is a shame (more about Duru, no idea about O'Grady-Macken other than his random sub cameo!) Maybe I'm being too forgiving/blase, but aside from some disappointment about Duru apparently being shipped out, and Olson stalling, the O'Riordan and maybe Edmondson loans are the only relevant ones to me (not that I don't appreciate your loan reports 🙂) (FYI on the 'questionable' terminology, that's borrowed from the NFL and other N American sports where injuries are often classified pre-game as either 'doubtful' (less than 25%) or 'questionable' (50% or less) in terms of their likelihood of being available to play. It's a regulation related to betting/not letting teams hide or surprise with injuries)

Hardly a star manager, but Bowyer has managed to leverage his 'steady', if unsuccessful, tenure with us into an interesting and reasonably respectable lower league career. - Got Blackpool out of L2 via the playoffs in 2017, amid the dying embers of the Oyston regime. Kept them mid-table in L1 in 2018 (no idea what the expectations were!) before resigning. - Couldn't keep Bradford from relegation after a late hire in 2019 (they were already pretty much doomed), but then fired after a promising start in L2 trailed off. - After a spell as Derby's u23s manager, almost got Salford into the L2 playoffs as interim manager in 2021 (oddly on a 'loan' from Derby!). Made permanent manager for 2022 but only managed 10th (70 points, which would just make the playoffs in some years...) and sacked. - Ended up in the Scottish Championship with Dundee, where he won the league in 2023, but rather randomly immediately resigned after the season. - Pulled off an escape with Burton (9 points from safety with a bit over half the season to spare) in L1 last year, but in some trouble to start the year. Some Salford and Bradford supporters may not be too fond of him, but a couple promotions and decent firefighting jobs ain't too shabby for who was originally a rather obscure youth coach.

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 ☹️