And now a goal for Weston (play starts from 2:34 below). Looking like a nice little loan for him to get some men's football with a flailing Kidderminster.

I recognise the name but I don't recall much hype about him... Checking now, he did make our bench a few times this year. Played for England U-16s. Turns 20 in the summer.

edit: updated the YT vid as the previous one went 'private' for some reason...

Think I saw that Walker's been dealing with an injury, but a quick perusal of Oldham's forum suggests he hasn't impressed much in his limited minutes. Don't think he's one to hold out much hope for anyway. Think his contract is done at the end of the year, so presumably he'll be off.

Bloxham's lack of gametime is disappointing. It was mostly a function of our threadbare squad, but he did make our bench a number of times and JDT gave him a couple subs. Seems he was at least getting thrown on as a sub fairly regularly at Harrogate, but that seemed to stop and now not even making the bench. Can't find any word as to why.

On the positive side:

- Charlie Weston's had 4 starts + 1 sub since his loan to Kidderminster. Had a quick look on their forum and they seem to like him and are resigned to him not returning with their relegation to NLN.

- Vale and Gent establishing themselves as starters at Motherwell is probably the best story of our loans. Their manager was recently quoted saying he'd love to have them back:

Gent's played enough (League: 14 starts + 10 subs 1 goal 3 assists, and now firmly a starter, plus 2 starts and a goal in the Cup) that you'd have to figure he'll get a look as to whether he's ready to provide LB depth next year.

We have our reasons to doubt Vale (League: 8 starts + 2 subs, 2 goals 2 assists, plus a goal in a Cup sub), but even if he's not in our plans, he may have at least shown he's worth a small fee for a lower league side? He's signed until 2025 + an option, so presumbly Eustace will get a look at him first.

A few notes after a skim amid some travel/work. Might give it a more detailed read later, but aside from the new language on the club as an ongoing concern... the actual numbers aren't surprising with the VLL accounts having already given a sneak peak.

- As others have noted, this is only for 22-23, so this year's budget cuts won't show up yet. Easy to forget now, but with the additions of Szmodics, Hyam, and Brittain, a couple pricey loans, Dack/Ayala/BBD still around, there was generally decent financial support last year (setting aside the January fiasco...). Attendance improved a bit, had quite a few TV games, and the cup runs pushed up both turnover (to our highest since the end of parachute payments) and player costs.

- I wouldn't get agitated about the £5.9m of max potential future add-on payments. That's only up from £5.3m last year and could apply to any player on the roster we picked up for a transfer (Szmodics, Hyam, Brittain, Pickering, Pears, Hedges, Gallagher, Wahlstedt, Telalovic, hell possibly even Academy pick-ups like JRC or Travis!) I'd imagine plenty of those transfers have promotion-related add-ons, for example, which is of course not a financial concern at the moment... May have an add-on for Szmodics' international caps, but that may not actually apply yet due to his caps only being friendlies so far!

- Looks like Edun + Kaminski + Phillips was an initial £3.4m. That won't include add-ons... Stergiakis + Magloire and maybe loan fees and/or other add-ons (I'm not clear how those fit in to the figures!) netted £349k last year.

- While 22-23 wasn't a 'sustainable' loss, with the previous Armstrong + STC sales, and now the Wharton sale, and accounting for other deductions, FFP simply isn't a concern/excuse at the moment...

- Again had high interest income, I think due to the how the STC sale sat in our accounts, but swung back to net interest payments as the cost of the overdraft essentially doubled due to its rate being linked to the BoE rate.

Don't mean to come off as making excuses/taking a rose tinted view, but the numbers for 22-23 are very much before things got dark...

39 minutes ago, superniko said:

Still not a peep out of Greg and co. about how they managed to fuck up a 3rd transfer window either. 
They’re stealing a living. The whole upper management needs gutting. 

25 minutes ago, Andy said:

I find this disgusting tbh. They expect us to just forget it happened and hope it’ll be brushed under the carpet.

Literally nothing in terms of explanation or accountability.

I manage quite a large team in my day job and the absolute basic level of courtesy or customer service I instill, when something goes wrong, is hands up, transparency and a full explanation (as well as what we’re doing to prevent it from happening again).

The club is rotten.

FYI, Jackson reported that GB said he'll do a post-transfer window interview during the international break, saying that he wanted to give Eustace some space before addressing it. (Not endorsing that btw, just saying FYI!)

I really can't imagine how he'll try to spin it... if rumours are to be believed that GB's ultimately heading off (I've had a soft spot for GB's seeming competence, but I can't give a fuck anymore either way), it should be SW in the firing line, but he'll probably hide as long as he can. Might as well let GB take another bullet on his way out...

Whatever the format of the interview, I only wish they'll be asked point blank 1) did A. Wharton push to be sold, 2) did we have to make that sale due to Venky's apparent inability to fund the club (and, as a follow-on if they claim FFP, run us through exactly how close we would have been to breaching FFP given budget cuts and also selling the likes of Kaminski and Phillips...)

They may insist Wharton wanted to leave, it wasn't due to Venky's inability pump in more cash, FFP, blah blah blah, but might as well get them on record as lying (will at least get a partial answer to the latter when the accounts come out over a year from now...)

hahaha, Markanday a wily Hobbit amongst Ents there... nice to see some flashes from him (thought he was the only bright spark in that awful QPR loss)

Glad to see Ayari starting to show something.

Didn't acquit himself well in that start against Cardiff, but I figure a smart club like Brighton will have had their reasons for bringing him in.

Got some fire to him too, and seemingly unlucky with refs (I recall him getting some unjust fouls in his first or second appearance too...)

16 hours ago, arbitro said:

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11661/13028764/premier-league-clubs-vote-for-five-year-maximum-player-contracts

The maximum is five years to pay transfer fees irrespective of contract length.

I think the wording in that article is still a bit confused, albeit it's a subtle difference.

The rate that contracts are amortised, i.e., how the costs are booked in the accounts, still relates to the length of the player's contract. So, sign a player for a £10m and a 5-year contract, it's a £2m cost in the accounts for 5 years. This will show up under 'amortisation of intangible fixed assets' in the accounts.

I think the general story with Derby is they got hit for choosing what amortisation periods suited them, which can be perfectly sound as far as GAAP goes (also see clubs taking impairments to bring forward the cost of bad transfers; there was a lot of that in Rovers' accounts back when we were negotiating our exit from FFP transfer embargoes in the mid-2010s...), but not for the sake of fiddling annual amortisation costs to game FFP.

Chelsea is apparently staying within FFP despite spending £400m+ on transfers this year by using 8-year contracts to spread out the cost (while you book profits for sales today). That does also mean that Chelsea will still have a hefty amortisation bill for the next 8 years, and the 'booked profit' for selling any of those players in the next few years will be heavily reduced, but clearly those 8-year contracts aren't within the 'spirit' of FFP rules...

The PL closed this 'loophole' by setting a maximum amortisation period of 5 years (contracts can still be longer than 5 years).

(sidenote: the NHL had this issue when it implemented a salary cap years ago. Teams started signing older stars to 10+ year contracts, with the latter years at minimal salaries as the annual cap hit was averaged across the contract length. Teams fully knew the player would retire and get off the cap by claiming injury for those latter years. The NHL retrospectively punished a couple teams for that and now have a 7-8 year max contract rule... many of the folk running the NHL aren't too clever.)

---

Accounting malarkey aside, I don't think that has any relation to the actual cashflows of a transfer. I haven't checked the regulations on this, but I can't imagine why there'd be restrictions on a club receiving a transfer fee 100% upfront versus spreading it out over X number of years.

On top of that, clubs often 'factor' incoming transfer fees (https://www.ft.com/content/e47a43dc-2362-3780-a1e3-b17b06f2c165), taking loans on those receivables today. So, for Wharton, even if we've only received £6m so far from Crystal Palace, we can probably pretty easily secure a loan (with interest) for the remaining £12m (for the guaranteed fee; I imagine factoring for add-ons isn't so easy!) if we wanted to...

tldr: I'm procrastinating from actual work

4 hours ago, Paul Mani said:

I have no problems with GB.

My assertion of his situation is based on the change in behaviour from everything recruitment based being about him, to the plug being pulled on the McGuire deal, Mcfadz and Fleck turning up and then Eustace. All of whom smelled nothing like data driven, Nordic based Broughton and reek of Swag. I’ve since heard that ‘the club’ were aghast that GB had agreed to pay £5m for Mcguire and this set off a chain of events.

GB has not been pictured or seen anywhere publicly (other than the games). His only outside communication on his personal LinkedIn.

Swag has moved to hush the constant yapping of JDT and completely emancipated GB. Now all there is, is for Swags boys to pull this around and ‘save’ the club from relegation and it’s mission complete.

The LET article on his position is very telling…

The only way Greg stays is if he agrees to be Swags errand boy. My guess is he’s already officially gone and working his notice until the summer or they’re letting the dust settle before it happens.

Let’s see…

Aye. Suspect GB thus fed to Elliot that the initial McGuire deal was actually only £2.5m+, or whatever he reported. I'm sceptical of McGuire, but that's not an outrageous number for a young MLS striker (while the reports of the second deal rising to ~£6m are probably BS, or only if he hit major add-ons).

Wasn't SW bragging to a supporter how he brought in Szmodics, rubbished the need for the DoF model, etc. essentially undermining GB? Ridiculously unprofessional. I imagine the idea of the model is the CEO stays out of the football minutiae and only handles the pursestrings, but SW's been in football long enough that he probably still thinks of himself as a 'football man' and jumped at an opportunity to take the reigns.

It's often assumed SW and Mowbray were chummy, but this Athletic article from a couple years (undoubtedly sourcing Mowbray contacts resentful that no contract extension was coming) reported how their hirings were not linked, they didn't get on, and Mowbray resented SW's meddling in football matters, including scuppering the Rothwell sale, taking a more active role in recruitment after Harvey left, and mishandling the contract renewals (although that's probably linked to SW following strict financial marching orders from Venky's).

I don't doubt that SW's had to deal with a lot of shit this year with the budget cut, but he's a relentless self-promoter. Hence he couldn't help himself in bragging about renovating a fucking bus (even if that was a legit 'small win') and paying creditors on time while everyone was concerned about the overall budget. He knew the owners were keen to hang on to JDT, so he publicly grovelled to assuage him ('no pressure', 'avoid relegation', etc.), which JDT mocked in response. It also took him until the summer to admit that he also may have had some culpability for the O'Brien fiasco... Avoiding/deflecting blame and overstating your accomplishments is often how mediocre BSers rise in the c-suite.

This shit ultimately all comes from the top. In North American sports, fan ire is often directed at league commissioner, but they are simply a conduit for the league owners' wishes (for a TV analogy, think of Tom in Succession selling himself as a 'pain sponge'...). Seems the targets this year were 1) survive in the league amid the budget cuts (and sell Wharton if the courts keep holding up cash injections), 2) continue the development of the DoF model, and 3) hang on to JDT. Amid our poor run of form, whatever the fuck happened with McGuire, and JDT continuing to (justifiably) mouth off, SW saw an opportunity to undermine 2) and 3), while still hitting 1) and get his hands back on football matters.

13 hours ago, Mercer said:

You don't get it Chaddy do you?

He is Director of Football which means the responsibility rests with him for ALL FOOTBALL OPERATIONS.

If there is an issue with the recruitment team, it is his responsibility, if there is an issue with the fitness/medical department, it is his responsibility, if there is an issue with the administration of transfer transactions, it is his responsibility.  After last year's shambles with O'Brien and Brierley, Broughton said it wouldn't happen again.  Well it feckin well has and the buck stops with him.  How the feck can you be a Director of Football Operations and not take responsibility for all things football!?!?  I've had roles where folk didn't deliver and they were feckin fired because the buck stopped with me.

And why weren't you fired...?

(😉)

I bet we don't even have the cashflow to fire anyone until the end of the season (hence all the apparent haggling over JDT's exit)...

9 hours ago, RoverCanada said:

Sorry, my wording conflated a couple things.

Elliot's 'exclusive' report is that GB is staying (at least in the short term), and it's implied he knows that because he had a quick off-the-record chat with GB, presumably when he also found out GB will be doing an post-transfer window interview in a month's time.

Elliot also went through his understanding of the McGuire saga (as I think he's already written before), including that the deal was not pulled mid-flight and that the numbers reported by The Athletic are too high. So, I guessed that he got these slightly more Rovers-friendly details from GB, but that's purely me guessing, and you're right that it doesn't chime with it being an 'off the record' chat.

Here's the article itself: https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/24119456.latest-gregg-broughtons-blackburn-rovers-future/, as we should all support local journalism, etc etc...

41 minutes ago, davulsukur said:

I'm probably remembering it wrong but I thought GB said that the club/SW had a shortlist of managers or maybe even interviewed some of them and then he came in, saw the list (rubbished it basically) and put JDT's name forward. 

I'm sure he said or heavily implied that he was the man to bring JDT to the club in one of his interviews.

I listened to it while churning through some boring work in the late evening, so possible I mixed up the details there too!

1 hour ago, islander200 said:

So Elliot had an off the record chat with GB and then Elliot spoke about what was said in the podcast?Even if what some of us suspect and the money was never there to do any kind of deal he isn't going to say that to Elliot

 

Sorry, my wording conflated a couple things.

Elliot's 'exclusive' report is that GB is staying (at least in the short term), and it's implied he knows that because he had a quick off-the-record chat with GB, presumably when he also found out GB will be doing an post-transfer window interview in a month's time.

Elliot also went through his understanding of the McGuire saga (as I think he's already written before), including that the deal was not pulled mid-flight and that the numbers reported by The Athletic are too high. So, I guessed that he got these slightly more Rovers-friendly details from GB, but that's purely me guessing, and you're right that it doesn't chime with it being an 'off the record' chat.

A few tidbits from Elliot on that podcast. I think he's already written some of this, but more may be coming in future articles:

- Who knows what story/side to believe, but he says he had an 'off-the-record' chat with GB. Elliot rubbishes the story of the initial McGuire deal being cancelled midflight, although reiterates Venky's did suddenly pull the funding for the deal. Says the initial deal was for ~£2.5m*. When Venky's pulled the plug, McGuire flew over anyway to negotiate with Sheff Wed. They couldn't come to an agreement, so his agent came back to GB about a loan-to-buy, with the buy cost increasing to ~£3.5m*.

*I'm probably misremembering the exact figures. Main point is his sources (probably Rovers-linked) are insisting quotes of up to $7.5m are way off.

- GB is staying, at least for the short-term, and was actively chatting with Eustace before/during/after the Stoke game. He'll be speaking to the media about the transfer window during/after the international break in March as he wants to give Eustace some breathing space first. Not sure if SW will speak.

- Elliot didn't seem 100% sure, but he's under the impression Eustuce is a SW pick. Interestingly, he also suggests GB wasn't the one who picked out JDT (so maybe SW made the first contact with JDT?), but GB had a role in bringing him in/finalising it.

1 hour ago, NeilInBristol said:

 

He said nothing of use, very generic comments but he did slip in that 50points is the target that is what he was brought in for.

Get us to 50 points. 

Well you've got 15 games to get 14 points John. 

Looking at our fixtures that seems a huge challenge and big club was a strong chance of at least 1 point.

His words not mine!

Ha, reminds me that 51 points didn't do the job back in 16-17.

Hell, we probably 'deserved' relegation that year all things considered, but yeesh was that harsh... Apparently Peterborough has the record for highest point total while still getting relegated at 54.

Had a quick look and apparently ~43 is the average needed for staying up. We're on pace for 53 (current form of course a concern), QPR in 22nd is on pace for 43. Looks like Cifuentes has QPR back on track, but worth keeping in mind there's still a few shit teams between us and them.

Should be doable... although I say that having missed last night's game...

What's so ridiculous about our current predicament is suppose Eustace fails spectacularly and we get relegated (unlike Mowbray where we got relegated despite decent form under him - I don't mean to spark that debate!) I bet it'd still be up in the air whether we sack him as we wouldn't have the cash on hand to pay him off.

17 hours ago, aletheia said:

Player wages -is this accurate? Dolan!

https://www.capology.com/club/blackburn/salaries/

And on speculation and a kind of follow on, who will be sold in the summer? High wage earners off the books, those who can command a good fee?

Edit There are several online lists -another one -Dolan better off on this one 🙂

https://salarysport.com/football/championship/blackburn-rovers/

I think a PSA needs to be sent out about not giving any credence to sites like these 🙂

(Even need to be wary of the 'per week' values in FM, which may be reasonably close to reality in terms of footballers' 'basic' wage - fwiw, they have Dolan at £5k/week (https://www.fmscout.com/club/blackburn.html_) = but total salary costs will be much higher due to bonuses, sign-on fees, etc.)

Huh. Wonder if it's too late to see if Eustace is willing to serve as an assistant under Lowe.

59 minutes ago, tomphil said:

Hirst just didn't really fit the JDT way and neither did Ennis so it's a real big issue when your DoF is keeping bringing in guys who don't fit what you want.

Yes limited finances and pond to fish in but still it looked like bods for the sake of bods which clearly wasn't working.

Yeah, limited financial damage aside and acknowledging the overall financial constraints, it's definitely been GB's biggest failure.

Ennis... best guess is he was seen as a good bargain opportunity. Young striker who has scored some goals, out of contract, no compensation. But then showed up out of shape, his poor fitness should've been flagged/questions to be asked about his medical, JDT not impressed, and it snowballed from there... Maybe washes out now that we're rid of him, but not a mistake we could afford this year amid the budget cut.

Strange with Hirst. I think it's documented that JDT did approve of that one. I think he just struggled to break into a squad that was doing quite well. Flubbed a few chances, lost both his and JDT's confidence... 12 goals in 44 games with Ipswich is pretty good, but not incredible. He's had 9 assists too, so maybe has worked as more of a complementary piece rather than the goalscorer there. Would need to read up more on Ipswich fans' views...

8 hours ago, Exiled_Rover said:

Delighted with that. 

Took a chance on a bloke that had succeeded in L1 for free. It didn't work out and we washed our face within 6 months.

While only 'small victories', particularly with everything else going on, while GB* has generally failed to bring in a striker, it's at least some succour that the financial consequences of his two main striker acquisitions - Hirst** and Ennis - have been minimal. Something to be said about limiting long-term risks/managing to wriggle out of mistakes when you're in the strikers pound shop...

And then when he finally had some money to spend on a striker... Whatever the final financials, a loan-to-buy for McGuire sounded sensible. I'll speak up for MLS's gradual improvement in quality (there have been recent cases of (successful) MLS sales of £5-10m in recent years), but there's definitely reason for caution about a 22 year old with only one big MLS season after getting drafted out of college soccer. Of course, if McGuire floundered on his loan and we happily moved on, the question would still hang as to what, if any, of the Wharton sale will actually go toward player investment...

Rather pathetically, even if Ennis nets out to a small 'accounting loss', probably the biggest financial benefit is any relief his fee brings to our immediate cashflow (in order to, uh, fund the McGuire loan fee...)

*I've generally been a 'fan' of GB, whatever happend with the McGuire fiasco, I can't be bothered to endorse/take a 'side' on any part of the Rovers hierarchy when the whole thing is rotten, with Venky's incompetence/clusterfuck finances setting the tone at the top...

**Ipswich fans seem happy with Hirst. I recall posts taking bets on Hirst playing non-league football by now haha. Odd one. May simply have been a 'bad fit' here or JDT failing to get the best out of him.

(I'm saddened I couldn't figure out if it's possible to add footnotes 😞)

12 hours ago, DuffsLeftPeg said:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DVX1QlWX5W4

Good watch this. Shows how the entire playing style/philosophy of the club from Academy to First Team is built around having a 6 & two 8’s in midfield. So for the first team it was built around Adam Wharton.

No wonder JDT is fuming as he’s gone ahead of time and not been replaced so we’re starting from scratch again. 

Do think Buckley has the ability to play that role when he’s fit though & Ayari could possibly do it too.

Explains why Travis wasn’t favoured because he hasn’t got the footballing ability to play a 6 and he’s not good enough in forward areas to play an 8. 

GB is interviewed and comes across really well, he’s clearly passionate and heavily invested in the youth development model and a Rovers Academy that is a proven success.

Venky’s however are killing the entire model that GB & JDT have worked so hard to put in place because of their financial issues and cutting of the budget. Makes it impossible for us to ever progress with the Rao Family at the helm.

Yes, think it explains trying to shoehorn Moran into that role vs QPR. JDT essentially throwing up his hands to say "who the fuck else can play that role now that Wharton's gone?!" Then Moran kept drifting forward and Tronstrad struggled to do it himself.

I understand the stick Morton got last year, but I think that explains why he was a regular starter after Buckley disappointed in the role, Travis clearly can't do it, and Wharton needed time to 'learn to be a pro' (understood that's controversial, but think we need to give JDT some benefit of the doubt there).

I guess Buckley will get another audition and I guess we can hope/see if Ayari's up for it. Don't think Fleck's suited for it (and his current/ongoing fitness will be a concern anyway), can't trust Garrett with the ball... maybe JRC, but I don't know...

There may be room for Travis to support such a role (although his general inability going forward ultimately hampers him...), but Tronstad clearly supplanted him.

10 hours ago, bazza said:

Jack Vale came on as an 80 minute substitute for Motherwell and scored their 5th goal in a 5-0 demolition of Ross County tonight.

Vale's goal at 3:45. Pokes in a sorta 1-on-1 under some pressure. Not optimistic about his chances here, but he does seem to calmly bury chances when he gets them. (I'm sure someone can remind me, but I can't recall him making any horrific misses last year). The problem is more how little he's able to create chances/find space in the first place...

Gent also picks up an assist at 3:18, although just from simply laying off a pass for a screamer of a goal. His 2nd assist of the year, plus got a Cup goal a couple weeks ago. Seems he's now their regular LB after mostly being a sub to start his loan, which is good to see.

Don't know if this has already been posted, but came across this video from a few weeks ago by 'Inside The Academy' featuring our Academy, focusing on the u18s. Includes interviews with Stuart Jones, GB, and a bunch of other academy staff.

Going by the weather and GB mentioning 3 straight league losses + a couple big Cup wins with young squads, I think the interview was conducted in early October.

Haven't watched it all (it's an hour long...), but did watch the GB bit. No real gossip/surprising tidbits, just generally setting out the framework they're trying to put in place for the Academy, etc.

34 minutes ago, islander200 said:

Or us as fans are underestimating the cost of all the new contracts in the last 18 months.

Sigurrdson for example was on 18k a week at CSKA Moscow ,surely we won't have given him that much but he will be on at least 15k per week 

The lads who came up through the academy Carter, JRC etc would have had a big jump from the contracts they signed when breaking through to the first team 

Yeah, it's all guesswork, but supposing Ayala and Dack were on £14k/week and Brereton £8k/week (doing this per week is easy shorthand, but who knows what the total is with win/goal bonuses, etc), that's maybe £2m or so off the wage bill, so £23m instead of £25m. Kaminski maybe another £10k/week. Edun + Phillips won't have been on much.

Sigurdsson, Tronstad, and Ennis probably aren't on Ayala/Dack-level wages, but that's a decent chunk right there. Pears, Pickering, Hyam, Szmodics, S. Wharton, JRC, Garrett, and Leonard are all on new terms. Other players may have yearly wage rises. Wahlstedt and Telelovic are probably cheap, but can't ignore lesser deals like those.

When I say our 23-24 wages may be 'surprisingly high', I mean it may only be down to £22m-ish vs £25m. A 12% cut may not look like much, but it may be especially painful in an insanely competitive division with growing cost pressures everywhere.

Where I suspect GB got fucked is he thought he had another £2m of wage flex/transfer budget to work with after bringing in those first 3, but then that suddenly changed.

16 minutes ago, wilsdenrover said:

Just on the bit I’ve emboldened.

Don’t the Venkys London accounts (to 31st March 2023) suggest our wage bill may well show an increase in the club’s next accounts (to 30th June 2023)?

Yeah, looks like last year's wages were a bit higher, or at least around the same as previous years, despite the likes of Lenihan, Johnson, Nyambe, Rothwell, etc. leaving. Partly due to Hyam, Szmodics, and Brittain probably not being 'cheap', new contracts, and bonuses related to our cup runs + a decent league finish. Hence likely seeing similar losses in the 22-23 accounts!

Was more referring to this year, even despite the apparent sudden cuts and Brereton, Dack, and Ayala leaving. But it's anyone's guess. I'm certainly watching out for that... Can somewhat infer it from the funding Venky's was allowed to provide by the courts, but I'd be cautious about extrapolating that amount.

45 minutes ago, rob_of_the_rovers said:

I remember Fabio Nunes looked like he might have something about him from the little we saw. Edinho Junior I remember for some reason he started the game after he signed, was hooked at half time and was never seen again. Definitely something dodgy about those transfers.

Bruno Ribeiro was another odd one. He wasn't seen for a year after signing and then he finally played a game and got MoM.

Yeah, I recall Nunes having some talent. Only one to manage more than a few appearances for us... he's managed an ok career since, bouncing around the 1st-2nd Portuguese leagues and still playing in the top Polish league.

Taking a glance now, Henrique (0 appearances for us) actually managed a few years in the top Portuguese league, then a few years in the lower divisions before retiring.

As for Paulo Jorge, Edinho Junior, and Diogo Rosado (all with 2-3 appearances for Rovers), can immediately tell they had the same agent shuffling them about as they all spent some time at now defunct Romanian club Gaz Metan. Jorge and Edinho both spent time at the same lower level German club, then some lower league Portuguese time before retiring. Rosado's still playing in the lower Portuguese leagues after time spent in France, Cyprus, Romania... Yeesh.