3 minutes ago, Forever Blue said:

Classic 

‘We won’t spent any money’

we spend more money than anyone thought we would. 

’Yeah, but they’re lying about the amounts’

😀

Exactly….its been reported by multiple outlets that the fees are:

Tavares - 2m

DeNeve - 750k

Alebiosu - 500k

Baradji - 1.5m

Us “Naaaaaahhhh, utter bollocks!” 🤣🤣

4 minutes ago, 47er said:

Depends on how much they hope to get back from selling our best players?

Over the past few seasons they’ve sold loads and invested little…

I can’t see that they’ve bought these in anticipation of sales. They usually just set a budget and basically make do, whatever happens.

Just now, bluebruce said:

So Baradji, Tavares, allegedly both with big fees, and Forshaw all signed on this summer. All central midfielders. Has to mean at least one of Travis or Tronstad is getting lined up for a sale, maybe both.

The fly in the ointment of that theory though is that Baradji can apparently play, yes, DM or CM, but also right wing. I wonder where we intend to use him, though you'd think he's at least a contingency for if we lose someone there.

Maybe - though they could be direct replacements for JRC and Buckley? 

3 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

Probably because most of the players signed don't remotely fit the profile of players who should cost anywhere near the reported fees. Plus the club have become experts at misleading the fans.

Agreed. But the club haven’t reported the fees. The club rarely reports anything. News outlets have.

Listen, I’m not saying we’ve spent £4.75m, but we can’t have it both ways just to fit our narrative / hatred of Venkys.

It would seem that the club are backing Ismael based on the widely reported fees they’re spending on these players!? Right?

2 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

Probably because most of the players signed don't remotely fit the profile of players who should cost anywhere near the reported fees. Plus the club have become experts at misleading the fans.

Sounds like Charlton have paid £1m for JRC….

Just now, Madon said:

Hell fire, looks like we are actually going to spend a few bob. 

What makes me laugh is when we sign anyone in a free or a minimal fee, everyone’s like “tight bastards” and the reported fee is taken as gospel…

But in this window including the new two, it’s now reported we’ve already spent roughly £4.75m in fees and everyone is like “bollocks” 🤣🤣🤣

1 minute ago, MarkBRFC said:

Also let O'Riordan go.

Tom Atcheson has been training with the first team squad so far in pre season, seems he is the next one they want to push through.

After that probably looking at Litherland who is also highly rated.

Agreed - O’riordan hasn’t been fancied by any manger. Weird one. Needs to go.

Litherland was the one I was thinking about. He looked decent last season. Maybe having lost out on Batth they decided to go for Kapaudi and promote Litherland and Acheson?

Also was thinking they might see Kristi Montgomery as CM cover as he’s played there for the youth team / 21’s right?

16 minutes ago, KentExile said:

 

 

Yeah, I’m not sure Elliot would 100% know that. What is fact is that we offered Batth a contract, AND Rudy came out saying we wanted a cb at around the same time. Which tells me they initially wanted two…

But who knows? Tbh we probably do need two regardless of formation when you consider the injury record of Carter and bearing in mind Wharton hasn’t played for the best part of 12 months.

Are any of the Academy CB’s ready to step up? I’ve got brain fog.

11 minutes ago, roversfan99 said:

But Ismael didnt play that in either of his subsequent managerial roles, as far as I am aware.

De Neve is a wide man equally comfortable on the left wing and was compared to Owen Beck who Ismael played in front of a left back when he was fit.

We need 3 centre backs if we want to play 3 at once.

Agreed. Though you could argue that those subsequent managerial roles were comparable failures to the job he did at Barnsley. Maybe he’s going back to his initial idea?

It’s still up in the air and we could stick with 4231 it’s just something about these wide, high energy wide players which look much more like wing backs than full backs.

Interesting to see how many cb’s we sign…

Just now, roversfan99 said:

Its been reported that we only want one centre back.

Im not sure why people are presuming that we are going to change to a back 3/5.

We wanted one when we thought Batth was staying. I’m not sure if we will sign two cb’s but based on the profile of high energy, forward thinking fullbacks we’re signing, they look more like wing backs. Which leads us to think we might end up with three CB’s.

Barnsley were 343 in that brilliant season they had with VI weren’t they?

1 hour ago, DutchRover said:

So where are we at squad wise now? I do agree that we might be trying to transition to 3-4-3 based on the signings. I'd guess:

Toth

Hyam, New CB?, Pickering?

Brittain, Tron, Trav, Hedges

Cantwell, Ohashi, Kargbo

 

Backups:

Pears

Carter, Wharton, Ribeiro

Alebiosu, Tavares, Forshaw , De Neve

Tyjon, Gueye, Leonard

 

We definitely need strengthening in the forward areas as backup for Cantwell/Kargbo, we can't go into a season relying on Tyjon and Leonard.

Likewise, CB is a little weak until we sign someone, I also don't quite trust idea of Riberio/Pickering at CB.

I’d say more…

                  Toth

      Carter.   Hyam  New CB

Brittain  Trav.  Sonny.     Ribeiro

        Kargbo.     Cantwell

                Ohashi

Cover:

GK - Pears

CB - Wharton, Pickering, New, 

Wingback - Alebiosu, Duru, De Neve, Hedges

CM - Tavares / Loan? Or New

Forwards - Gueye, Tyjon, Leonard, new #10, new wide forward.

Plus the academy options.

Whats interesting is the profile of players being sought. With the new rb, it’s clear that the manager wants pace and energy from those wide defensive positions. If we weren’t so light at cb I would be convinced this was a shift to a 343. Might still be the case if they convert Pickering or Ribeiro into a Lcb? Still time to add more cb’s in this window though.

Add in Tavares and the public chase of Steve Kapaudi and it’s a clear shift in style. From the ‘All out attack’ of JDT, to ‘cautious’ John Eustace, Big Val is going all ‘Heavy Metal’ on us, right? Focus on physical attributes - power, pace, high energy! Whether any of these players are much kop remains to be seen but it’s an interesting change nevertheless.

Based on where we are right now, were we not to sell any of our key players, I’d say we need a cb, (or two), another creative #10 and another quick wide forward.

Fwiw - I have a feeling that Ohashi and Gueye can have brilliant campaigns this season after a year bedding in. Backed up by a fully fit Leonard and Tyjon.

Buckley and JRC need to move on, for everyone’s sake. Both talented but haven’t lived up to it.

3 hours ago, rigger said:

If Dolan isn't careful he will be on the same career path as Nyambe.

Called it. Watch…

11 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

So basically you're admitting that ( notwithstanding his faults) he is/was still one of our better players?

I have to say that people complaining about Dolan when we've got Hedges on the other side is one of the most bizarre things I've seen in my time watching football.

No! 

9 hours ago, Tomphil2 said:

I think if we spent a million pound on most positions in the team by a good manager and recruitment dept we'd have a better team.

Paul seems to think that's revolutionary for some reason but the reality is we can't and won't anyway because cheap wages and no/low fees are the order of the day.

We aren't replacing Dolan with better for nothing or next to nothing just like to replace a homegrown right back of modest ability with one with better wing back potential cost at least a million and will now cost good wages to keep him.

I actually don’t think we’re that good. Which tells you how crap I think Dolan is. But I still genuinely believe we won’t struggle to find a player who positively effects the game as much as he….

As for Dolan, I’d be shocked to my core if we can’t find a much better player for £1m.

25 minutes ago, Tomphil2 said:

But it cost a million quid to replace the homegrown Nyambe who up until last season was a still better defender than Brittain but useless going forwards.

Is there a million quid available to replace Dolan on the same wages ?

Oh my word. Nyambe wasn’t even the best right back at his house and he lived with his mum and sister! Dearie me…🤣🤣

Joking aside, are you saying that up until last season, the guy who could barely get a game at Wigan or Derby was better than Brittain, at anything!? If so, I’m lost for words…

9 minutes ago, pick32 said:

Took my misses to two rovers matches last season, she has no interest in football and asked “why does that playing keep spinning around in a circle” summed him up for me 

That’s funny, I took my 9yr old daughter last season for the first time. She has never been interested but, like lots these days started following Haaland, watching City and so I got her down to Ewood… she was like “Dad, is he a YouTuber? Like a guest who’s playing for charity?” 🤣🤣

1 hour ago, Rochdale_rover said:

Dolan is bang average. 

The only issues here is letting another contract run down instead of paying the going rate for a championship player and whondo we replace him with.

In the 5 seasons he's played he can't have played well in more than 20 games.

This is my opinion of course. And watching him week in week out he has probably been the most frustrating player I've watched over the last 30 years.

But he does run around alot.

(Although looks like he's running in quicksand )

 

 

 

 

 

Bang on the money. Easily the most frustrating player I’ve watched.

Masks his constant dallying on the ball by running around a lot. His 5 touches and flicks constantly break our attacks down on the transition in build up.

Hes been helped by the fact he hasn’t had anyone tearing up trees around him. So he looks decent sometimes in and amongst Hedges and the like.

My prediction on Dolan is that his career will take a similar path to Nyambe. I remember folk thinking he was a ‘good un’ and the world was ending when he left, then Brittain turned up and they were like, “Ahhh, so THAT’s what a fullback is!” 

13 minutes ago, simongarnerisgod said:

i find it quite alarming that val is bigging forshaw up in the local press🙄,like he`s going to be a regular starter

Eh? Where has he insinuated that Forshaw will be a ‘regular starter’? Has been quoted as saying he’s great “On and Off the pitch and knows his role” - which is basically code for ‘he’s a good lad’ aka McFadz mkII.

Ok, I’ll address the elephant in the room….we’ve just spent (upto) £2m on a player!? Wow, was not expecting that!

I don’t believe that it’s because we’re selling Travis either, not because I trust them, but because that’s not the way they / we work. We don’t spend money that comes in (as shown by the Wharton, Szmodics sales). We certainly don’t buy a player ‘in anticipation’ of selling a player either.

Based on everything that’s been made public, my belief is that they’re pushing ahead with plans as per VI’s wishes. It’s been documented that we were after a box to box number 8 and they’ve gone and got one.

Contracts

I think Ismael has asked that we re-sign the four out of contract to keep a level of consistency in the group.

Personally, I would offer Batth and Weimann (once fit) new deals as a priority. I think Forshaw did quite well so a cheap short term deal in addition to someone to push Trav and Sonny would be fine for me also.

Dolan and Hedges, though far superior to many of our other players technically, both needed to go. Because neither of them do the actual job they’re paid to. Hedges goal contributions are horrific and we shouldn’t let Dolan’s mini renaissance cloud the fact that he’s stunk most of his 200 games out with flicks and unnecessary extra touches, combined with a lack of end product. Both are hard working, honest players but forwards are paid to effect the final third. See ya.

Sales

Pears - had his best time for us in the first half of the season and was integral to us being in the top 5. Form tailed off in the new year, won’t wanna play second fiddle.

Buckley / JRC - Time is up. Club an manager made their feelings known

Hyam - may go if they can’t get him to sign. Assuming we have Batth, Carter and Wharton

Pickering - may go, can’t see him wanting to sit behind Ribeiro

Free / £1m

GK, CB, RB, CM and 2x wide forwards. Any gaps will be filled by U21’s

We know from Rudys interview and the last few summers that we will have approx £5m to spend across both windows regardless of what we bring in. So I expect two or three 1m ish fees, a couple of free’s and loans / short term deals.

Im still undecided as to whether I will renew. Be the first time I haven’t since Keans last season. Weirdly, Rudys honesty in that interview has completely killed me because I know now, there’s no flippin hope! It’s formulaic. Zero imagination so no point in dreaming, whilst they put the ticket prices up 🙈

Overall, we’ve overachieved for the season. There’s not a single Rovers fan who wouldn’t have snapped your hand off for finishing 7th when the season started last August.

The clubs problems are well documented but I do think Ismael will do ok long term.

Start next season with Toth, Brittain, Hyam, Batth, Ribeiro, Sonny, Trav, Cantwell and Ohashi. With Carter, Wharton, Pick, and Kargbo.

For the live of god, get rid of Hedges and I pray Dolan leaves too. Both absolutely crap, hardworking but genuinely useless. Dennis, Sanderson and Woodrow can disappear too.

I wouldn’t be against offering new deals to Weimann and Forshaw.

Big summer ahead!

1 hour ago, RevidgeBlue said:

It always baffles me how we dont deem certain youngsters worthy of any minutes in our first team yet Premier League Clubs obviously think they're worth a punt.

Because there’s a big difference between playing in the first team in the championship and playing for the U21’s at United??

6 hours ago, joey_big_nose said:

I'd really challenge that Dolan isn't top half... he's always available, puts a massive effort defensively and contributes a decent amount offensively. I am sure his new club will be one that is top solidly half. Wouldn't be surprised if a well resourced parachute club takes him.

Hedges is more debatable, but if/when he leaves I would fully expect him to get a sideways move to another mid table side.

All opinions of course, and Dolan is doing a fine job of finishing in a high, but 200 games in, I think he’s crap mate. Hard working show pony, who has far more bad’uns than good’uns. Is the deceptively slow and takes 1733637 touches when one is all is needed.

Granted, I may be proven wrong on him, and for his sake I hope I’m wrong, but my bet is he’s more likely to do a ‘Nyambe’ than a ‘Raya’.

All fairly irrelevant anyway because he’s taking the coin. Meh…next!!

The keepers, regular defensive unit (Plus Carter, Pick and Wharton) and the regular midfield base (Trav and Sonny) have proven they are top half championship players for me.

The question marks are all around those top four forward positions and there’s a few who’ve proven not good enough in terms of goals and assists. I’m hopeful that Gueye, Ohashi, Kargbo and Cantwell can kick on under Big Val next season.

I’m strongly in the camp that Hedges and Dolan aren’t good enough as demonstrated over a few hundred games in Rovers colours.

The annual drop off is mainly down to squad depth when injuries and suspensions kick in.
We don’t have enough depth and we don’t have enough firepower due to lack of funds.

I think we’ll target a GK, CM, Wide forward and a striker in the summer. Expect Buckley, JRC, Pears and Dolan to go. Then maybe a couple of loans and promote some young lads to flesh things out.