Just now, Crimpshrine said:

And sometimes they say NO!. The Gallagher deal pretty much blew the budget and now all deals are being questioned

Balaji? Is that you pal? Thanks for letting us all know we’re peppered, ??

Just now, Bigdoggsteel said:

Mowbray dropped him last season for repeated errors. He probably told him during the summer or Raya figured out himself that he was no longer the guaranteed number 1. Raya decided that was beneath him and looked for a move somewhere he would be number 1. Probably got a wage increase too. 

That seems the most plausible to me. 

The guy had a string of crap games and got dropped. Told that the club were looking to improve the gk department. Then decided he’d rather not hang around...fair enough ??

1 minute ago, Stuart said:

How hard can this all be? Bassini has 7 or 8 players lined up and he doesn’t even own Bolton yet!

BASSINI!!? The guy who’s about to be hit with a restraining order for excessive calls to the administrators and once went bang for 30, yes 3-0k ???

You taking the piss? Gotta be banter now, surely? 

Just now, 47er said:

That reads a lot like failure. Its the recruiting team's job to identify their targets and chase them down. We missed out on Bauer too after pursuing him for a year and a half.

Nah, just reads like the real world. Good stuff Chaddy.

11 minutes ago, Bbrovers2288 said:

I wouldn’t think so if Walton comes in, can say that Walton wasn’t considered until very recently so a few deals haven’t come off. Doesn’t look very good on our recruitment to be selling our keeper without having something more solid in place. Don’t think we have reached many of our targets this summer to be honest

It’s not good at all. The only sensible explanation is that they needed it for Gally. Still willing to see how the window ends. Expect a cash buy for a CB

Just now, bluebruce said:

Why would they drop their price tag 2 months later?

Because after a year on loan he’d only have a year left on his contract.

I wouldn’t choose Eastwood but weirdly, of all the keepers we’ve been linked to it would appear that he’s universally loved by his fans and media who are devastated by his potential departure!! ??? 

That’s terrible!! Walton and Eastwood both confirmed now huh!!? Errrrr no! ??‍♂️??

Just now, Moptop1 said:

 

I never posted that!! ??

Just now, Mattyblue said:

So it’s the club that thinks we have £75 million worth of talent once Dack goes?

I was hoping it was just your fevered imagination.

No mate, the CLUB have a plan to buy and develop young players to sell (strategically and if necessary) in order to balance the books whilst progressing towards promotion. - Evidenced over the last 12 months when they’ve spoken about it, Maddison from Norwich and selling ‘a Dack’ etc.

I simply used the 5 players mentioned and priced them at £10m -15m based on their age and potential and stated the £50-75m potential return.

But you keep slinging those insults pal. 

Just now, Mattyblue said:

Problem is Paul, you make everyone else out like they are idiots (WOW! ??? Etc) whilst you are the ‘football man’, realistic etc.

But it’s you that thinks we will avoid FFP by selling one player in 12 months time, even though we have no idea on his worth at that time - oh and 1 year left on his contract by then, unless he signs another? Another assumption.

But even if we do sell him, that’s fine as we have up to 75 million of talent coming though. 

Its cloud cuckoo land stuff coming from you.

I just said that was the plan. Not my plan but THE plan. You’re Just making this stuff up as you go along now...

Just now, arbitro said:

Poor post that mate. Nobody is 'arguing' merely having a different view on something that might or might not happen. If you can't accept that you need to stop reading and posting 

There’s no getting away from the fact that we’ll never get close to seeing this the same way mate. I respect your opinions and views.

Just now, roversfan99 said:

 

Few things:

- What makes you suggest that Evans "has half a season, max?" Mowbray played his strongest 11 yesterday, Evans played. Unlike Smallwood who didnt play as much in the second half of last season, Evans wasnt at all phased out, has a new contract and seemingly id a big part of Mowbrays plans.

- Where does Dack fit in your 433? We cant play a formation that doesnt suit our best player.

- Thats a massive, massive assumption. 50-75m is quite frankly ridicilious for 5 players who all are young and have scope for development, but none have really any evidence that they can or will ever justify the massive figures youve just plonked on their collective heads.

- If you also are so focused on stockpiling young attackers, you remove yourself from actually the primary objective of short term success, if we dont equally focus on the rest of the team at the same time. For example, we continue to neglect the full back area.

You have to understand why defending Venkys is always going to be a touchy subject considering what theyve done. Theres nothing to be grateful for.

Just my opinion.

Just now, RoverCanada said:

? Do you think we should sell Ewood Park to Venky's, as Derby and Villa have done? This seems to be hinted at by some posters, but I'd be curious if anyone is 'brave' enough to explicitly advocate for that!

Forest have had some pretty significant sales in recent years... they booked £25m in player trading profits in 2017 and 2018, and they've trimmed their wages recently too. You may be referring to their owner's loan write-offs, but those will likely be excluded from FPP (as was the case for QPR, hence their breach of FFP). Even then, their most recent accounts show Forest still has a decent amount of headroom under FFP after excluding the loan write-offs.

There’s no point arguing. They’re desperate for everyone else to admit if it doesn’t go our way but there’s no chance they’ll do the same if we’re sat in the top 6 come May. 

Imagine the reaction if we sold the stadium and renamed it the ‘Venkybowl Arena’ ???

Just now, Give 'Em the Axe said:

Sorry lads, I know I am possibly asking something that has already been answered. But is it true to say that the expected in-comings for today are Walton and Adarabioyo?

And then, (possibly later this week?) we should be welcoming the experienced keeper and centre-half?

Yes, I think that’s the plan

Just now, JHRover said:

So you're happy or comfortable with the plan which last time saw us end up in League One?

Haha - It’s completely out of my control either way mate! If I owned the club, had the money and the inclination to spend £17m a season of my own money then I’d feel more confident! 

Venkys are behaving very different to the Bowyer era imo and I think they trust Waggott and TM. But who knows, they might decided to cash in their chips at anytime!? Could you blame them? 

Just now, JHRover said:

Why did Waggott say we were within FFP parameters if there's now a risk and we'll have to sell Dack next summer to comply?

We are currently within. There’s more to selling a player than ffp though. What about the player? My belief is that they’ve asked Dack to stay this season, if we go up he gets PL football and if we don’t they’ll sell him to a PL team. Either way Rovers don’t lose out because you’ve got a seriously motivated Bradley Dack!!

Just now, JHRover said:

Other clubs do it differently. They might not commit to as large fees as we have with Brereton and Gallagher but when they sign a player they do so for that player to immediately improve their team, not as a 'project'. They might sell someone every 12 months to offset it but then reinvest.

Last time we moved in a 3 season cycle. We spent good money and signed quality under Bowyer, let it grow and then slashed and burned in no time at all, refused to reinvest anything and ended up getting relegated. So we have done the selling part - bringing in more cash than most clubs will have done at this level - we just did it all at once with no ability to strengthen after it. You must be confident in Venkys if you don't think similar could happen next summer.

That’s the plan. But bearing in mind they’re pumping £17m a season of their own money then I guess it’s their prerogative what they do?

Just now, JHRover said:

I thought the plan was to be promoted by next summer?

 

In the interests of clarity, the aim is top 6 - but as you said there’s many variables so it’s absolutely imperative that you have a plan to offset the risk of not doing so? 

Just now, 47er said:

Then you are deliberately setting up TM to fail!!!----according to your very own words on this MB.

Moreover you said it was impossible to do this before the window ended!!

Nope, I said you wouldn’t get a full new defence (bar Lenihan) and two keepers by the end of the window. And you won’t! 

Just now, Mattyblue said:

Best laid plans and all that. Lot of assumptions in that post, especially if the form of one player is our future financial fall back as a club.

so we hope Dack continues in decent form, doesn’t suffer an injury and the other players actually do ‘kick on’. 

Jesus mate, how is it humanly possible to generate any decent money in football other than sales or promotion to the PL? It’s risk and reward! What would you prefer we do? Reduce our budget to Wigan’s and hope we don’t go down every year? 

Just now, arbitro said:

I think the notion of what you are saying is pretty much correct but for me there are far too many variables in to football to plan ahead like that. Loss of form, injury, falling out with the hierarchy and other things could seriously affect any player and see their value plummet. Of course the converse is that having a really good season could see values increase.

I really hope that we are not planning for FFP by effectively rolling a dice.

Of course there are variables. But I didn’t even mention Travis, Buckley, Lenihan, JRC etc who could also command big fees. 

As for rolling the dice? Wow, they literally cannot win. If you / we want them to have the slightest chance of going up they have to spend money. How else are they going to generate the cash to stay within ffp? They are simply trying to grow as many assets as possible to offset the risk. Oppositely, we go back to living within our means, struggling to 15k fans through the gates and languish in the lower part of the championship?

Q - How many other clubs with similar gates and income and no parachute money are spending like we are and not selling their Crown Jewels every summer? 

Just now, JHRover said:

A good buy in isolation yes. But not if that's all our money gone and we aren't going to see similar invested into essential areas and are now resorting to Ffp excuses. If Ffp is a problem preventing us from addressing GK and defence then we shouldn't have bought Gallagher.

They’ve got plenty of money and the plan is to sell Dack next summer anyway to stave off any potential threat. It’s believed by this time that B.B. Gally and Arma along with Butterworth and Rothwell will have developed sufficiently to step into those shoes and keep us moving forwards...

Here’s a funny one. People pay most money for young forwards who score goals. If those five kicked on over the next 3yrs you’ve probably got between £50-75m of assets after Dack. Sell one every summer and you remain competitive, keep ffp at bay and continue to build...maybe that’s why we spend our money on the academy and forwards ?

Just now, Mattyblue said:

Paul -

You sticking to your view that Mowbray needs to be be held responsible for a failed transfer policy, if by the close of the window we haven’t significantly improved the defence?

100% - I think the players we have signed and are about to sign have been / are good. Contrary to what has been said on here the manager said he wanted to add championship experience and he’s done that in spades. The timing could’ve been better but in having cause to read a couple of other clubs mb’s last week I discovered that there’s far more worry elsewhere where virtually no players have been signed. The Wigan and Preston ones were particularly entertaining with both boards openly worried about relegation, slagging the ownership and looking enviously at OUR business!! (Did make me laugh)

As I said in May, the manager has stated his aim to challenge the top 6 and in order to do that you need quality in depth. We have that now imo in both Midfield and Forwards. BUT the addition of Walton and Ada will not adequately sure up our defence and therefore, if we stop there then for the first time TM will have actually failed and I will begin to lose faith in his ability to take my beloved club to where it wants to go.

Hes got significant financial muscle. Those painting us out to be penniless are so wrong. The infrastructure is growing daily. It wouldn’t even surprise me if they do a cash buy AFTER doing the exp keeper and Defender. 

Just now, Wing Wizard Windy Miller said:

Don't think the signings so far (and the prospective ones) are good enough to talk of a promotion push. 

Downing: meh - struggling to see much benefit to this- apart from someone to take over from Conway collecting fines.

Johnson - could be the best signing of the lot - or the worst.  If he's hungry enough, he has the the pedigree.

Gallagher:  must have been better options out there but a steady acquisition who could well improve with games.  

Walton:  big lad, but career wise on a par with Raya and only on loan. No value in the signing.

'The lad from City' : Again, much needed height but unless its loan with a view, not really the big experienced CB we need.  

 

Window is average to poor so far.

Still short of an experienced CB (who's played there all career  - not ex midfield)

Still need an experienced keeper of some quality.  

A left back if we are playing wing backs.

 

 

 

 

Three different words in each of those sentences could’ve changed the prognosis to ‘good to very good’....a simple glass half full to glass half empty scenario.

I do however, agree that an experienced keeper AND cb are imperative to us having the depth and quality to push the top 6. In particular, the sight of Jermaine Defoe rising in between our two floundering cb’s to head in a cross in our 6yard box with no keeper flying out to clatter him yesterday should’ve rung every alarm bell possible to the management team....