1 hour ago, matt83 said:

I’ll give you Szmodics as someone who’s bucked the trend. But hyam blows hot and cold. Tronstad? Jeez that’s some slim pickins. 

C'mon, that's being selective just to suit your narrative, I'm sorry. Hyam was POTY last season, & this season was solid before injury (though I accept has struggled since coming back, probably still not 100% fit).

Tronstad has been a standout performer this season, deffo in top 3.

32 minutes ago, matt83 said:

Sign of the times. The type of players rovers are in the market for these days are young untested kids who might (and mostly) turn out to be shit. Veterans or crocks. If they’re in their prime and sound decent I’d be checking their criminal history because there’ll be something wrong with them even if its not immediately obvious 

Szmodics? Hyam? Tronstad?

McFadzean confirmed, free until end of season.

Hope he does well, Cov fans seem sad to see him go.

At least it's not Kyle Walker...

15 minutes ago, Bohinen1983 said:

Quite happy with the older head coming in. 

Now we're just lacking 'QUALITY' replacements for:  Rothwell, Brereton, Dack Travis, Wharton, Buckley...

Pears (Replace)

Wharton (Happy)
Hyam (Happy)
Carter (Happy)

Pickering (content)
Brittain (Happy)

Garrett (Not ready)
Trondstadt (Happy)

Szmodic (Happy)

Dolan (Happy)
Gallagher (Content)
Siggy (Content)

Need a keeper, two centre midfielders, two strikers and then at least one wide player with pace.

Midfield's been absolutely decimated.   We surely can't be happy with only Garrett and Trondstadt as permanent first team centre mids.  Garrett looks a prospect but isn't ready yet..

We've holes all over the squad.  We've an alarming lack of pace and creativity too!

Missed quite a few names - perms & loans - off that list (Hedges, JRC, O'Riordan, Ayeri, Chrisene, Buckley, Moran, Leonard, Markanday), all of whom deserve to be mentioned & are clearly in 1st team squad (albeit some v new in, and still doesn't include Ennis or Telalovic)

1 hour ago, rovers11 said:

I did post yesterday that we shouldn't be splashing the Wharton cash in Jan. Its a terrible window and awful value.

Our season is pretty much over. We need to plug a few gaps to ensure we don't get relegated (hence the 37 year old defender) and then rebuild in the summer. That is the sensible approach. We only have one shot at getting it right. We cannot waste this money. 

Re para 1 - so by that rationale are Palace getting poor value for money for Wharton? Or does that rationale re buying in January just apply to us??  Surely it has to work both ways!

Re para 2 - the season is not over. A team nearly always emerges from the lower reaches in the 2nd half of the season to push for or reach the playoffs, why can't that be us? We have senior players coming back, a seemingly decent striker inbound to complement the division's top scorer, we're 11 points behind 6th place with a game in hand.

Plus we've a 5th round FA Cup tie to come at home!

I get all things aren't rosy, but yours is a v defeatist attitude to take and I'm glad you're not part of the coaching staff (I hope!!).

2 hours ago, arbitro said:

Warnock saved them from relegation and he went in September to make way for Darren Moore. Moore has flopped, been sacked and now they are once again linked with Warnock to save them.

Is there no accountability from the people who make these decisions? 

Clearly not, as we've experienced all-too-paibfully over the last 13 years!!

8 minutes ago, Torgeir said:

Statistically there'll be a lot more poor signings when you're shopping in the bargain basement @RevidgeBlue. 

Wahlstedt is our biggest miss so far. Telalovic was a way down on the shortlist and a last-minute emergency signing. Still can't rule either out, but looking like we have the German Grabbi on our hands.

Except Grabbi cost £7m 25 years ago...

I agree with the first paragraph.

4 minutes ago, Miller11 said:

Imagine speaking to Jack Walker now…

Well Jack, we’ve got a young lad come through the academy you built. He’s only 19, Blackburn born and bred, his brother plays here too. Genuinely a world class prospect, levels above what David Dunn ever was. No doubt he will go on to play for England sooner rather than later!

Brilliant! That was always the dream, to develop young local talent that can help keep us at the very top!

 

Oh, sorry Jack, did we not mention we are flogging him to Crystal Palace? You see because we have destroyed every bit of the club apart from the academy over the last 13 years, the 7th biggest club in London, with their small ground and zero trophies in their history are now considered a much bigger club than Rovers, even by half of our own fans!

I get this, I really do.

But we cannot strengthen significantly elsewhere without it. It sucks, I wish it weren't true but it is.

Venkys out (but they're going nowhere)

7 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

No they don't if they have any aspirations of promotion.

Didn't do Brentford any harm, or Brighton, or Burnley in fact going back a bit further.

I don't know why folk are surprised at the sale of Wharton, it's the first part of the "Brentford Model" that so many have been jealous of. He's universally seen as a generational talent; even as a prem club we were selling those types of players to clubs higher up the pecking order than us. Obviously the fact it's only Palace that we're selling to is a bit galling, but we are where we are in the pecking order (regardless of how we got here) & have to be realistic.

I hope he does well, & secures a bigger move & provides further cash into the coffers.

The key now is reinvesting in strengthening the squad overall, like W Ham did after selling Rice. That's the acid test, if that doesn't happen this isn't a good move and purely shows that the sale is a "needs must" situation just to keep the lights on whilst we await the outcome of the Indian legal process.

I ordered 3 tickets a couple of hours back. I tried online first, but for some reason it didn't complete the process with my bank, but I couldn't re-try as the seats I'd selected were still greyed out.

So I phoned the club, after multiple menu selections I got into the queue in 6th place; it took 15 mins to get down to 2nd, only to then get cut off!  

So i phoned back, but by then was in 13th place!!

I nearly gave up, but whilst on hold I went back online & managed to get 3 seats nearby my initial intention. 

Positive - there appears to be a good number of fans getting late tickets.

Negative - they don't half make it bloody difficult!! Good job I'm persistent...

1 hour ago, Mashed Potatoes said:

Especially if you start your second XI - a mistake that I don't think we will make.

I don't think we can start a second XI can we, we barely have enough players for a first XI!!

36 minutes ago, CrouchingNunhiddenCucumber said:

That tash is an absolute disgrace 

That's not where the disgracefulness ends, unfortunately. 

It'll be typical for something major to come out now whilst everyone else's attention is on Klopp...

58 minutes ago, J*B said:

Pending message from the owners…

Sorry, is this written in forlorn hope oŕ is something actually coming?

The suspense here is killing me (I know I know, it will probably be meaningless drivel)...

My sister in law is a Wrexham ST holder, I know they will relish this tie as one they can win & will deffo sell out their allocation, it being fairly near. Their tickets to the Shrewsbury tie sold out in minutes, and the waiting list for STs is something we can only dream of!

It is of course one we should win, but I really hope we can find some form beforehand & get some senior players back. Hopefully it's a tie that piques the interest of the Blackburn public & we show our best possible selves on the day...

4 minutes ago, BigBar said:

Brings me some hope that they will at least replace Pickering next season and have identified it as a problem area.

Pickering signed a new & improved deal last month, you really think we're looking to offload him??

It's a problem area in that when Pickering was out, we only had Brittain or Travis or JRC to replace him. Clearly Jake Batty isn't considered ready, so a body to cover for (or compete with) Pickering makes sense. But if you think Pickering is going anywhere you're going to be disappointed!!

3 minutes ago, jny said:

Utterly bizarre deal bringing in two youth products who will just go back to their respective teams at the end of the season. 

Don't play and we strain (or at least don't enrich) our relationship with their parent clubs. 

Play well or otherwise, and we lose them.

Can't see what the rationale for bringing them in is besides getting more bodies in the squad for a dogfight, but at the expense of loaning out your very experienced captain (also with no option for that club to buy), utterly strange.

Those two coming in and Travis leaving aren't related. And getting bodies in is quite a necessity, don't you think? At least these have pedigree at youth & full international level. 

Hill wasn't especially welcomed when he came, now we're upset he's been recalled. When will folk learn not to jump the gun?! 

6 minutes ago, Mercer said:

A sad, sad day in the history of Blackburn Rovers.

To lose a relatively experienced captain on loan to 2nd in the Championship and then bring in two young lads (Ayari and Chrisene) who have it all to prove, and it is doubtful even Chaddy has heard of them, tells you all you need to know about the state of our football club.

Seems we are also struggling to agree a financial deal with Crewe for O'Riordan.

The sirens are screaming and anyone who does not think we are in a financial mess needs to wake up and smell the coffee.

By 1 February, I think the hatches will need firmly battening down at Ewood and Brockhall as I think there is worse to come on the transfer front.

I think we all know we're in financial distress, which is no fault of anyone but our owners & is why I don't understand why folk are throwing pelters at JDT & GB for what's happened today.

Anyway, forgive me if this has been covered as I've not been on here for a long time until today, or if I am mis-remembering, but during the summer window weren't you one of those offering reassurances about good news being around the corner? What happened to that?

2 hours ago, martonrover said:

Which was obviously such a roaring success they felt the need to ship him out on loan.

He'll probably never kick a ball for them again.

I seem to recall many making similar comments about JPvH when we signed him... that didn't turn out so bad. 

Stop writing this guy off so quickly.

8 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

Meanwhile, the likes of Brighton, Fulham, and Bournemoth and Brentford FFS have become established PL clubs. And that's without mentioning effing Luton, in non league not that long ago

You missed our nearest & not-so-dearest off that list too... 

1 minute ago, goozburger said:

 

I think Tomasson holds no prisoners, and it has ruffled a few feathers in what may have been a very comfortable nest.

Which is what you want in a manager.

The problem here is that the club needs to be able to support the manager in that by giving him the means to replace him with someone he has more faith in. If the club can't do that, JDT will definitely fail and leave, and then the last couple if years have all been for naught.

Again! Rinse and repeat. Will always be the same until we have proper owners.

29 minutes ago, BigBar said:

Kaminski not being reinstated draws attention and alerts others clubs that it's possible to get him because he obviously wants to play. So Tomasson is responsible for that aspect.

27 minutes ago, wilsdenrover said:

Would Luton have tested our resolve if TK had still been first choice?

I doubt it would've stopped them from buying him, though it might have impacted a little on the fee we were able to demand for him, I'll grant you that. Not by much though, £500k at most I reckon, peanuts compared to their incoming PL bonanza.

We can't ignore the reality of the lure of the PL for any Championship player; don't kid yourselves that the sole reason it happened was because JDT didn't reinstate him post-injury!

1 minute ago, bluebruce said:

Travis has been loaned, not sold. Also not entirely JDT's decision.

It's a fair point that he mentions needing experience but dropped Travis and Kaminski. But Travis was actually dropped for someone 2 years older. Kaminski was dropped when injured, and it was more a case of not bringing him back in when fit. Which was a big blunder for me.

The overall pattern of the team getting even younger is more down to cost cutting from above.

I almost totally agree here, but would caveat the fact that regardless of whether JDT reinstated Kaminski or not after he recovered from injury, Kaminski would've left for Luton in any event given the enticement of PL football (where he has seemingly excelled & really put himself in the shop window, hopefully to our benefit in summer re a sell on fee).

JDT is not responsible for the loss of experienced players off the books.