KentExile

It is times like these when I think I have spent too much time idling, but to the tune of the chorus from Rupert the Bear https://www.flashlyrics.com/lyrics/jackie-lee/rupert-the-bear-56 His name is Sammie, Sammie Szmodics, Everyone knows his name! His name is Sammie, Sammie Szmodics, He scores in all his games!

I wasn't entirely serious, but maybe the brummies' fancy chartering him a private jet?

Teeside International? https://www.skyscanner.net/routes/mme/bhx/teesside-international-to-birmingham.html

If only we could

Yes, and the silver lining there is that Gally rarely would have got much more than his basic 😉

And as ridiculous as these amounts may seem, then factor in that Rovers are a lower/mid wage payer in the Championship, I think the last set of accounts had them at about the 12th-14th highest payers)

Appearance money, goal bonus, win bonus etc, add an extra 25% to the player wages (Rovers did ok in the year the accounts are from)

The site (https://salarysport.com/football/championship/blackburn-rovers/) just lists "basic" wages.. not appearance money, goal bonuses etc (so a good season can add an extra 25-30% on top of what wage is shown there), and as others have mentioned previously, Rovers have cut their wage bill in recent years.

Even as apprenticeships, they cant legally pay that little. But I think that if we are looking at Championship wages, we do not need to be looking at what kids in the academy are making. Ignore the below unless you care what U18 apprentices make per hour 😉 https://www.acas.org.uk/national-minimum-wage-entitlement £6.40/hour minimum wage for U18s (including apprentices) apparently, which equates to £256/week over a 40 hour week

With the exceptions of Adam Wharton, Szmodics and Pickering (who are surely on more since their recent extensions which do not look to have been included), pretty realistic in my honest opinion (as in their weekly wages are no more that a couple of thousand out in each individual case) Edit - The U18 players (Nsangou, Michalski, Doherty etc) are way out though, UK minimum wage laws mean that nobody can legally be paid £60/week. They are all surely on £250/week (https://www.acas.org.uk/national-minimum-wage-entitlement link for UK minimum wage requirements) just because the law dictates as such

Pretty much spot on in my view It is why Rovers now look to sign players from League 1 and 2 (Szmodics, Brittain, Pickering, Ennis, new Crewe lad), Premier League Academy's (Markanday), Scotland (Hedges), and "lesser leagues" (at least in terms of their financial clout) from abroad (Tronstad, Telelovic, Wahlstedt). As these players are unproven, their initial contracts can be circa £5-7K/week and if they develop, then a new contract is offered on Championship level wages (£10-15K/week)

I think many of us severely underestimate just how high Championship wages are. (and I do not just mean at Rovers) Whilst Hyam may not be on quite as high a wage as Ayala was (Ayala who moved to Rovers on a free which would have meant higher wages), that will probably change if and when Hyam signs an extension (his injury and lack of form in recent weeks might do Rovers a favour in negotiations there). Dack signed his big contract with us whilst injured the first time around, whereas Szmodics signed his whilst he was the top scorer in the Championship. The recent extensions to Pickering, Adam Wharton , Sigurdsson, and probably JRC in the summer, who have all proven that at the very least are relatively reliable Championship performers would very likely be on more than £8K-£10K/week. Remember, if Rovers don't pay these figures, there are plenty of clubs at our level who would happily do so. Which is why Rovers are looking at the ,lad from Crewe.

Absolutely! Although my post was mainly a response to the assertation from a previous poster that

The increased instances of players signing new long term contracts since Broughton arrived would indicate that someone is aware of these facts and is actively trying to rectify things moving forwards.

If Eastham is too old for U21s level at 22, Hilton is a relative geriatric at 24, lol 😉 The contract decision for Eastham does look strange given which level he has ended up at on loan

Jordan Eastham has gone on loan to Hyde in the Northern Premier League. Seems to have been replaced by a 16 year old Michalski in the U21s now. Easthams height has always been against him being a sub 6ft (I think) keeper

Jason Steele is their keeper, so anything is possible 😉

To be honest, if you look at Brighton's transfer business in recent years (numerous players bought in for £10M-£20M and then sold on for massive profits within 2/3 years such as MacAlister, Caicaido, Burn, Cucurella, Bissouma), A plan for Rovers to sell players to Brighton could be a real money spinner (as long as we include a sell on fee) https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/brighton-amp-hove-albion/alletransfers/verein/1237

Would be a decent back up to Tronstad 😉 Although would imagine his wages and signing on fee (since he would be moving on a free) would be too high for a back up player

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2024/january/05/rovers-switch-the-ideal-fit-/ “I love playing forward and I’d rather play forward and lose the ball than play backwards. My style is offensive midfield and getting into the final third," Sounds like a cheap back up option to Szmodics/option from the bench. I have seen him a few times at Coventry, and did look very lightweight and struggled to impact the game. Personally speaking it means we still need a back up to Tronstad (deeper laying midfielder) and not sure if Ayari offers anything that Moran does not

Yep, but even more lightweight Coventrys form has improved massively since they took him out of the team https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/yasin-ayari/leistungsdatendetails/spieler/667287/wettbewerb/GB2/saison/2023 For those who wonder what Cov fans thought of him https://www.skybluestalk.co.uk/threads/ayari.155786/

In my opinion, he should only be sold IF he can be replaced by someone better suited to how Rovers play for the same (or less) money, my above point was not that he should be sold, but that he is not seen by JDT as a defensive midfielder (at least not in the mould that JDT wants a deep laying midfielder to play) Edit based on the above posts about a loan move to Ipswich ... Unless we are getting a huge loan fee and bonus based on Ipswich getting promotion, this is a very strange decision

Fair enough, I would have presumed that Adam Wharton (rather than Travis) was JDTs second choice for the deepest midfield slot, as he played their at the expense of Tronstad in the early weeks of the season. I would agree that if we sell Travis, he needs to be replaced with another midfielder (either box to box or a deeper laying player to allow Wharton to operate further forwards) due to the injuries to Buckley and JRC for the rest of the season

As Garrett and Travis have both only played as box to box midfielders (or 8s if you prefer) this season that would still be the case. We can agree or disagree with JDT that Travis and Garrett are best as defensive midfielders or box to box midfielders, but we surely cannot dispute that he has not played either of them as defensive midfielders this season.

Also not forgetting the new, long term contracts for numerous players signed under his watch... even if we do include Phillips and his low release fee (which was considerably more than Rovers would have got if he had not signed the contract and left for a compensation fee instead)