He has been there all season, mainly as a sub option, having signed for them straight from his release from Rovers (from memory, it was a contract arranged ahead of time whilst technically still under contract at Rovers) Ayr lost the 2nd leg last night (losing the tie on aggregate) so are not going to be in the top tier next season, but he still has another year left on his contract with them so may possibly play a bigger part next season? Looks like he developed the useful knack of scoring off the bench late in the season. As you say, not the level we need, but good luck to him

I was under the impression that they rated him but he had a shocker of a season, including only making one appearance in a half season loan in Ireland before being dropped It looks as though injury may have played a part in that, but he was also not favoured for minutes when he was at Preston either He did play a fair amount (by comparison) the season before. Without knowing too much about what happened, maybe it ws just a case of him having a similar break out season, and then regression/finding his level that Adam Henley had? (how is he only 30? It seems like a lifetime ago)

On the bench this weekend Markanday - drew 2-2 - remained on the bench throughout - 2nd leg on Wednesday on Sky Sports + Saadi - lost 4-2 - came off the bench at half time with the score at 2-2 - finish 2nd in the relegation group (following league split) Not involved in matchday squad Vale - lost 3-0 - currently injured - next game on Wednesday

has been released, as has Woodman personally I'm not huge fan of either of them

Preston letting players know via instagram that they are being released Probably shouldn't laugh at them being a shambles too soon, or it will turn out Rovers will use blind carrier pigeons (or random news articles from Elliott Jackson) to attempt to let our guys know According to someone in their forum, so it may well be nonsense, Rovers interested in him,

just wait for Vale, Markanday & O'Grady-Macken to each be signed up for a couple more years by the end of next week and Gestede to declare it a successful window and then send the scouting team on an extended period of gardening leave

Probably the case, basically says as much in the interview "“Hopefully I can be in and around the first team here, but if not I’d be keen to go out on loan and play some men’s football and improve myself further."

Left footed centre back signed Come to think of it, by that logic, Rovers also signed up a right back last month too Gestede getting his targets sorted early lol Just a box to box midfielder, right winger & striker left and that's the business sorted 😉

George Pratt has signed a new contract until 2026 with a years option Wonder if he is is the left footed centre back that Gestede wanted, given that does not qualify for the U21s next season https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2025/may/09/pratt-pens-new-deal/

I would say that such a windfall (which is not used to fund the squad) wakes a few more people up So it does still have its uses

None have been announced by the club yet (but we shouldn't be surprised about that), Bloxham posted on his instagram He has also been injured for the past 6 months

Funny game innit, I see Pickering & Ribeiro as being of fairly equal ability

Lewis Bell & Stephen Edmondson also seem to have confirmed they have been let go

I think you misread that Small is a left-back but has been playing on the right side of defence this season with Kayne Ramsey suffering a knee injury in October. Although Transfermarkt seems to think he has been playing right wing mostly this season

4 times, all as sub, released this week

ok, I will rephrase, worst realistic scenario Do you honestly believe that given his first half season this year, a club towards the top of League 2 doesn't want to take him on a free and half his wages?

I genuinely do not think so. He will be on £5K/week (at most), Which equates to a maximum of about £250K over the course on next season. Even if as worst case scenario, we ended up giving him a free transfer (with a hefty sell on %) to Chesterfield pr similar and covering half of his wage for the remainder of his contract, I would fancy being able to recoup more than a few hundred K with a sell on which would still more than pay for itself And that would we worst case scenario. He has more than proved himself at League 2 level, so I would be pretty confident that someone at league 1 level would be willing to take a punt, and cover most/all of his wage, and even pay a small up front fee. again with a sell on % Personally though, I expect his option will be triggered and he will be a squad player next season, whilst being talked up as Dolans ready made replacement all through the summer

In all fairness, it was announced by Jackson, not the club. So Gilsenan would already have been advised prior to his birthday... should that worry you in the slightest

Even in that situation, it would be better to activate the renewal, if a club is interested (ie Chesterfield) allow him to move on a free but with a sell on clause, just in case he has a stellar half season at some point and he moves for a fee in the future Everybody wins that way

Maybe we should take the Indian court system to court to petition them to release the results like the football classifieds? Indian Government 1, Chicken Chokers nil Then we may find out the outcome by June in 2029

I don't think that he is. at youth level he played mainly as either a left sided attacking midfielder, or as a right wing back. He was also poor as a right sided attacking midfielder at the start of this season. Personally see him as probably being best suited to playing as a box to box midfielder in a 4-3-3 Definitely prefer him in the squad to Forshaw

Apparently his contract has a 1 year option clause, so he wont be on a free this summer

Has now missed Malmos last 4 games Knee injury apparently

The stats don't show that to be the case. Was a starter early on at both loan clubs, at Bristol, it seems he fell out of favour with the manager who was later sacked, at Tranmere, he was a regular starter until the manager who signed him was sacked, and then he was a bench player under the new guy

Real shame for him, wasn't even fit enough for the bench until late February, (think he still had the injury he had at Rovers when he signed for them, and then had a new issue when he was meant to make his comeback before Christmas) and in the end only made 4 sub appearances this season. As you say, hopefully he gets sorted with a club and manages to kick start his career Some quotes from the Barrow forum of him below "Wonder if Sam Barnes has been asked back for a trail pre season Andy Whing spoke warmly of him the other day" "Only players I'm surprised with is Barnes (thought he played well after coming back in to the squad and had a good game against colchester) and Vassell thought he would be kept but maybe he's off higher, apart from that looks like a full rebuild in the works." "Looks like we have cut ties with Barnes, he will probably go on to play a couple of seasons relatively injury free somewhere and boy does he deserve that bit of luck, but that’s the gamble and lessons will have been learned going forward." "The club obviously think Barnes isn’t going to achieve the level of fitness to be worth his wage , at the end of the day we aren’t a charity and have lost enough money on players like that over the recent years. Despite that I hope he proves us all wrong."