JCRovers

My guess as to what will happen within the next week or so: - Travis gets sold - Mafoumbi gets sold or have his contract terminated to free up an ESC-slot. Shouldn't be an issue given they released Sigurdsson in advance last season when he was cut from the 25-man squad. - Baradji signs as replacement for Travis - Tronstad becomes new captain Nightmare scenario: Hyam becomes captain (again) and we start leaking goals for fun.

Predicted XI: Toth Alebiosu Hyam McLoughlin Ribeiro Travis Tronstad Hedges Cantwell De Neve Ohashi Pros: we have some impact players on the bench who can have an influence on the game (Kargbo, Gueye). Wingers have relatively high work rate and will track back most of the time to help the fullbacks. Cons: Right hand side looks depressing. Doubt Alebiosu is capable of beating his man (other than using raw pace) and putting in quality crosses into the box. Hedges lacks both pace and technique to provide any end product. Our attacking threat looks bleak overall, offering no bursting pace or technique among the wingers to beat their man in 1 v 1 situations or having any aerial threat inside the box and thus will struggle to break down teams who choose to sit and defend in a low-block. Preferred XI: Toth Alebiosu Hyam McLoughlin De Neve Travis Tronstad Kargbo Ohashi Cantwell Gueye Pros: Attacking threat increases having a variety of qualities among front four: Ohashi (poacher), Gueye (target man), Cantwell (playmaker), Kargbo (fast-paced winger). Kargbo will be able to cross from the byline on the right hand side using his preferred foot. Gueye can offer link-up play with Ohashi and Cantwell by winning aerial duels. Cantwell can attack the center by carrying the ball from out wide as opposed to trying to find pockets of space centrally and between the lines. Gueye will offer an aerial threat inside the box. De Neve can attack the left hand side from a deeper position while Alebiosu stays behind to form a back three when in possession. Cons: not as many impact players on the bench other than perhaps Henriksson. Striker (Gueye) will probably have to play 90 minutes as options will be lacking. Wingers (Cantwell / Kargbo) will probably struggle tracking back at times. I'm making the assumption that neither Miller nor Tavares are ready to start having just recovered from injuries. Also, neither any of Montgomery or Tyjon are ready to start in a Championship match from what I've seen. I would rather go for it and try to score the first goal as opposed to throwing in impact subs in the second half when we potentially have to chase the game.

https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/25326841.blackburn-rovers-stance-brittain-middlesbrough-bid/ Above link is from LT posted on July 19th. Ismael states clearly in the article that he wants Brittain to stay and that he's important to him from a personal standpoint given they worked together previously at Barnsley. This is a serious problem that the club currently has and it doesn't go away by signing new players. Whilst I agree that we should cash in on players rather than having them leave on a free, it would be a lot better for the club from a tactical perspective to make important players sign new contracts and continue working with them to improve team cohesion and understanding on the pitch. We have had key players who would rather sign for Championship rivals than to extend their contract with us (Batth, Brittain, Lenihan etc.). If we can't keep hold of these types of players, then you're likely having to break up your squad building every 2-3 years and basically start from scratch with a new set of players coming in at a, presumably, lower quality compared to those who left. Not to mention spending fair amount of time and effort to make them understand their new roles and what is required of them in the different phases of a game. We should be fighting tooth and nail to stop other Championship clubs from getting stronger by taking some of our best players but we aren't. There's no foresight, no vision, and we keep changing the 'project' together with managers/head coaches because they feel that they can't take the team any further whenever the 'funding' stops.

Team is obviously being set up to be very physical and doing a lot of running out of possession. Biggest fear will be that Ismael won't be as good as Eustace in setting up the defensive structure. Another worrying factor is that we're currently lacking depth (and quality) amongst the front four; Cantwell is basically our only creative player and Kargbo the only winger with good pace. The rest doesn't really have that "x factor" to make a difference on their own but is heavily reliant on team effort and getting enough support around them to make offensive contributions. Ismael has spoken to media about his players going out to 'war' this season, so wouldn't surprise me if we see a team committing tons of fouls and bookings, relying on transitions (without any pacey players bar Kargbo) or set pieces (without any set piece specialist), and see next to nothing of skillful individual play but rather attempts at making combinations to break defensive lines: Alebiosu - has pace but doesn't have technical skills from what I've seen Miller - built like a brick wall. Seriously doubt he can provide anything offensively bar the long throws he appears to have in his locker. Technically limited as well is my guess. De Neve - decent athlete but seems to lack an end product. His stats from last season regarding offensive contributions (assists) is a concern. Henriksson - stated himself that he's not very technical in the interview. Has the height to be a threat inside the box as well as making smart runs but who is going to provide the crosses now when Brittain is gone? Tavares - bit of an unkown quantity since he's been injured. Seems to be a decent ball-carrier. This season smells like an endless stream of flying tackles and fouls sprinkled with a bit of shithousery on top to get results.

1. Winners of the Championship Southampton 2. Automatic promotion (runners-up) in the Championship Ipswich 3. Four Play off semi-finalists in the Championship Leicester Birmingham Norwich Coventry 4. Three relegated sides from the Championship Sheffield Wednesday Portsmouth Preston 5. Where will Rovers finish in the Championship? 17th 6. First Championship club to change manager (after the season starts) Preston (Paul Heckingbottom) 7. Winners of the Premier League Liverpool 8. A notable wild card prediction of something that will happen in the Rovers universe during the season (e.g. Donald Trump visits Ewood Park) Winning team of '95 including the likes of Shearer and Sutton to visit Ewood Park during club's 150th anniversary against Derby on November 8th.

I'm pretty sure the players who travelled today aren't too happy about it. To gather 6AM in the morning at Brockhall, presumably go by train or coach to Manchester Airport (1 hour), take flight to Amsterdam (1h 20 min), and finally travel by coach to Nijmegen (2 hours). Posters on here say they arrived by coach to the stadium around one hour before kickoff; not ideal at all from an injury-risk perspective as they would have limited time for any warm-up. After the game, they take the coach straight back to Amsterdam and later depart for Manchester or Blackpool. Players will have spent at least 8 hours travelling back and forth today and were most likely exhausted when they finally got back home around 10-11 PM; can't really say this was a 'friendly' treatment towards them.

Yes, Swedish media reported that he was diagnosed with the disease back in 2021 shortly after his knee injury. Medical staff at his current team (GAIS) have provided medication (immunosuppressants) to enable him to play more matches. Seems to be a resilient character given he was released by his former club (also in Allsvenskan / Swedish top tier) due to the knee injury only to prove them wrong by performing well last season.

Pretty impressive report I must say. I see a few sources mentioned regarding match ratings and market value but where is it getting all the attribute ratings from? Has the AI been watching clips on Youtube? hahaha. Seriously though, he looks a decent player. Biggest problem will be adjusting to a higher tempo as Swedish Allsvenskan isn't as fast-paced and playing / being available for 46 matches in a season. Let's see what happens.

Few takeaways from the game: - Montgomery is not ready to start matches in the Championship - Tyjon is pretty much in the same bracket as Montgomery, find it unfair to be relying on him as second choice behind Cantwell - A lot of the players looked knackered, probably due to poor preparations (apparently they were travelling on the same day) - Kargbo was lively when introduced in second half, the only winger we have with enough pace to cause trouble for defenders - Both De Neve and Alebiosu had poor deliveries into the box - NEC Nijmegen were far better than us technically and we'll struggle with our pressing out of possession if we come up against similar opponents in the league - Ohashi looked lost at some moments in the game due to his lack of athleticism. - Gueye needs to work on his finishing - Hedges was garbage today We need a striker to compete with Ohashi/Gueye and a proper right winger if Kargbo stays on the left. I would even go as far as pushing Ohashi back to an attacking midfield role as he can't lead the line; he needs others to create space for him so that he can excel with his finishing qualities.

Embarrassing if true. NEC Nijmegen are paying an appearance fee to us for hosting the game yet we can't even use some of that money to pay for a one night stay at a hotel? Unprofessional to say the least.

I made a breakdown of the numbers earlier in this thread regarding wage cuts. My figures are based on a few assumptions but I think it's fair to say the wages were slashed in the region of 100K pounds per week at least. We don't know if the transfer fees were paid upfront in full or if they're made in instalments but nothing suggests that the entirety of these payments couldn't have been made directly as a result of said wage cuts. It's entirely possible that a player like McLoughlin commanded a decent sign-on fee but the other three are young players with less experience and coming from smaller clubs than ours relatively speaking. We are looking in the bargain basement for players on the cheap and desperate for a move. Hull are under a transfer embargo and Kortrijk got relegated. Baradji, who we are after, got relegated with Yverdon Sport as well. Don't think it's all a coincidence.

Brittain looks like he's gone then. Travis next? Wouldn't surprise me if the replacement is already here (Alebiosu). Gestede is surely delighted to have Montgomery as backup to increase those Academy playing minutes from last season: - Transfer fees received doesn't get reinvested into the squad as per Gestede's previous comments (i.e. transfer budget is not impacted by player sales) - Venky's have probably not put a single penny into the transfer budget. Pasha makes sure it stays that way to collect his yearly bonus (maybe he gets a bit more now that Waggott is gone?) - We are reliant on slashing wages and selling players first before we can add anyone to the squad. All the outgoings (ending of loans and contracts) are the reason why we were able to pay a fee for the likes of Tavares, De Neve, McLoughlin and Alebiosu. - Contracts are not sorted/extended because any salary increase will have a negative impact on whatever transfer budget we're currently operating with - Owners know their business model would be laughed at if the club somehow miraculously were to get promoted to the PL. Why? Because the sheer thought of having to spend in excess of 100 million pounds just to be competitive (like Sunderland or Nottingham) would send them into a panic mode They have no interest in the club. They're not willing to spend. They have no ambition. They have no knowledge. They won't sell the club at a fair price. And to top it all off: club has an internal debt of roughly 120 million pounds towards the owners that they will never be able to repay regardless of how many assets they sell.

Well, I took some time and made a few calculations on this. All figures below are fetched from Transfermarkt and Capology. Dolan's wage is unknown but I assumed it was around 3 K / week as reported by others on this forum. Other assumption(s) is that all figures fetched from these sources are somewhat accurate and that we covered 100 % of the wages for all five loans we had last season: Outgoings at the start of season: Weimann 17 500 / week Batth 10 000 / week JRC 8 500 / week Dolan 3 000 / week (?) Dennis 28 000 / week Woodrow 20 000 / week Sigurdsson 15 000 / week Sanderson 10 000 / week ACD 7 000 / week Beck 3 500 / week McFadzean 3 500 / week Gilsenan 1 500 / week Markanday 2 000 / week Total: £129 500 / week 129 500 x 52 = £6 734 000 per year to be spent on salaries and transfer fees I'm discounting the transfer fee received for JRC (£750 000) since 0 % of it is going into transfer budget as per Gestede's previous comment. Ingoings so far: Tavares - reported fee: £1,72 million (2 million euros), alleged salary: £10 000 / week (based on his previous salary at Moreirense) De Neve - reported fee: £650 000 (750 000 euros), alleged salary: £5 000 / week (based on his previous salary at Kortrijk) Alebiosu- reported fee: £500 000 (576 000 euros), alleged salary: £2 500 / week (based on his previous salary at Kortrijk) McLoughlin - reported fee: £500 000 (575 000 euros), alleged salary: £10 000 / week (based on his previous salary at Hull) Total: Transfer fees: £3 370 000 Salaries (per year, assuming all four signings have the same salary as last season): 27 500 x 52 = £1 430 000 £3 370 000 (fees) + £1 430 000 (salaries) = £4 800 000 Outgoings - Ingoings = £1 934 000 left to be spent on fees and salaries. This amount is equivalent to signing a player on a free for roughly £37 000 per week OR paying £1.5 million in transfer fee and offer a salary of roughly £8 300 per week (Baradji anyone?). So, not much left in the coffers i guess? EDIT: one caveat to all this could be, of course, that we're paying the transfer fees in instalments. But I don't think the owners would like taking on more debt for relatively 'insignificant' transfers (or maybe they are 'significant' just like with Kargbo?).

Decided to have a look at current free agents since transfer rumours have gone a bit quiet lately: Oli McBurnie (29) - proven at Championship level. We were supposedly after him in the last transfer window but not now? Would add much needed experience and competition for a starting spot up front. Would also allow Leonard to go out on loan to a L1 or L2 club. Grady Diangana (27) - also proven at Championship level. Lost his place to Tom Fellows last season, hence a dip in playing minutes. Would be more than an adequate replacement for Dolan on the right wing. Also fits into team's style since he's athletic and a decent dribbler. Fraser Forster (37) - bit of a gamble due to his age but feels like he's the perfect goalkeeper for Championship being 6'7 (201 cm). At least you won't have to worry about keeper punching the ball from incoming crosses with this one. Maybe Rovers can offer him their new 'favourite' kind of deal (pay as you play)? Whether these are realistic or not probably depends if they're willing to accept a salary in line with or below Rovers' alleged wage limit of 10K / week...

This whole Baradji story is a 'strange' one. My take on it: - Player wants the move - Rovers knows this and are trying with a low-ball offer (pay as you play) to get the player to sign for less than what was initially agreed upon (i.e. prior to his medical). - If player has a foot fracture, then surely his current club (Yverdon Sport) wouldn't allow him to play 70+ minutes in the first competitive game of the season and risk aggravating the injury (and lose transfer money in the process). - He played 27 matches averaging 80 minutes per game last season including five matches in the final month of May (on the 6th, 10th, 14th, 17th and 22nd). I find it quite unlikely that the injury is serious given the match congestion during the latter stages of the Swiss league last season and the fact that he played regularly for the club since December last year. -If he has a foot fracture, has he been playing with painkillers lately? If yes, for how long? How has he managed to not aggravate his injury during this period given his style of play and number of minutes he's been playing? Another theory could be that Rovers doesn't want to pay any fee up front and only smaller instalments/game until player reaches a certain limit (say something like £30 K per match until player reaches 50 matches in total since reported fee was in the region of £1.5 million). This could explain why Yverdon Sport doesn't feel like they're getting any value of a potential deal/ can't bring in an immediate replacement and thus allowed him to play yesterday until a better offer comes by. The medical issue seems more of an excuse from Rovers' side to try to renegotiate the terms of the deal rather than actual concern that the player might not stay fit for large parts of the season.

Goal was a bit of a fluke with their goalie choosing to jump when 1 v 1 with Gueye. Thought our pressing was quite bad in the first half with the team sitting deep. Second half was an improvement after the subs came on. Kargbo showed a great burst of pace and were perhaps robbed of a penalty late in the game. Mullarkey-Matthew looks interesting but this year is probably too soon for him as his decision-making is a bit off. Positives: team is looking more athletic and willing to make runs. Showed a bit of resilience despite being under pressure in first half. Negatives: build-up from the back is poor at times when we get pressed, with defenders or goalie ultimately going for the long ball. Works when you happen to score like Gueye did, but we often lost possession as a result of it. Still think we need an athletic striker to compete with Ohashi and Gueye. Ohashi is a good finisher and decent presser off possession but doesn't provide any real presence up front on his own as he's neither quick enough to make runs in behind defence or strong enough to hold up play and link with his teammates. Gueye do provide that presence with his physicality and cause a lot of trouble for defence but he's not the quickest and his pressing off possession isn't that good.

Good move for Dolan, wish him well at Espanyol. He's getting a nice sign-on bonus, salary raise and nice weather conditions to play in. People should be pointing finger at the owners rather than an individual player who decides to leave for more ambitious projects than ours. Club is losing significant transfer money by either neglecting contract situation(s) or fail to cash in when offers do come by (Brereton, Dolan etc.). We have, since a couple of years back, entered a rather dangerous (and unsustainable) territory of not being able to renew player contracts leading to a decreased squad value and inability to properly replace the outgoings or strengthen the squad. We also have a head coach who now openly admits that they're willing to gamble on Brittain this year and risk letting him leave for nothing next summer. In addition, no reports suggests that a renewal for either Travis or Tronstad are near as well. What will happen next year if all three were to leave on a free? We're currently being outspent by thirteen Championship clubs this summer, including all three promoted sides (yes, even Charlton). Out of the ten teams who have spent less than us, you can argue that some of them already have strong squads (Leicester, Middlesbrough, Sheffield Utd.). It leaves us (theoretically) to compete with the likes of Sheffield Wednesday, Preston, Portsmouth, Oxford and Hull to avoid being dragged in a relegation battle this season. Our signings so far are speculative at best, with two players arriving from a relegated Belgian team, one from a team currently under transfer embargo (Hull) and the last one not being a regular starter for a mid-table Portuguese team.

Brittain was a key player last season. To say it's not a big deal and then say Duru (who has played the sum total of 1 whole minute in the Championship) is ready to replace him is fantasy talk. Montgomery is currently ahead of him as are new signing Alebiosu. None of them are nowhere near Brittain's quality at the moment, though. I get the the feeling that some posters on here are deliberately trying to downplay every outgoing from the club, whether it's Dolan, Brittain, Batth or someone else...

You can at least tag the persons you're referring to in your post. And no, our opinions about the club regarding various topics are almost as diametrically opposed as one can be. But I'm sure @chaddyrovers wants the very best for the club like we all do on this forum.

Fair enough. We all have our opinions on Hyam. Given recent history though, I'm just hoping that we bring in an experienced defender with leadership qualities to help out the team. Not buying the club's official stance that Batth doesn't need to be replaced.

Clubs in the Championship rate Brittain. I'm sure they rate Tronstad as well. If we're lucky, he might still want to stay even if bids do come in for him. You should ask yourself why there was no urgency from the club to renew Brittain's contract given he was one of our best players last season. That alone is enough reason for a player to suddenly change his mind and wanting to explore other options once bids come in.

Haha, didn't know I was dealing with a 'smartass' here. RIght, so individual errors are to be expected because a manager plays a certain way? Player don't carry any responsibility whatsoever? You tell me if Hyam's performance during that infamous 5-0 defeat against Bristol City back in 23/24 can be excused for 'poor management' by Eustace. Ridiculous.

Of course not. Tronstad have also stated that he wants to stay which might detract others from bidding for him. I'm trying to make the case that Hyam won't be as expensive having a year left if he's now seen as a 'consistent and reliable' defender.

Right. Keep telling yourself that Hyam is a good, reliable player when played to his strengths or have a head coach/ manager that suits him. I don't see Derby and Eustace bidding for him if he's so highly regarded and only has a year left on his contract?