JCRovers

Same JDT that nearly got us into playoffs the season before? You know very well that JDT wasn't backed in the transfer windows, thus the inevitable collapse. Yes, he played an expansive football and perhaps was a bit naive in that as the squad got weaker. But at the same time, I don't think he would've gotten anywhere with our absent owners regardless of playstyle.

You're deflecting from my main point, which was that Hyam did indeed often partnered with experienced Ayala in defence during that season.

Really? I would argue that season 23/24, when he got the captain's armband for the second half of that season, was an absolute disaster with us shipping 74 goals and nearly got relegated.

Not true. Ayala played 20+ matches during season 22/23. Team collapsed during the second half of that season when Ayala was mostly injured.

At 29 years of age with more than 200 appearances in the Championship, you would think Hyam is more than capable of being consistent in his performances, able to provide leadership and help out the younger players like Carter with his experience. What I've seen of him is that he's not a leader, an inconsistent performer and thus becomes a liability in defence if he's partnered with a younger defender. At Coventry, he had McFadzean who provided that leadership. Can't carry a player like that until he retires; he's taking up (reportedly) a salary around 18K per week but is not showing enough to earn it.

Sure. What about my other points regarding a back three and partnering with an experienced player (Ayala/Batth); do they hold any merit regarding Hyam's performances?

We often played with a back three or with Hyam partnering with another experienced head (Ayala) back in season 22/23 so to say Hyam is a key player for us is an exaggeration if you ask me. Club awarded Garrett with young player of the season back in 23/24 (after A. Wharton got sold) only for him to not even hold down a starting spot at Bristol Rovers the season after. So club awards doesn't always reflect on how good a player is.

Our right hand side will look like absolute sh*t if Brittain gets sold with no proper winger and a downgrade replacement at right back (Alebiosu). Our central defence without experience (Batth) is going to concede plenty of goals; Hyam is a liability without guidance, Wharton trying to ease himself back from a long-term injury and Carter picking up an injury already in the first friendly. If any of Tronstad or Travis gets sold as well, there you're looking at a weakened defensive midfield who might not be able to shield central defence. This could go really bad very easily if these issues aren't addressed properly.

I bet it's the player's agent who has leaked to the press if contract negotiations now has stalled. Nobody flies in for a medical if there wasn't an agreement made beforehand. It looks bad from the club's viewpoint and puts pressure on them to reach a deal quickly or risk losing him to (reportedly) Sunderland.

Stated earlier in this thread that I thought Ismael would play with a back three this season. Still think this will be the case but let's see in the upcoming friendlies how they shape up. Stick with 4-2-3-1: Currently there are big gaps to fill on the wings as well as a need for backup for position behind the striker where Cantwell usually plays. Expect Travis, Buckley and maybe even Pickering to leave if that is to happen. Change to 3-4-2-1: No need to go for attacking wingers in the transfer market but central defence will need to be strengthened instead. Expect Buckley to leave nevertheless. Hedges will find it difficult to get game time as he's not suited for any of the midfield roles.

Well, he did make his only assist for the season against us back in March.... Looks comfortable on the ball and being fairly press-resistant. His offensive contributions (goals/assists) are next to nothing according to Transfermarkt; last competitive goal scored was back with Molde in 2023. Also seems to be injury-prone having being out for around 5-6 months for the last two seasons. It's a gamble but he'll probably be cheap because of it.

Now linked with another defensive midfielder after De Keersmaecker. My bet is that Travis will be sold this window.

Teams that are flying past us in the transfer window: Birmingham (signed Kyogo Furuhashi for reportedly a fee worth up to £10 million and Demarai Gray for an undisclosed fee). Add Jay Stansfield from last season and you're looking at a side who is more than capable of scoring plenty of goals in the Championship. Has also loaned in two talented PL-youngsters in Tommy Doyle and James Beadle. Derby (signed Carlton Morris from relegated Luton and are on the verge of completing a £5,8 million move for Patrick Agyemang). Also had the "audacity" to sign our best centre back from last season (Batth) on a free. Teams that already have strong squads and will look to challenge for automatic spots: Leicester, Sheffield Utd., Ipswich, Southampton Teams that are stronger that us and will be challenging for playoff spots: Coventry, Norwich, Middlesbrough Teams that are considered to be just behind the top sides: Millwall, West Bromwich, Swansea, Bristol City Teams that have struggled of late but could bounce back this season due to some quality in the squad: Watford Teams that have not spent any considerable amount yet in the transfer window but could end up signing a few quality players due to spending power of owners: Wrexham Teams that have become stagnant and looking for mid-table finish at best: Stoke, QPR, Rovers Teams looking to be struggling next season and are likely to be in a relegation fight due to weak squad or financial trouble: Charlton, Portsmouth, Oxford, Preston, Sheffield Wed., Hull The way Birmingham is spending, the owners seem willing to achieve back-to-back promotions so I would at least put them in contention for playoff spots. Derby will be a mid-table side or even higher. It wouldn't therefore take much for us to get dragged into a relegation battle next season. Many teams that have gotten promoted over the last few years have shown ambition and willingness to spend to achieve results (Derby, Birmingham, Ipswich etc.). If this continues, it won't take long before a majority of the Championship teams will have stronger squads that ours and the inevitable outcome that follows with it will take place.

People are delusional if they think we have money to spend this transfer window unless we sell. Only reason we got De Neve and Tavares is because we've offloaded a lot of wages from the books (Dolan, Batth, Weimann, Dennis, Woodrow, Beck, ACD, Sanderson). Pre-contract agreements with Batth and Weimann must have been done several weeks ago as they immediately signed contracts at Derby as free agents at the earliest possible date (July 1st). Club can't compete with Oxford for signing holding midfielder De Keersmaecker (according to reports) and chose to resign Forshaw only a couple of weeks after releasing him? Wouldn't therefore surprise me one bit if they're expecting bids for a holding midfielder (Travis) and that they consider him as 'gone' already. Dolan will leave because of the club mismanaging his contract (salary) for several years and failing to protect his valuation. The club is so poor at protecting the value of its players and holding onto key players (Batth) that there's genuine fear from my side as to what will happen next season concerning contract expirations for Travis, Tronstad and Brittain. By the looks of it, we're in for a real mess.

There's always two sides of the story. I'm arguing that the club should have taken action already during the second year of his contract (season 2021-22) as he was quickly racking up plenty of minutes in the Championship by then. 18 months ago, you're suddenly talking about a player who's had more than three years of experience in the league and probably sees himself as a key figure at that point. Not surprising if he demanded 15-20 K/week by then to which the club would find excessive and walk away from. 2K / week is not a competitive salary for a regular starter in the Championship if you as a club want to protect your 'assets'.

Sad if true if Dolan currently has a salary of merely 2K / week given he's a regular starter. Contract situation should've been sorted long time ago as he quickly broke into first team since arriving and has been playing over 1 700 minutes in the Championship for the past four seasons (according to Transfermarkt). Like you said, a weekly salary of around 10K / week is more than reasonable given his current status which could've enabled us getting a relatively large fee this summer instead of (probably) having him leave on a free. Club is getting punished for being cheap.

There's a clear shift in terms of player profile that we're looking for now which I see as a positive. Priority now has to be to tie Brittain down beyond the end of next season as he fits that profile. Both De Neve and Tavares are signings that are expected to start week in week out; there's no chance they would have accepted a move otherwise. Hopefully they can adjust to the intensity and physicality of the Championship quickly. I expect at least one of Travis and Tronstad to leave now, my bet is that Travis will sign for another club within a week or so given rumoured interest from the likes of Wrexham and Birmingham.

Some are overreacting here. We are currently a selling club, especially to PL teams. If any player gets a chance to play in the PL, they'll take it. In the case of Szmodics, he pretty much single-handedly kept us in the Championship during season 23/24 and deserves to be appreciated for that. We should be way more concerned as to why the club is not reinvesting the money generated from player sales to push the team forward.

Pretty sure a change of formation to a back three is coming for next season given this signing (De Neve will be used as wing back) and rumours about getting centre backs in. A team looking to play with intensity and hitting teams on the break rather than relying on individual quality. Makes sense if you are cheap and not looking to spend money to get quality wingers or strikers (to replace Dolan for example). Wouldn't be surprised if Kargbo is shifted to a number 10 role if this scenario plays out. Toth Carter Hyam Wharton Brittain De Neve Travis Tronstad Cantwell Kargbo Ohashi Be interesting to see how Ribeiro and Pickering fit into this as neither is suitable for a wing back role. Pickering can act as a back-up in central defence but wouldn't surprise me if Ismael is looking to add athleticism across the park.

Things will start to move one way or the other after June 30th when several first team contracts expire: - Domestic clubs can make official offers to sign Dolan, Weimann, Batth on a free. I'm dicounting whatever compensation fee we might get from Dolan since his current market valuation will probably exceed that by at least 5x. - Rival Championship clubs will probably make cheeky bids for any of Travis, Tronstad or Brittain to see if we are in desperate need of cash. I bet a lot of the teams are alerted of our situation given what happened to Eustace and might decide to raid the club for cheap assets. Any of the newcomers Wrexham or Birmingham can see it as an "easy" way of getting proven, experienced players at this level without paying over the top. Good deals are often done early in the window to avoid competing bids later on. Desperate (and often poor) deals are done later in the window when your primary targets have decided to join another club. We often act late because: - We are looking for the cheapest deals possible, not necessarily the best ones. - We can't offer decent wages to free agents because that will reduce whatever transfer budget we might operate within. - Transfer budget will remain constant regardless of player sales, meaning quality of squad is likely to decrease as the seasons go by. - We seems to operate on a salary transfer budget rather than having actual transfer money available to spend, meaning we have to sell players first before buying any. Happened last season with the sales of e.g. Gallagher and Wahlstedt for Gueye and Toth. - If we sell a highly-rated player relatively late in the window, we often fail to find a suitable replacement due to the budget constraints mentioned previously (examples: Szmodics and Wharton).

Posted this on another thread a while ago. Would argue that losing Batth is damaging if we can't replace his experience. We currently have two keepers who doesn't command their box or instill confidence to the backline (although Toth has made some improvements lately), meaning that there will be a lack of leadership at the back if Batth goes.

This is Rovers' transfer history under Venky's tenure (from November 2010 to present): Source: Transfermarkt Winter transfer, season 2010/11: Net expenditure: 4,8 million Euros (biggest signing: Formica) Season 11/12 (relegated from PL): Net income: 20 million Euros (biggest signing: Dann, biggest sales: Jones, Samba, Kalinic) Season 12/13: Net expenditure: 6 million Euros (biggest signing: Rhodes, biggest sale: Nzonzi) Season 13/14: Net income: 3 million Euros (biggest signing: Marshall, biggest sale: Olsson) Season 14/15: Net expenditure: 3 miilion Euros (biggest signing: Duffy) Season 15/16: Net income: 25 million Euros (biggest sales: Rhodes, Gestede, Cairney) Season 16/17 (relegated from Championship): Net income: 13 million Euros (biggest sales: Hanley, Duffy, Marshall) Season 17/18 (promoted from League One): Net expenditure: 1 million Euro (biggest signing: Dack) Season 18/19: Net expenditure: 10 million Euros (biggest signings: Brereton Diaz, Armstrong) Season 19/20: Net expenditure: 3 million Euros (biggest signing: Gallagher, biggest sale: Raya) Season 20/21: Net expenditure: 1,8 million Euros (biggest signings: Pickering, Kaminski) Season 21/22: Net income: 16 million Euros (biggest sale: Armstrong) Season 22/23: Net expenditure: 4,8 million Euros (biggest signings: Szmodics, Hyam, Brittain) Season 23/24: Net income: 25 million Euros (biggest signing: Wahlstedt, biggest sale: Wharton) Season 24/25: Net income: 8,6 million Euros (biggest signing: Gueye, biggest sale: Szmodics) ----- Total net income from 2010-2025: 76,2 million Euros Club made a loss on the following players: Gallagher, Rothwell, Brereton Diaz, Formica, Dann, King, Best Club made a 'considerable' profit on the following players: Szmodics, Wharton, Armstrong, Jones, Samba, Nzonzi, Gestede, Cairney, Hanley, Duffy, Raya Note that the club has struck gold on a couple of occasions with academy products / youth intake in Wharton, Raya, Jones and Hanley. Players that cost next to nothing to bring in / develop yet generated relatively large fees. So you barely got a handful of players who the club has made a profit on by acting in the market over the course of 14,5 years. ----- Board has been on record this year saying that player sales won't affect the summer's transfer budget so I wouldn't trust us to spend anything unless it involves players going the other way.

First of all, I found it funny that the wording of the two comments were basically the same. Secondly, Markanday hasn't been a regular starter at Leyton Orient of late. Why would he, all of a sudden, be a player that competes for a starting spot here? Main weakness of Markanday when I've watched him is that his work rate is nowhere near Dolan's, meaning he's far less likely to track back to help defence and win the ball back. Same weakness that you could see in Cozier-Duberry and a probable cause as to why Ismael dropped him outside the match squad for the final league games. Cantwell struggled with this initially when coming here being seen as a 'luxury player' (see Hull's match-winning goal from December 29 last year and how he blatantly disregards his duty to track back and follow his man), but he seems to have either improved his fitness or changed his mindset lately. We can't afford having luxury players on the pitch if we want to be successful, simple as that. Once you have players that work hard for eachother, only then can you start adding a bit of flair and skill to make a difference. Or you gonna end up with a team conceding 74 goals again like we did in season 23/24.

Hi Suhail. Two accounts I see? Impressive.

Shame about Gilsenan getting released. Thought he had potential but his career has been hampered by injuries. Still would've triggered that one-year extension and then trying to find a National League or League Two club to sell to and insert a 40-50 % sell-on clause. Only 22 so can imagine him reaching perhaps Championship level one day if he stays injury-free for the next few years.