roversfan99

I think O'Rourke has been off the mark for a while although did report the McLoughlin deal.

If Brittain goes as expected, then obviously a giant blow. On Weimann, I said at the time that I personally wouldnt have offered a new deal considering his injury and he did start to slow down before picking it up, but he can be someone you wouldnt have renewed AND a big loss at the same time. He has to be replaced, would sum us up that we offered him a deal yet didnt see fit to bring in another player when he didnt sign it. Holding a grudge over him having treatment for a couple of months is unfair. You cant expect him to sign a new deal just because he received medical treatment under contract. Also, no thanks to loaning young Saudi players. Signing him long term to develop as well as signing some more ready made attacking players, then maybe.

Im pretty sure that Mercer said Derby.

Sorry, fans should just accept the disdain showed to them without question. My mistake.

Obviously it doesnt affect the man who has absolutely no other committments. But 12.30 kick offs are certainly a huge inconvenience for many. Kids playing football in a morning will be a huge one where subsequently it is impossible or at least incredibly difficult to then get to Ewood by half 12. Its absolutely ridiculous that there are now 8 games (1 Premier League, 3 Championship, 2 League 1 and 2 League 2) all on in that time slot. Its a total disregard shown by clubs for agreeing to this and then obviously Sky for arranging them. Why do people need so many games in that time slot when you can only watch 1 at once? You see random games like Wimbledon v Lincoln, Stanley v Salford, Norwich v Preston etc just as add ons, I would love to know how many neutrals will choose games like that out of a choice of 8.

Comparisons with anyone are flawed, different players in different circumstances. Ages, types of player, contract length, financial situation at selling club etc. I just look at the circumstances mentioned. Every single one went against us getting market value so logic says that we must have got below it. Its hard to put an exact amount on how much we should have got.

I get in terms of perception from fans, who might not overly pay attention to the Championship. But not professional scouts who will surely look beyond things like under 21 involvements. Ultimatelty, I dont think I am in a minority in thinking that selling him so soon, desperate for money, selling him in January and bundling him out the door all logically meant that we received less in the market than had all of those factors not been in play, massively weakening our bargaining power.

There is a lot of pre-emptive justifying of what might happen and excuses being thrown out. Gestede specifically said that we wanted a forward "to compete with Ohashi and Gueye." Theres no way that he meant anything other than a striker. He also said that the only right winger we have is Dolan, and I am not for one minute having this theory that they knew months in advance that Weimann who they offered a deal too was going to go elsewhere. So to me, based on my interpretation of what was said. Thats ACD that needed replacing, De Neve with Hedges moving to the other side has done that. So that leaves a right winger to replace Dolan, a number 10 to replace Weimann and a striker which was an additional requirement correctly highlighted, who can fill the spot of the 2 clowns, Dennis and Woodrow. We also always have this moving of the goalposts regarding timing of deals. 90% before pre season was the target. Next weekend might not be the end of the window so I appreciate that not all deals will be done, but its the start of the season, its not like an irrelevant marker. I would really like to see our attack improved by then.

So you keep parroting, Rudy. On paper, they appear to be predominantly filling gaps in the squad, in my opinion. Gaps that needed filling all the same but still. Your constant "type of player that Ismael wants" line doesnt really argue for or against that. Your logic regarding Eustace is so flawed. Of course losing him made a difference. You could look through the Kean relegation based on your logic and say, no, it wasnt keeping him that saw us relegated, its dropped points in games x and y that did it. Losing a key manager has a direct impact upon those results. And I think we can all see Tyjon leaving next summer unless he signs a new contract ASAP. Seen this story before.

That winger we supposedly wanted from Al Ittihad seemingly wasnt involved in the squad for their friendly v Fulham today. Their first 11 is clearly well beyond him with the likes of Bergwijn, Benzema and Diaby but he seemingly wasnt a sub either. Dunno if its still on the radar but worth a mention.

I dont get this fixation with under 21 caps. Jason Lowe was the captain for them at one point. As if its critical and players only come onto radars if they have them. If you compare to Wharton, Hackney is 3 or 4 years older than what he was. And as you touch on, you cant compare to Tyjon etc who are unfortunately unprotected by the rules.

To really commit to accelerating Tyjon's rise into the first team, I feel like he really needs to commit to a new contract to warrant that.

They also have bought 2 players in the last few days. And had the delay of a managerial change.

I would disagree personally. Puerta was ok there last season so is just making that deal permanent, if and when he can be registered. Brandon Williams I wouldnt touch.

Absolutely. But in this window, I definitely wouldnt say that Hull have had a significantly better window. Lots of teams have improved on paper more than us. Wouldnt include Hull.

To be fair, I am really not sure they have. Ajayi and Famewo have injury historys, they are having trouble registering the top 2 (Puerta was there last season), Phillips is a sub keeper, Ndala is an untested kid and Williams hasnt signed but has a questionable character and hasnt played for a while.

It does feel like there is a lack of urgency around transfers. And that the big chunk of our business has been done, just wanting a couple more but nothing close. The players we have signed do in the main feel like plugging gaps in the squad rather than improving the team.

My opinion is that you think that we need another 3 signings because that is what Ismael has said publically that we are trying to do. The idea of players all chipping in is a nice one but I am just pointing out that a number of the players we have in attacking areas have not really got a track record of doing so and it would be unlikely (not impossible) to see them considerably increase that output this season. Which is why I am calling for a few more additions there. And which is probably part of the reason why Gestede said before the summer that we want more power and quality across the front line. Proof will be in the pudding as to whether they manage to bring more goals and attacking quality in. As it stands with just over a week to go, they have failed to do that and indeed have actually seen us become weaker in those areas. If that does happen, excellent. If that doesnt happen, I wont be swallowing the crap they peddle as to why that has changed.

People didnt chip in last season, that was the issue. We didnt score enough goals. Hedges got only 1 goal. Cantwell got 1 from open play. Our number 9 only got 6 all season. Kargbo obviously got injured and didnt score. Dennis and Woodrow didnt score. Weimann and Dolan did chip in and now have gone. De Neve has never historically scored anything other than the odd goal in the Belgian league. McLoughlin has come in, obviously not to score goals but never scored a single goal in 6 years for Hull. What Ismael says he "wants" might be reigned in compared to what he actually thinks we need compared to what we are likely to get realistically, or even if he only wants a certain number, that doesnt mean that its actually what we need. Judge beyond just parroting what the manager says in public. Question things. Compare to what they said we wanted before the window started, consider players who left unexpectedly.

Looks like Wrexham are signing Nathan Broadhead for over £7m from Ipswich. They are really going for it.

He will be their first choice. Not all of their main players played.

Grim. Especially Preston on a Friday night.

Great post. Its there in black and white. We have also heard Gestede and Ismael mention 6 or 7 signings prior to knowing that Weimann and Batth were to leave, seemingly before Dolan was even confirmed to leave. There have also been interviews mentioning an "exciting" summer, that it was going to be more of an overhaul than we anticipated and repeated mentions of wanting some new attacking players with pace and power. This is why I dont get why people are downplaying the amount of players that we need. If we dont end up with another forward, or we do only sign a couple more. Im not going to have that it was a conscious decision not dictated to by finances.

It isnt, but we usually fall well short. Players who obviously arent as good as your first 11, but the gap isnt too big. Your subs need to be at least capable of coming in and not significantly weakening you. Baker was a good case. He wasnt as good as Tronstad or Travis but he was still a good Championship player. Forshaw was a bad case. When he came in to start he was such a significant downgrade. Buckley is the same. Hopefully Tavares is more of a Baker than a Forshaw/Buckley. Similar with Alebiosu at right back. Weve not got it in many positions at the moment. Pickering and Ribeiro feels pretty interchangable so if one is out, I would be fine with the other in.

Not 4 of the same quality, but 2 deputies that you can at least start who are of a reasonable standard. Like Baker and hopefully Tavares.