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Walk the Line
June so far has been a very frustrating month. With so little action in B9 it’s almost impossible to talk about players coming in – and what rumours there have been seem to have been met with massive amounts of ambivalence due to the perceived quality of incoming players.
I’m not sure whether it’s down to Rowett being laser focused on bringing in certain players to a point where agents aren’t even trying to bother him with their clients or if it’s due to a dearth of genuinely good content out there at the moment. One thing is for sure at this moment – the close season is deathly boring.
The ironic thing I guess is that if Blues are linked to all and sundry it’s just as frustrating. We’ve all known past close seasons when we’ve had this, that and the other linked to Blues and people (and I’ll admit I will include myself in this number) have either seen it as hubris from agents, journalistic licence or an excuse to sell season tickets; sometimes all three at the same time.
It’s a tricky line to walk – on the one hand say nothing and the more pessimistic types will project that pessimism onto the situation to say that the club has no money and that we’re going to be struggling; on the other hand talk openly about targets and as a club you risk the backlash from the fans when deals don’t come off – not to mention weakening your own bargaining position with other clubs.
So what’s the ideal solution? Well… I’m guessing it would be Blues actually signing a player or two so we can at least get our teeth into that. Obviously, it’s not as simple as that – Blues will be haggling to get the very best value for every penny spent and players (and of course agents) will be pushing to get the best wages they can – but it would be nice for at least one player if not two or three holding a scarf aloft on the Kop and smiling for the camera.
The longer the delay, the more people are going to get antsy – and I think the more they will question the words written by Panos Pavlakis in the last programme notes of the season. From what I’ve seen of the Blues director I like – he’s tried to engage with fans at least a little bit – and he’s on the spot, unlike his predecessor. However, as the head honcho the buck stops with him and I’m sure he doesn’t need me to remind him that in his role he’s only as good as his last transfer window in the eyes of the fans.
With a bit of luck, there are new signings just over the horizon – and we can get back to looking forward to a season of being positive. I sincerely hope that is the case, because I personally don’t want to be sat here next Sunday morning with still nothing to report – and the new pre-season rapidly approaching.
Tags: Panos Pavlakis, Transfers
30 Responses to “Walk the Line”
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Leicester are making Liam Moore available to a championship club to give him game time, that would be a very good start, Scott Carson has turned us down for better wages at derby so not sure foderingham was first or even second choice. My gut feeling is that we really do have a small budget to work with, so will miss out on the likes of tesche, fabbrini etc. Hope I’m wrong though.
Patience patience patience that’s all I can say I trust in garry
I personally don’t see the surprise here. Rowett said all along that he would bide his time and the number of players bought in wouldn’t be high. In previous seasons, the summer transfer window has been like a revolving door at New St station. Ridiculous. What we need now is continuity, we don’t have a bad squad. 3 or 4 new faces could, depending on who’s they are, turn it into a good squad. Tesche would be a start.
No sign of us selling anyone either. Thought Gray and Edgar at least might have gone by now.
I just hope it’s not a case of us being reliant on any money from a Gray sale for us to be able to do anything.
true rhees all of a sudden you will here good news don’t rule out tesche or fabbrini
in gary we do trust
That’s right nico, not herd of any bids for gray either
Stop panicking!! Gary’s been on a family holiday since the seasons end and is now back at his desk and there be at least three signings by by next Sunday so ime calm and collective and in mr rowett I trust .. The ones we’ve supposedly missed out on ime not to bothered about anyway so ime not loosing sleep ..Keep Calm and Support Blues! Kro
I think this season is gonna be a big one for GR. What he did last season was nothing short of a miracle, but now expectations are a lot higher & to my thinking (and hoping) he already knows who & what he wants. Last year LC went out & got all the players he wanted before pre season (which was probably one of the best things he did!!) but with things being so quiet at the moment I have to say the butterflies are creeping in. Some of the players we’ve been linked with so far have signed elsewhere & I think it’s time GR or PP pulled their finger out & got 1 or 2 signings sorted especially on the goalkeeping front
It`s not easy trying to get quality in when you`ve very liitle money in the coffers. GR wiil do what he can but don`t expect miracles. A top half finish next season would be a good effort.
It being to quiet fills me with mistrust , some of the players we are said to be after don’t according to stats have the skill or passing ability to improve the side , unless you have skill we will not make it to the prem ,as you can make a skilled player graft ,but you can’t make a grafter skilled if it is not in him ,gr has gone for a smaller squad so that we can pay higher wages , so why are we waiting for news of a signing ,there isn’t that many skilled players going free to select from , we have to trust gr and panos but the fans need to hear of offers ,it doesn’t have to have a name with it ,
It must be said that Lee Clark got his players in early last summer before pre season and he did a damn good job but he couldn’t manège them ! .. Gary Rowetts approach is different do let’s wait and see , everything will be fine . Kro
My gut feeling is that the deals have already been done. New additions to be announced tomorrow/Tuesday ahead of new fixtures on Wednesday, and season tickets to be snapped up Thursday onwards. There, doesn’t that news make us all feel better.!
Mitchell
At present there hasn’t been any proof to anyone that we have hard cash to spend (just talk about it) until then I will disagree because at the moment it looks like we are scrathing around the bins again looking for other lower league cast offs,and has dan has said no takeover at least until this time next year or any form of investment from h.k. Till at least Xmas at the earliest…treading water again.
Just because we haven’t seen anything other than rumors in the press don’t main work is not beaning dun. for all we know singings my have already taken place on some Free transfers.
Just beaus its not in the press don’t think it ant happened.
We will be linked with every freebee under the sun. But Gary Rowett knows what he wants and as targets that will strengthen the current team. So maybe 90% of the players we have been linked with are not even real targets for Rowett. I think he will want to make 5 or 6 singing but only if they will improve on what we already have at the club.
That’s exactly how I see it Mitchell , everything for a reason . Kro
I fear, as we have heard no news, that Koby Arthur will sign for another club and the compo will be negligible compared to his value in a few years time. I am not too concerned re the lack of incoming players, yet!
Rowett didn’t shout about signing Morissons, Tesche or Fabrini I think he likes to keep his cards very close to his chest and he doesn’t like feeding in to media hype for me silence is Golden and links in the papers are highly inaccurate
Personally I don’t think any business has been done. Season Ticket sales can’t be booming because unlike other clubs there has been no comments as to how many have been sold to date and if a player had agreed terms believe club would have announced it in the hope of boosting ticket sales. Every one keeps saying Rowett been on holiday but been 6 weeks since season ended and if he was interested in signing the loan players he should have been talking to their parent clubs before the season finished as I understand he was told in April what his budget was
he can talk all he likes but it takes at least three people to agree a deal plus the greedy agent.
players and their agents will be playing off one club against another to get the best deal and will not be in any rush to sign especially for a sidewards move from other Championship teams.
Jonno, none of us know what rowett been doing as far as the loan players are concerned about talking to the clubs or not so don’t assume anything because you don’t know as we don’t know .. Let’s all relax and let Gary do is work for god same! Kro
With all the players we’ve been linked with so far (not inc Tesche, Fabbrini) I’m not ars*d that we haven’t signed any of them. I wasn’t too impressed anyway. I don’t care what division they come from, as long as they can do a good job for us. I’d be surprised now if we got more than one in before pre-season starts. I’m not overly worried, but the later new players come in, the less time they’ve got to integrate into the squad before the start of the season.
I don’t think intergrating players into a squad is such a big deal these days .. If you can play and adapt then what’s the problem? Kro
Even top quality players often need time to get used to how other players play & different systems etc whether they adapt quick or not
Even the best players in the world can take a while to settle. It took a lot of our players half a season to get used to playing with each other last season. If they’re coming from maybe League 1/2 or Scotland, of course there will be a period of adjustment. That’s just how it is.
Exactly. If your’e selected for England you don’t have half a season to get to the players around you! KRO. We start the season with a good tactician and man-manager as team boss. That’s already better than last season.
Well it doesn’t look like our financial restrictions have changed much from last pre season so I’ve not been expecting too much when it comes to buying better players.I expected us to go down the loan route with maybe only 1 or 2 signings.Rowetts got a difficult job to repeat his success from last season because now he has to deal with expectation as well but let’s all hope it works out and we finish in the top half again .
Typical blues fans…
If the press is full of reports and offers most of you say things like:
“we should keep our cards close to our chest and only announce signings when done”
When we do that, the rest of you moan it’s too quiet.
The club can’t win. GR came in and what he did was nothing short of amazing and with no extra money to speak of, another finish around 8-12 would be over achieving again.
From what I hear from someone in the club, GR expects a deal fir Tesche to go through, it’s just when and not if… And GR had spoken with most of the agents of players he wants, it’s just a waiting game… As usually blues fans just gotta be drama Queens over everything.
In Rowett we trust. Kro.
Daren well said mate couldn’t agree more
There is a real chance this coming season of finishing just in the play offs. Not because of the fact that we are going to be that good, more because of what is going to be around us. Apart from QPR who I expect to finish first,most of the fancied teams like Hull,Burnley,Middlesbrough, Derby and Wolves are not brimming with ‘winners’ in their squads. I expect GR to get a really solid defensive set up with a target of 26 wins-mainly 1-0’s. Yes, the relegated teams have the parachute money , but BCFC with the managers know how etc. could nullify many an oppositions plans. St.Andrews is KEY, as 1-0 wins possible for majority of games. Bournemouth and Watford were different as they played with attacking verve,often going a goal down but finishing with 3/4goals. Our limited style must rely on a brick wall approach with the canny act of sneaking the 1-0. Been done in the past-why not this season.