Pre-Season Butterflies

So it’s that brilliant time of year, when football is at a bare minimum and all we can watch is England Under 21’s belting in a dozen peno’s and somehow losing. So are only other football-related entertainment is transfers. Whether it`s Henry`s possible move to Barcelona or Nottingham Forest signing Neil Lennon their seems to be a lot of rumours and transfers happening so early on in the pre-season, yet everything seems to have gone against our beloved club.

Rovers currently find themselves with four first-team defenders. Loanee John Thompson signed for rivals, Oldham Athletic, and it still isn`t clear if the player wasn`t in the clubs plans, or the club wasn`t in the players plans. Either way, not signing Thommo is a big loss. He might not be the stereotypical defender Ronnie wants to bring in, but surely his versatility and consistency was a valuable asset to the squad. I know it`s not even July yet, but let`s hope some defenders are ready to be snatched up, sooner rather than later.

Although I do agree with Ronnie, perhaps we did miss a defender that would scare strikers shitless with his presence alone, a real bruiser-type. Our bunch of defenders are more technically gifted players, although I have nothing against those kind of players, balance is the key. This is proven all over the pitch. Upfront, the more favourable partnership has always been the strong, ball winner, with the nippy pacey poacher alongside him. Personally I feel the situation we find ourselves at the moment, few defenders, one aging goalkeeper, and lack of something in the middle, we need at least five signings.

Besides the lack of a healthy amount of defenders, we have one goalkeeper, who we nearly got rid of. Last year, Gavin Ward, despite a brilliant start to his Rovers career, failed time and time again to live up to the expectations of him. Throwing the ball at an opposition striker, just isn`t something you expect from a decent keeper. I would hope we were looking at a younger keeper this time, and not someone who will be asking for his pension in a few years. With two keepers coming in, we have a first team keeper, and a prospect that Achto can nurture to become the new number one in the future.

Thankfully, Ronnie isn`t scared to use young potentials, a lot more than what could be said for previous managers. With the emergence of Steven Davies and future wonderkid Craig Curran, he`s certainly putting his faith in the younger lads, yet he hasn`t signed a young player in the transfer market. The youngest being 24 year old, Shane Sherriff. Younger transfers are more for your money, you get to nurture them yourselves, you get longer playing time, and if the player excels, sell them off for a lump sum. Last year, Moore pulled off some great signings, in Shuker, Sherriff and McLaren, so will he have the same gully in the transfer market this time?

So far, we have only signed Adnan Ahmed, but on this day last year, we made our first two signings in Robbie Stockdale and Kevin Ellison, then they all poured in. Hopefully we will get our keepers, bruiser defenders, and midfielders that will create something out of nothing. I definitely feel that if we pull out some signings, we can hopefully do something, and get out of this league that`s been holding us down for so long now.