Travis transfer verdict and the impact on Blackburn Rovers

Ryan Hildred

The overwhelming feeling is one of sadness. Firstly, I'm gutted that Lewis Travis is likely to leave the football club. On his day, he is the heartbeat of the side and someone I've thoroughly enjoyed maturing into the captain he is today. My boys absolutely love him too. I held some faint hope that maybe we could convince him to stay but given the revelations over the last couple of days, an exit this summer was seemingly always on the cards.

The other feeling of sadness comes from how his time is ending. Nearly ten years of service should be a cause for celebration and us wishing them on their way. It's all ending rather unceremoniously now and I think if all parties were being honest, maybe everyone is a bit to blame. Do I think that Rovers have offered a contract that is near what Trav thinks he deserves? No I don't. Do I think this could have been sorted out earlier in the summer if the intention was always to leave? Probably yes.

I actually applaud Valerien Ismael for calling it out the other night. He already has a tough job integrating a host of foreign signings. Disruptions to the playing squad are not helpful at this stage so it's imperative that this gets sorted quickly. Rovers are right to remain firm on their price too - this reflects Travis' importance to the playing squad. 

Mark Hitchen

In isolation, we have a player who is out of contract in 12 months, seemingly no nearer to signing an extension. You need to get the maximum fee you can.

However, this isn’t an isolated instance; this is yet another first-team regular who wants to leave for another Championship team.

On the pitch, he doesn’t contribute enough goals or assists and his passing ability isn’t amazing. All in all, his playing attributes are replaceable. 

However, he is our captain in every sense of the word. His leadership is something we are already short of; we saw how influential he was at WBA away last season; he galvanised the whole club almost single-handedly when it could’ve easily imploded. He has a knack for unsettling the opposition and stirring the team (and fans) mid-game, again something we are lacking.

In the short term, we must maximise the fee and replace the attributes he has with an experienced Championship midfielder— a similar signing to Sean McLoughlin.

In the longer term, you have to hope this is part of the club’s strategy to evolve to more statistically productive players. If not, it is another damning indictment of long-serving, established, experienced players leaving. As supporters, we see that as a sideways move; the concern has to be that we are actually falling lower down the footballing pecking order.

Rory Larmer

A few weeks ago, I took part in the 4,000 Holes podcast with BRFCS. As part of our new season predictions, we were asked for a wildcard, and mine was that Sondre Tronstad and Travis will be gone within a year. Travis will go for a fee, and Tronstad will go for free. This would not be an uncommon assumption within the fanbase.

For Travis, the writing was on the wall since February. When a manager leaves, players do not go against a club narrative publicly, but some Rovers players, including our captain, came out in support of the departing manager. That speaks volumes.

Travis, like every player, is replaceable within the context of a normal football club. But Blackburn Rovers isn't normal. His departure will leave a gap in culture and camaraderie that will be impossible to replace within our “project”. 

Blackburn Rovers will spin the narrative that it was the previous CEO's responsibility to do the renewals. Or he went for money. If any of these players were leaving for financial reasons, they would likely do so at the end of their contract.

It would appear that these departing players do not believe in the senior management of the club. Players who are out of contract left, and those under contract are forcing their way out. 

The fallout from John Eustace walking out on the club is by no means over. We will feel the effects of his departure for years, and most of his team will be gone very soon.

Mike Delap  

This situation is yet another example of Rovers lacking any clear plan or direction in their transfer strategy (you could argue I'm being way too polite, narrowing it down to just transfers...).

A second-tier club like ours, on a mission to become "sustainable", has one obvious route to goal - sign, or promote through the academy, a player with potential, develop them and sell them on for a profit, whilst preparing their low-cost replacement the following year. 

Buy low, sell high. At Rovers, we do the "buy low" part well - for all the mocking, we've found gems internally and externally fairly regularly. But we fail miserably at either retaining the talent on a second contract or selling them when the value is highest.

This fiasco is a damning indictment of the muddled approach to running our club. Will somebody finally wake up and smell the coffee?

It should have never come to this....

You can listen to Ryan on The Lancashire Telegraph's Arte et Labore and find Mark on The Blackburn End. Available on all podcast platforms.