Whiteman to Preston ?

[dickos1]

What’s not to get?
It’s nothing to do with the goals,
He was our main striker and we sold him for a lot of money but then we never used got anyone in of the same calibre.
If we keep selling our best players and not replacing them with players of the same calibre then we’re going to struggle.
Other clubs do it
Brentford sold Watkins and bought Toney
Peterboro sold Toney and bought clarke-Harris

Most clubs who sell their best player for a lot of money would re invest that money in a replacement

[graingrover]

Anyone on here who calls DM a liar should be impeached for incitement to riot .

[graingrover]

An asset like Ben only devalues if the club needs the money to survive and can take a 50% Covid discount .With house prices around London still increasing and the stock markets rising fast it is clear that if you can survive the short term decrease in cash flow the essential assets on the. balance sheet do not need to be discounted .

[Janso]

What’s not to get?
It’s nothing to do with the goals,
He was our main striker and we sold him for a lot of money but then we never used got anyone in of the same calibre.
If we keep selling our best players and not replacing them with players of the same calibre then we’re going to struggle.
Other clubs do it
Brentford sold Watkins and bought Toney
Peterboro sold Toney and bought clarke-Harris

Most clubs who sell their best player for a lot of money would re invest that money in a replacement

What's to say Moore doesn't just prefer to make the type of signings he's making? If he knows an academy kid is good but probably out of his price range to buy permanently, what's the harm in getting them on loan before spunking money on them and seeing if they fit in. Did no harm with Cameron John, did it?

[Janso]

Anyone on here who calls DM a liar should be impeached for incitement to riot .

What a bizarre post.

[sha66y]

Ben will be replaced quite easily, with DM capable of all kinds of formulae to play with,
 we don’t necessarily need a like for like player....we evolve again!

Too many on here stuck in the narrows....

We got a manager that carries out his experiments in full view without anaesthetic and seems miraculously to succeed more often than not...

I’d take Ben to whichever championship club he desired and give any fees to DM as a bonus for working miracles...

More of the same please! Rtid

[mushRTID]

Having slept on this, Iv got another theory.

Ben only signed his contract with an agreement that he could go for a figure less than he’s worth, but more than we would have got had he not signed.

Maybe that also explains SM comment it’s not that simple

[vaya]

What’s not to get?
It’s nothing to do with the goals,
He was our main striker and we sold him for a lot of money but then we never used got anyone in of the same calibre.
If we keep selling our best players and not replacing them with players of the same calibre then we’re going to struggle.
Other clubs do it
Brentford sold Watkins and bought Toney
Peterboro sold Toney and bought clarke-Harris

Most clubs who sell their best player for a lot of money would re invest that money in a replacement

What's to say Moore doesn't just prefer to make the type of signings he's making? If he knows an academy kid is good but probably out of his price range to buy permanently, what's the harm in getting them on loan before spunking money on them and seeing if they fit in. Did no harm with Cameron John, did it?

Or Whiteman himself.

[ravenrover]

With all their business or financial knowledge we must have the most multi millionaires on any football forum

[DonnyBazR0ver]

What’s not to get?
It’s nothing to do with the goals,
He was our main striker and we sold him for a lot of money but then we never used got anyone in of the same calibre.
If we keep selling our best players and not replacing them with players of the same calibre then we’re going to struggle.
Other clubs do it
Brentford sold Watkins and bought Toney
Peterboro sold Toney and bought clarke-Harris

Most clubs who sell their best player for a lot of money would re invest that money in a replacement

That's all fine and dandy but DM will identify his priorities including players in other positions, it's not for us to determine what his priorities are and insist he blows all the money on one replacement player.

As suggested, it's been seen we are just as effective going forward and scoring goals without Marquis.

The very same may happen if Whiteman leaves. For example, if the funds were there to a) firm up one of the current loans to a permanent and b) acquire a further specialist midfield player, you can't bemoan DM making that choice if he feels the sum of the parts will be just as effective.

[silent majority]

There are also lots of clubs who get it wrong and spend more than they can afford.

The Owners won't be upping their budget and let's not forget that things are changing with FFP anyway with tighter constraints.

Thats different to what i'm saying but i agree and we shouldn't be upping budgets in the current climate as such as we'd like to go for it.

I'm saying if each manager has a completely different style then we'll need to recruit a new squad every other year if they are in charge of recruitment. Really we (the board) should set what they of club we are (play nice football, sign promising players & loans etc) and employ managers to fit that rather than shape the club to fit the manager only for them to leave after a season.

Isn't that what the board have done in recent years? The criteria for manager applications has been based on the style of play, focus on younger players, and attract better quality loan signings. And each time we've gone better, DF to GMc to DM.

[Alan Southstand]

Good post DBR but I can’t help thinking this is the wrong time for Ben and for us. We all know he wants and deserves a rise up the football ladder, but the disruption it could create could be very harmful to any hopes we have of promotion.

We should be doing all we can to hang onto Ben until the summer and then he can choose what’s best for him - stay with us in the Championship or try elsewhere!

[silent majority]

Good post DBR but I can’t help thinking this is the wrong time for Ben and for us. We all know he wants and deserves a rise up the football ladder, but the disruption it could create could be very harmful to any hopes we have of promotion.

We should be doing all we can to hang onto Ben until the summer and then he can choose what’s best for him - stay with us in the Championship or try elsewhere!

But that's exactly what we're trying to do  though Alan. It doesn't mean we'll be successful, that's down to the player not us.

[dickos1]

What’s not to get?
It’s nothing to do with the goals,
He was our main striker and we sold him for a lot of money but then we never used got anyone in of the same calibre.
If we keep selling our best players and not replacing them with players of the same calibre then we’re going to struggle.
Other clubs do it
Brentford sold Watkins and bought Toney
Peterboro sold Toney and bought clarke-Harris

Most clubs who sell their best player for a lot of money would re invest that money in a replacement

That's all fine and dandy but DM will identify his priorities including players in other positions, it's not for us to determine what his priorities are and insist he blows all the money on one replacement player.

As suggested, it's been seen we are just as effective going forward and scoring goals without Marquis.

The very same may happen if Whiteman leaves. For example, if the funds were there to a) firm up one of the current loans to a permanent and b) acquire a further specialist midfield player, you can't bemoan DM making that choice if he feels the sum of the parts will be just as effective.

I’m not bemoaning anything
Although Moore did come out after Marquis left and said his priority was to replace Marquis with an established striker with a record as good as his.
So I do believe that’s what his first preference was but when this wasn’t possible he had to change tact.

[colincramb]

Just read through 6 pages of this and I’ve come to the conclusion that he’s off. If he’s still here on February 1st then I will be extremely surprised. Massive shame given the position we are in.

The bigger shame is that we might lose our biggest asset for less than he’s clearly worth in normal times. It’s worrying to hear that “the supporters will be disappointed”. Given the sell on fee reportedly owed to SUFC then I fear we aren’t going to end up with much at all.

That’s the sad part.

[Chris Black come back]

Memo: All.

We continue to be reliant on our owner for £1.5-2m a season in normal times. God knows what the balance sheet looks like now.

Also reminder that the Preston North End all time transfer record is £2m. They are not going to be breaking that to sign Whiteman in the middle of a pandemic.

[Alan Southstand]

But that's exactly what we're trying to do  though Alan. It doesn't mean we'll be successful, that's down to the player not us.

It can’t possibly be solely down to the player as we now know the Club have rejected 2 bids “because they didn’t meet our valuation”.

I can appreciate a player (and/or his agent) can make it awkward for us, but the fact is Ben still has 2.5 years on his contract and we’ve gone on record saying we don’t need to sell.

Fair enough, if the interested chasers increase their offer and Ben has a desire to leave, then it’s to be hoped we have a very good replacement lined up. Even then, I still think the disruption could cost us, both football-wise and financial-wise. It’s a juggling act, all right, but I’m sure it’s not beyond Gavin and his negotiating team.

[colincramb]

I reckon 1.5 million gets him

[Chris Black come back]

That feels about right. £1-1.5m.

[NickDRFC]

That feels about right. £1-1.5m.

We could still get £1m-£1.5m for him in the summer with 2 years left on his contract. If that’s the offer we’re better off keeping him and hoping he’s professional enough to knuckle down and get on with it until then. And if he’s not, stick him on the bench and we’ll still be able to cash in 6 months down the line.

[BessieBlue]

There is never a good time to leave but one of the better times for a good player is when maximum value can be achieved - I suspect given all the circumstances that time is now. From the players perspective geography is important which perhaps explains why Hull and QPR were not much incentive. Barnsley is closer to the North West but if their offer was derisory that could explain why there was no movement. From what has been said Ben wants the move to Preston and I am sure he wlll feel some responsibility to get the price right - perhaps that has been discussed and agreed with Ben?

From the club's perspective we move on if it seems likely Ben will leave. This is a positive as it opens the door to make progress. In this business Rovers are nowhere near the top of the pyramid but our trajectory is upwards and as fans that has to be a cause for celebration. We have a capable manager who enjoys a lot of respect in the game and I for one am looking forward to the next stage in the clubs development. You can't stand still too long in this game and it is important to keep moving - this means continuous development (and improvement). The Tyke kid who contributes to this board talks a lot of sense.

[RobTheRover]

I doubt £1.5m will be enough. The club will value him higher than that.

[Filo]

I reckon 1.5 million gets him

I’m sure I read somewhere that Sheff Utd had a 30% sell on, thats £450k go e straight away, add into that deffered wages and agent fees, that will probablytake it below £1m, and then theres the probability of installments, it will do nothing for our immediate cash flow

[dickos1]

That’s massively under valuing him,
Preston themselves spent 2 million last season on a league one central midfielder who has had nothing of a career compared to ben.
How we can think 500k-1 million less for ben than Baylis is ok is baffling

[DonnyOsmond]

We would struggle to replace him if we only got a million, as most of that would go to running costs of the club during covid. We all know he's worth more than that. Replacing him with a loanee isn't the right move as we'd have more loanees than the limit.

[northern soul]

According to an article in the Athletic about Forests transfer plans.

"Forest have also been scouting Doncaster midfielder Ben Whiteman, 24, who is the subject of strong interest from several other Championship clubs, including Derby County and Barnsley. Preston and QPR have both already had bids turned down for the player, with Preston expected to renew their efforts to sign him."

The more teams we can get interested potentially the better price we could get?

[silent majority]

That’s massively under valuing him,
Preston themselves spent 2 million last season on a league one central midfielder who has had nothing of a career compared to ben.
How we can think 500k-1 million less for ben than Baylis is ok is baffling

You keep saying 'we'.

It's not us, it's what others are prepared to pay.

[i_ateallthepies]

There is never a good time to leave but one of the better times for a good player is when maximum value can be achieved - I suspect given all the circumstances that time is now. From the players perspective geography is important which perhaps explains why Hull and QPR were not much incentive. Barnsley is closer to the North West but if their offer was derisory that could explain why there was no movement. From what has been said Ben wants the move to Preston and I am sure he wlll feel some responsibility to get the price right - perhaps that has been discussed and agreed with Ben?

From the club's perspective we move on if it seems likely Ben will leave. This is a positive as it opens the door to make progress. In this business Rovers are nowhere near the top of the pyramid but our trajectory is upwards and as fans that has to be a cause for celebration. We have a capable manager who enjoys a lot of respect in the game and I for one am looking forward to the next stage in the clubs development. You can't stand still too long in this game and it is important to keep moving - this means continuous development (and improvement). The Tyke kid who contributes to this board talks a lot of sense.

Agree with this.  Who's to say if we play too hardball and Ben's move doesn't happen that even with his best efforts he loses 5% of his edge on the pitch and both his value to us in his on-field contributions as well as his value as an asset are diminished.

Get this done quickly whilst getting the best we can for him and I have total confidence that DM will reshape the team and improve us again.

[dickos1]

That’s massively under valuing him,
Preston themselves spent 2 million last season on a league one central midfielder who has had nothing of a career compared to ben.
How we can think 500k-1 million less for ben than Baylis is ok is baffling

You keep saying 'we'.

It's not us, it's what others are prepared to pay.

It’s upto us whether we sell,
If others aren’t prepared to pay what we value him at then we don’t sell him

[Monkcaster_Rover]

Sad of me to notice but Ben hasn't put anything on Twitter or Instagram to congratulate the lads about yesterday.

I can see he's just liked a Max & Paddy tweet from just over 20 minutes ago (that's the sad part on my behalf) so the signs are there. He wants out.

Not sure if I'm reading too much into it but for him to not even acknowledge the lads performance yesterday (which is the norm on social media these days) cuts deep & I thought better of him.