Whiteman to Preston ?

[tyke1962]

One good performance v West Ham and his price could have doubled! Totally agree Tyke.

Alan , my personal opinion is that Preston are starting to go on the slide , they are losing Daniel Johnson either this window or for nowt in the summer , they may even lose him for nowt this window if Glasgow Rangers exploit a rule and the pre contract agreement .

Absolutely nothing like the side they were in the first half of last season and they need a rebuild to get back to seriously challenging the play offs .

The top 6 this season in the championship are way way above such as ourselves and Preston and our respective league positions don't tell the whole story .

We've improved massively but Preston have dropped significantly from where they were .

I think your lad might have made an error here and a tad hasty .

Not saying he should have come to Barnsley at all just that I think in the summer and some good performances behind him in the second half of the season at Rovers he may have had his pick of bigger championship clubs if he wanted a move .

[Dagenham Rover]

Que sera sera   

[Janso]

Say, for example, Whiteman’s agent engineered the move, and Rovers rejected the initial bids, perhaps said agent advised his client that withdrawing his services might force a move, and he did that last weekend... That casts Whiteman in a different light, and not a very good one. Bit of a tw@t really.

He has refused to play. Simple. Darren Moore picks him regardless of offers. You are right t**t

I might be reading this wrong but... it looks like you're calling him a t**t yet he's basically said the same thing as you?

[dknward2]

Right let's say it is 2mill 25% to sheff utd.

Think we should spend around 750k on a replacement at most hopefully young hungry point to prove type player.

The rest on renewing contracts and paying wage deferrals back to players if not already done with the cup money

[DonnyNoel]

P.S. I don’t see Preston as a step up to be honest. Meh.

Sorry I'm not singling you out per se but some people need to give their heads a wobble re Preston's standing. They're an absolute ideal move for Ben. Looking at the teams above them where else would he go? Norwich/Swansea/Brentford/Reading/Watford? Integral though he is for us I don't see him as a regular starter for them,

[godlike1]

Well its a bugga is this , I know the lad wanted to play in the championship but for the sake of seeing this season out he may well have achieved that by remaining at Rovers .

I could have understood this a little more if he'd gone to one of the bigger championship clubs , Forest , Derby or Birmingham even .

Preston whilst established in the championship aren't a big club by any means , we averaged more than they did last season whilst they chased the play offs and we were bottom of the league .

I maybe wrong here but I don't entirely buy the nearer to his roots soundbite , as I say I could be wrong but personally I'm not convinced by that , Preston and Doncaster isn't the other side of the world from each other .

Personally I think and again in my opinion he'd have been better placed to wait until the season ended , see which league Rovers were in and also to see if a bigger club came in for him .

Agree entirely. I hope the club have played this well reg add ons and that we get someone in who DM has seen as the right replacement. Ideally on perm otherwise this forum will go into meltdown. I rate Ben, but not that highly as he's not achieved anything yet really. I also don't think their manager is in a safe job. If they end up near the bottom or go down he'll be out of a job.

I finally only have to say:

Ben who?

[DonnyBazR0ver]

I think DM has earned the right to decide how he wants to shape the team and look at succession planning which doesn't always mean signing a permanent player in that position. If he wants to prioritise another player(s) on permanents and bring in another young player (with the same potential as Ben when he arrived as a loanee. The same potential as Cameron John when we signed him) then so be it.

He'll know more than any of us what's required to keep us progressing.

[Bessie Red]

I'd be happy with a loan of the calibre of Smith or Sims, but I'd really like us to sign the next Ben Whiteman permanently (yes I know Ben started out on loan, you know what I mean). We do need to start building up our own, we haven't done that since DF was here really.

Ravenhill?

Lirak Hasani is a better player than Liam although we should be keeping both!

[Padge_DRFC]

Preston are a step up very simple currently

[Lesonthewest]

As long as the board is happy with the financial side of the deal, I don't care if he has signed for Preston, Hull or Barcelona. What I do care about is we sign a really good replacement, we are in a strong position in the league & the need to bring in at least one more in this window, preferably a permanent, could well define our season. Good player Whiteman, but certainly not irreplaceable, losing a certain centre half would have been far more damaging in my opinion.   

[pib]

P.S. I don’t see Preston as a step up to be honest. Meh.

Sorry I'm not singling you out per se but some people need to give their heads a wobble re Preston's standing. They're an absolute ideal move for Ben. Looking at the teams above them where else would he go? Norwich/Swansea/Brentford/Reading/Watford? Integral though he is for us I don't see him as a regular starter for them,

I mean, if he wants a Championship move in the North West then it’s pretty slim pickings isn’t it really?

If Blackburn don’t come in for you then PNE is the only real option. Hudds or Stoke at a push would both get you closer to home, but in the Manchester area there isn’t much.

[Jersey Rover]

I see no rush to sign a permanent replacement for BW. I think Smith and Richards  are a really strong spine to the team and would link up perfectly for the rest of the season. What we need in my opinion is a quality cover for the rest of this season. No need to go out and panic buy, if we get promoted we will have more funds to add to the quality of the whole team in all areas. Been a pleasure watching Ben Whiteman for the Rovers and would like to wish him all the best for the future.

[colincramb]

He’s a good player, but we’ve certainly lost better before and the world hasn’t stopped (well, it has now I suppose but not because of Ben whiteman!)

He can be replaced. Shame he didn’t see the season out with us given the position we are in but we’ve still got a great chance. Here’s a thought, what if the player we bring in is better? It’s possible, he wasn’t exactly Patrick Vieira.

Life goes on. Good luck for the future Ben and thanks for your service to our club

[redandwhitearmy]

Shame to see him go but it was to be expected really and nobody can begrudge him his move, he could’ve dug his heels much sooner in previous windows and left.  Ben obviously sees Preston as a good fit and it suits him in terms of being closer to home.

Probably pay rise, closer to home and a job performing at a higher level and standard overall.  Anybody who says they wouldn’t be tempted is completely biased in my opinion.
It’s a step up from Doncaster Rovers.

I do hope that some of the money is reinvested into the playing squad however, this day should’ve been anticipated for a while now and I would hope and expect the club have a plan A,B and C in terms of replacing Ben that they are working on as we speak.

We are in a great position to push for the playoffs and possibly better at the halfway point of the season so we shouldn’t waste it, and we should not be relying solely on loans for the remainder of the season and going into next.
 Regardless of what division we are in next season,  we have very few contracted players as It is going into next season so let’s get a head start now, tie a few down and get Bens replacement in.

[Filo]

In a strange way we might benefit from this on the pitch, teams have sussed us out regarding Whiteman, nulify him and we’ve found it hard work, getting a different player in might be a good move

[bpoolrover]

Filo that is being very optimistic lol, I can’t see how we can just bring a Loan player in who would you leave out?

[Filo]

Filo that is being very optimistic lol, I can’t see how we can just bring a Loan player in who would you leave out?

Never said anything about a loan player, and to answer you question perhaps Whiteman? Doh!

[bpoolrover]

I was not replying to you on the loan player that was to the ones above you

[bpoolrover]

 And as we are fourth in the league I’m not sure how many teams have sussed us out, but you never know

[Padge_DRFC]

Wouldn't mind signing a proper hardman that leaves the rest of them to play ball.

[Move DRFC]

Wouldn't mind signing a proper hardman that leaves the rest of them to play ball.

Replace one of the best ball players in the EFL with someone who can’t play footy. Glad you’re not the gaffer.

[Rovers91]

I think we need to sign a permanent replacement for Whiteman due to the restrictions you have on loan signings in a match day squad. As you would expect another loan signing either to replace Sims or if we could extend Sims.

[since-1969]

The club couldn’t be in a worse place financially to negotiate a permanent signing with no supporters in the ground add that to the L1 wage caps it will be hard to persuade a decent player to take the plunge. I would expect DM to keep his power dry until he knows what division were playing in and how much he has to spend . 

[PDX_Rover]

Not strictly correct.

[redandwhitearmy]

The club couldn’t be in a worse place financially to negotiate a permanent signing with no supporters in the ground add that to the L1 wage caps it will be hard to persuade a decent player to take the plunge. I would expect DM to keep his power dry until he knows what division were playing in and how much he has to spend .

If he doesn’t sign a replacement for Ben this window, it’s a good bet that we won’t be playing in the championship next season.

I’m sure Moore and the club realise he needs replacing thankfully, and I’ve got faith they’ll bring at least one in permanently this window. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

There's a couple of things to consider for those who think DM will feel let down by this.

Since DM arrived at the club I'm sure he's attended many regular meetings where recruitment has been on the agenda. Given Ben has been subject to transfer gossip for 18 months or more, it's inconceivable that DM wasn't fully prepared for this eventuality.
Indeed eversince it was perceived that McCann would poach Ben for Hull from day one. A number of bids have been received and rejected since then therefore DM will have been aware of his value.

It should not surprise us if DM has already put the back up plan into action after months of pre planning, keeping tabs on his targets.

Footnote. A year ago, some of the same naysayers were saying we'd let him go for a million being a soft touch, yet here we are possibly making double that and also pushing for promotion. How does that possibly happen if the board doesn't have a clue how to run a football club?

[PDX_Rover]

Absolutely there will be contingency plans and players earmarked.

[SydneyRover]

Any 'discount' that applies to the sale of a player in today's environment will be reflected in the purchase price of another player.

[since-1969]

Clearly the current circumstances has facilitated the sale and preseason with U21s being stopped and players with potential ie Max Watters leaving .  So the plans of DM are secondary to keeping the club a float and functioning .But postponements and injuries to before he sorts out the players that he needs could make things worse now .

[silent majority]

There's a couple of things to consider for those who think DM will feel let down by this.

Since DM arrived at the club I'm sure he's attended many regular meetings where recruitment has been on the agenda. Given Ben has been subject to transfer gossip for 18 months or more, it's inconceivable that DM wasn't fully prepared for this eventuality.
Indeed eversince it was perceived that McCann would poach Ben for Hull from day one. A number of bids have been received and rejected since then therefore DM will have been aware of his value.

It should not surprise us if DM has already put the back up plan into action after months of pre planning, keeping tabs on his targets.

Footnote. A year ago, some of the same naysayers were saying we'd let him go for a million being a soft touch, yet here we are possibly making double that and also pushing for promotion. How does that possibly happen if the board doesn't have a clue how to run a football club?

Spot on Baz.

As I've mentioned elsewhere this is the 3rd transfer window where Ben has been subject to bids, and there's only so much loyalty you can accept from a player who is clearly ambitious to play at the highest level he can.

AH has a good list of replacements, we should trust in the process, its worked exceptionally well for us in recent seasons and there's no reason to suggest it won't work now.