John Eustace’s squad is yet to be bolstered after a frustrating start to the transfer window. Jack Barrett and Aodhan Doherty, who nobody is pretending are signings primarily for the Under-21s, aside, it’s been incredibly quiet.
Eustace has sent the right messages out in pre-season. The squad is too thin, the senior players need help and we want to be competitive in the division.
There is no doubt that Rovers’ 1-11 is good enough to do that, bolstered by Lewis Travis’ return. But last season showed that a threadbare squad can and will be exposed in a gruelling 46-game season.
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Blackburn’s squad has got players who have a chequered injury history. You can’t hang your hat on them being available for 46 games and it would be unfair to do so.
There is still plenty of time for Rovers to add to their ranks and Eustace has been quick to mitigate tinges of frustration with the acknowledgement that the recruitment team are hard at work. But nobody can argue that waiting into the third week of July for a new face is very underwhelming.
When you look at the teams around Rovers last season, there have been varying degrees of activity. Plymouth Argyle haven’t done much and neither have Queens Park Rangers, though their form since Marti Cifuentes took over would suggest they’re capable of a mid-table finish without major surgery.
You’d make a similar assumption about Sheffield Wednesday, who needed a minor miracle to survive under Danny Rohl. They’ve recruited nine players which might make them top-half contenders rather than relegation worriers.
Stoke’s form improved the longer Steven Schumacher had in the job, Sunderland still have match-winners. Portsmouth, Derby County and Oxford United have made additions to re-establish themselves at the top table.
The point I’m making is that Rovers only avoided relegation by the skin of their teeth last season. Let’s be clear, the squad was capable of far better and circumstances contributed to their perilous position.
But they can’t take for granted their safety. Eustace wants to keep the core of the group and add four or five bodies. Evolution, not revolution. He’s not being unrealistic.
The excellent graphics created by Ben Mayhew, @experimental361 on X, show only six clubs that have seen less squad churn than Rovers. The bulk of that is down to four loans expiring and the exits of two out-of-contract players.
Continuity can breed success. Rovers don’t want wholesale changes every summer, they need stability. But that only works if you add to what is already existing.
There has been a deafening silence from the club on budgets and recruitment. Everyone knows who the money Rovers recouped in January and yet they are shopping with a limited budget. Loans, frees and six-figure deals.
Only one Championship club is below 50% in terms squad churn, that’s Hull City, so that paints a picture that the second-tier window hasn’t really caught fire. But everyone else has done ‘something’.
Now the European Championship is over, I’d expect the loan window to open up. But even that can take time as Premier League clubs decide exactly who is on their tours of US, Asia or wherever they’re off.
Meanwhile, the real thing begins in three weeks for Rovers. At this rate, it wouldn’t be a surprise if their starting XI at Accrington Stanley takes to the field against Derby County.