Blackburn Rovers issued clear warning after deadline day - It's "turned into a big mess" | OneFootball

FLW's Blackburn Rovers fan pundit has named what one thing the club got wrong this summer transfer window

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Blackburn Rovers had quite an active summer transfer window after coming seventh in the Championship table last season, but their squad looks a lot different to what it did at the end of the 2024-25 campaign.

This was Valerien Ismael’s first chance to make his mark on the first-team squad after being appointed as manager in February to succeed John Eustace, who upped sticks and moved on to Derby County.

With contract issues coming to a head though, a number of players departed Ewood Park after their narrow play-off miss, including key players like Tyrhys Dolan on a free transfer to Espanyol after he could not agree terms with Rovers, whilst long-serving trio Lewis Travis, Dominic Hyam and Callum Brittain were sold in the final year of their contracts to Derby County, Wrexham and Middlesbrough respectively.

This led to a number of incomings, many who don't have much, if any Championship experience, with the squad receiving a major overhaul relative to expectations after coming so close to a top six finish in the previous campaign.

Blackburn Rovers transfer regret claim issued as major experience departs Ewood Park

When asked what one thing the club did wrong this summer, FLW’s Blackburn fan pundit Simon Middlehurst claimed that letting go of too much experience in the squad could have a detrimental impact.

He highlighted the departures of key players as a mistake given how close they were to competing for promotion to the Premier League.

“The biggest thing that the club did this summer is selling all our Championship experience,” Middlehurst told Football League World.

“If you look at predominantly most of the games we had last season, and the team we had compared to this season, we’ve sold or released nine of our starting 11 last season.

“And this is a team that finished one goal outside of the play-offs.

“We have basically stripped down everything that we built last season, and replaced it with players that aren’t really proven, or haven’t been proven yet.

“It’s basically turned into a big mess at Blackburn, that’s the best way I’d describe it.”

Blackburn Rovers have had a messy summer - it could come back to bite them

Blackburn didn’t need to do much over the summer given how well they ended last season after initially starting poorly under Ismael, but the hierarchy made the decision to cash in on players that were in the last years of their contracts, meaning radical changes were made.

It’s a big risk, and the early assessment is that it’s not paying off given how poor their form has been from the opening four fixtures, but they may just need more time to gel.

However, it is still early days, and maybe everything will fall into place after the September international break, but the lack of Championship experience in the squad is a concern.

A number of their Championship rivals have been strengthened by their decision to cash in on first-team players, and with Hyam leaving so late for Wrexham, it means that Ismael is light on options at centre-back - something that could be rectified in the free agent market, but it'll take a while for fans to get over the decision in the first place.