Summer 26 Transfer Rumours

Most Leeds fans i know personally are complimentary of us.

 

Thats the point though. Since we beat them in the league cup a decade ago, they have left us a million miles behind and they just dont see us as anywhere near a rival. However, the ones I know would like to see us in the Championship at least.

They do absolutely hate Huddersfield though.

 

Do we still sing about them?

 

Should come and live in Queensbury, definitely NOT the case....

 

Not where I live either .....

 

Key details as Ciaran Kelly set to sign for Bristol Rovers
Bristol Rovers are also actively working hard to sign an unnamed left-back to bolster their squad
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Sport
Katie Timms Regional Head of Content and Will Murray Bristol Rovers Reporter
09:00, 23 May 2026

Ciaran Kelly(Image: PA)

Bristol Rovers win the race to sign Ciaran Kelly:

1. Transfer Race Won: Bristol Rovers have successfully won the race to sign 27-year-old defender Ciaran Kelly from Bradford City. They managed to beat out competition from an unnamed League One club and a League Two side for his signature.
2. The Decisive Meeting: Kelly decided to join the club overnight following a face-to-face meeting with Bristol Rovers manager Steve Evans on Tuesday. The Irish defender was reportedly convinced by Evans' highly persuasive pitch during a conversation that lasted over six hours.
3. Long-Term Target: Kelly has been a priority target for Evans for a significant period of time, following a previously rejected transfer bid for the centre-back back in January. Because his current contract with Bradford City expires next month, a pre-contract agreement to move to Bristol is expected to be finalised within the next 48 hours.
4. Additional Recruitment Drive: Alongside the securing of Kelly, Bristol Rovers are actively working hard to sign an unnamed left-back to bolster their squad. A final decision from this target player is anticipated early next week.
5. More Incoming Players: The club is also set to permanently secure the signings of Kofi Balmer and Richie Smallwood on pre-contract agreements. Their current clubs, Motherwell and Tranmere Rovers, have already officially announced that both players will be leaving at the end of June.
6. Transfer Window Rules: While the official English transfer window does not open until Monday, June 15, clubs are legally allowed to negotiate ahead of time. This rule permits teams to agree on pre-contracts with players whose existing deals expire at the end of June.
7. Early Career in Ireland: Kelly spent the formative years of his career playing for various Irish clubs before making his professional debut for St Patrick’s Athletic in October 2016. He later experienced stints with Drogheda United, Ballymena United, and Bohemians, where he made 74 total appearances.
8. English Experience and Role: The defender moved to England in December 2022 to join Bradford City, where he made 94 appearances and helped them win promotion to League One. His primary position is left centre-back, and he is expected to provide strong, much-needed competition for the Bristol Rovers138549069757

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It's like we were never top of the league with 21 goals in 11 games before finishing with something like 40 goals in the remaining 35 games.

You have had it addressed to you with facts around the results when power and metcalfe were a pairing (33% win ratio) yet still believe they were a successful partnership.

@Jordan as also said on multiple occasions that since our defeat to Burton at the end of October we moved from playing the lowest amount of long balls per game to the highest amount of long balls per game, almost without reason.

One team sussed us out, we couldn't adapt enough for that game and almost every team after that took the same stance Burton did and overloaded the midfield.

It wasn't rocket science what was needed yet in reality we failed to address it over essentially three quarters of the season

 

Last season has finished
Ultimately it ended without promotion, falling at the next to last hurdle
Performance did decrease, but what an effort after gaining promotion and many expecting a struggle
If we can improve again in this summer, there is no reason to think we can’t go again
Beesley is a reasonable start, let’s see what else transpires between now and August
Last season has gone, January has gone, we move on

 

@Park bantam another one!!! This time RS. Wonder if they don’t think we are getting their message. Up to 4 I believe.

 

Same here over in cookridge

 

Pretty much the only key takeaway from that interview is that the budget has been slightly raised. I think Sparks said in the fans forum a few months ago we had the 11th or 12th biggest budget in the league. It's good that we have a raise as the budgets will keep on needing to rise every season. Ranking wise it's probably tough as Lincoln were said to have the 17th biggest budget in L1 last season, but Bolton and Cardiff will have been two of the top 4 or 5. The teams going down will have been 4 of the smaller end budgets in the league, but coming up it sounds like MK will be spending and Notts wont be far behind and the 3 clubs coming down wont be skint. We could have a larger budget this season, and it realistically could be the 14th/15th biggest in the league depending on how the others spend.

Money in football eh!

 

Dog botherers are our biggest rivals surely

 

Shouldn't be any Leeds fans in queeny,unless theyre glory hunters of course

 

Like I say, it depends what era you grew up watching City. There's been long periods where we've not had a West Yorkshire derby at all and other periods where we seemed to play either Town or Leeds fairly regular.

 

Maybe now, but not traditional.

It was Avenue and Halifax when I first started watching in the 60's
Then it was Barnsley and Stockport throughout 70's and early 80's.

 

Growing up in Shipley and at school there were more Leeds fans than City.

 

I irrationally hate the Beeston lot but they aren't our rivals. Just noisy neighbours.

 

If true, this is why we need stronger players off the bench this season so we have more options.

Bolton for instance, started with Cissoko and Duberry against us but then Gale played instead of Cissoko in the final - they had three really strong options.

It was extremely difficult for us to match that kind of squad in our first season at league one but for our second we should be looking to have a slightly bigger, stronger nucleus of players to pick from.