Steve Curwood has only been in the job two months, but he walked straight into the storm. New in the Ewood Park corridors, new to the Blackburn Rovers fanbase, and already defending a transfer window many supporters see as a missed opportunity.
Four signings in. Seven players out. Three deadline-day deals collapsing in the space of a few frantic hours. No wonder he admits “everyone is frustrated”.
Deals on the table, deals lost late
Curwood did not try to dress it up. Speaking to BBC Radio Lancashire, he laid out a window that veered from hopeful to chaotic.
“Deals were on the table. Deals were agreed with players and clubs,” he said, before turning to the part that really stings. “We were gazumped at the last minute on a couple of deals, and one was a foreign one which took a bit more time than you would anticipate.”
Those late hijacks proved costly. BBC Radio Lancashire understands two of the failed moves involved Reo Hatate, who ended up at Burnley, and Brian De Keersmaecker, who signed for Bristol City. Targets identified, talks advanced, then gone.
Curwood’s frustration spilled into a wider comment on the game: “We can talk about morals in football, maybe there aren't too many now and that's what's happened.”
In other words: Blackburn thought they had their men. Modern football said otherwise.
Investment, but no finish line
Rovers’ hierarchy has been accused by some fans of lacking ambition and failing to back Tony Mowbray properly in the market. Curwood pushed back hard on that.
“The investment has been there,” he insisted. “There hasn't been a reluctance (from the board). There has been collaboration throughout the process. I think at the final hurdle we haven't been able to get them over the line.”
That “final hurdle” phrase will grate with supporters who watched the clock tick down on deadline day, waiting for news that never came. Mowbray, reappointed on 5 June after Michael O’Neill turned down the permanent role in mid-May, wanted “that extra little bit of something” to shape a squad in his image. He did not get it.
Curwood did not hide from that either. “Yes – it's frustrating, we're frustrated, and Tony wanted that extra little bit of something which we haven't managed to do.”
Late appointment, tight timeline
Behind the scenes, the club’s planning was squeezed from the start. O’Neill had kept Blackburn in the Championship while juggling his Northern Ireland duties, but his decision to walk away from the permanent post in mid-May left Rovers scrambling.
By the time Mowbray returned on 5 June, the summer clock was already ticking.
“Ideally your manager will be in by the start of May to work out where are we going for next year,” Curwood said. “So that timeline has been constrained somewhat, and then conflated by injuries.”
The message is clear: Blackburn were chasing, not leading, the market. Do your business early and you might miss out on top targets. Wait for the best and you risk exactly what happened – late drama, late disappointment.
“If you want to do your deals early, maybe you can't go after the best players sometimes,” Curwood explained. “You've got to either wait and go for target number one with this risk, or cement one in the building because we know we can get him, like Jayden Fevrier for example.”
That approach left the club walking a tightrope. They highlighted “three or four targets”, but Mowbray wanted more than names on a list. He wanted commitment.
“Tony wants to make sure the people here want to be here and play for him,” Curwood said. “Was it the wrong thing to do to push for the specific players Tony wanted? These things happen when you try to be specific, but none of us want to just bring in just players to add bodies in the building.”
Outgoings, balance and missed replacements
The criticism doesn’t stop at missed signings. Seven players left in the summer, and when the incoming business stalled, the exits looked even more stark.
Curwood stands by those calls.
“You've got to allow the manager to make certain decisions,” he said. “The squad list was top-heavy. Certain players needed game-time, like George Pratt going to Bradford.”
Blackburn did at least resist overtures for some key assets. BBC Radio Lancashire understands the club turned down offers for Ryoya Morishita, Sean McLoughlin, Balasz Toth, Yuki Ohashi and Ryan Alebiosu. In a window that often felt like loss, holding that core may prove important once the season grinds into winter.
A whirlwind start and a promise
Curwood arrived from League Two side Fleetwood Town just two months ago. Since then, Blackburn have lurched through a transfer window, seen an administrator depart for another club and watched a senior physiotherapist leave.
“It's been a whirlwind since I arrived,” the 54-year-old said. He knows that buys little sympathy in the stands, where the league table and the depth of the bench do most of the talking.
His focus now is on resetting the club’s internal workings.
“The first 90 days will give me time to reflect and bring some of the processes this club need to improve where we are,” he said. “We'll be in a very different position moving into the next window, and beyond that.”
For a fanbase still smarting from a chaotic summer and the sight of targets slipping away to Championship rivals, that is a bold promise. The next window will show whether it was just a line, or the start of a very different Blackburn Rovers.
