Savage Signs

[jim mk2]

Interesting views from Mr BlueNose.

I said earlier that I thought Everton might take advantage of the Savage impasse but, to be honest, the more I read and hear about him I'm not too bothered if we sign him now.

It should also be remembered that, at 30, Savage is more susceptible to injury from an all-action style of play that depends on extreme physical fitness and without which he would not be half as effective.

Agree absolutely about Dunn. A locally-born gem tossed away by an ignorant pleb of a manager.

[philipl]

Great post bluenose.

Do you think you will sell Savage to Villa now that Villa have dropped their interest in Amdy Fay?

How do you feel about Sullivan wanting to sell up to get a club nearer to home?

Perhaps Savage read that and thought he'd get away with his Wrexham argument?

Is the antipathy towards Blackburn in reality all to do with Bowen now being hated by Birmingham? Bowen said a few home truths didn't he?

[Paul]

Brum have come out with a load of macho stuff about how no player who has wanted out of Brum has ever benefitted from the move blah, blah.

i think that's entirely plausible. look at the rubbish they've bought off us - it's hard to imagine, should any of them leave brum, that they will be going anywhere but the championship or below.

I think i'm right in saying that with the obvious exception of Damien Duff that's pretty much true of any recent departure (last 10 years or so) of Rovers. The grass is always greener......................

Out of interest, are you including Shearer in the camp that did or didnt?

Yes I'd include Shearer in the "not done any better camp." It both pleases and saddens me he has not had the success his enormous talent deserved. There's no doubt Rovers had the best four years of Shearer's career, won his only medal, etc. Clearly he has continued to be a great player, but the criteria I was applying was going on to win more trophies.

I realise Damien hasn't won anyhting with Chelsea but he very likley will this season.

[LondonBluenose1976]

Hahaha...well selling Savage to V***a would surely put the cat amongst the pigeons although actually I think he's just the kind of player they need. I can't see it happening though.

In reality we won't get much more that 2.5 million for him and I think that's a fair price.

Personally I am no longer a fan of Savage as I think his inability to pass the ball is holding us back. However, he was outstanding for his first 18 months with Birmingham, and in Blackburn's position (new manager trying to find his way, pattern of play still emerging) I think he'd be an excellent signing.

Plus points: phenomenal energy, talismanic impact on club as a whole, good free kicks, strong running, when on form there are few better in his role

Minus points: Extremely poor passer (defaults to hoofing it), egocentric, will leave you like a shot if you get relegated (albeit I think that's unlikely), plus players of his ilk have a limited shelf life after 30/31.

Regarding Bowen, the genesis of his dispute with Bruce is that he approached the board direct for a new contract without going via Bruce. It degenerated from there and he eventually left for Ewood Park.

[Paul]

Very interesting post from Mr LB. Completley agree with your thoughts on Dunny and would love to see him back in the blue and white. One of my proudest moments as a Rover was watching Dunn lead out the England U21s at Ewood and having a front row view of the look of immense pride on his face as the teams lined up to face the JW stand.

[thenodrog]

4) Damien Johnson

Incredibly hard working, Bruce's favourite player (never, ever misses a game) but seems to have lost the ability to beat a man around the outside. When I first saw him at Blackburn, he had the ability to drop his shoulder and beat a man...

V Hard working but I'm a lomg term season ticket holder and afraid I cannot rem the one game that Damien beat somebody on the outside.

He always wandered inside and played far too narrow giving no outlet wide for his colleagues imo.

Dunny. Bags of ability but an expensive sick note. The longer this injury stuff goes on the less likely (given his burly physique) the less likely he is to get over it.

Taylor. To coin a local expression..............'you've been sold a pup'! There's more aggression in Julian Clary's handbag.

As for Savage.

1. He shouldn't have signed a contract with you.

2. Everton will prob be lurking as Moyes is a known admirer and especially so if Graveson leaves.

3. I have a feeling that if nothing else happens then Brum will wring this out till Jan 31st in order to minimise his influence for us this season. imo and I said so on here that we should have beat you to his sig when he left Leicester but thats spilt milk now. But Chelseas signing of Jarosek for little money means that there are plenty of options out there........ they just need looking for.

As for the future. Your boards treatment of Forsell is a bit shabby. I guess that your board dont care who they upset eh? Careful cos given time things like that can bite you on the arse. We should now look at making an agreement with Chelsea to procure the services of Forsell subject to his recovery for next season, oh and imo we should have beaten you lot to him as well 2 years ago. (dont want to sound all 'i told ya so' but thats something else that I commented on at the time.)

[LondonBluenose1976]

Interesting re DJ - guess some things never change.

thenodrug - have to disagree re Mikael Forssell. Check out the following URL:

http://www.blues.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News...~609947,00.html

...where the Fors pretty clearly indicates (in so many words) that he'll be back when he's fit. The agreement between Birmingham and Chelsea was that either side could apply a break to the year's loan in January. We're simply exercising that option as

(a) he won't be fit this season (or at least not match fit) and

( Chelsea have better medical facilities so they want him to do his rehab there anyway

The relationship between Birmingham and Chelsea, and between Birmingham and Forssell, is actually exceptionally strong. It's a done deal that he'll be back (and this time permanently I would think) at the start of next season. Hopefully by then Dunny will be fully fit and laying on the passes for Mikael to score from.

[MCMC1875]

A great deal of animosity in unwelcome transfer requests/bids occurs when the player has recently signed an improved contract.

As theno says, if he hadn't signed then there wouldn't be as much bother.

[modes98]

SAV RESERVE REPORT

Well i went to it. Cheered on the lad. He made an amazing run forward followed by a brilliant sprint of 80yards back to make a defensive tackle in the box and save a goal.

Having given tony caig (newcastle keeper) stick for the whole game me and my mate got sworn at by the newcastle defender which was very amusing. Brum's new striker njazi kuqi looked ok but has a reluctance to heading the ball, he tries to chest it everytime he can.

Savage didn't put 100% in looked quite bored. But when he sparked into life he did look a very good player. Tiny had a typical game where you didn't know he was there til he let them score and missed 2 headers at corners!

[Shaddy]

thenodrug - have to disagree re Mikael Forssell. Check out the following URL:

http://www.blues.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News...~609947,00.html

Forsell quote:

"Birmingham helped me in my career and hopefully I helped them.

He needn't hope. He definitely helped Birmingham up the table last season. Sounds quite humble and polite. Hope he a ) recovers, b ) comes to Rovers. Good luck to the guy.

[thenodrog]

Savage didn't put 100% in looked quite bored.

One way or another he's finished at Brum so the last thing that he wants to do is pick up an injury is it modes?

Anyway get this quote from Sullivan in the Telegraph

"The bottom line is that he is an adult who signed a contract and should honour it. We all have problems in life that we have to overcome. Why he thinks he is such a different case, I don't know. This club is not a voluntary organisation. You just can't turn up and think you can do what you please.''

Hmm didn't Bruce have a contract at Palace?

......... and is Sullivan new to this business? He may have a point but as far as football is concerned he certainly playing overly naive.

and.............. didn't Robbie Blake have a contract at Burnley until Wigan and Brum came a courting or does that sort of contract not count? It should do cos everybody knows that Burnley are a far bigger club than Brum and Villa put together.

Edited January 7, 2005 by thenodrog

[RovertheHill]

Good post from Mr BlueNose. Shame about Dunny (and other good players we lost due to "differences of opinion"). But there's the point. Whether it is greed, falling out with the manager or personal reasons, players will always leave clubs - even their hometown teams.

I keep hearing this accusation from Brum about Bowen tapping up Savage - is there any direct evidence of this? Or are people just putting 2 and 2 together?

[broadsword]

Weren't there rumours that Dunn is only a couple of injuries away from being finished?

Could well be twaddle.

As for Damien Johnson, the only time he ever beat a man was for pace. if he got closed down he ran out of idea turned around and passed it back down the wing. Always.

[Dan Furness]

Weren't there rumours that Dunn is only a couple of injuries away from being finished?

Could well be twaddle.

As for Damien Johnson, the only time he ever beat a man was for pace. if he got closed down he ran out of idea turned around and passed it back down the wing. Always.

sounds like Emerton and Reid too

[Atty]

I think that Robbie savage wood be a good signing and would be a good acquisition for the midfield along side Barry.

I think Birmingham is getting a taste of there own medicine on what happened with Dunn and their stupid bids they put in for him. They got him eventually got Dunn and I think we will get savage, as I don’t think he will sign for Everton as he got a great relationship with Hughes.

I also don’t blame Robbie for wanting to leave Birmingham they are doing well at the moment and their fans should be happy where they are in the league as Bruce is doing a great job but he wants to come to a club that might not have the same fan base as Birmingham but we have won a lot more trophies then they have and got the potential to win more if Hughes gets the right players and fetches youth players through as we have got some of the best youth players around.

I’m just wondering if we got 40000 a week would we be classed as a big club.

Mr hypocrite Bruce must be REALY DESPERATE signing first division player like Blake he couldn’t do it when he played for Bradford so what makes he think he can do it at Birmingham. He been dinglefied for that long he wont know what its like to go into a supermarket and see people normal people again.

[joey_big_nose]

Weren't there rumours that Dunn is only a couple of injuries away from being finished?

Could well be twaddle.

As for Damien Johnson, the only time he ever beat a man was for pace. if he got closed down he ran out of idea turned around and passed it back down the wing. Always.

sounds like Emerton and Reid too

Thats not fair, Emerton has beaten loads of players in recent games using a bit of trickery. If only he could use his left....

[John]

The bid is not dead but it may be time to move onto other targets. Hughes with a dignified response this morning.

[broadsword]

3.5M is way too much.

Contrast that with Bruce who's been mouthing off about witholding Savage's wages if he refuses to play. Bruce really is a dream come true for Sky - a headline whenever he opens his gob.

[Paul]

Sparky quoted on Five Live as saying Rovers are not be prepared to offer "much more" than our current bid of £2.3m.

[joey_big_nose]

Looks like we should start looking elsewhere, even just as a contingency plan.... Whose available in that position? Names I came up with are:

Van Bommel (I wish)

Joey Barton

Vince Grella

Sidwell

Amdy Faye

Um, thats about it. As Spurs have offloaded Redknapp they are no longer over stocked with midfielders. There is, I suppose, a faint possibility of Alexi Smertin becoming available- that is well worth a look. Graveson is out of our league.

[American]

Scott Parker is also possibly available, but also doubtfully would come to us.

HUGHES - ON SAVAGE (ABOUT SAVAGE - NOT PORN)

[Teemu]

The relationship between Birmingham and Chelsea, and between Birmingham and Forssell, is actually exceptionally strong. It's a done deal that he'll be back (and this time permanently I would think) at the start of next season.

I think he hasn't been quite so gracious about Birmingham when he has been talking with Finnish press;) Like he is obviously happy that Stevie has given him a chance to play first team football but he has also at times complained about the negative style of football and the lack of quality passing up front. There's also been the feelin' that he is keen to take the step forward and get to play in a truly top class team.

So I think if he isn't going to fit in Chelsea, his top priority is to get in to other top 6 team. If that isn't going to happen either and there's no great prospects from Italy or Spain, I believe Birmingham is an option, but I have the feeling he would be a bit dissapointed if he would have to start an other season at St. Andrews. And that is by all respects;)

What comes to Robbie Savage, I think he would probably make our team stronger. Then again he doesn't always make it easy to like him with all the nonsense and contract breaking stuff, so I don't really know what to think about him but if Hughes wants him I guess I gotta trust his instincts for he seems to know the guy and all.

Edited January 7, 2005 by Teemu

[philipl]

Brum make a profit

So Steve Bruce has more spending money. Brum are holding out an olive branch to Savage by talking about him returning to the first team for the Charlton game a week from now.

For all Brum saying Savage should not have been involved, the matter is now firmly with him at the moment. If he accepts Birmingham's peace advances he won't move, if he doesn't the chances are he will be on his way. Mark Hughes' comments yesterday gently put the onus on the player.

By dropping him, Brum have taken the time deadline of being FA Cup-tied away from the equation.

A neat summary from The Independent. They suggest that Sullivan's comments make it more difficult for a Savage/Brum reconciliation whilst Savage's parents are being door-stepped by the "popular" press in the Welsh hills to establish wheter they are ill or not. Charming.

Edited January 8, 2005 by philipl

[Bobby G]

Time for Savage to decide.

I really dont think we will hold out for him much longer.

[FourLaneBlue]

By dropping him, Brum have taken the time deadline of being FA Cup-tied away from the equation.

A neat summary from The Independent. They suggest that Sullivan's comments make it more difficult for a Savage/Brum reconciliation whilst Savage's parents are being door-stepped by the "popular" press in the Welsh hills to establish wheter they are ill or not. Charming.

Not quite regarding Savage being dropped for this weekend Philip...Savage took the matter into his own hands by getting himself suspended for this game. At least, some Brum fans seem to think he engineered it to make sure he wasn't cup-tied...

Regarding the press on his parents doorstep...whose fault is that? Robert Savage for bringing his family to the attention of the press that's who. Savage seems to be trying to have his cake and to eat it, to walk out on Birmingham while trying to appease their fans by bringing his familly into it. Ultimately though it doesn't wash, if Savage can travel from, say, Cheshire to Blackburn play football while being near his parents then why not travel from Cheshire to Birmingham? It's hardly going to make much difference is it?

Make no mistake, Savage is doing the dirty on Birmingham after signing a spanking new contract with them, it'd be better if he kept a low profile than trying to justify his own selfish desire for a move. If a Rovers player engineered a move for himself in this way just some months after signing a long-term contract this board would be up in arms...and rightly so.

From really hoping Savage would arrive this business seems to have left a bad taste in the mouth somewhat...and a resurgant Flitcroft may well make the move unnecessary. Maybe a wait for a couple of weeks to analyse our options may be the most prudent thing to do before before splashing out so much cash on a thirty year old.

Edited January 8, 2005 by FourLaneBlue