Savage Signs

[RoyRover]

The fight and commitment that our players are showing at the moment, in the midfield inparticular, makes me wonder if Savage is indeed needed and would the money not be best spent on a top striker? Just a thought.

[Radagast]

I would like to think Savage may have been tracking Dyer at his goal yesterday. Flitty's lunge that gave Robert the chance to score also show we need a better defensive midfielder that would allow Ferguson the chance to express himself better.

[John]

Flitcroft is on borrowed time- Hughes knows it and is actively seeking a replacement. You need more than what Garry has at the moment. He looks fitter recently but you need more if you want to do well in this league.

[kingalan]

I watched the Hearts v Celtic game yesterday and am now praying that we don't go for Hartson. He was shocking against a very poor Hearts team. The guy has got the touch of a one-legged baboon...

[Al]

You don't need any kind of scouting network to watch football week in week out.  Anyone who doesn't watch the games with a blindfold would be able to see that Savage & Hartson would be a better bet at the moment than Chaplow & Blake.  Hmm 2 first division players over 2 proven premiership.  All credibility gone there i'm afraid.

I believe that your opinion of what constitutes a proven premiership player leaves a lot to be desired. I am afraid it is your credibility that is in question not mine.

Hartson was never any good in the premiership it is only in the little boys league that he is scoring any goals. He is now even fatter and slower than he was before and Dickov, who he presumably is being bought to replace, is a better player than he is.

Savage is only good at winding up the opposition and Flitcroft is probably as good a defensive midfielder as he is.

The point I am making is why pay good money for players who are no better than we already have. You obviously want change and do not care wether it is an improvement or not. The alternative is that you are a very poor judge of a player.

Chaplow and Blake would not be my choice either but my point is that I would rather have them than the crud that you are advocating at least there is a chance that they may improve given a new challenge Hartson and Savage will only get worse as they age even more.

Edited December 27, 2004 by Al

[American]

I believe that your opinion of what constitutes a proven premiership player leaves a lot to be desired.

...

Savage is only good at winding up the opposition and Flitcroft is probably as good a defensive midfielder as he is.

Pot....Kettle.....

[Radagast]

Come on, Al...Savage's only quality is to ###### off his opponents? What tripe.

[Manchester Blue]

I believe that your opinion of what constitutes a proven premiership player leaves a lot to be desired. I am afraid it is your credibility that is in question not mine.

Hartson was never any good in the premiership it is only in the little boys league that he is scoring any goals. He is now even fatter and slower than he was before and Dickov, who he presumably is being bought to replace, is a better player than he is.

Savage is only good at winding up the opposition and Flitcroft is probably as good a defensive midfielder as he is.

Al instead of trying to convince yourself based on blind prejudice why don't you watch the players in question or even do a bit of research like I did. Now hartson wouldn't be my first choice and I still disagree with those who think he'll be fantastic. I don't think he controls the ball well enough but he does score goals.

24 in 59 for West Ham

19 in 46 for Wimbledon

6 in 12 for Coventry

all in the Premiership that by the way as well as 14 in 43 for Arsenal and the 60 in 78 for Celtic. We need goals and we need an aerial presence.

As for you Savage comments well they don't really deserve a response. It's like someone watching a few petulant moments of one of our players and ignoring all the moments of quality. Watch his delivery from a set piece, sure he'd struggle to get a go ahead of the hordes of quality dead ball merchants we have at present but you never know.

[stuwilky]

There is only one winner in this discussion, and Ill give you a clue.

It isn't Al.

[Al]

There can be no winner in this discussion. It is a fundemental difference of opinion and if you read this thread and the Hartson thread you will find that there is support for both sides.

There will however be a loser if this goes ahead and that will be Blackburn Rovers Football Club. Not in terms of the football on the field because these two are probably about the same quality as the ones we already have but in terms of cash because they are no better.

I also have a personal problem with the introduction of Hartson. It will probably result in the big lump forward, a tactic I hate, to the detriment of the only class player we have - Ferguson, who will be missed out with the ball flying over his head all the time.

I am passionate about Rovers and have been for years. Please let us get out of this mess by playing football and not by thuggery.

[Jimbo]

There's only one reason to bring in new players & that's to improve on what you currently have to strenghten your squad - frankly I can't see what improvement Hartson would offer - Savage on the other hand I'm not too sure about - I personally don't like his style of play, but he would offer an alternative to Flitty.

[adopted scouser]

Al, am I missing something ?

Stead's scoring boots have disappeared, Dickov scored after the Geordie defence left a gap the width of the M6, and Bothroyd ? don't get me started on him.

Hughes announces his intention to go for the highest scoring player in the Scottish Premier league, and in your opinion he isn't good enough for Blackburn Bloody Rovers ?

I think we all need a reality check. The 'gelling' of our little club continues steadily under Hughes.

Hartson and Savage please hurry up.

[Ossydave]

I'm in the against Hartson camp. He's looked absolute bobbins the past few times I've seen him play and has the touch of an epileptic rapist.

Dean Ashton on the other hand.......

[blue phil]

I also have a personal problem with the introduction of Hartson. It will probably result in the big lump forward, a tactic I hate, to the detriment of the only class player we have - Ferguson, who will be missed out with the ball flying over his head all the time.

It's absolute nonsense to suggest that we'll automatically become a long ball team simply because we buy a big centre forward . Hughes runs the team and there's nothing to suggest that he'll change everything just to accomodate what you believe to be Hartson's only way of playing. Do his current employers play the big lump forward all the time ?

Oh BTW - where did we acquire your great hero Ferguson from ? Was it from the little boys' league by any chance ?

[tonygreenbank]

All this talk of Savage is in my opinion conveniently masking the fact that I dont believe Ferguson will be with us come February and that Savage is his replacement. Fergie is showing his huge talent at the moment and it was no surprise that his best game was against Newcastle where Souey is eager to take him.

[blue phil]

I hope Al doesn't read that , Tony ! You could be right , though - hopefully we might get most of the money back . Another dubious Souness deal....

[Parasyte]

If we get offered the daft kind of money that we payed for Bazza, then I think we should seriously (and reluctantly) look hard at it. Imagine who we could buy with £7.5m, to cover two CM positions, and perhaps a striker. Dont get me wrong, would LOVE to see Bazza stay, but worse things than making our money back could happen.

If he goes for less, tho, the board will need to take a long hard look at themselves.

[Eddie]

We would be hard pushed to replace Bazza, it isn't easy buying premiership quality players nowadays. Getting that sort of money would be taking the massive risk that you would not only be able to replace him, but then find someone to play alongside, and then hope that two new players work with the team. He's the kind of player who could be the heart of the team for years, a great player, it would be daft to sell him unless the sum was ridiculous, and by that I mean 15-20+ million.

[Bobby G]

Nobody would ever pay 15 million for him.

But unfortunately I feel if we do get 7 million for him, then the club would accept it.

Id love for him to stay and for us to buy a couple of quality players to improve the team so he wouldnt even consider leaving.

[Fife Rover]

Having followed the discussion on the merits or otherwise of Hartson, may I just point out a few thoughts that occur to me as one of the older generation of Rovers supporters (1946 to present; unbroken except for National Service).

Rovers NEED a goalscorer. Hartson is a proven goalscorer. OK I accept that he is not and never will be a Footballer, but for those who can remember a certain Tommy Briggs playing for the Rovers as I certainly can, perhaps you will also remember that at the time Briggs was around, Rovers average home gate was about 35000 and about 30000 of those always referred to him as "the carthorse". Why? simply because he also was not a Footballer, but did he know where the net was!! 7 in one game against Middlesborough! and 30 to 40 goals almost every season that he played for us. Rovers use to get over 100 goals per season in those days. All that big Tommy needed was a ball played in to him from any angle or height (within reach of course) and he would at least force the keeper to save. Hartson is a similar kind of player and given the same service that Briggs got and that he presently gets from his team mates at Celtic he will score goals for us. Having said that, therin lies the rub; can Rovers present side provide that kind of service to any striker? Ask Andy Cole what he thinks about that one.

[Eddie]

Nobody would ever pay 15 million for him.

But unfortunately I feel if we do get 7 million for him, then the club would accept it.

Id love for him to stay and for us to buy a couple of quality players to improve the team so he wouldnt even consider leaving.

I didnt say I thought it would happen, I'm just saying, I wouldn't sell for less. I would be surprised if we let him go for 7 million, we aren't a selling club, he is our best player, why would we? We aren't in a financial situation where we have to sell, he seems happy here, likes the new manager, is playing well, the team is finally on the up. The very top teams aren't going to be coming in for him, the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea or Manchester United, and those are probably the only ones who could tempt him away, and who have enough money to convince the board that it is worth it.

He already said he was glad Souness was gone, and that he was happier with Hughes, so I don't think a move to Newcastle is on the cards. Other than that the only interested party is Rangers, I really don't see him moving back there. He's won everything he can in Scotland, if he left in the first place then it is obvious that he is tired of the same old things.

As for creating chances for our strikers, recently we have been, so any striker interested in joining us should expect to get some good chances.

[thenodrog]

Having said that, therin lies the rub; can Rovers present side provide that kind of service to any striker?

Just a thought Fife Rover but if Blackburn had had the foresight to create a local by-law requiring Duggy to compulsory 'service' every woman in the borough ) in return for a free match ticket or something of equal value for their husbands (only if the child was male of course) then surely we'd have bred a few that could do just that.

Bit like horses really. Any stallion that wins a few races ends up shggaing himself silly for the rest of his natural. I think Andy Kennedy's thought processes were along similar lines too but unfortunately he was crap.......... hmmm wonder if he ever had an Italian holiday???

[philipl]

Fife Rover makes some excellent points about Hartson. He has managed to placate my opposition to signing him but I still do not think it will happen.

Back to Savage- I hope we do get him and I suspect we will.

We will probably see that the regular success with which we obtained our transfer targets in Souness' time was as much due to the astute work by John Williams and Tom Finn as it was down to Souey and I expect they will be forming a formidable combo with Mark Hughes.

It will also be nice to notch another one against the Brum mob- they probably over paid for Dunn, got rooked for Tiny and Yorke and only Johnson was a false move in that we did not get a decent transfer fee for him (Souness was so keen to ship out a player he was convinced would never make it). Their behaviour in bidding for Dickov shows what a cheap bunch Brum are.

I maybe wrong (and another injury to a barcode midfielder might change the situation) but Souness seems to have far more need of defenders and a Shearer replacement than he does in central midfield- I don't think Ferguson is going to the North East. In fact, I struggle to see any club which realistically has the £5m necessary to make a convincing bid (not that we should sell at anything less than £9m+ in my opinion) actually having a need for Ferguson. At this stage, none of Boro, Everton, Liverpool, Man U, Villa, Spurs, Chelsea, Arsenal seem obvious destinations and would he go to Brum, Charlton, Pompey or Southampton even if they found the cash? Rangers can carry on whistling- they are still broke although £54m less broke than they were.

However, there might be a transfer merry go round starting and were Chelsea to take Gerrard for instance, I would be worried where Liverpool would look for his replacement.

As it is, I can see Ferguson/Savage rapidly becoming one of the best midfield pairings in the Prem and I am very excited by the prospect. Savage has a great all round game as well as a fantastic engine and is no mean dead kick exponent either. Even without any other additions, he could be the signing to turn our season into an upwards progression.

Savage is a vastly superior player and competitor to Flitcroft and it will crystalise the place pressure on Emerton, Thompson, Reid and Pedersen to secure the two remaining midfield positions which will be no bad thing.

Edited December 28, 2004 by philipl

[Al]

I hope Al doesn't read that , Tony ! You could be right , though - hopefully we might get most of the money back . Another dubious Souness deal....

Rovers - Ferguson = Relegation.

Rovers + Ferguson + Goalscorer with skill = Safety.

Straightforward theorums please take note and refer to in May.

[American]

Rovers + Ferguson + Savage to take the defensive pressure off of Ferguson and allow him to move forward = Safety