Savage Signs

[joey_big_nose]

Ferguson, despite not really setting the world alight yet, is our most talented player and what the team will be built around. To sell him and reshuffle the side is just asking for trouble no matter how much cash we get.

He was, at least on current evidence, not quite worth the money we paid and has been nowhere near as influencial as Tugay or Duff in their pomp but the fact remains that if we want to get back where we were three years ago we need to keep him.

With a good central midfield partner and better striking options he should be able to become the lynchpin we want. To sell and even get nine million would be not guarantee improvement. We would have to go out to the market again and then wait for the team to settle again.

Hughes will do everything he can to keep him.

[Eddie]

I'd say given his age, and the market at the time (the bubble hadn't quite burst yet) I'd say what we paid for him was about fair. He is turning into one hell of a player, and certainly will be a great asset to the club if he stays here for a few years. I'm also very excited by the prospect of a Ferguson/Savage combination. Not only would it provide defensive solidity but also offers great creativity and attacking threats.

[thenodrog]

If we can get £6m+ for him then sell him in next winter when Hughes has had time to line up a replacement. He is OK good not brilliant good and by next Jan will only have 18 months left on his contract before he can depart for sweet FA. That would cost us the transfer fee and 18 months wages (about 9m) which we simply cannot afford to do. Also he would prob spend the second half of his last season in fake injury mode.

The key for a small club like ours (but which we are constantly abysmal at doing) is simply to replace players with equal or better replacements before they leave. In the case of 'special talents' like Duff and Shearer this is well nigh impossible (although interestingly we could have bought almost 2 Robbens for Duffs money and a Henry and a half for Shearers) but for less 'special' players like Barry Ferg the task is much easier.

[The1mattjansen]

Why do we want to sell him at all?

How many times do we have to be taught not to sell our best players, as they never get replaced....Shearer, Duff etc etc

Ferguson has been excellent this season and he runs the team and does a lot of the donkey work.

[joey_big_nose]

If we can get £6m+ for him then sell him in next winter when Hughes has had time to line up a replacement. He is OK good not brilliant good and by next Jan will only have 18 months left on his contract before he can depart for sweet FA. That would cost us the transfer fee and 18 months wages (about 9m) which we simply cannot afford to do. Also he would prob spend the second half of his last season in fake injury mode.

The key for a small club like ours (but which we are constantly abysmal at doing) is simply to replace players with equal or better replacements before they leave. In the case of 'special talents' like Duff and Shearer this is well nigh impossible (although interestingly we could have bought almost 2 Robbens for Duffs money and a Henry and a half for Shearers) but for less 'special' players like Barry Ferg the task is much easier.

While I agree with you that Ferguson will never reach the dizzy heights of Gerrard, Duff, Shearer, Viera etc I still think you are selling him a bit short. He is a creator and a grafter and he has had little to work with in terms of movement or coherance upfront.

I think he has it well within him to be as good as players like Hargreaves, Jenas, Gravesen, Parker even Makelele given the chance.

The acid test will be after the window when he has (hopefully) a quality partner and a proficent striker to play with Dickov.

ps. The one thing that does annoy me about him is that sometimes he dosnt seem to want to stamp his authority on a game like he quite plainly could. I dont mean he shirks the ball or anything just he goes about his business in a very low key way.

[Al]

Why do we want to sell him at all?

How many times do we have to be taught not to sell our best players, as they never get replaced....Shearer, Duff etc etc

Ferguson has been excellent this season and he runs the team and does a lot of the donkey work.

Absolutely right.

We may actually already have a midfield partner for him with a fully fit Thompson or maybe even Reid who appears to me to have most of the qualities to play central midfield.

What we need most of all is a goalscoring striker with the brains to anticipate Ferguson's passes, much like the understanding we had when we had Duff, Jansen and Dunn operating together.

If we still have money left then yes it would be nice to have a new midfielder, preferably left footed (or two footed) if MPG is not going to be good enough.

Defence seems to have settled down and with Mokoena and Spector to come we appear to be covered there.

Let's spend what bit of money we have where we need it most.

[broadsword]

Souness is after Fergie and a fee of 5 mill is mentioned in the Mail.

[cn_barlow]

one thing learned from souness' time in charge was that he can be made to pay oer the odds for a player (Grabbi anyone!?)...and i'm sure he would do it quite happily for fergie.If he really wants fergie then theres no reason why we couldn't hold out for ten mil...not that i think we should sell him, but the club couldn't and wouldn't refuse an offer in that region!

[AlanK]

Reading between the lines, it appears people want Ferguson sold not because of how good he is or isn`t but because how much he cost us

Open your eyes. I said to my wife yesterday that if he was at one of the big 3 clubs he would look outstanding and its only our mediocre players that he has to compensate for that are holding him back.

Yeah, lets sell our best player because he cost money!

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Souness to bid 5 million for a players he bought for 7.5 million less than 12 months ago!?..........this fella is taking the p1ss.

I hope we keep Ferguson but a bid of 7 mill or above may force our hand

[Eddie]

I don't get why you all think we have to sell?!?

[Ricky]

5 million and Butt might tempt me, otherwise not a chance

[mhead]

Recent Thenodrug post as "eugenics" post for 2004.Just gone back to the records and Ciccio's middle name is andretti!

In all the Barry threads the key thing not mentioned is the Board's reluctance NOT to snatch off the hand bearing a few millions.Not sure they can be trusted whilst attendances and general Rovers interest has drooped.

[USABlue]

Open your eyes. I said to my wife yesterday that if he was at one of the big 3 clubs he would look outstanding and its only our mediocre players that he has to compensate for that are holding him back.

Must agree with that, I said before it looks like Ferguson is too good for our team. Our forwards need to read Fergie better also. At the better teams he would be afforded just that little bit more time, we need to find a partner that can help protect him a bit so he can create.

He's going to get better yet he's really only had a half a season to play and as I had heard one ex player comment yesterday, after a long layoff it takes 10-15 games to really regain your full fitness.

I thought some of his passes against Newcastle were very good. For me Souness would have to match or better what we paid for him for us to even consider him.

As far as Ferguson at Newcastle I think he would be a huge success, Butt to help him and Bellamy to run onto his passes, could be scary.

Edited December 29, 2004 by USABlue

[SouthAussieRover]

It would be a folly to sell Ferguson to one of our relegation rivals.

[broadsword]

5 million and Butt might tempt me, otherwise not a chance

Why?!

He's had it mate, time for the knacker's yard no less.

[rover6]

5 million and Butt might tempt me, otherwise not a chance

Why?!

He's had it mate, time for the knacker's yard no less.

His 'performance' against Spain lends a lot of weight to that argument.

[blue phil]

Open your eyes. I said to my wife yesterday that if he was at one of the big 3 clubs he would look outstanding

I doubt he would look outstanding sitting on the bench.....! None of the big three wwould buy him on his record so far at Ewood; very few of the others have the money to match the £7m we spent , and probably the least we would demand at present. As Theno said earlier there will come a time when we have to sell , or watch one of our few saleable assets walk for next to nothing - I still am of the opinion that if Souness offers 7m we should take it and let Hughes use it . It's always a risk losing a good player mid season but that's were good management comes to play

Another alternative is to buy and play Savage alongside Ferguson . Maybe this would release the latter a lot and he could concentrate on providing more (or even more according to Al !) of his famous through balls for Hartson and co (!) to latch on to ....

The main question is ; how much money is available and do we need to generate funds? Most people are working on the assumption that we have a fair sized pot available . Maybe we haven't.

[philipl]

The PFA are quoting Savage as saying that as soon as Rovers come up with more money, he'll be gone. On the basis that the PFA are the players' Union, I think it can be safely expected that they check their stories with their members before publishing them.

[Blueboy Downunder]

at the moment there is no need to make wholesale changes to the playing staff. maybe a few blokes leaving and one or two coming in is all we need. main reason is because the players are proving to themselves and all of their doubters that they do have the ability to play good football. maybe what we need is players that will compliment what we already have.

[John]

Ferguson has been playing well- couple of games this season where he went missing but he is a quality player. He is a playmaker who if he had the luxury of a quicker forward we would see his true worth.

I agree with other people who think he will get better- he is a winner and we must hold onto keeping him. The logic of 'cashing' in makes no sense if we want to progress as a club on the football side of it. I have no doubt Hughes sees Ferguson as someone to build our team around. The addition of Savage though would ease the burden on Fergie- I reckon we would struggle if Ferguson was to get injured for a long period of time. Basically all our play goes through him and the team always seem to look up for him when in possession.

On Savage- you dont come out with his comments today unless you want to go. Birmingham may accept that he is unsettled. With Beattie's money coming in I reckon we will put another bid in unless we have a viable alternative who Hughes thinks can be as influential as Savage.

[thenodrog]

5 million and Butt might tempt me, otherwise not a chance

No way! Butt is virtually finished and would simply earn too much on some half arsed reputation that he was ever any good.

But we could try offering 300K for Bellamy!

[broadsword]

Perhaps we are being harsh on Ricky.

Maybe he was thinking of Jennifer Lopez.

[MCMC1875]

Recent Thenodrug post as "eugenics" post for 2004.Just gone back to the records and Ciccio's middle name is andretti!

In all the Barry threads the key thing not mentioned is the Board's reluctance NOT to snatch off the hand bearing a few millions.Not sure they can be trusted whilst attendances and general Rovers interest has drooped.

This is classic chicken & egg.

If the board keep selling, no surprise that ticket sales fall!

[thenodrog]

more chicken and egg......... if the board dont keep selling there can be no buying. Simple as that. I think few will argue that we desperately need fresh faces in certain positions and that Hughes deserves a chance to bring his own players in.

I dont particularly want to see one of our stronger players go but look at it from a different perspective..... lots of teams are above us, on merit and without Barry Ferguson.

Forget what we paid for him (to keep Rangers heads above water) imo in todays market he is a no more than a 3 million pound man.