Ferguson Hands in Transfer Request

[Manchester Blue]

while some people are calling Fergy outstanding and others average, the overal opinion is:

He's not a hard tackler

he's not a goal scorer

he does not create many chances

he's not a great passer

he cant't take free kicks well

but

he is neat and tidy

he is a good leader

he can infleuence games

That may be your overall opinion but it's not the one the overall one of this board. Can't pass or create chances. Get on to the ticket office and ask them to get you a seat facing the pitch.

[Radagast]

2. I guess the main problem with point 1 - he can't pass!

Now that's just silly.

[Kiwiwannabe]

2. I guess the main problem with point 1 - he can't pass!

Now that's just silly.

I am not the only one to have said that.

[Radagast]

Doesn't make it any less silly.

[Claytons Left Boot]

while some people are calling Fergy outstanding and others average,  the overal opinion is:

He's not a hard tackler

he's not a goal scorer

he does not create many chances

he's not a great passer

he cant't take free kicks well

but

he is neat and tidy

he is a good leader

he can infleuence games

That may be your overall opinion but it's not the one the overall one of this board. Can't pass or create chances. Get on to the ticket office and ask them to get you a seat facing the pitch.

These weren't Chris' observations - they were a summary of what other posters' views were.

[philipl]

BBC Radio Scotland saying Rangers have made a bid of £3m for Ferguson and quote David Murray as saying they will not be increasing their offer.

also says that Blackburn still owe Rangers £2.5m from the original deal.

The noises coming out of Glasgow this morning seem to be pretty consistent.

Rangers have either offered £3m or £3.5m. They do NOT seem to have included forgiveness of the £2.1m Rovers have still got left to pay. So they are offering Rovers a straight £3m loss on the player over 18 months.

Rangers seem to believe Rovers' valuation is £5m but they are swithering even over offering that because, as the defeat against Celtic showed, they need to get in a central defender. I wonder if Amo will be played into the equation as the next best thing if they cannot get Ferguson.

My guess is that nobody at Rovers has even mentioned a value on Ferguson- he is not for sale plain and simple.

At the moment I would say it is looking more than unlikely that Ferguson will be going back to Rangers.

The likes of Moyes and Souness must have looked at the Rangers offer and decided that it is so lacking in seriousness that there is no danger of Ferguson going and so are not rushing in with counter offers.

Checking the newswires, I see the same story verbatim has appeared at least half a dozen different Scottish news sites - obviously they are short of journos who can write original copy north of the border. It is the one which headlines Rangers will up their bid and quotes both Williams and Bain saying a bid was made and rejected and that Ferguson is not for sale and concludes with Viola saying everything is up in the air.

Edited January 13, 2005 by philipl

[American]

But most of us are criticising Savage...

Are we? I hadn't picked up on that, mind you I stopped reading the Savage thread a while back.

You hadn't missed owt Paul. Most people who want Savage to sign don't care about the stuff behind, those who don't are criticising. To suggest most are against Savage is stretching the truth somewhat.

Disagree. There are a bunch of us who do want Savage, but don't like the way he's been handling this whole situation.

[philipl]

BBC Radio Scotland- Murray says Rangers will not increase their offer for Ferguson.

Well hopefully, that is the end of that and John Viola comes out of this as everybody's villain.

[Paul]

John Viola - what a Pansy

[philipl]

I am still genuinely shocked that Rangers actually had the nerve to offer just £500,000 in cash for the Scottish Captain!

I wonder if that was a backwards riposte from Rangers to John Viola? The fact that Martin Bain more or less repeated John Williams' words could be a give away.

I suppose if Barry submits a transfer request, this thing might run on but Rangers are hardly welcoming him with open arms by offering £500,000 in cash. Barry probably feels deeply snubbed by that £500,000 offer.

The good aspect about the Rangers "deal" imploding so quickly is that this hasn't triggered anybody else to step in with a bid and Rovers have successfully shown steely resolve. It has also signalled to anyone else who fancies buying Ferguson not to even think of offering less than £5m.

The bad aspect is that Viola is probably now furiously hawking Ferguson like a Glaswegian market stall holder with a dodgy load of tomatoes having now opened the doubt about Barry's commitment to Rovers.

[speeeeeeedie]

There is more coming out on this. I reckon he's off. We'll make £1.5 million on the deal which when you add on Beattie's £1 million gives us another midfielder.

Soccernet's Ferguson contribution

He was homesick when he came, did he ever get over it?

[blue/white]

philipl-

He's not committed, of that there is no doubt. True committment would be remaining quiet until campiagn's end. Leaving now or intimating that desire reflects that he doesn't care what Rovers' final position is. That's poor leadership from a captain. (to me, perhaps i'm off)

It iritates me that he would initiate this destabilization after the team has scratched and clawed itself out of the bottom !

[philipl]

There is more coming out on this. I reckon he's off. We'll make £1.5 million on the deal which when you add on Beattie's £1 million gives us another midfielder.

Soccernet's Ferguson contribution

He was homesick when he came, did he ever get over it?

That's the same story which has been repeated verbatim several times over since it first appeared 24 hours ago.

Ferguson himself has not said anything in public.

Update in this LET report- Ferguson says he is happy at Blackburn but would move if Rangers bid for him. However, the LET got the value of the offer wrong and the suggestion that a second bid would be made wrong as well based on David Murray's BBC interview.

Rangers have very publicly stated that John Viola initiated the whole thing. I know its not ideal but it gives Barry a lifeline back to the club, the players and Mark Hughes. He can argue its his wife, Savage argues its his parents- what comes around, goes around...

Edited January 13, 2005 by philipl

[Alan75]

John Viola - what a Pansy

Viola sounds like a Fiddle.

Must have more strings to his bow.

[speeeeeeedie]

This stinks of agents making more money at the expense of players. Footballers have everything done for them, therefore do not have to think. Once they are around someone who they think they can trust they will listen to everything they say. This is the case here with Viola; Go home, they want you etc. Meanwhile he makes another £x thousand for practically nothing.

If he wants to go then let him, I just hope we get decent money for him. But homesickness? He can stay in England for 3 more years, it's not a long time. The Scottish league isn't a hotbed of football, it could be that he wants to return to being the best in a bad league.

[thenodrog]

Yep, I'd have to pretty much agree with all of what LeChuck said ... thanks Graeme for screwing up the proceeds from the Duff sale ...

He didn't waste it he used it to placate the Rangers bank manger!

Anyway Fergy can go if its up to me (cos he is simply an average midfielder who is neat and tidy but doesn't pose much threat in attack and often gets stranded and on the wrong side of the opposition in midfield) but only for a fee similar to the amount we gave for him and only in summer. But we choose when to sell him not others.

Dunno why people on here rate him all that highly cos I've never heard any media / press commentators rave about him even once! Please tell me if you have, but for someone of supposedly high profile......viewed as similar in prestige to Gerrard / Vierra / Savage / Carrick / Keane / Lampard / Graveson / Okocha / Hendry / Parker (he do us as a replacement btw) / Cole etc etc he is virtually anonymous in nearly all match reports......... cept when he cracked his knee of course.

Edited January 13, 2005 by thenodrog

[broadsword]

If he wants to go then let him,

If the guy himself had teh nerve to actually go public with a denial or a confirmation, we'd actually have a much better idea.

If the porn-peddlers in Birmingham thought our offer for Savage was derisory, what would they make of the deep-fried Mars Bar merchants offer?

[bellamy11]

Getting worried now.

I don't see why the club should be held to ransom with Ferguson who must be very proud of captaining a Premiership club.

If we could get £7m for him then I'd take it and use it to finance Savage and a Barry replacement. However, talks of him returning for £5m seem, to quote Brum, 'derisory'.

[laughatthedingles]

while some people are calling Fergy outstanding and others average, the overal opinion is:

He's not a hard tackler

he's not a goal scorer

he does not create many chances

he's not a great passer

he cant't take free kicks well

but

he is neat and tidy

he is a good leader

he can infleuence games

I have to agree with Chris on this one, there is no doubt Fergy is a good player however as Chris states he is not excellent at anything really just decent at most things, surely we'd be better with two players excellent at their own jobs, i.e. Faye or Savage (defensively) and a good attacking midfielder.

[Ricky]

I think now would be a good time to put a cheeky bid in for Faye.

[modes98]

There is more coming out on this. I reckon he's off. We'll make £1.5 million on the deal which when you add on Beattie's £1 million gives us another midfielder.

Soccernet's Ferguson contribution

He was homesick when he came, did he ever get over it?

We make £1.5million? not if they don't up there offer of £500k cash + £2.5mil we owe them.

He wasn't homesick when he came only sick of his home (in glasgow). He then couldn't settle in because his house was late being built but since then he's been fine. Until these recent revelations that suddenly his family have decided to go back to sectarian violence in glasgow.

[S15]

He then couldn't settle in because his house was late being built but since then he's been fine.

Not true.

Father fitted his house with carpets and BF wouldn't in until everything was complete.

House was more than built, actually think its Hakan Unsal's old house he lives in.

He's just soft.

[USRoverME]

I think I rate Barry a lot higher than others on here, and I'd hate to see him leave. One stat is his favor I'd point to is our possession. I seem to recall we do very well in that regard (except compared to the chelski, manure, arse clubs). Do you think that Nissa or Flitty or Tugay is responsible for that??? So he's not ggod because he can't possess the ball and score? obviously the best players don't need 10 others around them.

I think all these comments of, "let him go cause he doesn't want to be here" are just from sheer frustration. Anything directly attributed to Barry has said nothing about his so-called desire to leave, in fact his quotes (from before this all started I admit) make it appear that he wants to stay to me. I agree it'd be nice for him to say it again that he wants to stay, but really, his agent is probably telling him he doesn't have to at this point!(can you tell I hate agents!)

The only person saying he wants to leave is his agent. Obviously the agent wants him to leave, if he plays for Blackburn from now till the end of his career, the agent makes pennies on the new contract(s)... if Barry switches clubs 5 times, the agent makes cash hand over fist each time on the transfers.

Barry to Stay!

[RovertheHill]

From what I can gather reading the various reports, Barry has said that he's happy here but would welcome a return to Rangers. An often used phrase in the job market is "never go back unless the things that led you to leave have changed" Don't know Rangers inside out but it doesn't look to have changed much? I like Barry, I think he's quality, but unfortunately if true, this shows a remarkable lack of professional ambition to me and we'd be better off with somebody who wanted to be here. David Dunn anyone

[herbergeehh]

From what I can gather reading the various reports, Barry has said that he's happy here but would welcome a return to Rangers.  An often used phrase in the job market is "never go back unless the things that led you to leave have changed"  Don't know Rangers inside out but it doesn't look to have changed much?  I like Barry, I think he's quality, but unfortunately if true, this shows a remarkable lack of professional ambition to me and we'd be better off with somebody who wanted to be here.  David Dunn anyone 

Erm.. Arteta out is a change right? Who has come in?

EDIT: Dunnie would be great, but we need players who stay fit over 50% of the season. Besides, are you sure Mrs. Brady and Mr. Sullivan wants to give us both their CM's?

Edited January 13, 2005 by herbergeehh