[Archived] Poxy Motd Bias

[philipl]

Do you think anyone on MOTD will remark on how United have bought the title this season ?

£50m added to an already expensively put together squad sounds more like buying the title than Rovers ever did.

No but there will be howls about Chelsea having bought it if Wigan do their stuff on Sunday.

[Eddie]

Don't think so.

Big teams spend a lot. Fact

The reason why Chelsea were labelled as having bought the title is because they essentially bought a new team within two to three years, that is fairly unusually, even in the merry-go-round that is modern day football, but now that Chelsea have had their side together for a couple of seasons it isn't quite the same.

We did the same thing.

Now, that doesn't take away from the achievement. Putting together a title winning side is difficult regardless of whether that group of players comes through your youth system (United in the late 90's), are put together over a more "normal" period of time (Arsenal before or even United now) or are put together quickly (Ourselves and Chelsea). Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle and Spurs, to name but a few, are all proof that money alone won't bring league success. Teams will always have to accept that if they put together a new squad quickly and for a lot of money that it doesn't look as "good" as if you build that side gradually. That may be unfair, but it's true.

Part of why many of us are enjoying the team we are building now is because we are doing it by adding a piece or two every now and then, not by simply splashing the cash and seeing what happens (like City have). We can't be bitter about this forever.

Edited May 7, 2008 by Eddie

[Darth Paul]

I am in rant mode here about Eddie saying our side was put together quickly. I am sure he isnt being anti-Rovers at all but it just frustrates me:

Why do some people seem to think that our Title win was thrown together overnight at maximum cost? It is bad enough when ill-informed journalists and ignorant fans of other clubs do it but when of our own does it I am just baffled. I dont think our side was put together quickly at all. Exactly how long should a team be together before it is entitled to win something?

What constitutes "not buying" a title? Obviously people will point to the United side with all the youngsters that went onto success after we won it but just see how many examples you will find of that in the modern game.

Take a look at some of the players we had in the side the year we won the league and you can now see, especially after how the game has developed just what a good job Kenny did, and how it was nothing like the Fantasy Football Cash Splash that many would have liked it to have been to justify their jealousy.

I will try to be objective and detail not just the cases that prove my point, but here goes: (Try to think who these players were when we bought them, not what they became by achieveing success with the club).

Tim Flowers - signed the previous season, record fee for a keeper.

Henning Berg - signed 2 seasons earlier...complete unknown, fee of 0.5 million off the top of my head.

Graeme Le Saux - signed 2 seasons earlier...Chelsea (then a mid table club) reject.

Colin Hendry - purchased during promotion season 3 years earlier.

Tony Gale - ageing free transfer in Championship season.

Ian Pearce - unproven youngster, small fee.

Mark Atkins - been with the club since the eighties - transfer fee? About an average to decent players weekly wage these days.

Tim Sherwood - signed during promotion season and couldnt get a kick in the lower league but went onto be title winning captain.

David Batty - signed the year before, hefty fee but hardly played in title winning year at all due to injury.

Jason Wilcox - youth team player.

Stuart Ripley - singed 2 seasons earlier for a seven figure fee.

Alan Shearer - British record transfer fee 2 seasons earlier

Chris Sutton - British record transfer fee signed the season we won it.

Now the last two players stick out a mile for anyone who wants to say we "bought" the title, but look at the descriptions of nearly all the rest and it hardly constitutes an assembled at any cost, Harlem Globetrotter (or Chelsea) style team to conquer the world, does it.

Of course there were other players such as Warhurst, Kenna etc but the above examples give you an idea of what I mean. Berg, Le Saux, Hendry, Gale, Pearce, Atkins, Sherwood and Wilcox had all either cost little or nowt, or had at least seen life at the Club in a lower division prior to us winning the one above it. All of these players played a massive part in Rovers becoming the best team in England.

People like to think we splashed the cash but when you look at it that way, it really was an impressive effort to do what we did, in the way we did it. Yes we had Shearer, but other clubs have spent big and done less in the Premiership than we have, even excluding 94-95. Newcastle, Spurs, West Ham, Everton, Aston Villa etc are all great examples of that.

There are enough people out there who love to take things away from Rovers, we don't need our own fans knocking our achievements as well.

Edited May 7, 2008 by Darth Paul

[Head Rover Heels]

There are enough people out there who love to take things away from Rovers, we don't need our own fans knocking our achievements as well.

I am so glad someone has gone to the effort of posting that lot - Thanks Darth.

I have a never ending arguement with a bunch of Scouse mates who constantly berate me for us "buying the title". Yes, we had cash, but the way that it is being mutated into some kind of jolly shopping jaunt, where we bought an entire team that guaranteed us a shot is going to be the death of me.

Add to that Chelsea fans trying to compare what they've done with what we did... honestly, sometimes i question my own memory.

[RibbleValleyRover]

Everyone has spent big to win the title, even Man United who invested large amounts of money on developing their homegrown golden generation. I don't buy into this buying the title "outright" rubbish, the clubs who won the premier league spent the money wisely and reaped the rewards. Look at Spurs for example spent hundreads of millions over 2-3 seasons and all they have to show for it is a league cup.

Great post Darth Paul

[92er]

I think a lot of people will appreciate your post Darth Paul-Mark Atkins cost £40,000 as far as I remember.

[allrovertheworld]

Good on Ya Darth.

Also just to point out (not that folk on here need it pointing out) Walkers money bought more than good players it dragged our club into a comfortable position with a fantastic stadium and top end training ground. I read David Battys autobiograpy and he said train sessions were 'dog sh*t for goal posts' before the facilities got sorted.

[philipl]

What a surprise, not even an honourable mention in the team of the season.

[ace]

What a surprise, not even an honourable mention in the team of the season.

Are you really surprised Phillip? Afterall the BBC and Match of the Day don't even think that Blackburn Rovers are in the Premier league..they even "forget" to show our shirt in the opening sequence!!

[philipl]

I was being ironic.

[den]

Not one player from a team outside the top four?

Not surprising really, bet he's not been down to Ewood for years.

[philipl]

There was a real hoot when Score did its season's end lists.

Ray Stubbs chose Kenwynne Jones as his buy of the season and Gavin Peacock pointed out that his choice for flop of the season- Darren Bent- had scored more goals than Kenwynne Jones had.

Of course no Rover mentioned there either.

[FourLaneBlue]

Not one player from a team outside the top four?

One...he has David James in. As for the rest...what you would expect from Crooks? Has he ever said anything at all about football worth listening to? Yet he is employed as an expert summariser...As Crooks once said "Football's football: If that weren't the case it wouldn't be the game that it is."

Ray Stubbs chose Kenwynne Jones as his buy of the season

Hmmm....so Roque cost about half as much and scored more than three times as many goals yet Jones is the buy of the season?

Edited May 13, 2008 by FourLaneBlue

[colin]

Just to add a bit more to Darth Paul's post....

This little list has been sat on my comuter for a few years. It's always good to get it out and give it an airing every now and then:

The fifteen players who played the most league appearances in that season

(in brackets) are listed below, along with their transfer fees.

Alan Shearer (42) £3.3m from Southampton in 1992

Henning Berg (40) £0.4m from Lillestrom in 1993

Chris Sutton (40) £5.0m from Norwich in 1994

Graeme Le Saux (39) £0.65 from chelsea in 1993

Tim Flowers (39) £2.0m from Southampton 1993

Colin Hendry (38) £0.03mfrom Dundee in 1987

Tim Sherwood (38) £0.5m from Norwich in 1992

Stuart Ripley (36) £1.2m from Middlebrough in 1992

Mark Atkins (30) £0.04mfrom Scunthorpe in 1988

Jason Wilcox (27) £0 from the youth team

Ian Pearce (22) £0.3m from chelsea in 1993

Paul Warhurst (20) £2.7m from Sheffield Wednesday in 1993

Tony Gale (15) £0 from West Ham in 1994

Robbie Slater (12) £0.3m from Lens in 1994

Jeff Kenna (9) £1.45mfrom Southampton in 1995

That's a total of £17.87m over roughly three years.