[Archived] Dickov Leaves.

[Montfort]

Dickov decides against renewing Rovers contract.

Without Dickov's 10 goals in his first season we very well could have gone down. I wish him well wherever he ends up, hopefully he'll get a welcome return when he visits Ewood again.

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Spot on.

[thenodrog]

Good luck to the bloke,he did his best for us.

BUT.....the act of replacing Andy Cole with him though was the single worst managerial decision of the Souness tenure.

It still makes me boil today!

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I think that I must be the only person not to have missed Andy Cole. Sure the team was weakened but his constant scowling and sulking cannot have been good for team spirit. Talented without doubt but a real lazy bstard who always gave the impression that he put himself before anything else. He would as soon run wide for a ball as put his fingers in a plug socket.

Nowhere near as talented as Cole but Dickovs honest willingness to chase and harry for the team was like a breath of fresh air. If I was a player it wouldn't have been long before I'd have found an excuse to have picked a fight with Cole. I also cannot imagine Hughes and his team putting up with him for long.

[gumboots]

Can't imagine what Stuart Pearce saw in Dickov when he played at the end of the season. He was awful at Portsmouth, never up with play and looking thoroughly uninterested in getting the ball or doing anything with it when someone was inconsiderate enough to put it directly in his path. Almost all the Rovers fans were yelling at Hughes to get him off because anyone would have been more effective. Pretty much the same story in the other games he played too. I wasn't one of Dickov's critics before because, as a lot of people have said, he always seemed to put in the effort to make up for any lack of ability but at the end of the season he didn't even seem to be trying and I for one won't miss him.

[thenodrog]

Can't imagine what Stuart Pearce saw in Dickov when he played at the end of the season.  He was awful at Portsmouth, never up with play and looking thoroughly uninterested in getting the ball or doing anything with it when someone was inconsiderate enough to put it directly in his path.  Almost all the Rovers fans were yelling at Hughes to get him off because anyone would have been more effective.  Pretty much the same story in the other games he played too.  I wasn't one of Dickov's critics before because, as a lot of people have said, he always seemed to put in the effort to make up for any lack of ability but at the end of the season he didn't even seem to be trying and I for one won't miss him.

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Ever considered that it was already a 'done deal' gumboots?

[Napoleon]

Comparing Dickov to Cole is fairly pointless seeing as we paid millions for Andy and only £150,000 on the highly-charged Scot. Dickov has been excellent value for money and his attitude and work-rate have been second to none. Good luck to him wherever he ends up.

[roverich]

That's just all the more reason for comparing Dickov with Cole from one point of view... an 8mil striker we already had who was released for free (because Souness fell out with him like many others) to be replaced with a 150k striker.

[Radagast]

Dickov's Rovers career was the very defintion of 'value for money.' We got nothing too fancy, but good gonest hard work and some crucial goals (including a couple of real crackers) are more than enough for him leave Ewood with his chin up. I wouldn't have minded getting another season from him, but a two year deal seems a bit excessive if we are planning to keep moving upwards. A parting of the ways is the best for all concerned.

[Ninjathunder]

Good post Philly. I'd say more or less the same thing, and for those having a go at him in comparison to Cole, well these are the stats.

(03/04) Andy Cole - 11 goals in 34 games (0.32 gpg)

(04/05) Paul Dickov - 9 goals in 27 games (0.33 gpg)

And Cole was playing in a team with the likes of Duff and Dunn who created bag loads of chances and finished in the top 6 that season, Dickov was playing in a team with the lowest scoring record in the clubs history who created about 1 chance every other game.

Cheers Paul, top man.

Err.... in 03/04 we finished in the top 6 of what exactly? I certainly wasn't the league.

[92er]

Err.... in 03/04 we finished in the top 6 of what exactly? I certainly wasn't the league.

Yeah, I think he got the year wrong!

[RevidgeBlue]

Funny thing about Cole, when his buddy Yorke was on the pitch he looked lazy and disinterested.

When Yorke wasn't I thought Cole always worked his socks off.

Comparing goalscoring stats doesn't tell the whole story. Cole could take defenders away with his clever movement/mere presence.

[joey_big_nose]

Poubd for pound we got much more out of Dickov than Cole- especially if you consider that Paul's wages must of been a fraction of Andy's.

Souness made some great value signings: Dickov, Tugay, Niell, Freidal, Stead, Pedersen, Reid, even Thompson to an extent. But then there have been some clangers too...

[92er]

Funny thing about Cole, when his buddy Yorke was on the pitch he looked lazy and disinterested.

When Yorke wasn't I thought Cole always worked his socks off.

Comparing goalscoring stats doesn't tell the whole story. Cole could take defenders away with his clever movement/mere presence.

Agreed. 2003/4 was also the year when Andrew Cole made a lot of chances for Stead, especially.

[Blueboy Downunder]

regardless of wether or not andy cole was lazy or paul dickov didn't have 10 pence worth of talent...players play in a certain way more often than not because of the way they are being coached. when andy was here, we did not play to his strengths as rev has already explained what they are. as for dickov, well his strength is harrassing the defenders, so you can't really play to that.

It is the way they are coached.

[Eddie]

Also, another thing to consider when you compare their scoring records is the fact that Dickov took penalties for us. Now I'm not saying that makes a huge difference but it is worth taking into consideration. They were both good signings and we would be in the championship had either of the not come at the time that they did. The difference is that when we signed Cole I think we had one of the best strikers in the league, when we signed Dickov we had one of the hardest workers.

[waggy]

glad he has left,apart from savage he is the only rovers player i hate to see in the line up.his continous fouling,moaning and the typical midget chip on the shoulder syndrome.i say good ridance to a crap player.

[Presty On Tour]

the bottom line is that dickov is now history and we are looking at far better things.

as for if he was crap, worked hard or just plain useless... everybody has their own opinion but we don't need to worry about that anymore.

personally i'm glad he is gone, i don't think the bloke knew what the offside rule was the amount of times he was well offside and continued to moan at the linesman. his technique for control and shooting was rubbish, fairplay he worked hard and did manage to score some vital goals but i don't think people can compare him to andy cole well apart from the offside rule bit.

oh yeah and i still hold a grudge for dickov taking matty jansens number 10 shirt, well gutted about that especially as i have the shirt but he's gone now so hopefully one of our new summer signings will be in the elite catagory of players and do the number 10 shirt proud

[Flopsy]

his goal against Bolton was a classic though.

Dickov was a good player, who worked his socks of for the team and had a little skill that kept us up.

Waggy, if you had your way we'd have no characters in our squad and no one with any balls to get into the face of the opposition and disrupt them. You need irritating little ###### like Dickov and Savage to ensure you dont end up like arsenal, a simple push over when you come agaisnt a team willing to rough it up a bit

[stuwilky]

oh yeah and i still hold a grudge for dickov taking matty jansens number 10 shirt, well gutted about that especially as i have the shirt but he's gone now so hopefully one of our new summer signings will be in the elite catagory of players and do the number 10 shirt proud

FFS.

A reasonable premiership striker being given the shirt by the team manager over a faded star who couldnt control a ball?

A you hold a grudge?

Deary deary me.

[Flopsy]

yeah but hes only 12, he still holds a grudge against that Amanda Billingsworth who stole his crayons off him in primary school.

Jansen was finished the moment he hit that taxi - with him in the team instead of Dickov we would have been relegated. Or do you not think Hughes is a good enough manager to see wether a player has got it or not?

[American]

Also, another thing to consider when you compare their scoring records is the fact that Dickov took penalties for us. Now I'm not saying that makes a huge difference but it is worth taking into consideration. They were both good signings and we would be in the championship had either of the not come at the time that they did. The difference is that when we signed Cole I think we had one of the best strikers in the league, when we signed Dickov we had one of the hardest workers.

Dickov also won us penalties. Wasn't Cole's last season here the one we didn't get a penalty most of?

I think when we signed Cole we had one of the best, when he left, we didn't.

[LDRover]

Glad he's gone mainly because he fragmented the play with his constant fouling and appealing for free kicks. Also as has been said before he never linked with another striker, and for all those Pongo haters out there at least he made a good strike partner with Bellamy.

Yes he worked hard and yes he gave 100% effort but for a team striving towards year on year improvement his style of 'ale house football' was never going to be good enough.

What price are City to go down??

Edited May 23, 2006 by LDRover

[Presty On Tour]

FFS.

A reasonable premiership striker being given the shirt by the team manager over a faded star who couldnt control a ball?

A you hold a grudge?

Deary deary me.

yeah but hes only 12, he still holds a grudge against that Amanda Billingsworth who stole his crayons off him in primary school.

Jansen was finished the moment he hit that taxi - with him in the team instead of Dickov we would have been relegated. Or do you not think Hughes is a good enough manager to see wether a player has got it or not?

imo it was disrespectful that jansen lost his shirt number to dickov.

dickov in the whole of his career has never been as good as jansen "was" or maybe even is imo.

fairplay in the end it was time for jansen to be on his bike :ph34r: and hughes gave him his chance but everybody could see he wasn't the same player and i'll hold my hands up to that that hughes made the right desicion to let him leave ewood.

as for age, crayons and amanda my version of that is almost the same, a true story is i was in the first year of primary school, i drew all over a girl called amanda(different surname) on her face everywhere, put paint in her hair and stuck things to her with glue coz we thought it was funny. i had to sit on the naughty carpet for the rest of the afternoon, oh happy days

Edited May 23, 2006 by jansenpresty10@wales

[speeeeeeedie]

Disrespecting numbers? Fading stars? This should not be an issue. The starting 11 of a football team should be 1-11, Dickov was deemed as one of our top strikers so he got the shirt. Jansen crocked himself, I have some sympathy for him as accidents can be hard to recover from, but holding his number sacred is a tad daft. Kuqi wears Shearer's number, is that a slight on Shearer? Are we going to turn Yank and start retiring numbers?

[stuwilky]

imo it was disrespectful that jansen lost his shirt number to dickov.

Ignoring the sheer pettiness of your argument, surely that is Souness' choosing.

dickov in the whole of his career has never been as good as jansen "was" or maybe even is imo.

there are few as good as Jansen in his prime, but when Dickov was playing for us Jansen was nothing more than a pub player. What difference does it make what number they have?

Anyway I entirely agree with speeeeedie, 1-11

[thenodrog]

dickov in the whole of his career has never been as good as jansen "was" or maybe even is imo.

He definitely was over the last 4 years!