[Archived] More Foot To Mouth

[Bing]

£6m for a player with such limited technical ability as Reid would be a no-brainer.

[Eddie]

My only concern would be if it aint broke, don't fix it. For a player with such limited technical ability he played a major role in a side that finished 6th and only four points behind fourth spot. It is never good idea to sell your best players, even if you are getting a good price.

Edited June 4, 2006 by Eddie

[vindaloobob]

He doesn't like the town, who can blame him? - Nobody

He doesn't like the town so he criticises it in the media, who can blame him? - We can

the interview was actually in TNT - a free magazine aimed at antipodean travellers - and so the focus of it was partly on how an australian found playing and living in the uk. if you have ever read TNT you will understand that its predominant theme is how much of a sh*thole the UK is compared to Aus (which I have always thought is a bit ironic), so it's hardly surprising to find an interviewer pick up on someone playing for a team from somewhere that's not considered to be a particularly nice part of the country. The interviewer asked "isn't Blackburn a bit of a sh*thole?" and Neill laughed at the question and then said "well, yes". it's not as if neill rang up the Sun and gave them a story of how he hates sh*thole blackurn.

re the world cup thing - probably poorly advised quote, but everyone who plays at the world cup has it in their minds that if they play well on a global stage then people will notice. same with all those players from rubbish leagues in europe who will only turn on the magic in televised european competition as they know it will get them noticed more than playing well week in week out will.

can't really fault lucas for being honest but he probably should know when it's best to just avoid saying anything.

[roversmum]

I have no intention of worrying. Trust in our leader.

[broadsword]

£6m for a player with such limited technical ability as Reid would be a no-brainer.

Bloody hell. Has Reid still not signed a new contract?

I say bloody hell more for the fact that someone could command such a fee. I mean, anyone. It's so ingrained in people's thoughts that players go for millions that they don't stop to think.

Reid is a player I like , but he's not Maradona. For someone to bid 6 mill for him is grotesque, think how much good could be done with that money .... but football is obviously more important.

[den]

Deleted Wakefielddrawks last post because of bad language.

den.

[92er]

I wonder if MU would be interested in Reid. They have a problem in centre midfield with the loss of Keane and the current absence of Scholes. When they got Keane, he was considered to be the outstanding player in that position and many clubs wanted him. Well, at least we did. Is Reid comparable? I don't think so. He has certainly improved this season, but he still has a number of weaknesses. Now if MU do indeed want to sign him, in my opinion that signifies a decline in their club, by not going for the best possible players. Ferguson has made a number of mistakes in his transfers . This would be another one.

[joey_big_nose]

If Neill stayed I'd suggest we'd struggle far more to replace, and without, Reid than Nelsen. Not that I want to lose the Kiwi or that he isn't a key player or anything.

Well Reid is a good player but I think with Savage in the side we would be able to replicate the form of last season provided we spent the money wisely. Indeed Savage and Reid have a similar game. We could even improve ourselves if Hughes found a bargain.

The reason Nelsen is indispensible is because he holds the whole back line together and is genuinely good enough, in my opinion, to play for any side on the planet nearly. I don't think we would be able to replcae him because he is that good. Reid is not (yet?) in that category. While Neill looks like a decent option to come in at the back I have no shadow of a doubt that we would be a lot poorer than we are with Nelsen. He is a leader and an absolutely first rate defender.

All that said I fully agree that we have to do our best to hold on to Reid along with the rest of our key players- Neill, Pedersen, Bellamy, Nelsen, Savage (to an extent) and Freidal.

[pksrover]

He is making comments on how well he is playing at central defence with Australia compared to how he plays there with Rovers

He got tounge tied FFS

He should have said "I think playing in the style that the manager Guus Hiddink adopts means I can play a versatile role like central defender and also it opens up options for me to play out to available players. We play a different style for Rovers which doesn't suit me as well in the middle. No offence to Blackburn, but in central defence, I am better playing like Australia do."

Hence his reason for not playing as well for Rovers in that position as he currently is playing with Australia.

I agree..

One of my best mates is a sports writer for Fox Sports and used to work radio on a station that Lucas used to be a regular guest for weekly on phone and when he visited Australia in the studio.

My mate is a mad Liverpool supporter and on one of these occasions OFF AIR and just the two of them talking asked Lucas when is he coming to Liverpool. Lucas said something along the lines to him then that he loves playing for Rovers and that he couldn't ever see himself leaving unless it was to finish his career back in Australia.

I wish this would be true

[neekoy]

Not exactly foot to mouth of the same proportions but a lad I know in London was speaking to David Bentley at a club last night.

Said he was happy at Rovers and hoping to be here for a season or two before hopefully moving on to one of the big four or a big foreign club.

Might need more than one good game in five for that to happen.

That was misquoted, he meant big four Scottish teams, and the big foreign club was this one

[FourLaneBlue]

can't really fault lucas for being honest but he probably should know when it's best to just avoid saying anything.

There are ways to do that without putting Blackburn down, he just needs to be a bit cleverer in how he phrases his answers. If he leaves then as long as we get a decent price for him then fair enough. Neill is probably feeling it is a bit stale at Ewood after five or so years and would like to see new horizons. Can't really blame him for that.

[gumboots]

Why should he find it stale here when most of the players are saying this is the most exciting time to be a Rover? I know he's been here a while but things aren't necessarily that exciting elsewhere and unless everything goes pear shaped this season then he might as well sign his contract, stay another year and then if it doesn't work out go at the end of next season. I suspect agent power in some of these rumours - if you don't move on or negotiate a bumper deal agents don't earn as much so they push for moves that the player might consider but wouldn't necessarily seek of their own accord.

[Presty On Tour]

if a player or players want to leave there really isn't much we can do, there is no point keeping a player here against their will as their performances will drop and it will be bad for morale.

i don't think neil/reid want to leave, after last seasons success and everyone went on about the spirit at rovers, this all seems a bit bizzare.

to build on last season, we need these players to stay and to be commited if not, get the best price we can for them and bring in some new faces who want to.

[Blueboy Downunder]

for all of those rovers fans down here, watch getaway this week as lucas is giving a guided tour of ewood park to an australian tv program.

[FourLaneBlue]

Why should he find it stale here when most of the players are saying this is the most exciting time to be a Rover?

Because he has worked at the same place for five years. It happens.

[gumboots]

It does if you work with the same people, management etc but rovers is a completely different set up from when he joined and when someone like Dickov is saying he learnt more in his 2 years working with Mark Hughes and co than at any other time in his career you do have to think Rovers is a good place to be just now.

[laughatthedingles]

Rumour has it Lucas is trying to engineer a move to the toon!

[thenodrog]

I blame Jim! It's all his fault for giving Lucas a piece of his mind from 15 rows back at Villa Park two years ago! God only knows how he has stuck it out at Ewood this long.

'savaged by a dead sheep' anyone?

[colin]

Can we just go back to LA Rovers original quote?

Lucas on playing central defence for Australia in the LET today...

"I'm surrounded by fantastic players - no disrespect to Blackburn - so I've got five or six options every time I play the ball.

What the flerk, does that mean? Why was it even necessary to make that little aside in that comment? Did that help his explanation along?

Now can anyone extrapolate that into the witch hunt that has followed? He wants to go to The Barcodes/ he wants to to Spuds????

Then Stephen Reid and David Bentley appear as traitors.

Cheeses, some of you lot should have been alive when Alive Nutter & Co were carted off to Lancaster & hanged. You would have been wonderful.

Although I've heard it on good authority that Lucas keeps a number of wombats in a shed behind his house. He plans to release them to exterminate the indiginous badger & otter population.

Cripes!

[jim mk2]

Because he has worked at the same place for five years. It happens.

Ronnie Clayton and Bryan Douglas gave the club more than 30 years' combined service and they never got stale or gave less than 100 per cent. That used to happen.

You're being far too kind to another money-grabbing over-rated overpaid modern football shyster.

Stick him in the reserves and sell him when he demands a transfer. Then replace him with someone with similar ability such as the Great Harwood right back, whoever he is.

[gumboots]

And where exactly does Lucas Neill ask for a transfer? I haven't seen anything quoted that says he wants to leave Ewood. I've seen a lot of media speculation and one or two possibly ill-judged comments (which may or may not be correctly quoted) Plenty of rumour but no fact other than that he hasn't actually signed a new contract yet. Leave him alone until we see what's actually going on.

[thenodrog]

Ronnie Clayton and Bryan Douglas gave the club more than 30 years' combined service and they never got stale or gave less than 100 per cent. That used to happen.

You're being far too kind to another money-grabbing over-rated overpaid modern football shyster.

Stick him in the reserves and sell him when he demands a transfer. Then replace him with someone with similar ability such as the Great Harwood right back, whoever he is.

Ronnie and Duggie were from round here, Neil is from 12000 miles away in Oz, owes no loyalty to any club and is approaching his last big contract deal, no wonder he wants to capitalise on it. Do you think that he would be more 'loyal' at any other club other than the highest bidder?

btw 'stick him in the reserves'?!!!! It's close season Jim ffs!

Have a nice cup of tea and a hob nob before nursey comes to put the lights out there's a good chap.

[colin]

Neil is from 12000 miles away in Oz, owes no loyalty to any club and is approaching his last big contract deal, no wonder he wants to capitalise on it. Do you think that he would be more 'loyal' at any other club other than the highest bidder?

btw 'stick him in the reserves'?!!!! It's close season Jim ffs!

From which bit of this thread do you (or anyone else) take it that Lucas Neill wants a transfer?

I really need an answer.

[thenodrog]

My opinion was aired around mid season that Neill would be away this summer. My source though not tangible in a physical sense is from the same bit of common sense and intuition that told me we'd never see Alan Shearer in blue and white halves again after the Wimbledon game.

Tell me do you never learn from your experiences in life Colin?

Edited June 5, 2006 by thenodrog

[RevidgeBlue]

From which bit of this thread do you (or anyone else) take it that Lucas Neill wants a transfer?

I really need an answer.

Colin, stop being deliberately obstreporous. If that's how it's spelt.

Neill is obviously trying to engineer a move away from the Club by refusing to consider a contract offer from the club prior to the World Cup.

That's entirely his right and prerogative and in a totally commercial sense you can't blame him.

But it's silly to pretend it isn't happening.

Personally I don't rate him that highly and I hope we get as much money as we can for him.

Losing those eleven or twelve yellows and two reds per season won't do any harm to our fair play rating either!