[Archived] Roberts Signs

[philipl]

Far from the non-Blackburn folks cheering up the Blackburn depressives, it seems that misery spreads and contaminates.... (I'll duck now)

I am Ok with Roberts' signing as it would appear we have done a decent deal given the way it is being reported. Whilst Whelan is thoroughly unhappy with Roberts, he certainly doesn't have animosity towards Rovers in general or cause for complaint about conduct in this deal.

I am not convinced by Roberts as being much more than a peripheral/squad player but as such in a club hopefully playing 60 matches next season, he will be invaluable.

Hope Roberts keeps his BBC website column going- he was a decent read.

My view of like-for-like replacements are:

Jansen replaced by Jeffers

Dickov replaced by Roberts

Bellamy replaced by ?

and we might get another ? up front as well

Gallagher might have a bit part to play next season but Stoke seem to be very interested in another loan spell.

[rover6]

Pace and power - just what we needed. Perhaps not the most prolific or skilful but Roberts can trouble the best of defences.

[RoverJoexx]

Welcome aboard Roberts! Well done Rovers! Two thumbs up from me.

Two signings in a day. The boards do work hard to get things done so stop slating them for not doing enough when there's no transfer news comin out from those press.

On my view, Roberts is vastly underrated. Watched him number of times last season. He's been causing problems against defenders even when operating as a lone striker.

I see him as a target man being strong and yet possess with decent pace. But I do fear that we could have miss out on Mido with him signed. I can't see Mido n Roberts with Kuqi as backup. All being too similar.

Time to look for a striker with pace but no Baros please.

[modes98]

Who decides that the fee remains undisclosed - the buying or selling club?

I think either club club can request it be kept quiet both have to agree though. But normally the buying club as it's their money being thrown about.

I noticed quite alot of chelsea's are undisclosed, but estimates are made by the media, this can't be an attempt to cover up their finances as everyone knows it's endless so the selling club must have influence over that.

[cn_barlow]

What we lose in Bellamy's pace I think RRoberts could make up for a bit in pace, but his muscle and height have got to be a plus when our only other option is Kuqi. I have great mental images of MGP crosses actually getting us somewhere this season. Now, just get a real speedster to play alongside him and I think our frontline will be in as equally healthy state as last term, only less reliant on one man.

I would go as far as to say that if hughes get one of his 'star' targets...which i am confident he will, we will have a far superior offense than we did last season.

I'd be very happy if we sign Mido...but i wouldn't be suprised if we got someone who we have not been linked with at all!

As for all you doom-mongerers....chill out! We are only 2 players away form being a much better team than last season.

Hughes still has the majority of his kitty to play with and i dont think we'll be disappointed!

[T4E]

Bellamy goes, and we get Jeffers and Roberts. I'm finding it hard to feel anything but negative about that.

Jeffers was horrendous for Rangers last year, an absolute abomination. I rate Roberts but replacement for Bellamy? I think not.

We need to splash some cash on a big big signing up front. I'm not even sure Mido would be the answer.

Disappointed tonight.

[BuckyRover]

You moaning gits.

You think because Hughes pulled off a transfer coup last summer, that we are now somehow owed a multi million pound signing.

With Bellamy we were punching above our weight and it was fun (some of his play was magical), but it was not representative of what we are about.

Spending millions on one so called "superstar" would not guarantee anything next season other than financial instability.

[Parasyte]

Roberts isnt half the goal scorer Bellamy is, but hes a fa rbigger team player in terms of goal involvement. Our midfield scoredmore than its fair share last year, most of it via MGP. With Reid being able to link further up due to Roberts strength, I'm guessing it wont be a replacement for Bellers, but will go a decent way to replacing him.

[rover6]

Any guesses at the fee? Besiktas lodged a £2 million bid, I think. I'd guess it'd be something like 2.5.

[Moppy]

I think Roberts is a good signing for us! He will do well, as people have already stated MGP's crosses will be an even bigger plus next season now. I also think Gally will be above Jeffers in the pecking order. Gally performed well last season and looked good to me when he came on for us at the end of the season. I think Jeffers has more to prove and thats reflected in the type of contract he signed. Been a positive day for us though. 1 good player in, 1 potentially good player in and for next to nothing.

[Walls]

Time to look for a striker with pace but no Baros please.

I beg to differ. It was mentioned on another thread that the strikers we have been linked with don't have the ability to change a game with a little bit of magic. I think Baros is capable of that. I can't remeber if the link was serious or not but I think a manager with a bit more about it him than O'Dreary (ie Hughes) would be able to get the best out of a player like Baros. As long as the fee is no more than £4m then I think he would be a good signing.

Just look at what Hughes got out of Bellamy. Far more than any other manager has in his career so far.

[krislu]

Bellamy goes, and we get Jeffers and Roberts. I'm finding it hard to feel anything but negative about that.

Jeffers was horrendous for Rangers last year, an absolute abomination. I rate Roberts but replacement for Bellamy? I think not.

We need to splash some cash on a big big signing up front. I'm not even sure Mido would be the answer.

Disappointed tonight.

Finally someone who feels the same way as myself about our new signings. The fact that roberts most likely will play most of our games is not a good thought to be honest..

[wandel77]

Every body has been screaming for signings, then we get 2 in one day. Then people are moaning about the players ability. Come on give them a chance, i would say that im looking forward to see Roberts in action for Rovers, Jeffers he is a free transfer and has every thing to prove and nothing to lose.

So please get behind our players instead of slagging them before they even have played a single minut for us.

[Blue blood]

Good signing imo. Assuming Dickov/Pongolle was our second striker Roberts is a vast improvement on that. The guy has experience and a nice mix of pace and power, although without the finess of Bellers. He's had a storming season with Wigan, and looked a handful on most of the occassions I've seen him.

IF we get in a top class 1st striker (which I think we will) then Roberts IS a step forward for rovers, even as a number 2 striker because he is better than Pongolle and Dickov. If we don't get a top class striker in and Roberts is Bellamy's replacement I would be disappointed, as although good he isn't brilliant like Bellamy. However I doubt very much that this is the case.

Personally I think we'll have a better front 2 overall come next season, although whether Jeffers can replace Dickov/Pongolle effectively as a 3rd striker is questionable imo. If we got rid of Kuqi and maybe one of youngsters and brought in 2 new top class strikers then I'd be very happy but I believe that is unrealistic and not going to happen. I'd much rather have Bentley up front as an option (his best position is in the hole)than Jeffers and get in a new right winger, but maybe Hughes has plans to mould Bentley into a right winger. Either way it'll be interesting to see - there's a lot more transfer activity to come from rovers this close season - and only then will we see our new players intended roles.

[RevidgeBlue]

You moaning gits.

You think because Hughes pulled off a transfer coup last summer, that we are now somehow owed a multi million pound signing.

With Bellamy we were punching above our weight and it was fun (some of his play was magical), but it was not representative of what we are about.

Spending millions on one so called "superstar" would not guarantee anything next season other than financial instability.

Sorry but that's absolute rubbish. The Bellamy deal was financed out of the proceeds of sale of Ferguson and Stead and I'm fairly hopeful a big name will be financed out of the Bellamy sale. It doesn't put the Club at financial risk at all. I'm sure Andy Neild hasn't just plucked a figure of 10m for our transfer budget out of thin air either. If you were saying there just aren't any top players available at this moment in time, that's a different issue.

For what it's worth I think Roberts is a great and I mean GREAT signing as second striker if we also sign a top quality player as the main man. If he's the main striker, well then it's not good enough.

There was a massive feelgood factor around the club at the end of last season as we got into Europe and looked forward to an injury free season for Bellamy. That has long since vanished into the ether and ideally we need a huge signing of the calibre of Mido or Van Nistlerooy to get the fan's juices flowing again.

I'd be really pleased with Mido and Roberts as first choice pairing. If we get anything at all out of Jeffers it's an absolute bonus but there's no real reason why the likes of Gallagher/Bentley and Derbyshire can't also raise their game next season.

[Cocker]

Jansen replaced by Jeffers

How dare you

No sorry, we dont need to get into that again :ph34r:

[RevidgeBlue]

Incidentallly saw on Sky yesterday that Besiktas had bid 1.25m for Jason Roberts from Wigan.

If we were bringing a couple of strikers in, he'd be an excellent cheaper option imo.

Hmmmm....... good to see Hughesey and the Rovers Board read this m/b.

Joking aside this forum has become a real mine of information. Rosie tipped us all off first about the sensational move for bellamy thanks to conversations overheard at a dinner party.

We've had the news first on developments with Reid and Mido recently from unleaded.

jim gives us tomorrow's news today when anything crops up.

And superstella tipped us off today that Roberts was at Ewood.

And for sheer comic value we've even got pleasure's contributions!

[Rovermatt]

We've done well to get Roberts, he was very good last season.

Jeffers on the other hand has been sh*te for years. There better be more signings on the way.

[Shevchenko]

Bellamy goes, and we get Jeffers and Roberts. I'm finding it hard to feel anything but negative about that.

Jeffers was horrendous for Rangers last year, an absolute abomination. I rate Roberts but replacement for Bellamy? I think not.

We need to splash some cash on a big big signing up front. I'm not even sure Mido would be the answer.

Disappointed tonight.

Well put and I feel exactly the same way.

I'm also with Krislu on being worried that these signings are infact our new strikers for the coming season.

The problem I have with people calling us for being "gloomy" and then saying how we "punched above our weight" by getting Bellamy and having a good season by getting into Europe is that when you say stuff like that you're not giving the club any credit. Is it so wrong to be ambitious for your club and the future after such a great season? I'm not saying we should automatically challange for the Champions League spots or something but at the very least you should expect us to defend the 6th place and get back into the UEFA cup. Doesn't fill you with confidence when you sell Bellamy and bring in Jeffers and Roberts.

I feel totally underwhelmed by todays news. After a disappointing world cup and the disappointment of selling Bellamy the fans need something to lift their spirits.

This isn't it.

[tchocky]

Come on kids, you are more miserable than all the old gits! Would you rather we signed one expensive big name and relied on him for the whole season? Has the phrase "strenght in depth" not crossed anyones mind? When does the transfer window close again?

[RoyRover]

I'm delighted with the signing of Jason Roberts, I thought that he was excellent last season and was a player I hoped we'd sign. I've admired him from his days at Bristol Rovers and would have liked us to have made a bid for him back then, but on reflection he probably wasn't ready for the Premiership at the time. He struggled with WBA, but at Wigan he showed that he was good enough for the league. He has great power and pace, is good in the air and can hold the ball up well and is far better option than Kuqi in the target man role. However, I would have liked him instead of Jeffers, with two other strikers to follow. Now I see Roberts being our starting striker with hopefully a better player to come in and partner him.

[RevidgeBlue]

Well put and I feel exactly the same way.

I'm also with Krislu on being worried that these signings are infact our new strikers for the coming season.

The problem I have with people calling us for being "gloomy" and then saying how we "punched above our weight" by getting Bellamy and having a good season by getting into Europe is that when you say stuff like that you're not giving the club any credit. Is it so wrong to be ambitious for your club and the future after such a great season? I'm not saying we should automatically challange for the Champions League spots or something but at the very least you should expect us to defend the 6th place and get back into the UEFA cup. Doesn't fill you with confidence when you sell Bellamy and bring in Jeffers and Roberts.

I feel totally underwhelmed by todays news. After a disappointing world cup and the disappointment of selling Bellamy the fans need something to lift their spirits.

This isn't it.

I would be inclined to agree if Roberts and Jeffers were the only 2 striker signings.

Logic surely dictates this won't be the case. We got 6m for Bellamy and assuming we paid about 3m for Roberts this should still leave us with 7m available to spend.

Don't forget also that since January apart from Bellamy we have also lost Gresko, Amoruso, Flitcroft (all huge wage earners) as well as Jansen, Dickov and Pongolle off the wage bill.

In theory if Mido came in on loan we should still have our 7m to spend. Although I'd rather we signed him permanently as if he's a huge success we'll lose him as well in 12 months as happened with Bellamy.

Of course we don't even know if he's interested in joining us.

[Baz]

Hmmmm....... good to see Hughesey and the Rovers Board read this m/b.

Joking aside this forum has become a real mine of information. Rosie tipped us all off first about the sensational move for bellamy thanks to conversations overheard at a dinner party.

We've had the news first on developments with Reid and Mido recently from unleaded.

jim gives us tomorrow's news today when anything crops up.

And superstella tipped us off today that Roberts was at Ewood.

If only we could filter out the other 298 pages of rubbish we'd be fine

Seriously though, I have big reservations about Jeffers. Albeit the club has done well to mention he is on a highly incentivised contract, I thought we maybe could have got him on a 12 month deal with the option of a further 2 years rather than 2 years to start.

Roberts though is a good signing imo. Watched him in both games against us and ont' telly and seems OK, pretty quick and a handfull (maybe the physical presence that MH, JW and Tom Finn had spoken about). Also, bit of a steal £'s wise as in last 12 months of contract and saying he wasnt signing another.

We just need to follow today up with another first-team striker - Mido, McCarthy or Baros would all be OK but not sensational.

Overall though what we need to do is to improve on the forwardline from last season. Bellamy was outstanding and we are unlikely to find a player to replace him, but what we can do is improve overall. Dickov, Kuqi and even FSP hardly feature when it comes to playing football or involving other players, but if Roberts, A.N.Other and Kuqi can score more, and help others score more (e.g. holding the ball up for midfield to get forward) then maybe we can improve on last season.

I know Kuqi scored 8 goals last season, but to be honest how many could a decent centre forward have scored with the service provided by Bellamy, MGP, Reid, Tugay and the rest? My guess would be at least double.

[LeChuck]

Bellamy goes, and we get Jeffers and Roberts. I'm finding it hard to feel anything but negative about that.

Jeffers was horrendous for Rangers last year, an absolute abomination. I rate Roberts but replacement for Bellamy? I think not.

We need to splash some cash on a big big signing up front. I'm not even sure Mido would be the answer.

Disappointed tonight.

If that is indeed how Hughes sees them in the squad then I'll be equally disappointed...however, my hope is that the replacements were as follows:

1) Bellamy = ...

2) Pongolle = Roberts

3) Dickov = Jeffers

4) Kuqi/Gallagher/Derbyshire

I think the Roberts signing guarantees one thing; we won't be signing Mido. There's no way Mido and Roberts could be a combination, they'd be treading on each other's toes and have similar attributes. I'm positive we'll be bringing in a quicker player to run the channels and play off Roberts...whom I doubt would have signed had he been told he'd be on the bench more often than not.

[RevidgeBlue]

I think the Roberts signing guarantees one thing; we won't be signing Mido. There's no way Mido and Roberts could be a combination, they'd be treading on each other's toes and have similar attributes. I'm positive we'll be bringing in a quicker player to run the channels and play off Roberts...whom I doubt would have signed had he been told he'd be on the bench more often than not.

I don't see them as that similar at all, Roberts game is all about pace and power whereas Mido is much more cute and crafty with his movement.

Although I'm probably getting far too hopeful of signing the latter without knowing if he's even in the least bit interested.