[Archived] Duff Completes Switch

[Flopsy]

[LeftWinger]

It's coming to something when you can't discuss David Dunn and Damien Duff on the same thread!

What next - not being allowed to mention more than one player in a thread?

[Flopsy]

Yup, Im sorry to try and steer a thread that was veering off into Jal's little love/hate thing going on with Dunny.

But tough.

Here's a question, what can Duff offer Rovers to make us a better team?

[AggyBlue]

Here's a question, what can Duff offer Rovers to make us a better team?

Yes, he could help Bentley perfect his diving technique

In reality, he wouldn't offer enough.

[joey_big_nose]

Here's a question, what can Duff offer Rovers to make us a better team?

Alot - width, the ability to beat a man, good crossing ability, a goal threat from the left. All depending on whether the coaching/physio staff feel they can get him back to his best. It is hard from our positions in front of our computer screens to make that judgement.

Incidentally as a side topic - how many careers have been destroyed at St James' park? There are quite a lot of good players who have gone in there decent and come out pretty terrible. This is just a taster list I am sure:

Dyer

Bramble

Parker

Smith

That French defender guy...

Emre

Luque

Bellamy

What is it they do to the players? Beat them with night sticks upon ariival? Chain them in cells? Put morphine in their squash? Such a waste of talent.

If I was an up and coming player I would look at that place and think "hmmm... maybe not such a good idea to rock up there and lose all credibility as well as my fitness"

Imagine if they had bought Rooney instead of united as they were threatening to do. England would be screwed....

Seems a couple have caught on by electing to go the (only) slightly smaller circus at White Hart Lane.

Edited May 20, 2008 by joey_big_nose

[The Harwood Yankee]

Incidentally as a side topic - how many careers have been destroyed at St James' park?

Not to mention the managers they've gone through. Souness hasnt worked since. Allardyce isnt exactly hot property. Roeder at Norwich, hardly a massive gig. Bobby Robson, a supposed Newcastle legend, had the end of his managerial career soured by their bad handling of his departure. 12 months from now and the fairytale will probably be over for Keegan.

St James Park is career suicide. They go through more managers than Leeds Utd & Leicester combined, and screw up peoples' careers in the process.

[LeChuck]

Incidentally as a side topic - how many careers have been destroyed at St James' park? There are quite a lot of good players who have gone in there decent and come out pretty terrible. This is just a taster list I am sure

...

Bellamy

That's a bit unfair, if he'd have come out of St. James' terrible then he wouldn't have been so fantastic for us. Wasn't he successful at Celtic too? I think Liverpool will have to be blamed for Bellamy's demise.

[leftfooter]

Alot - width, the ability to beat a man, good crossing ability, a goal threat from the left. All depending on whether the coaching/physio staff feel they can get him back to his best. It is hard from our positions in front of our computer screens to make that judgement.

Incidentally as a side topic - how many careers have been destroyed at St James' park? There are quite a lot of good players who have gone in there decent and come out pretty terrible. This is just a taster list I am sure:

Dyer

Bramble

Parker

Smith

That French defender guy...

Emre

Luque

Bellamy

What is it they do to the players? Beat them with night sticks upon ariival? Chain them in cells? Put morphine in their squash? Such a waste of talent.

If I was an up and coming player I would look at that place and think "hmmm... maybe not such a good idea to rock up there and lose all credibility as well as my fitness"

Imagine if they had bought Rooney instead of united as they were threatening to do. England would be screwed....

Seems a couple have caught on by electing to go the (only) slightly smaller circus at White Hart Lane.

Who was the guy Marcelino they paid fortunes for and didn't play.

Dare I say Bramble; he was OK at Ipswich...

[Eddie]

That's a bit unfair, if he'd have come out of St. James' terrible then he wouldn't have been so fantastic for us. Wasn't he successful at Celtic too? I think Liverpool will have to be blamed for Bellamy's demise.

I think Bellamy has to be blamed for Bellamy's demise.

[joey_big_nose]

That's a bit unfair, if he'd have come out of St. James' terrible then he wouldn't have been so fantastic for us. Wasn't he successful at Celtic too? I think Liverpool will have to be blamed for Bellamy's demise.

Well thats sort of my point. He is a very good player who was frozen out by Newcastle. Once he was out of there he was back on track for a while.

On that list up there I would say, given the right coaching and support, all of those players are still very good (with the possible exception of Dyer). It just requires stability and a bit of managerial talent to get the best out of them. Bellamy got that with Hughes and then threw it away at Liverpool and West Ham. Bramble is getting that to an extent at Birmingham City. I have no doubt Parker would be back in the England squad but for making a stupid decision to transfer to another highly unstable club in West Ham.

I think people and some clubs have an idea of a players either being intrinsically "promising", "good", "bad" or "past it". Life doesn't really work like that - in reality how the club uses and manages the players is as important as the "quality" of the player involved. The enviroment is as important as the players "form" - how settled and focussed they are, how secure they feel in the team, loads of stuff. There is a fantastic trade to be made in rehabilitating these players.

Alongside that players are often labled "crocks". But that has as much to do with the manager and the training regeime and motivation levels as much as the players own physical state. Hughes has shown the ability to get in "crocks" and massively improve the number of games they play each season.

Incidentally if Parker is on the way out of West Ham (not sure if he is) I would say we should have a look at that. Pretty much precisely the type of player we need. Wages etc. are probably a stumbling block.

Players play best (and mangers manage best) when they feel 1) confident, secure 2) Relaxed 3) Focussed 4) Aware of what is expected of them and how to achieve these targets. Blackburn Rovers are an excellent provider of those four things. Spurs, West Ham and Newcastle United are extraordinarily poor at it.

This is why I am confident about our future. The most important thing about us is our stability and careful planning.

Edited May 21, 2008 by joey_big_nose

[gumboots]

Well thats sort of my point. He is a very good player who was frozen out by Newcastle. Once he was out of there he was back on track for a while.

On that list up there I would say, given the right coaching and support, all of those players are still very good (with the possible exception of Dyer). It just requires stability and a bit of managerial talent to get the best out of them. Bellamy got that with Hughes. Bramble is getting that to an extent at Birmingham City. I have no doubt Parker would be back in the England squad but for making a stupid decision to transfer to another highly unstable club in West Ham.

I think people and some clubs have an idea of a players either being "promising", "good", "bad" or "past it". Life doesn't really work like that - in reality how the club uses and manages the players is as important as the "quality" of the player involved. The enviroment is as important as the players "form" - how settled and focussed they are, how secure they feel in the team, loads of stuff. There is a fantastic trade to be made in rehabilitating these players.

Alongside that players are often labled "crocks". But that has as much to do with the manager and the training regeime and motivation levels as much as the players own physical state. Hughes has shown the ability to get in "crocks" and massively improve the number of games they play each season.

Incidentally if Parker is on the way out of West Ham (not sure if he is) I would say we should have a look at that. Pretty much precisely the type of player we need. Wages etc. are probably a stumbling block.

If he were on his way out of West Ham it would presumably be because they couldn't pay his wages nad not that many other teams would be prepared to match them so he's probably going to have to take a cut wherever he goes.

[philipl]

Players play best (and mangers manage best) when they feel 1) confident, secure 2) Relaxed 3) Focussed 4) Aware of what is expected of them and how to achieve these targets. Blackburn Rovers are an excellent provider of those four things. Spurs, West Ham and Newcastle United are extraordinarily poor at it.

Very good point and something to be extremely wary of if Rovers change ownership.

[thenodrog]

Thanks for the advice Theno, however I think Dunn already has a thread, so if people would like to discuss the merits of his low centre of gravity then they can do so on there. Not on a thread about Duff.

Who on the last few seasons' showings offers no more than MGP does at the moment

Eh? Is that a question? If so the answer's probably Peter or Gallagher. ....... Or have they a thread each somewhere that I should be answering on?

[Flopsy]

damn these sticking punctuation keys.

Still, why do you care when you should be crying over those poor souls in Burma or China?

Edited May 22, 2008 by Flopsy

[thenodrog]

Still, why do you care when you should be crying over those poor souls in Burma or China?

Your flippancy does you no credit.

[bluebruce]

Your flippancy does you no credit.

I concur.

[Uddersfelt Blue]

Players play best (and mangers manage best) when they feel 1) confident, secure 2) Relaxed 3) Focussed 4) Aware of what is expected of them and how to achieve these targets. Blackburn Rovers are an excellent provider of those four things. Spurs, West Ham and Newcastle United are extraordinarily poor at it.

Good point

That culture has to apply at all levels within the Club, not just to players and managers. Has to come down from Board level. There will always be those who are not prepared to be part of that culture and they are best out of it.

This applies to any organisation and to life generally

[mode_m]

Alot - width, the ability to beat a man, good crossing ability, a goal threat from the left. All depending on whether the coaching/physio staff feel they can get him back to his best. It is hard from our positions in front of our computer screens to make that judgement.

Incidentally as a side topic - how many careers have been destroyed at St James' park? There are quite a lot of good players who have gone in there decent and come out pretty terrible. This is just a taster list I am sure:

Dyer

Bramble

Parker

Smith

That French defender guy...

Emre

Luque

Bellamy

What is it they do to the players? Beat them with night sticks upon ariival? Chain them in cells? Put morphine in their squash? Such a waste of talent.

If I was an up and coming player I would look at that place and think "hmmm... maybe not such a good idea to rock up there and lose all credibility as well as my fitness"

Imagine if they had bought Rooney instead of united as they were threatening to do. England would be screwed....

Seems a couple have caught on by electing to go the (only) slightly smaller circus at White Hart Lane.

hahaha nice list, you might be able to add Owen's name there soon.

[philipl]

LT- Rovers not considering Duff

[leftfooter]

LT- Rovers not considering Duff

Can't find any links, but I do remember Duff saying something to the tune of "...This will be my last club..." or "...I hope I end my career at Newcastle...".

This was remarkably prescient.

I'm still a fan of Duff, as I believe he could adapt his game given the right environment.

Nevertheless, a couple of Links from:

1. The Irish Independent (contemporary) show how much his stock as fallen.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/duf...ds-1373794.html

2. And some English mangling website shows the hubris of both Duff and Newcastle at the time of the nuptials

http://soccerlens.com/why-tottenham-and-li...lseas-duff/344/

chelseas-duff/344/

Reading the above, it's hard to see how Newcastle will offload any of their languishing high paid loafers!

[Rovers Air Force]

I would not mind this rather pontless (because duff will never return to the rovers) thread; but I am currently playing football manager and can't seem to get the press or newcastle to understand I don't want Duff in my squad at blackburn! even tried telling them I'd never heard of him but...

It is really getting on my tits having to read and dismiss 20 different reports of my so called interest every time I have a play!

[leftfooter]

Shift out Bentley for 10M; bring in Duff on a free.

[Alan75]

Just a rumour.

Duff regards Rovers as his club and is keen on finishing his playing career at Rovers.

Rovers may also be prepared to make a bid, but it would not be at the expence of losing Warnock.

[Bobby G]

Rumor based on ...? I mean have you been told by someone from the club, or it is just your feeling, or...?

Edited July 30, 2008 by Bobby G

[Alan75]

Lets just say I didnt hear it from my cousins butchers brother