[Archived] How Do You Think Rovers Did In The Transfer Market Forum

[Ricky]

Which side of defence does Scaloni play on??

I had a feeling he played right back but if he plays left back he could be worth a shout. As he has been released he is not affected by the transfer window.

[Tango]

He's a right-back, but he's useless.

[frosty]

He's a right-back, but he's useless.

Is he the one that was on loan at West Ham last season?

[G Somerset Rover]

Yes he was frosty-he was pretty pants. So we should have around £8 million come January then?-Given our supposed original budget+our profit from the summer. I know alot will be dependant on our position then, but if we don't spend some of our summer budget in Jan then I think we can officially concur that we're skint.

Edited September 1, 2006 by Somerset Rover!

[Exiled_Rover]

It's a tough one to judge right now. I'd suspect Hughes didn't have any transfer targets to pull the trigger on, so to speak, in midfield - our biggest weakness. I feel we're going to struggle creatively this year - Tugay is getting on, Bentley is still developing, the central two can't pick a pass and Pedersen/Gamst is invisible most games.

Having said that, barring injuries; Nonda, McCarthy, Roberts, and Ooijer will all significantly improve our strike force and defence.

Once Nelsen is back we should see a dramatic improvement in the central pairing at the back - not that Zura isn't class, but I feel Nelsen and Ooijer are a cut above.

In the new trio upfront (quartet if you include Jeffers I suppose, but anything we get from him is a bonus), we're much better off than we were last season where we were essentially a one man team in this department.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Should have strengthened midfield.

[Philly Rover ®]

Amen, SG194.

Have to say I'm a bit disappointed by the window as a whole. I think Sparky made some good signings, but by failing to bring in even a single midfielder, I think we left ourselves woefully short of creativity in that area of the pitch. It doesn't matter how good our strikers are if there's no one to get them the ball in dangerous places.

Quite frankly I'm very surprised. I really thought Sparky had a midfield signing up his sleeve.

I'm a bit anxious about how things will proceed now. Tottenham and West Ham are starting to look a cut above, and it will be increasingly tough to finish ahead of the likes of Newcastle, Everton, and Villa.

[OscarRaven]

Big names have come to the premier league before and flopped and reletive unknowns have set the place on fire.

Its not down to how big your names are, its what you do with them that counts!!!

Time will tell. MH has not let us down so far and judging by his transfers the dark days of one up front and five at the back are not upon us yet.

[krislu]

IN:

McCarthy

Robberts

Jeffers

Nonda (loan)

Ooijer

Brown

OUT:

Bellamy

Douglas

Kuqi

Dickov

Basically we have just sold and bought a good couple of strikers, while adding Ooijer in defense. Obviously Bellamy was a player of much higher quality than McCarthy and Robberts, so to be honest I don't really know if we have strengthen our starting XI.

I think we may have some money left now that Kuqi also has gone, and credit to Hughes for not splashing them on players he ain't sure of. Perhaps we'll get lucky in Januray and spend some of that money we all like to think we have...

[vyeo]

'divided' would be my choice of adjective, if i can only use one word to describe how i feel about our transfer activities.

happy with mccarthy and nonda, and re-signing reid, mgp and emo, but definitely upset that we havent strengthened centre midfield and left back, and left midfield as well, going on mgp's first 3 performances. however, we havent seen tugay play since the final game of last season; sparky and co sees him everyday in training. yes, he's another year older, but look at what gary mcallister did for liverpool at 38. so i feel that its probably fair to say that the management are sure that tugay will be up to a full season of football, and dont need reinforcements there.

however, and this may be controversial, i am rather upset we didnt sell neill when we could. he clearly wants to leave, and this situation to me, while nowhere near as drastic, is extremely similar to ashley cole's case. while we may have kept him here for another season, what about his commitment? will he be less 'brave' and pull out of 50/50s? will he give his absolute all and more for the cause? these are all question marks. yes he's been a loyal servant for many years, but i'm of the opinion that it is better to let an unhappy worker leave.

another point of contention, and one which we will never know the truth to, is the board's support of sparky. while the official rhetoric as put forth by john williams a few days ago states that the funds are there should sparky need them, it is interesting to note that we actually turned a profit. what happened to the kitty we had before selling bellamy? what happened to the money for bell's potential partner? vis-a-vis other top 10 clubs, we certainly seem to have stagnated and not strengthened as much, though we were in a good position to. i have ALWAYS been of the opinion that we have a top class chairman in williams, but in light of the activities of the past months, i find myself askingm could it be that someone had a word with sparky to be excessively prudent? clearly, what sparky has had to spend is not even a fraction of what souness got. i can only hope that it's sparky's choice not to spend the money, and not other 'structural' factors affecting our lack of spending.

hopefully too, there'll be money to spend in january, and i'm willing to stick my neck out and say we'll not be in the top half by then, and we will strengthen where we need to with quality. i believe kuqi was a prime candidate for sale too, and i'm kinda sad to see him go, mainly because you can't help but like him (saved us and won us matches a fair few times, limited skills but full of endeavour, and doesnt pretend that he's anything more than that) but the offer was certainly too good to refuse. good luck shefki, and thank you peter taylor.

finally, everything is done and dusted for now. 1 week for shabani to gel with his new teammates, and 1 week for the rest to pull their socks up. and 1 more week before the season starts for us. come'on rovers!

[RoyRover]

I think that we started off badley by selling Bellamy, especially for only £6 million, which is far too low an amount and one that should never have been written into the contract. As good a player that he is, we should have been signing McCarthy to partner Craig, not to be our number one striker. I was happy when we signed Roberts, because I thought that he would give us a physical presence up top, but with more class and more of an eye for goal. I don't think that he shown up too well so far though, which is a shame. Adding the likes of Ooijer, Jeffers and Nonda has increased the size of the squad, but we needed other players who would increase the quality of the squad as well.

This is where I've been left disappointed, I don't think that the team has moved on at all from last season, if anything you could say that we have gone backwards, because we have lost our main creative player and goal scorer in Bellamy. Other teams like Portsmouth were able to bring in players like Campbell, Kranjcar and Mendes, while West Ham got Tevez and Mascherano and now they have far better options than we do. I really think we've missed a chance to push the team on and it's not because of the players that we have bought, because I actually think that they are good signings, but it's the players that we didn't go for, namely a left back and creative midfielder, which has left me disappointed with our dealings this summer.

Edited September 1, 2006 by RoyRover

[Bobby G]

RoyRover, Im sure that figure of Bellamys was insisted by his agent. Look at it this way, he either came with that clause and that figure or we wouldnt have had him and we certainly wouldnt have finished 6th. All in all, we finished 6th with him and made circa 1 million profit (after deduction of wages).

[Drakefyre]

I don't think that a left back is a pressing concern. We have Gray and Neill, plus Taylor, Matteo, and McEvely as backups.

I also think that a lot of people are underestimating Nonda (which is understandable, considering the underwhelming debuts of McCarthy and Roberts), but I would expect him to start alongside Benni and score quite a few goals. From unleaded's video, it doesn't look like his goals are the prettiest, but he can put the ball in the net when it counts.

[vindaloobob]

I mean a couple of names come to find at great prices, ie. Sorin for 2.2 million pounds, Marlbranque at 2.5 million pounds. I find it hard to believe that Sorin isnt better than Gray, and Steed would not strengthen the right hand side of midfield significantly. Questions over the latters temperament cannot be really viable considering the question marks over Jeffers ability to re-produce and Nondas ability to return to form and fitness.

it's easy to throw around the cost of players as being the only issue - malbranque left fulham in pursuit of ridiculous wages, which probably put hughes off. all very well getting a decent player at £2.5 million but then having to pay however many thousand a week to stop him from sulking?

whilst i think that maybe we could do with some strengthening in the midfield i do think that on the whole it's not been a bad transfer window - offloading kuqi for £2.5 million is excellent business, and hopefully nonda will hit his old form. the thing that strikes me most about hughes' transfer dealings is that he has tried to bring in people who want to play for him, which i think has in turn led to better team spirit and our success last season. we've had people in charge before who threw money around like there was no tomorrow bringing in overpriced mercenaries, paying over the odds because blackburn isn't a fashionable club, and everyone whinged about that. now we have someone who wont do the same, and people are still whinging.

[G Somerset Rover]

I'm a bit anxious about how things will proceed now. Tottenham and West Ham are starting to look a cut above, and it will be increasingly tough to finish ahead of the likes of Portsmouth, Newcastle, Everton, and Villa.

I think you've hit that nail on the head Philly. As much as I hate Spurs, how can we compete with the amount of money that they've spent? And I know these argies will take time to settle at WH-but they're a cut above anything we have, and the rest of their teams not bad either. As you say it's gona be one hell of a battle to finish above teams such as Newcastle, West Ham, Spurs, Villa and to a lesser extent everton who have all thrown around millions like players are going out of fashion. The next month is so important-wina few and we'll compete with these teams, lose a couple more and we'll no doubt be battling with the rest of the league, ie anywhere from Bolton to Sheffield Utd.

Edited September 1, 2006 by Somerset Rover!

[vindaloobob]

we have lost our main creative player and goal scorer in Bellamy.

how many games was he out for last season, out of interest?

[rover6]

Well we didn't do as badly as Boro. They blew £6 million on Huth, signed Woodgate who'll get injured and Euell who isn't up to much. Arca's a good signing as long as he's fit and not played left back.

Edited September 1, 2006 by rover6

[Tango]

Tottenham's starting XI

Robinson

Chimbonda - Dawson - King - Ekotto

Lennon - Malbranque - Zokora - Tainio

Berbatov - Keane

And West Ham's

Green

Pantsil - Ferdinand - Gabbidon - Konchesky

Benayoun - Mascherano - Reo-Coker - Etherington

Tevez - Ashton

And Pompey's

James

Pamarot - Campbell - Primus - Stefanovic

O'Neill - Kranjcar - Mendes - Davis - Taylor

Cole

Look very strong to me, with a lot of useful subs to add to that list.

Don't think our starting XI is a million miles behind that lot, but we could do with some quality strength in depth, particularly in midfield.

Edited September 1, 2006 by Tango

[Exiled_Rover]

Except Ashton's out for months, and anyone attempting to play Cole upfront on his own doesn't deserve a job in football.

[USABlue]

Amen, SG194.

Have to say I'm a bit disappointed by the window as a whole.

Heh Heh, window as a hole, you crack me up Philly.

As for the midfield, there are a few ifs that are going to decide that. If toogs can perform with any kind of reularity, if Bentley continues to improve, if Gally continues to impress, if MGP can actually become involved more. We get any 3 out of those four then I think we are in good shape in Midfield, if not could be difficult.

Bentley look a lot more keenfrom what I have seen, he clearly is one of our most skillful players and whips in some great crosses, if this continues should be good. Gally laid a couple of Tugayesque though balls on against Chelsea, more of that we are in good shape.

Edited September 1, 2006 by USABlue

[rover6]

Except Ashton's out for months, and anyone attempting to play Cole upfront on his own doesn't deserve a job in football.

Cole will be claiming 'victimisation' within seconds if that happens...

[Exiled_Rover]

Heh Heh, window as a hole, you crack me up Philly.

As for the midfield, there are a few ifs that are going to decide that. If toogs can perform with any kind of reularity, if Bentley continues to improve, if Gally continues to impress, if MGP can actually become involved more. We get any 3 out of those four then I think we are in good shape in Midfield, if not could be difficult.

Bentley look a lot more keenfrom what I have seen, he clearly is one of our most skillful players and whips in some great crosses, if this continues should be good. Gally laid a couple of Tugayesque though balls on against Chelsea, more of that we are in good shape.

Say, what?! Not quite sure when that happened, must have been when I left to get a pie.

[USABlue]

Say, what?! Not quite sure when that happened, must have been when I left to get a pie.

No, he played a couple of good through balls, one may not have quite come off. Was I dreaming??/

[Tango]

Except Ashton's out for months, and anyone attempting to play Cole upfront on his own doesn't deserve a job in football.

That was me trying to fit in as many of Harry's midfield signings as I could!

[CAPT KAYOS]

And West Ham's

Green

Pantsil - Ferdinand - Gabbidon - Konchesky

Benayoun - Mascherano - Reo-Coker - Etherington

Tevez - Ashton

Green will not become No1 - he is not good enough