[Archived] Nickos Thread

[joey_big_nose]

I fear it will see us drift further off the pace, with one or two cheap arrivals and no major changes unless we lose one of our current 'stars'. We're relying on other teams to slip up and go backwards in my opinion.

Well we won't be able to compete with the likes of Villa, Spurs, Portsmouth, Newcastle etc in the transfer market. What we need is Hughes to pull a few more out of the bag.

TO be fair we do have a very good squad which we can take into next season. The only individual who might have problems age wise is Ooijer. What is crucial is that we either get our three big underperformers - Nelsen, MGP and Benni - back into form or replace them.

If, through some miracle, we can get all three back to their best then we only really need to sign a CM to take over from Savage - and we would have 5m probs to lash out on that so we could probs expect to get someone decent. However if all three are in terminal decline then we are in pretty dire straits barring an outstanding display of pulling rabbits from hats by Sparky. I just can't see our scouts identifying three Samba/Bentley style bargains which is all our budget would stretch to.

For me it all hinges on these last 10 games and Benni, MGP and Nelsen showing that they still have the ability. Come on lads! Even if we do sell a couple of them to replace them it will do wonders for their transfer value if they look good.

[OscarRaven]

TO be fair we do have a very good squad which we can take into next season. The only individual who might have problems age wise is Ooijer.

Tug's? Henchoz?

[BiggusLaddus]

Tug's? Henchoz?

Both already need to be discounted to be honest.

Tugay may still be around and get the odd cameo, but no more than that.

Henchoz never plays anyway, so I would hope he could be released in the summer. Maybe with his squad position filled by a youngster? Nolan, or maybe our big January signing, perhaps?

I would hope that we wouldn't let Ooijer leave without finding a good replacement first, especially while there is still a cloud over Nelsen's future. I've no doubt that André could play at least one more good season for us.

I think a lot of our success/lack of next season will depend on how much money West Ham, City and Pompy have really got left. All three have shown signs or made noises implying that their respective money pits may not be so bottomless afterall, but we shall see for sure in the summer. If all three are able to throw money around again like they did last summer then I'd expect them to get enough of those transfers right to be too far ahead of us next year.

This year we have also been lucky that both Spurs and Newcastle have been so poor. While it would be no surprise to see Newcastle struggle again, I expect Spurs will be a long way ahead of us next season (and they may even catch us before the end of this one).

[LeftWinger]

Bellamy out for 6 weeks

The article says he's only played 1 game since October. If we had re-signed him instead of Roque, and he'd had the same injury problems for us, we'd be fighting a relegation battle now IMO.

[benlloninho]

Bellamy out for 6 weeks

The article says he's only played 1 game since October. If we had re-signed him instead of Roque, and he'd had the same injury problems for us, we'd be fighting a relegation battle now IMO.

Yea, we dodged the proverbial bullet on that one... I know I wanted Bellamy back much more than I wanted to see RSC here. Hindsight and all that.

[Ewood and I Would]

Bellamy out for 6 weeks

The article says he's only played 1 game since October. If we had re-signed him instead of Roque, and he'd had the same injury problems for us, we'd be fighting a relegation battle now IMO.

Bellamy wouldn't have got injured as he wouldn't have been in the situation he was if he was with us. You never know he might have scored twice as many as Roque or couldn't broken his leg in the first game, que sera sera

[revolutionrock!]

What about Bolton?

Lucky gits, first they go to Munich , then Madrid and now there of to Lisbon. Lucky ######.

[Oklahoma]

They are going to play against what is probably the best football academy in the world today.

From Sporting Lisbon's academy came Figo, Simão Sabrosa, Ricardo Quaresma, Cristiano Ronaldo, Nani, João Moutinho, Miguel veloso...

[Damage]

I understand he's been over with the squad, so they must be taking him seriously. The only snag is that he has not played this season and didn't do much in his time at Bolton.

A pretty big snag, I would have thought.

But if he is fit enough to fill the Sav vacancy until summer then I can see the sense in it.

thats not saying much is it?

Surely its time to shut this tedious thread down!?

everytime I look it makes me want to throw up!

failing thread closure I think I will open up a caravan on kidder street and read palms!

heres a prediction ........... lots of players wont be joining rovers! do i get a prize?

pls get a life and a brain!

[Ewood and I Would]

thats not saying much is it?

Surely its time to shut this tedious thread down!?

everytime I look it makes me want to throw up!

failing thread closure I think I will open up a caravan on kidder street and read palms!

heres a prediction ........... lots of players wont be joining rovers! do i get a prize?

pls get a life and a brain!

I think you should be aiming your anger at the board/trustees. Nicko isn't in charge of of Rovers Transfer policy.....

[thecomebackid]

thats not saying much is it?

Surely its time to shut this tedious thread down!?

everytime I look it makes me want to throw up!

failing thread closure I think I will open up a caravan on kidder street and read palms!

heres a prediction ........... lots of players wont be joining rovers! do i get a prize?

pls get a life and a brain!

Nobody's forcing you to read it.

If you dislike it so much start your own thread...Then see how many would read yours and then compare how many continue to read this one.

No contest.

[Manc Rover]

Nobody's forcing you to read it.

If you dislike it so much start your own thread...Then see how many would read yours and then compare how many continue to read this one.

No contest.

This thread (apart from the game previews) is the only one that actually has anything remotely interesting to say so keep up the good work, Nicko.

[Guest Kamy100]

According to the Lancashire Telegraph today morning Quinten Fortune has been training with Rovers over the last week or so and Hughes going to decide if he wants to sign him, as he is a free agent he can join straight away.

[Hughesy]

Would be worth a deal to the end of the season if Hughes likes him, but no longer until he proves himself

[deryck guyler's spoon]

According to the Lancashire Telegraph today morning Quinten Fortune has been training with Rovers over the last week or so and Hughes going to decide if he wants to sign him, as he is a free agent he can join straight away.

This, i'm affraid, demonstrates that we are no longer credible players in the tranfer market. Fortune has been bombed out at Bolton and I'm gutted that this is now the type of player we are looking at. The Walker trust's betrayal of Jack's legacy leaves Mark Hughes having to plat fog merely to keep us in the top flight and you wouldn't blame him and his coaching team for slinging their hook at the next opportunity.

[Torgeir]

This, i'm affraid, demonstrates that we are no longer credible players in the tranfer market. Fortune has been bombed out at Bolton and I'm gutted that this is now the type of player we are looking at. The Walker trust's betrayal of Jack's legacy leaves Mark Hughes having to plat fog merely to keep us in the top flight and you wouldn't blame him and his coaching team for slinging their hook at the next opportunity.

Last January we signed Holland international André Ooijer. Last summer we signed Paraguay international Roque Santa Cruz. Unfortunately, in today's inflated market, we didn't manage to sign any of our targets in the January window. I don't think that demonstrates anything other than our unwillingness to pay over the odds for mediocre players. The little money we have needs to be spent wisely and on the right type of players....Quinton Fortune could do a job until the end of the season and is a versatile player, I fail to see how it can be a negative thing to let him have a trial at the club.

[Guest Kamy100]

This, i'm affraid, demonstrates that we are no longer credible players in the tranfer market. Fortune has been bombed out at Bolton and I'm gutted that this is now the type of player we are looking at. The Walker trust's betrayal of Jack's legacy leaves Mark Hughes having to plat fog merely to keep us in the top flight and you wouldn't blame him and his coaching team for slinging their hook at the next opportunity.

Bit over the top that. Makes sense to me that Hughes is looking for a squad player and if he feels Fortune can fulfil that role then why not go ahead and sign him on a short term basis, to be honest he can't do any worse then Mokoena in central midfield.

[Ronin]

They are going to play against what is probably the best football academy in the world today.

From Sporting Lisbon's academy came Figo, Simão Sabrosa, Ricardo Quaresma, Cristiano Ronaldo, Nani, João Moutinho, Miguel veloso...

Maybe Rovers should pop down and see how it's done

[deryck guyler's spoon]

It's an oft quoted mantra of managers that they will only bring players in who are as good, if not better than those they already have. I dont believe it can be seriously argued that Fortune would enhance ANY Premier Leage squad. Certainly Bolton dont think so.

I am just very worried for us next season if this is the club's attitude to player aquisition.

[broadsword]

thats not saying much is it?

Surely its time to shut this tedious thread down!?

everytime I look it makes me want to throw up!

failing thread closure I think I will open up a caravan on kidder street and read palms!

heres a prediction ........... lots of players wont be joining rovers! do i get a prize?

pls get a life and a brain!

Just what *is* your problem?

Sometimes I think you're on the wrong forum.

[krislu]

Fortune is a dirty @#/? of a football player. It's just the kind of person you don't want anywhere near your team! Having said that he can't do much worse than some of the players we already got...

[rover6]

Fortune is a dirty @#/? of a football player.

Which is why no-one was surprised that Fortune was on the 'elite' few amongst the Man U players who had Roy Keane's mobile number and consider him a friend.

Fortune is very skilful but clearly he's lost his way these days. I expect this deal to go through because I suspect Hughes has realised that Berner isn't very good and is worried somewhat.

[Mozzer]

offering fortune a short term contract isnt that bad-what have we to lose on him???

he can play in various different positions-the only problem is, he is quite injury prone-but david dunn was when he joined us..i wont see it as a bad signing at all...

when players come on trial to rovers-they have to impress hughes-he takes alot of impressing hughes-so if fortune is signed-hughes must be impressed..

[nicko]

thats not saying much is it?

Surely its time to shut this tedious thread down!?

everytime I look it makes me want to throw up!

failing thread closure I think I will open up a caravan on kidder street and read palms!

heres a prediction ........... lots of players wont be joining rovers! do i get a prize?

pls get a life and a brain!

When you get your own life and brain you might want to read this.

http://www.thisisblackburn.co.uk/display.var.2064886.0..php

[Wolves_Rover]

According to soccerbase, Fortune has only made about 150 senior appearances in his entire career (inc internationals caps).

That surely can't be right?