[Archived] Nickos Thread

[tcj_jones]

Sometimes I do share that sentiment, Shilito.

[Fife Rover]

Sometimes I do share that sentiment, Shilito.

Seconded!

[OhmiBRFC]

Yawn..

If our fans supported the the team as much as they 'hated' Burnley (Because they are close to us on a map) then Ewood might have atleast a bit of an atmosphere.

I'm pretty sure the rivalry didn't just start out through footballing reasons.

[USABlue]

Wasn't sure where to stick this, perhaps Nicko has heard some rumblings. Was watching a footy highliights show here, Super Soccer Sunday or something, and they had a quick interview with Sparky. One of the hosts, a Englishman who I think is a gooner reckons he read into Sparkys body langauge and he will be off this summer. Said he's had enough and has taken Rovers as far as he can. Anyone heard anything or is this gooner just re-hashing old stuff.

One of the other hosts however said there is no one in England right now that he could go to, either of the big four are set or should replacements come in they would not be Hughes, although the gooner thinks he is off to Liverpool. Heard owt Nicko?

[nicko]

Wasn't sure where to stick this, perhaps Nicko has heard some rumblings. Was watching a footy highliights show here, Super Soccer Sunday or something, and they had a quick interview with Sparky. One of the hosts, a Englishman who I think is a gooner reckons he read into Sparkys body langauge and he will be off this summer. Said he's had enough and has taken Rovers as far as he can. Anyone heard anything or is this gooner just re-hashing old stuff.

One of the other hosts however said there is no one in England right now that he could go to, either of the big four are set or should replacements come in they would not be Hughes, although the gooner thinks he is off to Liverpool. Heard owt Nicko?

The manager will be dejected because this was a season when he thought the team could make Europe again - and it's all slipping away a bit.

He's not angling to leave, that would be completely unfair, but obviously if a big club came in then there is every chance he would go.

But - from what I can see - there are no major jobs coming round in the summer that [a] would appeal and who would want him.

Newcastle United will go foreign if they bin KK, West Ham is about the only other possible change among the big boys - and why go there?

Man City is a complicated picture. If there is no cash Sven may leave, but if there is no cash why would Sparky want to go?

So, relax on that front. At least for the next few months.

[nicko]

If Burnley sign not only a new keeper, but four new defenders a new midfield and some decent strikers then you might be in with a shout nicko.

There a crap football team with less fans than we have premiership your having a laugh.

I think you might just want to have a look at the Championship table and do some maths...starting by telling me what six teams are sure to make the top six.

Any team can beat any other team, so adding a couple - which is a must - and cutting out stupid mistakes would make a difference.

Still, if you want your bias to cloud your thinking then there's not much point in telling you that.

[thenodrog]

I think Hughes will be off shortly. He and his team seem ambitious and therefore he needs to go for his own sake whilst his managerial career is still on an upward curve. He has taken us as far as he could and more than we could have hoped with the resources available. No idea who would tempt him away as the big 3/4 will prob recruit from abroad as is the fashion. Clubs with far more resources such as Spurs, Villa and Everton seem settled, he would be mad to take the Newcastle job (surely soon to be available again) .... unless he can write his own terms as few other top managers will be tempted there. His options may well be in Germany or Spain where he will still be remembered.

I fear the combination of losing him and our reduced spending power coupled with the seemingly increased funding of our rivals may well see us off, out of the Prem and back to our more rightful position in the lower divisions for good.

[krislu]

I fear the combination of losing him and our reduced spending power coupled with the seemingly increased funding of our rivals may well see us off, out of the Prem and back to our more rightful position in the lower divisions for good.

If we continue spending way less than our "friends" in the top-half of the Premier League, then its just a matter of time before we are relegation canditates every season. Having said that, I'm sure we will be able to survive in the PL for many years to come, as there will always be at least 3-5 teams which are worse off than us.

[Fife Rover]

I think Hughes will be off shortly. He and his team seem ambitious and therefore he needs to go for his own sake whilst his managerial career is still on an upward curve. He has taken us as far as he could and more than we could have hoped with the resources available. No idea who would tempt him away as the big 3/4 will prob recruit from abroad as is the fashion. Clubs with far more resources such as Spurs, Villa and Everton seem settled, he would be mad to take the Newcastle job (surely soon to be available again) .... unless he can write his own terms as few other top managers will be tempted there. His options may well be in Germany or Spain where he will still be remembered.

I fear the combination of losing him and our reduced spending power coupled with the seemingly increased funding of our rivals may well see us off, out of the Prem and back to our more rightful position in the lower divisions for good.

Not too sure about that Theno! And what makes you think it is our "rightful" position? Did you think that way when we were in the !st div back in the 60's?

[LeftWinger]

If we continue spending way less than our "friends" in the top-half of the Premier League, then its just a matter of time before we are relegation canditates every season. Having said that, I'm sure we will be able to survive in the PL for many years to come, as there will always be at least 3-5 teams which are worse off than us.

Agree with you Krislu. Fortunately there should always be a Derby and another couple of jokers in the division to keep us up. The Championship, while competitive, doesn't have any real stands out this season again.

It's not going to be fun - but we will end up a lower mid-table side for the foreseeable future.

[joey_big_nose]

Agree with you Krislu. Fortunately there should always be a Derby and another couple of jokers in the division to keep us up. The Championship, while competitive, doesn't have any real stands out this season again.

It's not going to be fun - but we will end up a lower mid-table side for the foreseeable future.

I don't know. It will be a strugle but it depends on what Sparky can do. Or, if he does go, who the Board find to take over. For my money I think that Sparky is probably getting a little frustrated and running out of ideas.

He can't spend his way into a new side, and he had a very good squad this season but it didn't quite cut it. Nelsen aside we did not really have much in the way of injury problems which was pointed to for our disappointing (well if you can call a UEFA cup run, Semi Final in the FA cup and the top half of the table disappointing- we are a bit spoilt aren't we!) run.

I guess he will sit down and think about everything at the end of the season. My greatest hope would be he will have a brainstorm, try something different with Rovers whilst retianing the best of what he has done already and build up his enthusiasm again. I think if he decides to rethink things he could continue to be very successful.

However if he does decide that he can't do any more then it is in his and Rover's interest if he goes. No point having a manager who lacks the enthsiasm as we will stagnate.

The problem for me if Hughes is edging towards the exit is that all our big players will think twice about signing new contracts.

[Hughesy]

I think the squad needs abit of a shake up, with some younger talent coming in with alot more attitude and pace. (Like Villa have done).

Il probably get shot down but I dont care - Id sell Nelsen (£5m), Roberts (£3.5m), Gallagher(£2m), Henchoz and release Tugay. We have enough defence with Samba, Ooijer & Zurab and to be fair we havent really missed Nelsen and he is an asset we could get a decent fee for without really hurting our team.

[The Gull]

Not being funny Hughesy, but who do you expect to pay £5m for an ageing crock like Nelsen?

He has been a superb value for money signing but unless he can get back to like he was before his severe hamstring trouble then he is definitely not a £5m man.

I would love to be proved wrong, but do not think we will see the Ryan Nelsen of 2 years ago again.

Again, who do you think will pay £3.5m for Roberts? If we managed to raise £2m by selling him I think we would all be quite happy, but I do not think we could replace him for that money so should keep him if he is happy.

As for Gallagher, he seems to have been living of his potential for far too long now, he had a great spell with Stoke 18 months ago but has struggled since to regain that form, any sale would probably be performance/appearance related which may raise us up to £2m in the long run but doubtful we would get that up front.

Our squad will have a little shake up in the summer, it appears Tugay will not be retained, I also imagine Mokoena may have had enough of being second fiddle/last option when it comes to playing in midfield and I believe he thinks he is a centre half?

I believe our squad is fairly good in quality and I think has slightly under performed this season, our supposed better second half of the season hasn't come to fruition either on recent form.

There is the worry that Rovers will go a little stale, but maybe the expectations we have had about Hughes and his team have been a little optimistic, which is highly unusual for us Rovers fans.

I have every confidence in Hughes and the board at Rovers, Hughes needs to pull something off with Rovers to get himself a top job and finishing mid table is not going to do that for him, and the board will be aware that finishing mid table will not attract fans, players or top coaches so wil do what they can withinthe restraints. Let's just hope that all the recent quiteness about a takeover will be lifted in the summer.

No offence Nicko, but I hope an imagine they will be doing whatever they can to ensure you don't find out about it!

[thenodrog]

Il probably get shot down but I dont care - Id sell Nelsen (£5m), Roberts (£3.5m), Gallagher(£2m), Henchoz and release Tugay. We have enough defence with Samba, Ooijer & Zurab and to be fair we havent really missed Nelsen and he is an asset we could get a decent fee for without really hurting our team.

I can only think of Newcastle / West Ham (of last year) that would pay those prices.... and if they did I'd drive them there myself!

This 'perfect storm' looming world wide recession is hardly going to free up any of the purse strings.

[joey_big_nose]

I can only think of Newcastle / West Ham (of last year) that would pay those prices.... and if they did I'd drive them there myself!

This 'perfect storm' looming world wide recession is hardly going to free up any of the purse strings.

Strangely we would proabably do quite well in terms of coping with a recession considering gate reciepts and all that is such a small part of our turnover.

Talking about saleable assets we only really have three who would fetch big money- Samba, Bentley and Santa Cruz.

I think we would want to hold onto all three but there is the argument that the sale of one could finance three incomings. Thing is you would have to be sure who they were and that they were worthy loding one of our top performers.

[Eddie]

Samba? Yes if we could turn the clocks back 6 months, but on current form I don't think too many would be interested in him.

[tcj_jones]

I'd add McCarthy to that, he'd still get us £5m +

[herbergeehh]

So according to the ever-reliable Tribalfootball, Sunday People tells us that Hughes is ready to give Vogel a contract this week.

Anything you can tell us, Nicko? Any clues on his form would also be greatly appreciated.

Here's hoping he has the kind of quality that can give us a boost the last few matches, could mean a lot of money and a lot of confidence looking onto next season.

[den]

Samba? Yes if we could turn the clocks back 6 months, but on current form I don't think too many would be interested in him.

Tell me you're joking Eddie. There would be many willing to pay good money for him, if he were available.

[nicko]

So according to the ever-reliable Tribalfootball, Sunday People tells us that Hughes is ready to give Vogel a contract this week.

Anything you can tell us, Nicko? Any clues on his form would also be greatly appreciated.

Here's hoping he has the kind of quality that can give us a boost the last few matches, could mean a lot of money and a lot of confidence looking onto next season.

It's not a question of form, it's a question of fitness. He hasn't played all season and he is at an age where he will need games to get up to speed. If the manager says it's a signing 'for next season' I would take that as a pretty straight assessment.

There is a ressie game tomorrow. So it would be interesting if he had a run-out in that as a trialist. We'll just have to wait and see on that one.

I think it is likely he will sign, but that will depend on the lenght of contract Rovers are willing to give him and the strings they will attach - like hoe many games he must play to earn an extension.

[krislu]

Tell me you're joking Eddie. There would be many willing to pay good money for him, if he were available.

Nope, Eddie is spot on! When we first saw Samba he looked like a real bargain, now we can all see the reason we only paid 400k for him and he is more of a real-liability and a disaster waiting to happen. If anyone is willing to pay "good money" then take it..!!

[broadsword]

Very very harsh.

I'm not disputing he hasn't played well recently, but give him a chance. Centre halves take time to reach maturity.

If we sold him now, then according to your estimates, we wouldn't get much for him anyway, so who would we buy from the proceeds?

[1864roverite]

JHC I have heard it all now.

Off to find the nearest junkie, gonna buy me some smack and ending it all here and now, oh but before I do I might just convince the wife to move to Bridgend as well.

[den]

JHC I have heard it all now.

Off to find the nearest junkie, gonna buy me some smack and ending it all here and now, oh but before I do I might just convince the wife to move to Bridgend as well.

[modes98]

Nope, Eddie is spot on! When we first saw Samba he looked like a real bargain, now we can all see the reason we only paid 400k for him and he is more of a real-liability and a disaster waiting to happen. If anyone is willing to pay "good money" then take it..!!

He's just hit bad form that's all. He'll turn it around and be a fans favorite again. Nelsen and Ooijer have had spells where they looked awful and liabilities, most players have but you notice it more with defenders and goalkeepers.

We are lucky that it doesn't really affect us that much as Europe is probably out of our reach and relegation is impossible.