[Archived] Nickos Thread

[tony gale's mic]

So if you were John Williams, would you let the top clubs go it alone and deny the £5m windfall to our club?

We're not in the same league as the top 4 clubs now. What they do is irrelevant to us, theyre practically a licence to print money these days. If they want to carry on playing friendlies abroad then I wouldnt be too bothered.

But this particular idea needs all the 20 Premier League clubs to participate and would mean all the 20 clubs get this £5 million.

We spend it on wages/transfer fees - the money gets eaten up that way, everyone has the same extra to spend and we're no better of comparitive to the other sides than we were in the first place.

We spend it on infrastructure - the sides around us offer their players more money, pay more for players, we fall even further behind the competition in what we're spending that way. We may or may not see an improvement in players coming through the Academy.

Either way there's no real discernible benefit unless we're really smart with what we spend it on and the other clubs not so bright. But then we could make mistakes too and that could mean real trouble if the other clubs attract better players with this money.

So if I was JW I would vote against - for these reasons and also for the fact that the vast majority of fans are against it, surely the most important thing.

Why not have a pre-season/mid-season tournament in a different destination each season? Not something I'm overly keen on either but if they must do it, at least don't distort our league.

[Billy Castell]

Re Nicko:

A consortium fronted by Graeme Souness perhaps? Or DIC?

[EwoodGlory]

There is some interesting news on the takeover front.

A new bidder - backed by a consortium - is in town and wanting to buy.

Excellent, hopefully it will be a good one for the club and would be perfect timing for something to happen before the summer.

[Paul]

Bad times ahead.

Just been thinking today - it will take one of the big four to implode now for anyone else to crack the Champions League.

I don't see ANY club gambling heavily - maybe £100 million - just for the reward that a Champions League place brings.

Sad but true.

Nicko, please don't think me rude, but if this has only just occurred to you I have to ask what your opinion has been up to now? The PL has become more and more uncompetitive with every season that passes. A few of us have been posting for some considerable period that Rovers, or any other club, will not be allowed to threaten the status quo. The slightest possibility a non-top four club could threaten and they will find their best players very quickly unsettled by the prospect of a move to OT, Stamford Bridge etc. If the manager looks good, assocaite him with a move, leave the fans just hoping we can hold on to him for another season or two before the inevitable happens.

I just sit in the stand and read the papers, I would have expected a journalist with access to all types of information to have seen this coming years ago. I did. The game is stuffed in this country and apart from Dave Whelan none of the clubs give a monkey's.

I'm a season ticket holder, I've renewed for next year, but I chose to do something else rather than watch the Spurs game, and I won't be going to the Derby match. This means that from March 22nd till next August Rovers will only have my attention for today. If I was John Williams I'd be very, very worried by that.

[stuwilky]

It doesn't matter what anyone else gets, it's £5m in rovers pockets.

Of course it does den, the financial gap between us and some of the other teams is massive. If we get £5m, and they get £25m, that gap only gets wider.

To quote Mr Williams, we do not operate in a vacuum.

[Cocker]

I would tell you where all the details will be on this in the morning, but some would call that advertising.

Dont you mean some people would call that advertising

[EwoodGlory]

Of course it does den, the financial gap between us and some of the other teams is massive. If we get £5m, and they get £25m, that gap only gets wider.

To quote Mr Williams, we do not operate in a vacuum.

Yes but another way of looking at it, is that it would be £5m more than a team coming up from the Championship would have, meaning it would be a bit more difficult for them to compete with us.

[tony gale's mic]

Yes but another way of looking at it, is that it would be £5m more than a team coming up from the Championship would have, meaning it would be a bit more difficult for them to compete with us.

Well hopefully we're competing (at least at the moment) against sides a bit higher than that.

And anyway, as a football fan I wouldn't want to see that. The gap between PL and Championship is wide enough as it is, and it's quite worrying that we seem to be getting ever closer to the point where pretty much the same three clubs that come up go down every season.

[den]

The gap between PL and Championship is wide enough as it is, and it's quite worrying that we seem to be getting ever closer to the point where pretty much the same three clubs that come up go down every season.

That's the one saving grace.

[den]

Of course it does den, the financial gap between us and some of the other teams is massive. If we get £5m, and they get £25m, that gap only gets wider.

To quote Mr Williams, we do not operate in a vacuum.

My understanding is that all clubs get the same amount. The option is that the top clubs go on their own and rovers get zilch. Then the gap widens to it's maximum.[ I'm only debating on the facts as they are given to us by the Prem league. No idea whether these are correct].

[tony gale's mic]

My understanding is that all clubs get the same amount. The option is that the top clubs go on their own and rovers get zilch. Then the gap widens to it's maximum.[ I'm only debating on the facts as they are given to us by the Prem league. No idea whether these are correct].

The top 4 are irrelevant to us.

[Paul]

That's the one saving grace.

den are you suggesting that having three promoted clubs as almost instant relegation fodder, as may well happen next year, is good for the game? I can see how it benefits Rovers but surely we should be thinking a bit further than that? If the players know they are safe we are just going to watch more and more uncompetitive matches. It's bad enough now and if relegation becomes a foregone conclusion where will that lead.

We shall not, we shall not be moved

Just like a team that's gonna win the Inter Toto Cup...........

deosn't quite work does it? And this is what we are staring down the barrel of.

[den]

den are you suggesting that having three promoted clubs as almost instant relegation fodder, as may well happen next year, is good for the game? I can see how it benefits Rovers but surely we should be thinking a bit further than that?

Of course it's not good for the game Paul. It is good for rovers though and in the near future we might be thankful that there are three clubs worse than us.

[stuwilky]

My understanding is that all clubs get the same amount. The option is that the top clubs go on their own and rovers get zilch. Then the gap widens to it's maximum.[ I'm only debating on the facts as they are given to us by the Prem league. No idea whether these are correct].

Its all about branding, the Rovers brand will not be able to cash in the same way as many other brands. Thats the difference Im talking about, rather than any direct income from this match.

[tony gale's mic]

Of course it's not good for the game Paul. It is good for rovers though and in the near future we might be thankful that there are three clubs worse than us.

Is it really though? Right now we can be proud of being safe from relegation, every year clubs with more resources than us get dragged into the relegation scrap, every year a team goes down which could easily have been us.

But where's the pride, where's the achievement if we're in this league simply because the gap is far too big for others to compete?

We might aswell do away with promotion and relegation if it gets to that point.

Also, considering we're one of the smallest clubs in the league, a wrong choice of manager could well drag us down into that scrap and get us relegated. Where would that leave us then?

[Paul]

I'm not sure it is good for Rovers though. As I said before I missed Spurs, will miss Derby, in my head I know there is no point in buying an ST because one can always get a ticket. It's a slippery road for the clubs, fans and the game in general. The gap is already so great another £5m to pay the players is going to make no difference at all. English football had a proud tradition, there was always a chance of success but today that has gone. The clubs should be looking to se how the game can be saved and not simply how can we make yet more money.

Does anyone car who wins the IPL? How long before no one cares who wins the EPL, leastways anyone in this country?

[den]

Its all about branding, the Rovers brand will not be able to cash in the same way as many other brands. Thats the difference Im talking about, rather than any direct income from this match.

Should we begrudge that, or should we try to exploit it more than we do now? Overseas marketting isn't going to go away, so why not take the opportunity to make OUR brand known? It's called progress.

Now the morality of the extra game is another thing entirely. For me that is a problem. Gaining £5m for one game isn't.

[stuwilky]

Should we begrudge that, or should we try to exploit it more than we do now? Overseas marketting isn't going to go away, so why not take the opportunity to make OUR brand known? It's called progress.

Why not do that anyway?

Im not against progress, not in the slightest, Im against giving the bigger clubs EVEN MORE of an advantage over us.

[philipl]

The top 4 are irrelevant to us.

Apart from the fact we play them on average 8 times a season.

[den]

Why not do that anyway?

Im not against progress, not in the slightest, Im against giving the bigger clubs EVEN MORE of an advantage over us.

The 39th game would give us the overseas exposure necessary? Without that game, we have no games played at the venues suggested.

[PAFELL]

The 39th game would give us the overseas exposure necessary? Without that game, we have no games played at the venues suggested.

I consider that all this talk of a 39th game to be nothing but a smoke screen by the prem. They already know that both fifa & uefa would not want it. What they are really after is a completely new league - a european league. Where the top two of each european league would be 'promoted' into that league at the start - and of course relegated back to their own countries league. Though how they would sort the promotion and relegation afterwards is a different story.

How often has a euopean league been mentioned in the past? Normally the top 4 bring it up - lets be honest that is where the money would really be. basically the prem are saying to both the uefa and fifa is 'we are not happy with the way things are now' - Which having the same teams in the top 4 season in season out does get boring - eventually not worth the money - change therefore has to happen - eventually.

[tony gale's mic]

Apart from the fact we play them on average 8 times a season.

True but if they pull further away from the pack and get even richer, they'll also pull further away from the teams we actually are competing with who also have to play them 8 times a season.

[bluebruce]

Why, has the passage of time suddenly turned Dwight Yorke from a complete flop into a Rovers legend or something?

No- has the passage of time turned Giggs or Scholes into Dwight Yorke?

[PAFELL]

Just before I take in the delights of Stoke City v Bristol City...

There is some interesting news on the takeover front.

A new bidder - backed by a consortium - is in town and wanting to buy.

I would tell you where all the details will be on this in the morning, but some would call that advertising.

And I suppose they would be right.

It is strange your post received hardly a comment - I would have thought interesting news on the takeover front would have generated a discussion.

Maybe you need to 'hype up' more advertising.

Is this takeover news more feesible than the last takeover talk or not?

[they_think_its_all_rover]

Giggs & Scholes @ Rovers... I'd be happy with those signings.

Nicko, whats your personal view on what the outcome of the Leeds tribunal will be?