[Archived] Nickos Thread

[joey_big_nose]

West Ham are going to do it...and I don't think Rovers would go to £55,000-a-week for anyone. As for finding £5 million transfer fees....hmmm.

Didn't we offer 60k to Bellamy to stay?

Do agree that we can't pay those sorts of wages. Big problem for us is that someone like Bentley is having a much better season than Sidwell and now looks like he could make the jump to a regular England starter. He will want the same money... Cruz is another who probably could legitimately look towards those figures when his contract comes around.

[Fife Rover]

Can we move this thread to another section please? Maybe we should have a seperate section for Championship football.

No way! This is the Nicko thread where we can all ask Nicko any questions on any aspect of football and he can answer or introduce other topics as well just as any other member of BRFCS can. It is a general free-for-all thread and let's keep it that way. You don't have to read it of it doesn't suit you.

[nicko]

Didn't we offer 60k to Bellamy to stay?

Do agree that we can't pay those sorts of wages. Big problem for us is that someone like Bentley is having a much better season than Sidwell and now looks like he could make the jump to a regular England starter. He will want the same money... Cruz is another who probably could legitimately look towards those figures when his contract comes around.

That was the party line at the time when he was going to Liverpool...

I've seen no evidence of similar wages being offered since - and that is almost two years ago now.

[Fife Rover]

In one.

Mind you, the Championship - for all its faults - is more fun than the Premier League right now. The standard isn't great but there are goals galore, good games and big crowds.

The Premier has to have a look at itself, the Big Three are untouchable, there's a scrum for fourth and as for the Inter Toto Race...

Fans will start losing interest all over the place if they are not careful. There is no entertainment in just getting by.

Some of us have been saying the same (in essence) Nicko for a considerable time, but that is a very difficult idea to absorb for the young fans who have never known any other than Prem football. And I do mean this in all sincerity. I am not meaning it in any sarcastic way; it is quite simply the way it is and only to be expected.

I have found over the years both in England and in Scotland that there is definitely an undefinable "something missing" about Premier League level football compared to the way the game is played in the lower divisions. Obviously it is not just players skill levels; it is something else more intangible, a feeling of excitement and enthusiasm for the game that just does not exist at the Prem level. And it is not down to the actual division played in or what is at stake either. I had no difficulty of this kind when watching 1st div football years ago. No, it is definitely Prem League football and the same applies in both England and Scotland. There is an undefinable "Umph" that you do get in the lower leagues (and did at the top level too before the Prem was introduced) but which does not exist any more at the top level. The whole thing is just too clinical and not enough "human touch".

Well I know nobody else will agree with me, but that is how I see it and how I feel about football today. It has "died" except at the lower levels.

[CAPT KAYOS]

Well I know nobody else will agree with me, but that is how I see it and how I feel about football today. It has "died" except at the lower levels.

A bit to go to your tender years Fife.... but I do

[Fife Rover]

Do you think Mrs Nicko will leave you when?

a.) She realises you have wasted money on backing Burnley for promotion.

B.) She finds out that you're in love with Owen Coyle?

You're too late LW; she already left him on the last night of the Jan Window.

[Mozzer]

we should just look abroad for players..

they probably would be cheaper and better then sidwell...

hopefully the board or whoever will back mark hughes this summer-if not , i could see hughes leaving sooner then we expected..

[stuwilky]

A bit to go to your tender years Fife.... but I do

And I do as well.....

[Fife Rover]

Cole is a phenomial signing for Burnley. The guy was world class and remains hungry, and at Championship level he is top of the tree.

I am a big Rovers fan, and have been all my life... I hope Burnley get promoted.

Every season the gap is growing. Our seasons are getting more and more boring. 6th is like being Champions. Gimme the chance to replace Derby/Wigan/Birmingham or any of the other boring and menial fixtures and replace it with a meaningful, atmospheric full blooded derby game and I'll take it every time.

I don't care enough about Burnley to hate. In the only things I care enough about in life in general to hate, I love. How any human being can truely, and I mean truely, to the point where their blood boils, hate another football team, because they are close to us on a map is beyond me. The usual stereotypical local heroes will come out and slate me, but put it this way, everyone at BRFC would agree, Burnley being in the top flight would be nothing but good for Rovers.

Absolutely SPOT ON Shillito!!! The only real reason why anyone would want to dis the whole idea of Burnley, or PNE coming up to the prem is because they are numpties that think it gives them some kind of extra status with their mates in the pub. School playground level thinking.

[nicko]

Remind me who is making big money out of the so-called football transfer scandals we have heard so much about...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtm...4/sfnbon214.xml

Nice work if you can get it.

Start a storm about corruption, find nobody guilty, shuffle a few papers, earn over £1 million in the process and then get a contract to make yourself look important.

Disgusting.

[Uddersfelt Blue]

Some of us have been saying the same (in essence) Nicko for a considerable time, but that is a very difficult idea to absorb for the young fans who have never known any other than Prem football. And I do mean this in all sincerity. I am not meaning it in any sarcastic way; it is quite simply the way it is and only to be expected.

I have found over the years both in England and in Scotland that there is definitely an undefinable "something missing" about Premier League level football compared to the way the game is played in the lower divisions. Obviously it is not just players skill levels; it is something else more intangible, a feeling of excitement and enthusiasm for the game that just does not exist at the Prem level. And it is not down to the actual division played in or what is at stake either. I had no difficulty of this kind when watching 1st div football years ago. No, it is definitely Prem League football and the same applies in both England and Scotland. There is an undefinable "Umph" that you do get in the lower leagues (and did at the top level too before the Prem was introduced) but which does not exist any more at the top level. The whole thing is just too clinical and not enough "human touch".

Well I know nobody else will agree with me, but that is how I see it and how I feel about football today. It has "died" except at the lower levels.

I agree

There's no doubting the quality of the football in the Premier League but somehow it just doesn't have that edge.

Maybe its just an age thing?

[Dunnfc]

Your not wrong there Nicko, but what did we expect?

[nicko]

I agree

There's no doubting the quality of the football in the Premier League but somehow it just doesn't have that edge.

Maybe its just an age thing?

No, it's a competition thing.

[RovertheHill]

Some of us have been saying for a while that the best thing that could happen to the Premier League is if the big 4 b*gger off to their Euro/Worldwide "super" league and leave the rest of us to it. There may be less money sloshing around but it'd be a damn sight more interesting...

[Hughesy]

It was sarcasm because Nicko keeps talking about his beloved Dingles

No way! This is the Nicko thread where we can all ask Nicko any questions on any aspect of football and he can answer or introduce other topics as well just as any other member of BRFCS can. It is a general free-for-all thread and let's keep it that way. You don't have to read it of it doesn't suit you.

[BiggusLaddus]

No, it's a competition thing.

Yep, its just dull.

The only way I can see it getting interesting again is if Liverpool go bust (as if that would be allowed to happen) and the foreign billionaires get bored and go home (and how likely is that with our dodgy tax laws). The more money goes into the league, the worse it gets.

[T4E]

You can't do that...you have to be unemployed when a window shuts to be a free agent. You can't do it after a window is shut.

So if a player is released after the window shuts he can't sign for anyone until it reopens??

[Boz]

Remind me who is making big money out of the so-called football transfer scandals we have heard so much about...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtm...4/sfnbon214.xml

Nice work if you can get it.

Start a storm about corruption, find nobody guilty, shuffle a few papers, earn over £1 million in the process and then get a contract to make yourself look important.

Disgusting.

In the whole scale of things with the amounts involved in transfers etc... does it not make sense to have an independent body examining football deals? There is so much money awash in football, might £1m (although the article does not state how much Quest’s contract is worth) represent good value and a minor portion of the entire transfer budget, if it enables football to reclaim its dignity?

Following earlier posters’ apathy directed to the PL. Are all the various allegations of corruption, not a contributory factor to actual supporters switching off? Granted little has been proven, but might that be due to the parties being quite proficient at it?

I think most people saw this coming following the government’s statements for football to clean its act up, otherwise they would do so.

[nicko]

In the whole scale of things with the amounts involved in transfers etc... does it not make sense to have an independent body examining football deals? There is so much money awash in football, might £1m (although the article does not state how much Quest’s contract is worth) represent good value and a minor portion of the entire transfer budget, if it enables football to reclaim its dignity?

Following earlier posters’ apathy directed to the PL. Are all the various allegations of corruption, not a contributory factor to actual supporters switching off? Granted little has been proven, but might that be due to the parties being quite proficient at it?

I think most people saw this coming following the government’s statements for football to clean its act up, otherwise they would do so.

It's a king-sized con.

Quest came in off the back of Mike Newell and Sven gossiping about so-called dodgy deals.

These people asked for inside info - mainly from other agents and reporters. They spent months blundering about like amateur plods and found nothing. Any time they were challenged they backed down.

One reporter, who I won't bother naming, started the 'crusade' and it just whipped up a storm where none existed.

Check out just how long ago Quest were being touted as the ideal people to police football...it's the same people they were co-operating with in the first place to project themselves.

Now, as a reward for doing nothing relevant they are brought in to police more deals.

It's laughable.

[Boz]

Or it provides reassurance to football supporters that their national sport is honest, in the face of them being continually fed from the media that football is corrupt. As is sometimes times the case, mud sticks.

[nicko]

TAKEOVER NEWS ALERT...LOOK AWAY NOW IF EASILY BORED.

I believe that the Asian bidders who wanted Rovers are about to buy another club. Just trying to confirm this.

If anyone has info on this and wants to share, feel free to PM.

It's a very live story.

In the meantime, don't be arranging street parties if you were against the idea...

[mjs]

You summed up my feelings too Fife.

I prefer competition and enjoyed watching Rovers in the lower leagues much more than I have enjoyed the last few years. The Prem is just not competitive enough, and basically it is all about four clubs.

[BiggusLaddus]

Or it provides reassurance to football supporters that their national sport is honest, in the face of them being continually fed from the media that football is corrupt. As is sometimes times the case, mud sticks.

Surely everyone knows that (esp premier league) football is corrupt? It's everywhere, from the dodgy Benjani deal (financed with dirty money???) to West Ham cheating and getting away with it last year, to the gradual move to a more 'Italian' style of refereeing when big clubs are playing. It's everywhere.

Agents were just a convenient scapegoat.

[gazsimm]

TAKEOVER NEWS ALERT...LOOK AWAY NOW IF EASILY BORED.

I believe that the Asian bidders who wanted Rovers are about to buy another club. Just trying to confirm this.

If anyone has info on this and wants to share, feel free to PM.

It's a very live story.

In the meantime, don't be arranging street parties if you were against the idea...

so there goes another bidder gone, does nobody want to buy Rovers??

[Boz]

Surely everyone knows that (esp premier league) football is corrupt? It's everywhere, from the dodgy Benjani deal (financed with dirty money???) to West Ham cheating and getting away with it last year, to the gradual move to a more 'Italian' style of refereeing when big clubs are playing. It's everywhere.

Agents were just a convenient scapegoat.

Well no not really. On one hand we keep hearing about football's transfer scandals, but then as nicko quite rightly points out, nothing is proven.

If only we knew an ace investigative reporter who would once and for all clear this up for us Mr Average Football Supporters.