[Archived] Roque Santa Cruz Thread

[ABBEY]

clubs bumped prices up for us when we spalshed the cash.

[gumboots]

So as long as your best players spit their dummy out, you would sell them? When does that stop GB?

What should Ince do, sell him or try his best to keep him?

Selling your best players always comes back to bite you on your arse. No doubt Rocky noticed how easy it was for Bentley to move on.

Obviously Ince should do his best to keep one of our best players if possible. However, it's not always possible and you haven't told me how you would fight to keep him. We can't compete with City in terms of finance or in terms of the players we'll be putting alongside Roque. All I think is that if he is determined to go then we hold out for the maximum amount of money and make sure the player knows there is a date beyond which we cannot sell him so that his agent and whoever else gets the move going. If we are going to sell it needs to be done quickly because we cannot fail to bring in another striker or end up taking just anyone right at the end of the window. Personally I'd love it if we were able to say to City "Get lost" in terms that would get me banned from the board, but we're not. Managers can't just say "You're going nowhere". They have to look at the impact on the club of money, of a player who wants away, of what if last year was as good as it got for Santa Cruz or anyone else. There is far more to be taken into account than we as fans know. Personally I hope Ince does his best to persuade him that to stay till the end of the year is the right move for him and spends the rest of the season scouting a replacement and making sure we get him. There are good strikers out there as Wigan have shown, but it's no good just expecting them to turn up. Hopefully as Ince and his team get more used to premiership management they'll get better at finding them.

[M-K]

I'm fairly sure that we will end up regretting not selling him if a big bid comes in and we hang on to him.

You're probably right. Look at what's happened to Benni McCarthy since Rovers stood in the way of his transfer out of Ewood.

[Tim Southampton Rover]

I can't even see us holding out for big bucks. I believe the Rovers board would sell if they received a £15m bid...maybe i'm just being negative because of the bad news. Is there anyone out there who would be a suitable replacement?

I wouldn't mind making a bid for Darren Bent. He hasn't had the best of times at Spurs but he's got the attributes of a good player and he's proved himself at Charlton but like others have said, we need to get a great right sided player who can create changes. We've still got Benni who has the quality, I just wish he sorted himself out mentally!

[ABBEY]

its a sad day if this is what weve become....I know we have (apart from the glory period) always been a selling club to survive but I never thought we would become a feeder club.If alls we can sign is "oldies" like fowler then I think the end is nigh for our top flight days.Over reaction ?maybe but I feel dissillusioned with footy in general at the moment.

[bubblerrovers]

The sad truth is all the board care about is not getting relegated, we will never be in the top ten again unless we get investment and we won't simple as.

[den]

Obviously Ince should do his best to keep one of our best players if possible. However, it's not always possible and you haven't told me how you would fight to keep him.

By doing what MH and JW did. They told Bentley that the time for him to move wasn't in the best interests of the club for at least another 12 months.

Don't you think that the signals that PI sent out when allowing Bentley to move on immediately and with no replacement, hasn't had an effect on the rest of the squad?

[Bennisfromheaven]

Well, we can expect a big fee!?!?!

[waggy]

YOU BIG GIRLS ,calm down.the last report out off south america was wrong and this will be wrong.santa will leave,more than likley in the summer.fact off life as a football fan you get kicked in the balls every now and again.rovers have to survive by finding gems like santa,and i dare say the scouts are looking now.enjoy santa whilst he's here

[philipl]

The issue is simple- if the club looks like it is kicking on towards Europe, there is a chance of keeping Roque if Spurs or Newcastle are the bidders (say).

If City by-pass RSC and take Torres, then we have to worry about Liverpool coming in for RSC.

If City are above us on 1 January we are really going to struggle to hold on to RSC.

I agree with den, we folded far too easily over Bentley and then completely failed to bring the requisite quality into the side. Villanueva might become the real deal but it is going to be the new year before he is at Premier League physical and mental condition.

As to fee, particularly if it is City buying, it has to be a City price in the same way there used to be a Chelsea price and in the late '90s a Rovers price. I rate RSC higher than any of their Brazilians so £30m has to be the price- in all fairness to JW, he observed that Berbatov was no better than RSC at one point in August.

[gumboots]

By doing what MH and JW did. They told Bentley that the time for him to move wasn't in the best interests of the club for at least another 12 months.

That isn't fighting to keep him. that's doing exactly what I suggested too - keep him till you can line up someone else. But surely Ince let bentley go because he wasn't really in a position of strength; Bentley had already made plain to chairman and MH that he wanted out regardless and he wasn't going to change his mind. Ince has started to put his own stamp on the team now and might be able to put his foot down a little more firmly, but I doubt he'd want to keep a seriously unsettled player for very long. A lot depends on the truth of the reports, on whether City really want Santa Cruz or whether they have bigger fish to fry, on what happens between now and January. Hughes may not even be there if results don't go his way because we all know what owners votes of confidence mean. The most important thing for me is that we get a good idea of who else might be available in Jan if our hand is forced by whoever and we decide to sell and actively pursue those targets, having screwed city or whoever for every last penny upfront in cash if necessary.

[RoverRich]

Similar to what Bucky and others said above but with Man City and all this money they have surely we can just hold them to ransom and see just how much they are willing to splash the cash. They may just want to show off how much money they now have and end up spending ridiculous amounts and over the top amounts for players. If they want Roque and we don't really want him to go, then there is no reason why we can't whack the price up and get in excess of £20m for him. I can see City being stupid with their money and blowing a lot of it unnecessarily, not that I will be bothered!

If Roque was to leave in January who should we replace him with? Anyone else thinking we should make a move for Amr Zaki on a permanent deal. Wouldn't cost a massive amount, good goalscorer and would leave some funds for a right winger. We could always put a bid in for someone like Owen or Martins

[ABBEY]

If Roque was to leave in January who should we replace him with? Anyone else thinking we should make a move for Amr Zaki on a permanent deal. Wouldn't cost a massive amount, good goalscorer and would leave some funds for a right winger. We could always put a bid in for someone like Owen or Martins

seeing as who we signed in the summer i'd say steve mcmannaman ,bob latchford or ian rush.

Owen haha are you for real? if we cant keep rocky how in gods name could we afford Owen..made me chuckle before i go to work .

[Frisky Jim]

I cannot blame RSC for wanting to leave. Does he have an escape clause in his contract? Williams is daft enough...

RSC will go for £15 million max, if he doesn't have an escape clause.

Same old Rovers, always selling.

[CrazyIvan]

I cannot blame RSC for wanting to leave. Does he have an escape clause in his contract? Williams is daft enough...

RSC will go for £15 million max, if he doesn't have an escape clause.

Same old Rovers, always selling.

This idea that a Paraguan Radio Station interview with Roque, that nobody here has heard or even seen a translation of, means that Rovers are quite willing to sell RSC for £15 million or £30 or even £50 million is some leap. The idea that Roque wants to leave based on this reported radio interview is a hell of a leap in and of itself but the press have jumped all over it and so have some of you lot.

As I've said before, I'll believe it when I see it.

[Frisky Jim]

This idea that a Paraguan Radio Station interview with Roque, that nobody here has heard or even seen a translation of, means that Rovers are quite willing to sell RSC for £15 million or £30 or even £50 million is some leap. The idea that Roque wants to leave based on this reported radio interview is a hell of a leap in and of itself but the press have jumped all over it and so have some of you lot.

As I've said before, I'll believe it when I see it.

Face the facts, Ivan - RSC will leave the club next year. Stop being so bloody silly.

We're going to struggle to hold on to our better players whilst we're still trying to find a buyer for the club. End of story. Until then, we still have a good squad of players - I just hope we can find an investor soon-ish before we get relegated again because that's my main worry.

I don't think John Williams is to blame for any of this - hasn't he already said he'd support the manager's decisions when it comes to keeping/selling players? I'm 100% certain that if Ince doesn't want to let Santa Cruz go for £15m then he won't go - the key question is how much would Ince be willing to accept for Santa and how much of that money would he get to spend? Also does Santa strike you as the sort to spit his dummy out, e.g. Bentley?

I think JW is playing the tough middle-man role of balancing the Walker Trust's interests with the REAL interests of the club/football. I believe he's doing a very good job of it.

RSC isn't the sort to voice his discontent publicly like Mr Bentley or Robbie Savage. If RSC wans to leave, he will do so.

[CrazyIvan]

Face the facts, Ivan - RSC will leave the club next year. Stop being so bloody silly.

Face the facts? What fact? What do you know for certain about next year? If you know for certain RSC will leave next year, can you give me the lottery numbers for the weekend?

I think he will leave next year as well. My point about all of this crap is the fact people are jumping on something that is unverified and taking it as gospel and then taking that and making leaps above and beyond. The exact same thing happened with Carlos!

I'll 'stop being so bloody silly' when people stop being completely idiotic about completely unsubstantiated reports in the papers!

[RibbleValleyRover]

Have we got the source of the article? I was browsing the BBC and saw this story but there didn't appear to be a source?

Could it just be a case of what happened with Carlos recently, a badly translated article from abroad with some added spin?

With Roque signing a new contract we should be guaranteed financially to receive a large sum, though at the same time do you honestly believe the board will make say £20 million plus from his sale available to Ince? I can't see it myself.

I don't want to see Roque go, the best forward at our club IMO since Sutton and he is a player i honestly don't believe we can replace.

[American Rover12]

Read this story this morning too. £30m or no deal. We have him for four years and we all know Man City has the cash. Why sell for any less; no other club would.

[RibbleValleyRover]

I'll be interested to see if there will be a statement on the official site on this story. We saw a response to the story about Warnock asking Newcastle to "come and get me", and then there was the Carlos story about hating life at Rovers which got a quick response.

I'm hoping the basis of the story is just a case of the press trying to print some BS about us again, though if there is silence on the official site on this story, questions will be asked.

[DeadlyDirk]

Hopefully the article is a mis translation or something but lets be honest, if Roque does want out then money talks in this day and age, Man City have made no secret of there willingness to splash the cash over the coming years to get the players and the team that they want.

If he wants to go then there is no point keeping an unhappy player at the club no matter how good he is, if we can get £20 million plus then it will be a good deal on someone we bought for about £3.5 million. Hopefully we can hold out for closer to £30.

We'll wait and see though, most importantly I just hope we manage to hang on to him in January and at least wait until the summer, it would be very difficult to find anyone even close to a replacement in January.

[Oklahoma]

I hope this doesn't change RSC's form. It hasn't been great this season but he is still our best striker (well, his competition are weak).

Funny how some people crucified Benni for wanting to go to chelsea (a top 4 team) but they don't do it when santa wants to go man City lol

[BuckyRover]

Is that the sound of a can of worms being opened there Oklahoma?

[DingleBaiter]

Second peep from RSC in less than a week; oh deary me.

[broadsword]

Uh-oh, I really hope someone's not playing the race card.

Benni got slagged off, yes. But so did Bentley when he was agitating for a move.

If Santa Cruz doesn't get slagged off for wanting to leave after just signing a new deal, it's probably because the fans are just resigned to it now.