[Archived] Roque Santa Cruz Thread

[Billy Castell]

Firstly, we didn't know he was going to get injured, secondly, we didn't have a replacement lined up as the serious bids came in the 11th hour and thirdly the big bid from Man City was going to be paid in installments over 3 years and not up front. Hindsight is wonderful, but as things unfolded at the end of the transfer window, it was best to keep him.

[SAS]

Hmm, where have I heard that before? Oh yeah, prior to the Spurs game

We'd be lucky to see him in a Rovers shirt from now till the end of the season, if you ask me.

It was over a week before the spurs game too :!:

And at that time said he would deffo be back for pool

[RevidgeBlue]

I spoke to him at Brockhall on the Tuesday before the West Ham game and he said he wouldn't be fit for that but hoped to be fit for the Spurs game.

I'm presuming that the lack of progress has come since and I too am not sure if we'll see much of him before the end of the season.

Unless it's a bit of kidology from Sam.

[dave birch]

It definitely was a ticketing issue that got the fans off side. Players or club, you'll have to make up your own mind, but it certainly reduced the following and subsequent years gates.

It's a situation that hasn't changed; folk that support the Rovers aren't the richest of people, yet they see these guys running around and getting a kings ransom each week.

[Amo]

Firstly, we didn't know he was going to get injured, secondly, we didn't have a replacement lined up as the serious bids came in the 11th hour and thirdly the big bid from Man City was going to be paid in installments over 3 years and not up front. Hindsight is wonderful, but as things unfolded at the end of the transfer window, it was best to keep him.

Exactly. We could very easily have ended up with egg on our faces, and would do little for the morale of the squad. The guys are scrapping away well in Roque's absence, but hopefully his class up-front will play a significant part to the end of our season.

[waggy]

we could have kept derbyshire,problem solved

[tcj_jones]

But Derbyshire is a rubbish striker, so it doesn't really solve the problem of Roque being injured...

[gazsimm]

we could have kept derbyshire,problem solved

Derbyshire is not good enough for the premier league!

[waggy]

Derbyshire is not good enough for the premier league!

far better than a crocked rsc

[benhben]

Im sure that knee tendonitis is a long running thing for RSC. Im sure I remember him saying he was playing through the pain towards the end of last season and all the way through this season. Surely the BRFC medical staff had a small idea how bad it was.

[gazsimm]

far better than a crocked rsc

If RSC can play a few games before the end of the season, he will have more then an impact in these matches then if Derbyshire had played in all the games all season. SO YES

[Hughesy]

we could have kept derbyshire,problem solved

And that would of left us with Derbyshire, Roberts & McCarthy with No Givet or Diouf - I think not!!

Sam did the right thing - are would you rather our club was pushed around like pussies in the transfer market and sell our best player for cheap? Im sure you would of moaned if he was sold too.

[waggy]

And that would of left us with Derbyshire, Roberts & McCarthy with No Givet or Diouf - I think not!!

Sam did the right thing - are would you rather our club was pushed around like pussies in the transfer market and sell our best player for cheap? Im sure you would of moaned if he was sold too.

getting 15million plus for a crock is not selling players on the cheap

[Hughesy]

City never ever offered us £15m until it was too late to replace him. They did however make us a pathetic offer which included paying for the player over 3 seperate years!

We looked at options in Crouch & Janko but neither were available for sensible prices. Wake up and smell the coffee!

[Billy Castell]

Ah Waggy, hindsight is wonderful. How were we to know he was about to suffer continuing injury problems? And who would be his replacement if we accepted the original £12-15m bid? During the window it looked like he would have a season free of medical problems and needed him to be firing on all cylinders if we were to get out of a dodgy situation that Mr. Ince left us in. His replacements were either too expensive (e.g. Janko) or not interested (e.g. Crouch) and we would probably have had to sign Jay Bothroyd again.

Still, since our star striker is such a crock, it just shows what a good job Mr. Allardyce is doing without him doesn't it Waggy?

[waggy]

City never ever offered us £15m until it was too late to replace him. They did however make us a pathetic offer which included paying for the player over 3 seperate years!

We looked at options in Crouch & Janko but neither were available for sensible prices. Wake up and smell the coffee!

is that not usual,anyway gordon said it was 25 million,and he has been injured for 80% off the season,nescafe has no aroma w=once opened

[Billy Castell]

OK, let us have a hypothetical situation. It is about 10:30 at night and Man City have offered this £25m bid, with lets say £5-9m up front. Would you accept it? And if so, who would you bring in as a replacement? Please bear in mind you have to negotiate a contract, bring them in for a medical etc. For me, it would be too late for me to accept as I would not want to pay over the odds in terms of wages and transfer fees because the deadline is looming. I would also insist on a potential player having a medical. £25m sounds a great deal, and it is, but how much of it was up front?

If the reported £25m was split with £15m+ up front, then I may have gone for it even if a replacement may not be found in time. However, given that Citeh were messing us about with crappy bids of £8m and blabbing to the press to unsettle RSC I doubt the £25m figure is true, or if it was very little of it would be up front.

[Fife Rover]

Probably but the favourites being defeated 0-3 didn't help. Players on the gravy train as soon as the semi's were over. Dougans transfer request on the morning of the final etc etc. I don't rem it but you really need to ask older ones like Jimski or Fife. Point being thousands stopped going to Ewood from that day on because the players and club blatantly put money before the fans and before winning the FA cup for Blackburn.

I certainly DO remember it; in all it's painful detail. The damage was done as far as several thousand Rovers fans were concerned well before the actual final date. In fact it all went haywire as soon as the Cup Final ticketing arrangements were announced. Instead of the expected 30,000+ tickets going on general sale, it turned out that in spite of the denials and smoke-screen figures put out by the club, it gradually emerged by simple deduction and enquiry among family, friends, and workmates that very few people had got tickets, or even knew anybody that HAD got one. In my own extended family alone, there were around 20 male members who were all die-hard supporters, and only one of them got a ticket which he was lucky enough to win in a raffle at the YMCA FC where he was a player at the time. None of my friends or workmates got one either.

The local press was scathing about it all and rumours were rife about the players being given hundreds of tickets each and selling them on the black market at inflated prices. A huge amount of damage was done to the reputations of both club and players as far as the ordinary supporters were concerned, and the bitterness that all this engendered lingered on for many, many years. Several thousand previously die-hard fans swore never to watch Rovers again, and as far as I know for the vast majority of them that is still the case.

[den]

Fife, - I know it's a long time ago, but would you know how many season ticket holders rovers had in those days? Did they even sell season tickets in 1960?

I'm just trying to figure out how the club actually went about selling cup final tickets in those days. Maybe it was just a free for all, with tickets being sold at the ground on a first come, first served basis? Did you or your family go to the ground and what happened?

Also, can you remember how many the two clubs were allocated? I assume that with Wembley holding 100.000 in those days, the clubs would have got more than 30.000?

I have heard the same stories as you tell Fife, but I've never actually heard any facts about what went on.

[Billy Castell]

That is sad Fife, as those involved arenow either dead, or their association with the club has long since ended.

[Fife Rover]

Fife, - I know it's a long time ago, but would you know how many season ticket holders rovers had in those days? Did they even sell season tickets in 1960?

I'm just trying to figure out how the club actually went about selling cup final tickets in those days. Maybe it was just a free for all, with tickets being sold at the ground on a first come, first served basis? Did you or your family go to the ground and what happened?

Also, can you remember how many the two clubs were allocated? I assume that with Wembley holding 100.000 in those days, the clubs would have got more than 30.000?

I have heard the same stories as you tell Fife, but I've never actually heard any facts about what went on.

I am sorry but I can't give you any figures for numbers of season ticket holders in 1960 Den. I never had one myself until the early 70's, simply because it was not necessary in those days. You just used to roll up at the ground, get in the queue for your favorite turnstile and chat away to those around you until you got in. It was relatively very cheap in those days, and few people saw any need for a season ticket.

As far as Cup Final tickets are concerned, with Wembley at that time holding 100,000, the generally believed rule for tickets was: 30,000+ for each of the finalists, and the remaining 40,000 being distributed by the F.A. to all it's member clubs for them to dispose of as they saw fit. That ties in with the figures that were published in the local press as the row about ticket allocation in Blackburn raged on, but the club always tried to deny this and various attempts at trying to uncover the true picture of how many the Rovers received, and how they decided to allocate these were all inconclusive, and the row rumbled on for months about it all.

[DP]

Didn't we have bigger gates, but also much smaller gates back then as well?

40,000 1 week and then 10,000 the week after etc. Depending on whether it was a local Derby or important game. Makes you wonder what the other 30,000 were doing when they didn't decide to go. Part timers!

[Amo]

Let's get a grip here - waggy is just looking for any stick to beat Big Sam with. Had we sold Roque for big-bucks, I could just imagine blah blah lardarse sold our best striker It's one vitriol dig after another, and everyone (including myself) makes the mistake of indulging it.

I don't think Derbs is a bad player to have in the squad, but his exit allowed us to sign Diouf who's given 110% for the blue & white. And for such a controversial individual, his team-mates have certainly warmed to him and recognised his contribution. We now have someone who can play out-wide, and a top-quality striker to return from injury. Throw in the fact we're sitting 5pts from safety and things look promising. *touch wood*

[DannyKeg]

In the 1960's the FA Cup final ticket distribution was heavily biased towards the FA. Each club which entered the competition got a certain number of tickets. The Finalists were left with about 13,000 each, hence the problems.

[den]

You sure about that DannyKeg? There is a lot of defference between 13000 and 30000.