[Archived] Nicko's Thread Part 3

[EwoodGlory]

24.05.2008

Chelsea Football Club can confirm that Avram Grant has had his contract as manager terminated today (Saturday, May 24). This follows meetings over the last two days.

[rover6]

"This follows meetings over the last two days haggling over how many millions Grant should walk away with."

Inevitable, really. It would be good for English football if they got a real attacking footy nut in charge and started getting their superstars to entertain.

[philipl]

One slippy footstep.

The difference between European Cup winner and the sack.

I think Grant did a remarkable job in the circumstances and if Sparky were to move on I would not be unhappy to see him at Rovers despite his occasional tactical muck-ups.

I wonder who else will get fired- somebody seems to be driving the player transfer activity down there. Robinho is apparently on his way to Sramford Bridge.

So Mourinho to Inter and Manchini to Chelsea?

[bluebruce]

One slippy footstep.

The difference between European Cup winner and the sack.

I think Grant did a remarkable job in the circumstances and if Sparky were to move on I would not be unhappy to see him at Rovers despite his occasional tactical muck-ups.

It wouldn't impress me in particular. The thing a club like us needs most is an eye for a player, and Grant has done nothing to make us think he could find us great players at low prices and turn them around like Hughesy has.

[Rovers Air Force]

IMHO we would struggle to find as good a manager as MH shoul he leave this summer. his ability to identify players best suited for the PL at bargin basement prices is a skill few posses, and this is the reason for our position in the league, rather than fighting a religation dogfight. We must stive to keep mark at the club as long as possible... even with the odd tactical gaff! don't forget he is relativly young in his mangorial carear...

the thought of grant at ewood fills me with dread! as sam allerdyce proved, being a manager capable of squeazing the best from avarage players doeas cot commute to getting slightly better players with huge egos in to the champions league; and I fear the reverse would be painfully true!

[EwoodGlory]

Nicko's clues would point to the player we are watching as being Milan Smiljanic, but I would be surprised if it was. Not that he isn't a good player, but his performance against Ireland tonight backs up his stats. He seems to be a defensive midfielder, in the same mold as Vogel. 1 goal in 83 club appearances.

Asked a couple of people in Spain, and he is a good player, but Espanyol wouldn't be looking to let him go on the cheap.

Not a 'top quality' creative attacking player I hoped we would be looking to invest most of the budget on.

Not a great game tonight, not too much good attacking play from either side, but he didn't get into the opposition box once.

I haven't seen him in club action before, maybe he might play different to internationals?

[LeChuck]

IMHO we would struggle to find as good a manager as MH shoul he leave this summer. his ability to identify players best suited for the PL at bargin basement prices is a skill few posses

I think most people on here will hate this suggestion, but the only manager who has proven he can compete with the top teams on a limited budget (and find bargains in the process) is Sam Allardyce. He also has the knack that Hughes has of being able to taking players who have had trouble elsewhere and settle them down.

If Hughes were to leave then I really don't see who else we could appoint that could keep us challenging in the top half on our current budget.

[S15]

I said at the time it could be good for us MH going to Newcastle at the time he was linked as Sam Allardyce is by far the best replacement we could ever get.

Wouldn't be a popular choice but most on here would say Bolton are a smaller club than us, but he did a better job there than Hughes has done here, as things stand that is.

[Mozzer]

sam allardyce did a good job at bolton-but theres only one way he can play-and thats long ball football-always in a 4-5-1 formation-so no thanks..allardyce was at bolton longer then hughes is at blackburn-so you cant really compare them..

i dont think mark hughes is the sort of manager who would like to be told who to sign-this clearly happens at chelsea..

[Baggio]

Believe me lads, you wouldn't want Sam Allardyce.

[modes98]

Believe me lads, you wouldn't want Sam Allardyce.

That's the first sensible thing I've heard from a toon fan in a while. All i have been hearing recently is that Keegan is god.

[Baggio]

That's the first sensible thing I've heard from a toon fan in a while. All i have been hearing recently is that Keegan is god.

Keegan's a decent manager and will get us back up around the European places next season, his biggest problem is that he loses interest if things don't go his way like he did at Man City, he does encourage good football which is the main thing for a lot of people because you pay money to be entertained as, well I do anyway.

Allardyce is the complete opposite, a lad I know on another site is good friends with a few ex players and most of them who know Allardyce say he's a bluffer, he likes to play the part of the deep thinker but really he's not that switched on about the game, out of Derby's 11 points this season they took 4 of them off us, fat Sam treated the trip to Pride Park as if it were the Nou Camp and tried to play for a point, unbelievable.

His main problem is that he uses prozone to tell him how the game has gone, an example being that we played some awful long ball football and everyone in the stadium agreed on it, not Allardyce though and he used the prozone stats to prove his point ignoring what you can actually see with your eyes, to him the fact the defenders passed it around amongst themselves before launching it 70 yards up field for Michael Owen to try and win a header showed we didn't play long ball football because the stats said we played more short passes.

In fact the only good thing about Allardyce was this thread on a Sunderland forum, worth a look if you've got some spare time.

http://www.readytogo.net/smb/showthread.ph...otoshop+fat+sam

[nicko]

Some Sundays suggesting Sparky for Chelsea.

I'm not having that one at all...

[bringdunnback]

nicko any chance of sundays scoops now?

[EwoodGlory]

At least that explains why his odds have been dropping.

The Times is reporting that City are lining up Avram Grant to replace Sven.

[modes98]

Keegan's a decent manager and will get us back up around the European places next season

I have to quote that so you can read it back in a years time

You have a hell of a lot of work to do to catch up with the bunch of heavily invested teams.

Given has seemingly lost his touch.

Your defence is akin the the titanic's anti sinking systems.

Midfield is light to say the least and you'll be even worse without Milner.

and Mr Keegans favourite department, attack is bulging with talent until Mr Owen flies the nest.

You need to spend big to get up there, talking £50m+ and that is because IMO Wise will not spend it well and Ashley is a moron of the first order.

[EwoodGlory]

Wise is working with Tony Jimenez and Jeff Vetere, who are supposedly two of the best scouts in the game, so I think the money will be spent wisely.

They are looking for the right kind of players, but Ashley won't pay over the odds for them, unlike Newcastle under the previous regime.

It will take time but they will improve a lot.

Only problem is that the Toon fans aren't patient enough, and want things to happen now, which won't be the case.

[Grabbi Graeme]

I said at the time it could be good for us MH going to Newcastle at the time he was linked as Sam Allardyce is by far the best replacement we could ever get.

Wouldn't be a popular choice but most on here would say Bolton are a smaller club than us, but he did a better job there than Hughes has done here, as things stand that is.

And what drugs are you trying out ths week

[Tris]

Seems we have a reader...

http://www.thisisblackburn.co.uk/display.var.2292467.0..php

Why do you feel the need to take every opportunity to have a pop at our local paper?

[thenodrog]

Seems we have a reader...

http://www.thisisblackburn.co.uk/display.var.2292467.0..php

Why do you feel the need to take every opportunity to have a pop at our local paper?

Seems our local paper has 'a reader' too Tris!

[Baggio]

I have to quote that so you can read it back in a years time

You have a hell of a lot of work to do to catch up with the bunch of heavily invested teams.

Given has seemingly lost his touch.

Your defence is akin the the titanic's anti sinking systems.

Midfield is light to say the least and you'll be even worse without Milner.

and Mr Keegans favourite department, attack is bulging with talent until Mr Owen flies the nest.

You need to spend big to get up there, talking £50m+ and that is because IMO Wise will not spend it well and Ashley is a moron of the first order.

Actually I think we would have been in the top half if Keegan had been there all season, only just though.

The new formation he's using really is working well and a lot of teams will struggle against it next season, Michael Owen playing in the hole is just too difficult for the majority of Premiership teams to pick up as his movement is that good, Keegan's looking to replace Viduka too so I'd fancy us to get plenty of goals next season.

Our midfield is much improved now Milner and Duff have been shifted out, Geremi is playing well but I think he'll be replaced in the starting 11 as he just isn't mobile enough, Barton will be replaced too by the looks of it but I can see Butt keeping his place.

I can see him looking to bring a leader in at centre back and a left back because we've only got one but again it's looked much better with the pressure taken off in this new formation, we still need a leader to organise back there though.

Shay Given's finished I think, he hasn't been the same since getting injured by Marlon Harewood 18 months ago and has been struggling, we've been looking at Pele from Le Mans but I think Harper will be first choice next season, we've got a young Dutch lad called Tim Krul who was on loan at Falkirk before dislocating his shoulder who the club think will be number one in the near future.

Wise doesn't have much to do with the deals as far as I know and does more work trying to improve the academy from the bottom up, Jeff Vetere (former Real Madrid scout) will find the players and Tony Jimenez will try and get the deal done, Vetere seems to have his eye on some decent players in their early 20's which is the direction the club want to move in instead of older players who will soon be on their way down.

[Baggio]

Wise is working with Tony Jimenez and Jeff Vetere, who are supposedly two of the best scouts in the game, so I think the money will be spent wisely.

They are looking for the right kind of players, but Ashley won't pay over the odds for them, unlike Newcastle under the previous regime.

It will take time but they will improve a lot.

Only problem is that the Toon fans aren't patient enough, and want things to happen now, which won't be the case.

I think the Newcastle fans not being patient is usually overplayed, in Sir Bobby's first 2 seasons we finished in the bottom half of the table but people were prepared to give him time as they had faith in what he was trying achieve, the same goes for Keegan now who will get plenty of time to turn the club around off the supporters.

Jeff Vetere seems to have a good eye for a player and was the one who pushed for the club to bid for Modric, we missed out on him but if you're going for players of that calibre then you have to expect some rejections with the club finishing in the bottom half, hopefully we'll improve making it easier to bring in quality players.

We will see though, some interesting times ahead I think.

[philipl]

Well, it is a change to read a fan who is wildly optimistic even if it has to be a Newcastle-follower.

I have no idea whether the backroom scouts working for Wise are any good but Newcastle haven't had any success in landing their prime targets thus far and by the sound of it need to sign at least half a dozen players, if not more.

Ashley is replacing Chris Mort by an old mate and no doubt at some stage stories of tensions between Ashley, Keegan and Wise are bound to re-surface as surely as Rovers fans have to deal with stories that Hughes and Bentley are wanted elsewhere.

As things stand at the moment in the North-East, I think Boro are the closest to having a European-challenging squad, Sunderland have the resources and learnt their lessons from blowing last year's budget so could strengthen appreciably leaving Newcastle quite possibly not even having bragging rights over the neighbours, never mind with anyone else.

Newcastle have to decide what they are. If they go chasing at the Modric and Woodgate level, they will be disappointed as those players will continue to go to "more credible" clubs elsewhere (and it doesn't take any genius to scout them either). However, if they operate in the transfer market Rovers operate in, they will be a total pain for our transfer ambitions but they could build a squad that is a serious contender for UEFA football in 09/10.

So please stick to challenging Spurs and Man City in the transfer circus.

[leftfooter]

According to today's People:

'The priorities are a striker, a midfield general, a right back and a left winger as he looks to make his big push for the top four next season'

http://www.people.co.uk/sport/football/tm_...-name_page.html

That's virtually the same as what we need

[S15]

And what drugs are you trying out ths week

The ones where started lower to mid table in division one and within five years were PERENNIAL CHAMPIONS LEAGUE CONTENDERS, each time coming closer than Rovers ever have.

You should try some, might remove those blinkers.