[Archived] Nickos (newer) Thread

[thenodrog]

I'm not worried about relegation. We'd probably survive if we lost Bentley, RSC and Friedel without signing anyone! Simply because there are sides worse than us still. However failing to deal properly with these three and any possible signings would see us out of the race for Europe, which would be bad enough.

Bloody dangerous words those Lathund.

The upward curve that the club has been on would become a downward one resulting in the Prem vultures coming to pick over our stricken carcass and take even more players. Warnock, Samba, Benny, Roberts would all be coveted by other clubs. Their agents would be working on them moving too . Rats always leave the sinking ship first rem. Call me pessimistic but it's not long since simply through a succession of poor management and poor direction we all saw this happening before with the dismantling of our Prem winning team and subsequent (and at the time unthinkable) relegation ...... And we had Jack Walker then to throw us a lifeline.

[Beta Ray Bill]

So the 'facts' are now -

Villa have bid

Ince, Williams and Rovers in general have stated/suggested they don't want to sell.

Brad is known to love the club and doesn't want to leave.

The speculation is -

Villa have somehow managed to get their alledged proposed contract terms into the wide open (not a good business tatic and properly a form a tapping up).

Brad would be foolish to turn down an alledged double your money deal.

The options available -

Rovers sell willing to get the money.

Rovers sell reluctantly if Brad hands in a transfer request.

Rovers offer a revised contract, not necessarily matching Villa, but good enough to keep Brad.

Rovers refuse to sell and Brad has to accept this

Rovers refuse to sell and Brad buys his contract out (is this even possible, all these new player power rules are confusing).

Brad says it's all tosh and he isn't motivated by money.

[hawkiiz]

Now thats better. How can brad go if nobody want him to? Helstad-forget it. (I hope). Joaquin would be great, but the price is off by a mile. Belletti i hope for! If we get some of these i can forgive the fowler story

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

So the 'facts' are now -

Villa have bid

Ince, Williams and Rovers in general have stated/suggested they don't want to sell.

Brad is known to love the club and doesn't want to leave.

The speculation is -

Villa have somehow managed to get their alledged proposed contract terms into the wide open (not a good business tatic and properly a form a tapping up).

Brad would be foolish to turn down an alledged double your money deal.

The options available -

Rovers sell willing to get the money.

Rovers sell reluctantly if Brad hands in a transfer request.

Rovers offer a revised contract, not necessarily matching Villa, but good enough to keep Brad.

Rovers refuse to sell and Brad has to accept this

Rovers refuse to sell and Brad buys his contract out (is this even possible, all these new player power rules are confusing).

Brad says it's all tosh and he isn't motivated by money.

I think if Brad does turn down the money and stay at Rovers - it will firmly cement his place as a Rovers legend. He is a legend anyway - but it would be an act of loyality unheard of these days.

For all the stick Ince is getting, none of the rumours are of his making. Even if MH had stayed I am sure that Roque, Bentley and Brad would all have been linked with moves away - it is the reality of our success and the size of club we are. I think only Bents is likely to go - and Rovers are holding out for big bucks. IF Brad goes, Ince is looking into his options - what is wrong with that ?

As for people getting depressed about who we are linked with :-

1. We have signed nobody yet

2. Remember we are only a small town in Lancashire

3. Samba - who the hell is he ? Roque - why buy him he hardly ever plays or scores ! A big name doesn't necessarily mean success - after all look at the "big name" players Newcastle and Tottingham have bought over the years

[frosty]

Joaquin would be awesome if the rumour is true.

[thenodrog]

Just found this which i hope is true about Friedel: http://www.eatsleepsport.com/blackburn-rov...ers-757362.html

"But Blackburn are adamant Friedel is going nowhere because new boss Paul Ince is happy to keep him as his number one for now.

"There is some interest but Paul Ince's wish is to start the season with Brad Friedel," Rovers chairman John Williams told the Lancashire Evening Telegraph."

That would sound much better if Ince's wish was to END the season with Brad Freidel!

Conspiracy hat on cos that sounds to me like Ince was planning to replace Brad and after seeing the general reaction from the fans that Williams has come home early from holiday to overule him and put out the flames. I think Mr Williams will be begining to realise that in appointing Paul Ince he has made a lot of work for himself.

and this completely unecessary sentence from Nicko's piece .... Losing Friedel will be a blow for Ince, but I understand that the former United States star will clear Ince of any accusations he wants rid of him. speaks bloody volumes!

[Roost]

The fact is that there are no FACTS at all.

Lets just wait this out - we were bound to experience some tubulence just because of the change of manager - and most of the bad air causing this turbulence comes from lazy journalism.

One Love - BRFC

[Sandiway Blue]

Don't see how it can be, we sell one of the top two keepers in the league to a rival and we get Robinson.

Sounds far from a masterstroke to me.

As much as we all love Brad,the reality is he only has maybe 2 seasons left at the top.

We do need to get a replacement within the next 12 months regardless of whether he stays or goes,as i said,IF Robinson can get back to his best then we will end up with Englands no1 keeper playing for Rovers at a time when a number of `bigger clubs` are looking for keepers.

[Iceman]

Is there no PR at Rovers,media man/woman that speaks on behalf of the club.2 many rumours flying around,and nobody coming forward to either confirm or deny it.surely the club,jw and ince must know or have heard the stories about Brad.

[Fife Rover]

Bowen was being linked with the Norwich job wasn't he? A former player of a team that was struggling at the time, and in his time at Birmingham had hardly worked with top players. Brian Kidd had a great reputation as a coach.

Glynn Hodges hardly a reputation from what I can remember, the same with Hitchcock and the sport scientist guy was up and coming, but nobody championed any of Hughes staff as great appointments. They went on to probably produce the fittest Rovers in my memory, but not the most organised or creative. We became hard to beat but also struggled to beat teams, especially when they dug in at Ewood.

Ince has brought in somebody who he has worked with before at MK Dons as his number two, Ince strikes as wanting a number who believes in his way of things and imparts that on the players which is what I believe is Matthias's role. We have brought Know in who is a highly experienced coach to supplement Ince's coaching methods which will hopefully be "modern" and "innovative". We have brought in Eric Steele who has a very good reputation as a keeper coach, and two sport scientist that apparently have good reputations to replace the one we have lost.

In addition we have added a specialist defensive coach, which in my mind is a very good thing given some of our defensive lapses at times, looking comfortable but then looking amateurish.

We also need to replace a chief scout that didn't have the best reputation, Samba and Nelsen came through agents, not him scouting them.

In my view Rovers had become a bit stale and a shake up was not going to happen under Hughes as he believed in his coaching "team" as he called them on many occasions.

Until signings are confirmed and departures happen I will reserve judgement on the ins and outs rather than try and justify or vilify every possible move.

Lets deal in facts.

The old regime is gone, a new one is being built.

So far, in my opinion, the right kind of vision seems to be in place in regards to the structure, whether the personnel are a success or failure will come down to our performances this season, but remember, Hughes and his "team" didn't produce the goods overnight.

At last the voice of reason. A very sensible post from the Gull. No need for hysteria (yet); except if he sells Brad!!!!!!

[RibbleValleyRover]

As much as we all love Brad,the reality is he only has maybe 2 seasons left at the top.

We do need to get a replacement within the next 12 months regardless of whether he stays or goes,as i said,IF Robinson can get back to his best then we will end up with Englands no1 keeper playing for Rovers at a time when a number of `bigger clubs` are looking for keepers.

Robinson is not in the same league as Brad, he peaked years ago and is in a major decline.

Last season was Brad's best for a while, he is still up there with Cech in my view as the best keeper in the league. I feel we will get another season or two out of Brad yet, i would keep him at least another season and reassess at the end of it.

I also have a major problem with selling our best players to our rivals.

[tonyoz]

This is the silly season. No real news so the papers are full of crap. This leads some good folks to give credibility to the most outlandish rumours. I don't believe that John Williams will endorse any of it - he has done an excellent job so far and I trust him to look after the clubs interests in the future.

I also have faith in Paul Ince - he is a breath of fresh air in my humble opinion. God forbid that we had appointed one of the big-name journeymen. We took a risk on an exciting fresh prospect.......someone who has shown that he has something rare - an ability to assemble a winning team. Yes, yes, it wasn't the premiership...........but we couldn't afford Wenger or Ferguson.

[thenodrog]

The fact is that there are no FACTS at all.

One Love - BRFC

No Facts? Well the nearest we have to facts from our resident journo who would surely never lie to us is that Villa have bid 2.5m for Brad and Spurs would want 5m for Robinson. So when I was at school thats costing us 2.5m to end up with a gkeeper thats only half as good.

So if those are the facts now for the speculation... we go cap in hand and open discussions with spurs for Robinson when they look like losing their two best strikers and will be viewing both RSC and Bentley with greedy eyes. It's a House of Cards scenario, and one that can only be prevented by BRFC coming right out with a strongly worded statement that NO ONE will be allowed out of the exit door this summer and thats that! It might make January a bit messy but hopefully we would have steadied the ship and got enough points on the board to allow Ince to at least 'bed in' and certainly to find replacements of equal or better ability BEFORE we lose the originals. I can't imagine that BRFC will then be a happy ship but so effin what?

[den]

Robinson is not in the same league as Brad, he peaked years ago and is in a major decline.

Last season was Brad's best for a while, he is still up there with Cech in my view as the best keeper in the league. I feel we will get another season or two out of Brad yet, i would keep him at least another season and reassess at the end of it.

I also have a major problem with selling our best players to our rivals.

The obvious danger is that the club could take a massive step backwards by allowing their sympathies for the individual player. If it was a matter of one "unsettled" player, ["unsettled" meaning greedy, selfish.] then maybe, just maybe it would be better to allow them to move on, after we secured a replacement.

The way things are looking for a manager who's in his first real challenge, it might be better for the club to tell all the players that for this season, we stay as we are. No-one leaves. These players and I include Brad if he's asking to move, should be put firmly in their place. The good of the club, comes before the individual.

EDIT: I hadn't read Theno's post before posting this.

[thenodrog]

As much as we all love Brad,the reality is he only has maybe 2 seasons left at the top.

Disagree completely. In fact I'd offer him a 4 year deal on todays terms with a sizeable loyalty bonus and testimonial attached to the end of it. Just 2 years at the top as BRFC's No 1 I'd agree probably bacup blue BUT when replaced in the 1st team he could easily be the new 'Enckleman' and sit on the bench as sub keeper.... and double as a gkeeping coach too in preperation for his next career move. (BRFC manager perhaps? ) Unfortunately from BRFC's perspective I'd think that would to too logical and far too sensible.

[revolutionrock!]

Joaquin?

Whats the low down?

[bats]

Joaquin?

Whats the low down?

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

[den]

Joaquin?

Whats the low down?

Read the transfer links topic.

[revolutionrock!]

Read the transfer links topic.

Sorry.

Haven't been on in a while, thanks!

[1864roverite]

I have just got off the toilet having been lodged there for about 35 mins reading this tosh about Rovers willing to pay £16m YES SIXTEEN MILLION for a player from a Spanish Team.

Now then, we have sen some crud written in the media recently but that takes the AWARD as being the biggest load of rubbish EVER written in the media.

The lad who wrote it clearly suffers from dementia and delusion and if he(or she) really believe that Rovers have £16m to burn on 1 player then they clearly don realise that Jack Walker sadly left us a number of years ago.

Even if Rovers got £20m for Bentley PLUS £14m for RSC as well as £2.5m for Brad added to the £13m warchest already available BRFC would STILL NEVER pay such an outlay for a player such as Joaquin.

Funny, my ribs are broken

[RibbleValleyRover]

I haven't seen much of Joaquin though i do believe he is highly rated.

The £16 million figure must be wide of the mark, can't see us shelling out that for one player. Do we even have £16 million to spend? If we did would that be all our budget?

Though if Bentley goes i assume we could afford it.

[Fife Rover]

Robbie Fowler is not here to replace Roque.

Please.

Was that "Please" meant disdainfully, or hopefully?

[RibbleValleyRover]

The obvious danger is that the club could take a massive step backwards by allowing their sympathies for the individual player. If it was a matter of one "unsettled" player, ["unsettled" meaning greedy, selfish.] then maybe, just maybe it would be better to allow them to move on, after we secured a replacement.

The way things are looking for a manager who's in his first real challenge, it might be better for the club to tell all the players that for this season, we stay as we are. No-one leaves. These players and I include Brad if he's asking to move, should be put firmly in their place. The good of the club, comes before the individual.

EDIT: I hadn't read Theno's post before posting this.

I agree Den

I see this season as a period of stabilisation and keeping our best players hopefully should achieve this.

[Wild Irish Rover]

No Facts? Well the nearest we have to facts from our resident journo who would surely never lie to us is that Villa have bid 2.5m for Brad and Spurs would want 5m for Robinson. So when I was at school thats costing us 2.5m to end up with a gkeeper thats only half as good.

So if those are the facts now for the speculation... we go cap in hand and open discussions with spurs for Robinson when they look like losing their two best strikers and will be viewing both RSC and Bentley with greedy eyes. It's a House of Cards scenario, and one that can only be prevented by BRFC coming right out with a strongly worded statement that NO ONE will be allowed out of the exit door this summer and thats that! It might make January a bit messy but hopefully we would have steadied the ship and got enough points on the board to allow Ince to at least 'bed in' and certainly to find replacements of equal or better ability BEFORE we lose the originals. I can't imagine that BRFC will then be a happy ship but so effin what?

Love it!! Please can we have a day of us all talking hard-nosed sense like this?? Love it!

This is not a time to be rocking the boat - as Theno points out, the club and especially the new manager needs a period of assessment and evaluation, where there are no major changes in personnel other than in those areas we all recognise needed strengthening at the end of last season.

GIVE INCE A CHANCE

[Iceman]

i just wish this season wil start now...im not worried at who ince signs..what will be interesting is the 1st 10 games of the season....iff things go well,then the fans might forget whatever player he has signed.If things go badly,well then thats another story.