[Archived] Nickos (newer) Thread

[Silencio]

Lower, ground or upper ?

Well spotted...

[rovers_rob]

Spurs may have planted the Lennon story to start a conversation...it's the kind of thing they do.

However his agent - who is a decent guy - tells me they know nothing about it.

His price is around £5 million, so Spurs would still have to find £10 million to get near to Bentley.

Not sure that is happening.

I hope spurs did plant the story, Lennon is a good young player and I think he would be a good replacement. Bentley is a big mouth and he has publicly stated that he does not want to play for us regardless of who the manager is. If we keep him he won't be settled and I think it will affect his performance on the pitch.

10 million + Lennon would be good business in my opinion and I would also be happy with 10 million + Pennant.

[CAPT KAYOS]

If we keep him he won't be settled and I think it will affect his performance on the pitch.

mmmm.. did you not see towards the end of season

or maybe it could have been that he was being played out of position

[JamieUK]

I'm hoping Bentley meets with Ince and decides to stay / realises he's not going anywhere for another year. Surely if he did an interview and said he'd had positive talks with the club and wanted to reassess the situation next Summer he'd win back the fan's support?

[modes98]

I think it will affect his performance on the pitch.

The question is can he afford to let it? He wants to cement his england place ahead of the world cup and having a bad season could all but kill that.

Pennant is ok but more miss than hit with his crosses. Lennon would give us pace but lacks the ability to cross.

[Rover down South]

The question is can he afford to let it? He wants to cement his england place ahead of the world cup and having a bad season could all but kill that.

Pennant is ok but more miss than hit with his crosses. Lennon would give us pace but lacks the ability to cross.

My worry about Bentley is that his attitude appears to be similar to McCarthy's, in that a (big) club shows an interest & now he wants to go. McCarthy's head was turned by Chelsea & he was awful this season just gone, as if he wasn't interested anymore, that would of had a major reflection on his value. At the end of 2006/07 he was worth maybe £10 million, now we'd be lucky to get £2.5million for him. Bentley cos of his age maybe different, but I wouldn't want to pass up £15 million now in case the same happens.

How many of you would go back a year & accept those 'alledged bids' for McCarthy & Pedersen?

[thenodrog]

Leave Lennon where he is ffs! You can buy a player but you cannot buy the right attitude of someone ie actually WANTING to play for BRFC. He'll be on big money too and if they cannot off load him then they will not be able to strengthen any more will they?

We want the going rate and cash only! They cannot argue either cos that golders green gazette or whatever it was called says we are borrassic. Spurs bankers will struggle with that demand and it will be bad PR for them in the eyes of their billy big time, cockney gobshyte fans. Helping them out of a hole is NOT an option in my book!!! And imo Ramos will be miffed too and that might take a little of the gloss of his appointment. We need to play hard ball!

Just why tf do so many on here want to make things easy for our rivals? Some of you sillybuggers could not run a bloody chip shop never mind a Prem league football club with a 50m turnover! If we do part-ex him then JW comes into the same category!

btw wonder if Bentley will be so keen on Spuds if he's to have a 'bobby's helmet'?

[rovers_rob]

The question is can he afford to let it? He wants to cement his england place ahead of the world cup and having a bad season could all but kill that.

Pennant is ok but more miss than hit with his crosses. Lennon would give us pace but lacks the ability to cross.

If he is forced to stay then I am sure the lad will always give 100% for us but I believe that if he is not happy then his performance will be affected.

He is one of those players who needs to be loved and supported by the fans but unfortunately that is not going to happen after the comments he made so I think it is time to cash in and move on.

If Ince does convince him to stay or forces him to stay I hope the fans will get behind him and not boo him but we know that is not going to happen.

[Torgeir]

Leave Lennon where he is ffs! You can buy a player but you cannot buy the right attitude of someone ie actually WANTING to play for BRFC. He'll be on big money too and if they cannot off load him then they will not be able to strengthen any more will they?

How do you know he doesn't want to play for us if Spurs wants to offload? Not so sure he's on big money, last I read was that Spurs have a pretty tight wage structure - but maybe you know more about than I do.

[joey_big_nose]

To be honest I can't really see how we can do much better than 7-10m plus Lennon. We would in my opinion be far better off with a player looking to restart their career at Rovers and enough money to buy two more decent players than sticking with Bentley who clearly desperately wants to go. I don't quite follow TND logic above as clearly bentley does not want to play for us and Lennon might do, you don't know until you find out by contacting him.

Anyhow all this does depend on two things: 1) The offer actually being true. 2) Lennon wanting to come to Rovers. If both of these elements are met then I would say it is a goer. We need pace and as others have said, Ince favours quick wingers. Also Lennon at times has been a brilliant player.

Much has been made of his lack of crossing ability but Lennon has shown quality in this area before but recently has suffered a major dip in for. Cruz, Bentley, Warock all showed huge weaknesses before they came to Rovers but we gave them stability and support and they came good.

The one thing that bothers me is if Hughes was still here I would be utterly confident he could turn Lennon's career around. He has done that time and time again.

I hope Ince shares this ability to refocus and give confidence to those who have lost their way. It is really one of the few ways we can be effective in the transfer market.

[Eddie]

I like the idea of us buying Lennon. If we could keep Bentley and bring in Lennon I think we'd go a long way towards improving the midfield. Throw one more quality central midfielder into that bunch and having Pedersen, Bentley, Lennon, X, Vogel, Reid, Emerton, Dunn, Mokoena and a bit of Tugay gives us a huge range of options. 5 million is not expensive for him. Sure, he's not been great for a bit now, but he's got a huge amount of potential and is just the sort of signing we've thrived off in recent seasons.

[Rover down South]

Leave Lennon where he is ffs! You can buy a player but you cannot buy the right attitude of someone ie actually WANTING to play for BRFC. He'll be on big money too and if they cannot off load him then they will not be able to strengthen any more will they?

We want the going rate and cash only! Spurs will struggle with that and it will be bad PR for them in the eyes of their billy big time, cockney gobshyte fans. Helping them out of a hole is NOT an option in my book!!! And imo Ramos will be miffed too and that might take a little of the gloss of his appointment.

Just why tf do so many on here want to make things easy for our rivals? Some of you sillybuggers could not run a bloody chip shop never mind a Prem league football club with a 50m turnover!

Lucas Neill, Benni McCarthy & David Bentley. Their heads get turned by bigger clubs. Lennon would know that he would be surplus to requirements at Spurs if Bentley went there, so he would HAVE to take a wage cut & join a club like us to further his career. We demand big money for Bentley & get Lennon as a ready made replacement. Maybe Huddlestone as well!!

I agree we shouldn't help other teams, but lets use it to our advantage, Bentley wants to leave & Spurs want him, then we'll have one/two of their players & a lump sum of cash, if they don't meet OUR demands, no deal. We are the selling club, so we are in control.

[roverfanuk]

'If' Bentley is such a priority for Spurs, they should off Jenas, Huddlestone and lennon + some money. Im sure that will have Ince's eyebrows raised...

[gumboots]

Leave Lennon where he is ffs! You can buy a player but you cannot buy the right attitude of someone ie actually WANTING to play for BRFC. He'll be on big money too and if they cannot off load him then they will not be able to strengthen any more will they?

We want the going rate and cash only! They cannot argue either cos that golders green gazette or whatever it was called says we are borrassic. Spurs bankers will struggle with that demand and it will be bad PR for them in the eyes of their billy big time, cockney gobshyte fans. Helping them out of a hole is NOT an option in my book!!! And imo Ramos will be miffed too and that might take a little of the gloss of his appointment. We need to play hard ball!

Just why tf do so many on here want to make things easy for our rivals? Some of you sillybuggers could not run a bloody chip shop never mind a Prem league football club with a 50m turnover! If we do part-ex him then JW comes into the same category!

btw wonder if Bentley will be so keen on Spuds if he's to have a 'bobby's helmet'?

I'm starting to worry. I actually agree with you and have said much the same thing on the Bentley thread. If we sell it should be on our terms not his not spurs or anyone else who wants him. I don't go into Tesco and expect to pay less than they are asking for their produce. Sometimes I get a good deal because it's to their advantage to do one but I don't set the prices; they do. We need to be tough with Bentley and with any potential buyers for all sorts of reasons.

[Fife Rover]

Ive heard that Jamie Redknapp(sp)could be part of the backroom staff.its just rumours,so just keep it at that.

There seems to be an absolute fount of info in South Africa these days; perhaps Nicko should get down there and tap into it eh, Iceman?

[thenodrog]

If Ince does convince him to stay or forces him to stay I hope the fans will get behind him and not boo him but we know that is not going to happen.

We could always close the Blackburn End for a time like we did with the Riverside in the dark days.

[thenodrog]

How do you know he doesn't want to play for us if Spurs wants to offload? Not so sure he's on big money, last I read was that Spurs have a pretty tight wage structure - but maybe you know more about than I do.

Well I know that Bentley wants to leave BRFC and I do know that he wont do that for less money no matter how tight a wage structure is in place. C'mon Torgeir give things a little more thought.

[thenodrog]

Lucas Neill, Benni McCarthy & David Bentley. Their heads get turned by bigger clubs. Lennon would know that he would be surplus to requirements at Spurs if Bentley went there, so he would HAVE to take a wage cut & join a club like us to further his career. We demand big money for Bentley & get Lennon as a ready made replacement. Maybe Huddlestone as well!!

I agree we shouldn't help other teams, but lets use it to our advantage, Bentley wants to leave & Spurs want him, then we'll have one/two of their players & a lump sum of cash, if they don't meet OUR demands, no deal. We are the selling club, so we are in control.

Cash only. Who do you think should decide which players should play for BRFC ..... Ince of Ramos?

[Hughesy]

Whilst we need to be tough with our asking price and therefore not help our rivals, you also have to consider what effect he would have on our dressing room if he did stay because we played hard ball!

Yes he wants to impress Capello, but if his heart isnt in Rovers then I cannot see how he can give 100% week in week out. You are also missing the fact that he isnt consistent. People are starting to believe the hype around Bentley, which has all been started by him, the england call up and the media.

Yes he is a very good crosser of a ball, but he is far from consistent. I would say we are lucky if we get a very good game out of him in 1 of every 3 or 4 matches. £15m-£20m or £10m + Lennon are both very good offers and not ones to be turned down lightly.

Yes play hard ball on the price, get the best possible offer, but dont burn our fingers and end up with someone who cant be bothered playing for us anymore, might effect team morale and may also put potential signings off (if they believe they wont be allowed to move on in a couple of years).

At the end of the day, to players with alot of Potential we are seen as a very well run club, who could give them a platform to perform and a steping stone to bigger things in the future. If players believe that is no longer the case as they wont be allowed to leave, then it will become very difficult to attract promising talent. So it is a difficult one - Yes get try to get the top possible offer, but dont force a player to stay because we are being too bullish.

[Rover down South]

Cash only. Who do you think should decide which players should play for BRFC ..... Ince of Ramos?

Then we have to go out & splash out over inflated amounts on a player to replace him. Or we could still demand 10m & get a ready made replacement right winger in Lennon & if we want to be greedy Huddlestone or Jenas too. Ramos will want to build his own team so now is the time to try & nab these players. Boost our squad & raise some cash.

What do you think Ince can do with JUST CASH, he may not be as shrewd as Hughes.

[Eddie]

Exactly Hughesy. Just think of how much harder it will be to buy a replacement when clubs know that we are sitting on 20-30 milliion in spending money as well. I like the Lennon deal. We would want a serious chunk of cash at the same time, maybe even try to sneak in a central midfielder too, but it could work out very well (obviously nothing concrete to it at this point).

[b12_simon]

Ive heard that Jamie Redknapp(sp)could be part of the backroom staff.its just rumours,so just keep it at that.

Just rumours that you've dreamt up? You're so full of kronk it's unbelievable!

[b12_simon]

I'm starting to worry. I actually agree with you and have said much the same thing on the Bentley thread. If we sell it should be on our terms not his not spurs or anyone else who wants him. I don't go into Tesco and expect to pay less than they are asking for their produce. Sometimes I get a good deal because it's to their advantage to do one but I don't set the prices; they do. We need to be tough with Bentley and with any potential buyers for all sorts of reasons.

Tomorrow's chip paper til a deal's signed. MGP was bound for Spurs for years and he's still taking Rovers' shilling.

Papers love "selling" our players to Spurs.

[thenodrog]

'If' Bentley is such a priority for Spurs, they should off Jenas, Huddlestone and lennon + some money. Im sure that will have Ince's eyebrows raised...

So instead of paying 35k per week in wages to Bents we have to find 100k pw and have two sat on the bench!

[Eddie]

Pretty sure at leaast 2 of those 3 would be in our starting line-up, quite possibly all 3.