[Archived] Nickos (newer) Thread

[RibbleValleyRover]

Apart from the fact that this is just a rather rash opinion you seem to be implying that we either get someone better than Lennon or stick with Bentley .

Off hand I can't think of anyone better than Lennon who'd wish to move to Blackburn .

I also think you overestimate the numbers who actually want Bentley to stay . Nearly everyone I speak to want the arrogant sod out of the club as quickly as possible .

I wasn't happy with Bentley's comments either and would be willing to sell him for a large cash only fee if one came along. That way we could use the money to buy a decent replacment and strengthen other areas.

If a large cash only fee doesn't come up i would keep him. Whats the point in selling him cheaply or selling/trading him for an inferior player. Bentley has to keep performing if he wants to play for England in the upcomming qualifiers, he cannot afford to kick up a fuss if he doesn't get his move.

[Tom 1]

For the previous argument, I'd choose Kevin Keegan over McClaren any day. McClaren was overrated at Boro, in terms of what they were as a club he had good money in my opinion, and he didn't do a whole lot with it. Fair play to him on a league cup...even tho it should have been Villa in the final after being cheated in the semis vs Bolton....but the UEFA cup run was farcical...every match they were cack and then he just threw strikers on and it seemed to keep going for him. The minute he faced a quality team and manager in Seville and Juande Ramos he was decimated.

[RibbleValleyRover]

I think that this debate is pointless in the sense that I strongly doubt that Lennon would even deign to join Rovers. However, just for the principle of the thing, I think it's worth comparing how many minutes Lennon played last season compared to the leading wingers of last year. (According to premierleague.com stats).

Fabregas - 2857 mins, 20 assists, 7 goals

Bentley - 3320 mins, 10 assists, 6 goals

Young - 3288 mins, 17 assists, 8 goals

Petrov - 2972 mins, 11 assists, 5 goals

Downing - 3415 mins, 6 assists, 9 goals

Lennon - 2129 mins, 6 assists, 2 goals

Stats are not everything but I think it's clear that Lennon's season was hampered by not playing games. He's got a lot to improve but he has a lot of potential, imo.

Keep in mind Lennon played more in Europe than Bentley.

[Sandiway Blue]

Regarding Lennon,when Ince was appointed,i read an article about when he was at Mk on how he stayed behind at a training session,and helped his 2 central midfielders improve their crossfield passing by teaching them better body positions?

If he could help somebody LIKE Lennon improve in that area,then Lennon may well be worth a gamble.

[blue phil]

If a large cash only fee doesn't come up i would keep him. Whats the point in selling him cheaply or selling/trading him for an inferior player. Bentley has to keep performing if he wants to play for England in the upcomming qualifiers, he cannot afford to kick up a fuss if he doesn't get his move.

But you ignore the fact that the vast majority of people (I guess) don't want him to wear the shirt again . I don't want to pay money to see prima donnas like him at Ewood . The fans have to be kept "onside" .

Apart from that if he stays against his will it just causes trouble behind the scenes .

Like that other waster , Barry Ferguson , we have to get the best deal and then let the manager replace him . Talking about "inferior" players is neither here nor there ....unless you honestly think there's a superior player waiting to drop everything and rush to Blackburn .

[den]

But you ignore the fact that the vast majority of people (I guess) don't want him to wear the shirt again . I don't want to pay money to see prima donnas like him at Ewood . The fans have to be kept "onside" .

Winning games is the only way to keep fans onside Phil. The same people wanting Bentley out, are the same ones that will be calling for Ince's head, if results are poor. Ince must find a way of putting the best team on the park, with, or without the fans opinions.

[RibbleValleyRover]

But you ignore the fact that the vast majority of people (I guess) don't want him to wear the shirt again . I don't want to pay money to see prima donnas like him at Ewood . The fans have to be kept "onside" .

Apart from that if he stays against his will it just causes trouble behind the scenes .

Like that other waster , Barry Ferguson , we have to get the best deal and then let the manager replace him . Talking about "inferior" players is neither here nor there ....unless you honestly think there's a superior player waiting to drop everything and rush to Blackburn .

Well Blue Phill if you are happy with Lennon where the hell is our service going to come from next season? Who is going to set up Roque?

Just take a look at some Spurs message boards to see how happy they are if the deal is true and how they feel they will end up getting the better end of the deal:

Some quotes i have come across on the 606 Spurs board:

"What has Lennon done for 2 years?

He looked good 3 seasons ago cos he was quick and terrified defences. now hes been worked out by the full backs and he still cant cross.

Bentley over Lennon for me any day of the week. (Bentley might not be as quick but he can sure cross and shoot)."

"Lennon, runs with the ball and keeps running and running and 99 times out of 100 we get no end product...

So what you are saying is Lennon is better because he can dribble?!

Sorry mate but you are talkin out your rear."

"Thats fine. everyon obviously has a different opinion, mine is different to yours.

I think:

Shooting: Bentley

Dribbling: Lennon

Pace: Lennon

Crossing: Bentley

and to me, crossing/pitching in with goals is more important than doing the dribbling bit but then crossing a woeful ball into the box"

"Bentley is by far the better player. The amount of good moves that Spurs have had wasted because Lennon can't find a team mate is just silly. Passing it in the general direction of your team mate is not good enough at this level.

I've got a soft spot for Lennon too as he can be exciting to watch. But at the end of the day you do need an end product."

[RibbleValleyRover]

Trying to get this thread back on topic after all the Bentley postings on here:

Nicko, have you heard anymore rumblings about Roque to Arsenal? I see Crouch has been linked to Arsenal today??? Good for us if thats true, but i'm finding it hard to imagine Crouch playing for Le Arse.

[Hughesy]

Apart from the fact that this is just a rather rash opinion you seem to be implying that we either get someone better than Lennon or stick with Bentley .

Off hand I can't think of anyone better than Lennon who'd wish to move to Blackburn .

I also think you overestimate the numbers who actually want Bentley to stay . Nearly everyone I speak to want the arrogant sod out of the club as quickly as possible .

Agreed - Every rovers fan i know wants him out now. Also a large percentage also share my belief that he is over-rated. One point Eddie made which was good is that if we sold Bentley for straight cash at say £15m then clubs would inflate our prices, therefore maybe Lennon + Cash would be the better option?

Keep in mind Lennon played more in Europe than Bentley.

I think the stats on premierleague, are more likely to be premier league games only.

Also what about Sebastian Larsson at Brum for the right?

[Hasta]

No one really wanted Bentley.

No one would have paid 5 million for Santa Cruz.

No one would have paid 5 million for Nelsen.

No one would have paid 5 million for Friedel

Tugay

Neill

Reid

MGP

Benni

Ooijer

Warnock

Do you want me to keep going?

There's a reason why a lot of the players we bought were undervalued at the time of our purchase which is because they weren't proven in the Premier League.

Approximate number of premier league games played before Rovers signed them:-

Snata Cruz - 0

Bentley - 23

Friedel - 25

Tugay - 0

Reid - 0

MGP - 0

Benni - 0

Ooije - 0

Warnock - 27

Aaron Lennon - 68

I still think Lennon would be an OK purchase at £5mill but I doubt whether he has the potential to blossom like Bentley did.

[nicko]

Trying to get this thread back on topic after all the Bentley postings on here:

Nicko, have you heard anymore rumblings about Roque to Arsenal? I see Crouch has been linked to Arsenal today??? Good for us if thats true, but i'm finding it hard to imagine Crouch playing for Le Arse.

I don't see the Crouch story and I can't understand why the comments of a loud-mouth agent should have been taken seriously.

As far as I know Wenger has a couple of players in mind if Adebayor goes - Gomis at St.Etienne and Roque.

Wenger also liked the look of Arshavin if he could get him too, but Barcelona are apparently keen If so the Russian legend goes there which is a shame for those who would like to have seen him here...

[DannyKeg]

The above list also demonstrates why we shouldn't be worried about Andrews from MK Dons coming in, if Ince rates him highly enough.

[thenodrog]

Verified.

Hmmm 4th Div manager is not good but 4th Div staff is taking the p1ss. They must be effin cheap. That scout will only have seen Prem players on the bloody telly!

[Ghostwriter]

Lennon and McCarthy what a combination. The team would really be on song with a little help from their friends.

Rovers could be Back in the USSR for european games and our tame Paper Back Writer Nicko would have plenty to write about when He's 64.

[thenodrog]

So we could get £10m plus save £650,000 a year on his contract. Sounds good to me!

Are you one of the trustees socngill?

I must say everything I hear recently about our club has a smell of 1964-66 about it. I was joking earlier but now I am not so sure that to stop asset strippers moving in on BRFC the Trust are stripping it's assets themselves! We'll be potting the window cleaner next.

[thenodrog]

So, Bentley's put himself under real pressure.

Either some club meets Rovers asking price, which will be high, or he has to sign the improved contract at Rovers to get himself an England international's wage.

Either way we win.

And he's not got the option of sulking, because I don't see Capello as a man who'd look favourably on that sort of thing!

Ince certainly won't be putting up with it!

You must have a shorter memory than Paul Mellelieu mum. From the start of the Prem I can think of no bigger sulker than Paul Ince ...... with the possible exceptions of Stan Collymore and Andy Cole

[thenodrog]

Any chance Beckham could teach Lennon to cross if we got him!! what a player we'd have then!!

Have you ever kicked a football? If Lennon cannot cross a ball now then he never will be able to.

[thenodrog]

We had a manager who could spot potential and develop it. Note the word HAD. People who continually say "well, we made player X better so we can to that to player Y" seem to forget all the years before Hughes when we bought players who played well for a few games and then disappeared into dreadfulness (Emerton, Reid anyone?).

We have no idea whether Ince and the 4th division posse will improve players or take players backwards.

Correct Jan. And Hughes would not let a player leave until he had an equal or better player lined up to come in. A remarkeable and imo unique period in our history not even matched by the Dalglish regime when he had the full might of JW's chequebook backing him up.

[thenodrog]

Didn't Ronaldo want to leave Man Utd after the last World cup over the whole thing with Rooney?

They refused to let him go and he went on to be the best player in the World.

Good point that baggio. If Ronaldo is forced to stay at Man Utd I'll bet the crowd won't boo him will they? So why would the Blackburn end see fit to boo Bentley?

Blue phil just read your post about Bentley.... care to comment on my Ronaldo / MU comparison?

[thenodrog]

What struck me from looking atthose stats was shots between bentley and Santa Crux:

Bentley - 83 (goals 6)

Santa Cruz - 77 (goals 19)

Surely Bentley's job is to supply Santa Cruz for him to have the shots. i think that tells us something about Bentley's greediness on the ball. Maybe Bentley should concentrate on supplying his strikers, we may have done a bit better last season...

Are you for real?

[RevidgeBlue]

Correct Jan. And Hughes would not let a player leave until he had an equal or better player lined up to come in.

errrm............... Savage?

[Hi Mack]

Have you ever kicked a football? If Lennon cannot cross a ball now then he never will be able to.

Every player can improve!Lennon is still young!

Remember Marcus Stewart from Ipswich he played in the lower league for years then

at 29 finished the 2nd/3rd highest scorer in the premiership!

With the right help he could improve!Not saying he will but its possible!

[thenodrog]

errrm............... Savage?

Ah yes Simon, I rem that ............ Just before Hughes decided to leave!

[roversmum]

You must have a shorter memory than Paul Mellelieu mum. From the start of the Prem I can think of no bigger sulker than Paul Ince ...... with the possible exceptions of Stan Collymore and Andy Cole

Therefore he should be an expert on how to deal with it!

Hmmm 4th Div manager is not good but 4th Div staff is taking the p1ss. They must be effin cheap. That scout will only have seen Prem players on the bloody telly!

according to Lee they are not all Ewood bound..........

[thenodrog]

Just a question to all....... Why all this conjecture about Lennon? Has Lennon actually said that he wants to leave spuds nad sign for BRFC cos I've never seen any such report?