[Archived] Nicko's Thread

[S15]

At Philices' request...

- we are in the course of bringing in an exciting play-making midfielder and a midfield strongman who also gets forwards AND despite Nicko's misgivings, looks like we are bringing them in on our own terms by having a good look before committing ourselves and in one case even delaying the actual transfer commitment by half a season at no apparent risk to Rovers. Midfield strongman who was deemed useless after 3 days of training. Lets hope the Chilians DVD wasn't as selective.

- we have accepted an amazing £2.75m offer for our 37 year old wonder keeper (who was a tad eccentric at the end of last season and had a nightmare in his last game for us sadly) and look like we could get him replaced by the best English keeper of his generation (ie 28) for a NET cost of perhaps £1 and a bit m Whilst I have no problems with Friedel leaving at his age, I don't recall being at all eccentric. And whilst Robinson would be a good replacement, ''Best English keeper of his generation.'' I wont bother....

- we have a 33 year old who was a goal machine in his prime on trial You peaked here Phil, you forgot to mention his prime was a decade ago.

- we have the Bentley problem but it is being nowhere near as disruptive as Villa's Barry problem. At the moment Man U and Villa are showing a good example in holding onto chased wantaway stars. Because of the Arsenal sell-on, Bentley even in a strop is worth more to Rovers as a Rovers player than as a transfer fee as we are sure not to be able to replace him with as good or better plus in any transfer there is the risk of the replacement being a flop No no Phil, we are Blackburn Rovers. A £17m asset being in a strop and not wanting to play is better sold immediately. He is now useless to us unless he has a 100% change of heart. We need the money asap, as he will leave, and the closer to the window that is, the less chance we get any replacement.

Incidentally, I have just looked through all the headlines in the Newsnow search on Tottenham. ONLY ONE HEADLINE MENTIONING BENTLEY TODAY which has to be a first for Spuds for months (Independent-see links above). And....?

- Newcastle chasing Warnock is a pain but their numbers are ridiculous and it is probably causing far more concern here than in the Rovers camp We'll see about this one, don;t think I'd be alone in thinking the Newcy Browns are getting encouragement from somewhere.

- no actual move for RSC so far and only 5 weeks to the end of the window is a miracle in itself But he seemingly is waiting for one so he can shoot pronto...

- Stoke going for Mokoena in the light of the incomings is a helpful boost as is the likely sell-on cash for young Joe Garner. Is this confirmed regarding Moko?

Seriously guys, we are having a great transfer window so far and weshould chill out. Clearly Phil, like I said, 'Blue and White tinted @#/?, but at a new level, even for you

[92er]

Sure Ince could be buying Spurs rejects ...........

How does Robinson fit into this as he is surely such a reject.

[67splitscreen]

For crying out loud

Why do we have to read this constant barrage of posts, requesting updates every two or three minutes from Nicko.

Aside from is 10/11 o clocker, Nicko has always updated us on a regular basis throughout the day.

If news comes to light 2 minutes after making a post he will give us the update.

Please be patient, and wait.

He does have a life outside this board I think

[philipl]

Looks like sillytoe has tripped himself up

- My point re not signing the two theoretically attrative midfielders has been proven 100% correct. We have not signed them and we saved purself £6m on a possible dud with dangerous associates.

Sillytoe is not arguing with my Fowler point or any of the others bar the Bentley one where I believe I could well be proved right with Bentley still a Rover player come 1 September.

So silly toe wants to be a silly boy sulking in the corner- fine by me.

Moving to a more usual mode of posting, I am concerned that Ince has a huge amount to prove and his choice of backroom staff looks iffy. He has to kill the Warnock stories pdq and hope that Villanueva turns up and is the biz.

In terms of actual likely transfers at this point, Villanueva numerically replacing the Axe and Robinson replacing Friedel for a combined net outlay this summer of next to nothing does not look too bad.

[DeadlyDirk]

How does Robinson fit into this as he is surely such a reject.

Well my bad I guess he does fit into the Spurs reject category, but he was their number 1 last season, although a bit of a shaky one.

But in all honesty where are we going to find the combination of his relatively young age for a keeper and premiership experience for the price were reported to be paying.

Without taking anything into consideration he wouldn't be my first choice but if you do take value for money and experience into the equation then he has to be somewhere close to the top of the list.

If there were that many top keepers around then MON probably wouldn't be looking to buy a 37 year old no matter how good in an ideal world.

Green, Foster, Boruc etc are either out of our transfer range or out of our wage budget, not to mention Boruc and Foster probably wouldn't be interested anyways. Boruc would be far too expensive and is playing CL football, Foster knows that he has a very good chance of being Old Trafford number 1 in the coming years and Green although reportedly unhappy with his contract would still probably have to take a paycut to join us. He is Wham's number one as well so with them not looking to sell you'd probably be looking at 5million plus easily.

What other goalkeepers are there in our range?

[Frisky Jim]

Not sure i would trust Ince with £40 million based on who we have been being linked with e.g. Fowler, Andrews and Gueret.

Me neither.

I would trust Mark Hughes with £40 million, but Ince?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Me neither.

I would trust Mark Hughes with £40 million, but Ince?

That's the problem, I don't want Santa Cruz to leave but if we got mega bucks for him it wouldn't be the end of the world, there are other good strikers out there. Trouble is I have absolutely no faith in our management team ( and I mean from top to bottom) to sign an adequate replacement no matter how much dosh they are given ! At the moment they are completely failing to defend our interests.

[chocky]

Not sure i would trust Ince with £40 million based on who we have been being linked with e.g. Fowler, Andrews and Gueret.

In the end Fowler cost nothing. His continued presence at Rovers depends on his performance and fitness. Ince won't carry him. Andrews will not be coming to Rovers, that was a red herring. Give Ince a chance, he might surprise us. Many thought Hughes was a mistake too...

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

In the end Fowler cost nothing. His continued presence at Rovers depends on his performance and fitness. Ince won't carry him. Andrews will not be coming to Rovers, that was a red herring. Give Ince a chance, he might surprise us. Many thought Hughes was a mistake too...

Fowler is costing us more in terms of credibility than anything he can achieve on the pitch.

[John]

Fair enough trying Fowler out if we had a striker crisis, or were really short in the striking department.

Fact is we are not.....

[nicko]

Andrews will not be coming to Rovers, that was a red herring.

Do you want to break that news to Andrews...because he still thinks he is.

Now why would that be?

[chocky]

Do you want to break that news to Andrews...because he still thinks he is.

Now why would that be?

If Ince was serious he would be at Rovers by now...I can't see it..

[nicko]

If Ince was serious he would be at Rovers by now...I can't see it..

I said all along that the game plan was to sign some good players and then sneak him in...

Still waiting on the 'good players' part, but the rest of it is still in hand.

[Parsonblue]

If Brad and Bents goes then fair enough, but we have to stop at that. We cannot let anyone else like Warnock or Roque go. I don't give a rats arse if a player complains about not getting a move from now on, we need to be firm and make it clear that they aint going anywhere.

We need players like Roque and Warnock this season.

If we end up without Brad, Bents, Roque and Warnock this season i can see us struggle to get anywhere near the top half.

The problem with that is that once Brad and Bents have gone it will be difficult to stop the others from leaving. If a line was to be drawn it should be have done so earlier. However, once you become a selling club then it's difficult to stop other players from jobing ship because they start to question the club's ambitions. Allowing two of our best players to leave hardly sends the right message to the others. Particularly when they see the manager so keen on the likes of Fowler and Andrews.

[Iceman]

Just a mention of MK Dons makes me nauseus.

[-foreverrovers-]

I said all along that the game plan was to sign some good players and then sneak him in...

Still waiting on the 'good players' part, but the rest of it is still in hand.

why cant ince and andrews just (Please don't use that word again) the (Please don't use that word again) off!

dont all have a go at me for slagging ince. i didnt want him in the 1st place and he has done nothing to make me change that opinion...SO FAR.

i know he hasnt had any games yet and i wont fully judge him until the end of our last game on the season.even then it maybe unfair to judge him until next season.but with andrews and fowler he just seems to want tolook after his mates.

i a excited (catiously) about this carlos fella, but even that is a risk allbeit not a financial one.

robinson is probably the only replacement for big brad.

if and when bentley and brad move on (which they will do make no bones about that 1, philipl i comenend your positivitly but if you are as confident as you sound about bets go and stick some money on it, and come sept 1st you can ave a right laugh!) RSC and Warnock can't be allowed to move and if they are we are a joke. can anyone remember a top 7 team selling 4 of there best players in one single summer???no thought not!

[Sandiway Blue]

I said all along that the game plan was to sign some good players and then sneak him in...

Still waiting on the 'good players' part, but the rest of it is still in hand.

But surely Ince must know that Andrews isn`t good enough for the premiership? I honestly can`t see why a manager would use a significant part of his transfer on a 27yr old journeyman who never was/is good enough for the top level.

If this is the case then i am seriously starting to doubt Ince`s chances of succeeding at the top level and i am normally a kind of `wait and see` person.

[roverfanuk]

Thing that worries me right now is we all knew before this window that we needed to make at least 3 signings bearing in mind we were going to loose Bentley. RB, CAM and RM.

We now (IMO) need 4 players, one replacing Friedel.

It does bother me though knowing that along with Manu, we are the only team not to have signed anyone in the EPL. We have 3 weeks remaining before the new season.

It does not make sense that it takes near enough a month for any transfer activity in the club to happen, either outgoing or incoming.

We should have secured a right back by now, as we dont have a out and out right back at the club at the moment.

We should also be at least in the latter stages of bringing in a right midfielder, as we all know Bentley is off...

A Central midfielder is also a known essential. Ince must have known after reviewing past games, and stats, that the club needed a Attacking Central Creative midfielder as soon as possible...

Each day that passes is another day that any new players do not have training with the club, getting used to new surroundings, and trying to develop a routine with their teamates.

Nicko, do you reckon we could interest SWP? Unlikely i know, but would do you reckon would happen if we made a offer?

[Dunnfc]

WAKE UP!

Did you see Rockys lips mouth i want to go? No you didn't until you hear from his mouth that he wants to go the is nothing to suggest he wants to leave is there?

The fact his "agent" said this means that ROVERS STAR PLAYER AND PLAYER OF THE YEAR wants a new contract so his agent is saying this so he gets a new contract i.e pay rise. It's so sccripted i couldn't write this ###### myself.

Ask yourselves this be the main man at Rovers or be a nobody at Spurs?

RSC has been round the block to know that he can use this intrest to his advantage like a pay rise, also Spurs can't cough up for Bents so how they going to cough up an extra 5 mill for Rocky?

The only place he will go to is Man Utd or Arsenal and he will want to be first choice or he won't go.

[islander200]

Nicko how long will rovers wait for robinson before switching targets?Wdat is goin on at the moment it seems all our top players want out and we are being linked with rejects like pennant.Last week i was optimistic about the new season with us having signed castillo and carlos now it turns out castillo will not be joining.I was happy that ince got the job but he needs to make some quality signings and fast,players like andrews and pennant will not excite the fans,pleas NICKO PUT US ALL OUT OF OUT MISERY AND TELL US THAT INCE IS TARGETTING PLAYERS THAT WILL IMPROVE I.E NOT ANDREWS AND PENNANT

[roverfanuk]

Ask yourselves this be the main man at Rovers or be a nobody at Spurs?

On the contrary, if Spurs sold Keane and Berbatov, i think he would have a very good chance at holding down a place in the starting XI...

As for the whole, Spurs, Manchester United or Arsenal thing. Im not sure given the choice of Blackburn or London, it would be that easy for him...

I love the club, but im sure he doesnt get long term what could happen...

[The Prof.]

It's not so much the manager, I think it's the back room staff he's assembled. Ince is young and working his way up, but jourymen like Mathias et al have been working with cloggers in the lower leagues for their whole careers...how they're suddenly expected to start coaching world class players with the newest coaching techniques is beyond me.

Could see this coming and you've hit the nail right on the head LC.

This reminds me of Jim Iley coming from Bury and we had the same statements

"We'll get It right" was one.

My favorite was "My players will die for me." If that one comes up in the next few weeks I'll cry.

I am still prepared to see but.......gulp!

[nicko]

Nicko, do you reckon we could interest SWP? Unlikely i know, but would do you reckon would happen if we made a offer?

SWP will probably sign for Portsmouth very shortly - the Sulley Muntari sale will give him them money to make that happen.

Big price, big wages.

[The Prof.]

100 pages. Huzzah!

Just in this thread!

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

Is Castillo no longer "on", then?

Robinson in for Brad.

Bentleys replacement - cross that bridge when we get to it.

Pineapple head - Work permit and medical?

Castillo - Still on?