[Archived] Nicko's Thread

[LightcliffeClaret]

Eagles played and scored. He was told he could go back and speak to Burnley - his agent is currently doing so. Burnley are ok with that, although I would have thought he should have come off the Man U trip when he was told he could...

Any updates on this one nicko?

[hawkiiz]

I'm not sure if I'm fundamentally misunderstanding your point here, but...I'm fairly sure we got Jason Brown for free. And Robinson's wages will dwarf his. My biggest worry is will they be above what we were paying Brad? If so this seems extra stupid.

thats ok i dont remember what we payed for brown or nielsen but if we pay a million or something for robinson i think thats absolutely excellent. i dont know what the reserves cost, but with wages and all i think they have cost us more than robinson does, and they have not given much back.

did we get any from enckelmann??

[The Prof.]

Newcastle fan,no disrespect hey,but this is not the right time to say things like that.its already depressing as it is.

Oh it could be a lot worse - imagine being a Newcastle supporter for a start

It has more recently been disclosed that the only reason MH didn't go there was because we stopped him. His desire for that job was what led JW to believe he would be off in the summer.

So why didn't we have a replacement already in mind?

and a touch of consistency.

and a desire to drive when drunk!

[S15]

I got a text a few hours ago, it went something like this:

Don't lose it, keep the faith. Ince is WINNER.

I agree with that, but I think there is an awful lot of hand holding going on

Have you joined a local community group to help you through the summer?

[The Prof.]

Why? IF he has to stay he really can't afford to do anything but play well. The first England game is shortly after the start of the season and he can't really afford to miss it. I don't think he'll stay but then nobody thought Barry would stay at villa and he's still there and possibly about to play in the intertoto game for them, so strange things can and do happen.

It's a fair incentive GB.

[hawkiiz]

yeah....but.....Sven.....Robinson......rubbish....

I HATE CHANGE

you said that when we were in the championship?

change is what makes this interresting. so we might do great under ince, we might do terrible, but how are we in ten years? maybe someone decide to buy the club next month? who knows what will happen. maybe even england can qualify for the world cup

[John]

Have you joined a local community group to help you through the summer?

Thought about it....

[Parsonblue]

Nearly all those arguments are flawed. Robinson isn't a top keeper? OK........then neither was Brad when he signed. AGREED. BUT WE WERE A CHAMPIONSHIP SIDE WHEN WE SIGNED HIM, NOT SEVENTH IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE.

Huge gamble on a player that has never played outside Chile? So you want us to sign established Premier League player? What like Fowler you mean? The Chilean comes with a MASSIVE reputation. YES, BUT HE HAS NEVER PLAYED OUTSIDE OF SOUTH AMERICA. HE IS COMING TO A DIFFERENT CLIMATE AND CULTURE AND IS GOING TO TAKE TIME TO SETTLE. THERE HAVE BEEN NUMEROUS EXAMPLES OF BRILLIANT SOUTH AMERICANS WHO CAME TO OUR LEAGUE AND FAILED TO MAKE AN IMPACT. ALL I'M SAYING IS THAT IT IS A GAMBLE. AND NO I DON'T WANT FOWLER AND AM WORRIED THAT THE MANAGER DOES.

Bentley wanted out long before the new manager came in. AGREED.

Warnock and Santa Cruz continue to be the subject of speculation? And what are we supposed to do about SPECULATION? Just because a club is interested in one of our players, that's all it it - interest. IT'S UP TO THE CLUB TO MAKE A STATEMENT THAT WE WILL NOT SELL OUR PLAYERS IF THEY ARE UNDER CONTRACT. WE SAID WE ARE NOT A SELLING CLUB BUT BENTS AND BRAD ARE LIKELY TO GO.

I don't see how selling Brad is weakening us. He made mistakes last season and whilst he played well overall, it's going to be downhill from here on. Robinson has it all ahead of him - he certainly offers more promise than when Brad joined us from Liverpool. BRAD WAS ONE OF THE TOP THREE 'KEEPERS LAST SEASON IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE. HE'S FIT, MENTALLY SHARP AND COULD GO ON FOR ANOTHER COUPLE OF SEASONS. ROBINSON MAY REGAIN HIS FORM, THEN AGAIN HE MAY NOT.

------------

I wish all you bloody doom and gloom merchants would grow up and stop this act of sensationalism every time a snippet of a myth gets linked to/printed etc. Bentley is off - good. The money from that will make us a better squad overall. Just leave them to it! SELLING YOUR BETTER PLAYERS IS NEVER GOOD. WE GOT LOADS OF MONEY FOR SHEARER BUT I DON'T THINK HIS SALE MADE US A BETTER SQUAD OVERALL.

[Hughesy]

I'm not sure if I'm fundamentally misunderstanding your point here, but...I'm fairly sure we got Jason Brown for free. And Robinson's wages will dwarf his. My biggest worry is will they be above what we were paying Brad? If so this seems extra stupid.

Cannot see Robinson being on higher wages than brad was (£25k), he is a keeper who isnt getting in his current team, we hold all the aces here and im sure he wont be on much more, if anything more than Brad was/ is.

[imy9]

How many clean sheets has Brad kept in the league in comparison to Robinson? Somebody rightly pointed out that Robinson's clean sheets dwarf Brad's and that is with an inferior defence!

Brad is a legend but can anyone name a 38 year old keeper who was still one of the top 3 keepers in the league? I seem to recall Seaman went downhill after 37! If Brad wants to leave then Robinson is a brilliant replacement.

I will start worrying if RSC and Warnock leave but not before.

I also think it is very disrespectful and insulting to Mathias and the rest of the back room staff with people calling them inferior TWO games into PRE SEASON!!

Archie Knox has won more trophies as a number 2 than most number 2's around. Can someone tell me how many trophies Bowen, Eddie and Hughes for that matter won?

Our Sports Science bloke is the best in the business.

Our defensive coach played as part of the best defence in English league history.

Last but not least Mathias is someone Nicko has described as a man "players respect' and who likes 'to play attractive football'

[The Prof.]

Whoa whoa - lets have some perspective here!

Warnock - can't believe how revered he has just become. So he might go - he did it often enough early last season (some stats on assists from right sided opposition players would be nice). Sound wing back but I lost count the number of time he was missing at LB and Pederson was running back to cover him - you don't see this on TV. Get a good defensive Left back and you won't miss him at all. . He got better as the season went on but he is replaceable. Pederson replaced him for the first half of last season.

Remember as well the Barcodes want him as a defender - see how good they are at spotting good defenders - it proves my point. As it's them we should get £7-8m easily. He's only an England player because he one of the few Englishmen left in the Premiership.

Friedel - He's been great for us. A huge player and gentleman in every respect. Even in leaving he's realised he can't go on much longer at this level and turned in a huge profit for us possibly damaging one of our main rivals to boot. What a guy - hats of to him - I'll cheer him even if he plays for the dingles.

Now you'd really worry when your mental manager had just signed a 37 and a half year old goalkeeper for nearly 3m quid - that's when you get suicidal.

My real worry still lies with the general management team - would like to see the players doing the talking for them like when Hughes came and players were commenting on how interesting the training had suddenly become.

[The Prof.]

How many clean sheets has Brad kept in the league in comparison to Robinson? Somebody rightly pointed out that Robinson's clean sheets dwarf Brad's and that is with an inferior defence!

Brad is a legend but can anyone name a 38 year old keeper who was still one of the top 3 keepers in the league? I seem to recall Seaman went downhill after 37! If Brad wants to leave then Robinson is a brilliant replacement.

I will start worrying if RSC and Warnock leave but not before.

I also think it is very disrespectful and insulting to Mathias and the rest of the back room staff with people calling them inferior TWO games into PRE SEASON!!

Archie Knox has won more trophies as a number 2 than most number 2's around. Can someone tell me how many trophies Bowen, Eddie and Hughes for that matter won?

Our Sports Science bloke is the best in the business.

Our defensive coach played as part of the best defence in English league history.

Last but not least Mathias is someone Nicko has described as a man "players respect' and who likes 'to play attractive football'

Feel a bit better about our backroom now - come to think of it we never did win anything under Hughes did we. What's the transfer record for a 37 year old?

[Hughesy]

Good point – Think of it the other way round, if we were on the look-out for a new keeper, would you want us to sign a keeper who is 37, offer him a 3 year contract on £50k, spend £2.75m is recruiting him (a keeper who isn’t as good as he was 2 years ago). Or would you rather your club spent the money sensibly and got a long term replacement for him, hoping that he could build up a good rapport with defence and become a solid unit.

Id prefer the latter. Fact is that if we wanted Robinson 18 months ago when he was still at the top of his game then we would have had to pay closer to £10m for him! If we can get him back on form, with confidence flowing then he will soon become that top class keeper again.

[The Prof.]

Does anyone think we should have cashed in on Benni for £10m after his first season in hindsight?

Good point – Think of it the other way round, if we were on the look-out for a new keeper, would you want us to sign a keeper who is 37, offer him a 3 year contract on £50k, spend £2.75m is recruiting him (a keeper who isn’t as good as he was 2 years ago). Or would you rather your club spent the money sensibly and got a long term replacement for him, hoping that he could build up a good rapport with defence and become a solid unit.

Id prefer the latter. Fact is that if we wanted Robinson 18 months ago when he was still at the top of his game then we would have had to pay closer to £10m for him! If we can get him back on form, with confidence flowing then he will soon become that top class keeper again.

I think I'd be calling for Ince to quit myself right now if thats the type of player we were being linked with at those prices - 37? How much? !

[Hughesy]

Does anyone think we should have cashed in on Benni for £10m after his first season in hindsight?

I think Benni will be back among the goals the year, he seems to have his desire back and I think that if we get Villanueva then he will bring the best out of Benni.

[bubblerrovers]

How can people say we're not a selling club???

Wake up!

We're Blackburn Rovers, a stepping stone club. Face it.

We're a nice club to join when your careers going no where, no pressure. Play a few good games score a couple goals then call your agent (who calls a freephone no. direct to spurs boardroom.) and leave

sad but true,

If Cruz goes i can seriously see us getting dragged into the group of teams who flirt with relegation.

[Jonnolad]

How can people say we're not a selling club???

Wake up!

We're Blackburn Rovers, a stepping stone club. Face it.

We're a nice club to join when your careers going no where, no pressure. Play a few good games score a couple goals then call your agent (who calls a freephone no. direct to spurs boardroom.) and leave

sad but true,

If Cruz goes i can seriously see us getting dragged into the group of teams who flirt with relegation.

We're not a selling club - a selling club is one that needs to sell - we don't need to sell.

We might be a stepping stone club, but, when it comes to the absolute top players, so is every other club bar the top 4 (and even those aren't immune - look at Man U with Ronaldo or take your pick from Arsenal).

[BRFC95]

I think Benni will be back among the goals the year, he seems to have his desire back

Did you see him at Macclesfield?

I know it was only a friendly but other players put plenty effort in.

[socngill]

Benni - I don't actually think he had a bad season. He didn't play very many games, he started with that horrible injury and still scored 11 goals. Second highest wasn't it? He'll be back to his old self next season, I have no doubt about that.

Cruz - a thought occurred to me last night about this agent business. Is it the same agent that said a few weeks back that Man Utd were interested? An interest which appears to have had no basis in reality seeing as there has been no bid in all that time and Man Utd are trying to spend big on Berbatov? I imagine it's just an agent who wants a pay day trying his best. And if this is the case, and it is the same agent I suggest Cruz sacks the guy.

I have been checking Sky Sports.Com since last night but nothing has appeared about this interview, which is a bit weird? I would have thought they would have fallen over themselves to broadcast to the world about one our players wanting to leave.

[nicko]

http://www.brfcs.co.uk/mb/index.php?s=&amp...st&p=633825

I thought you would have recalled your 'exclusive' that Brad was going to Man City to bond with his own goalkeeping coach.

That was the story doing the rounds that day - and not just at your 19th hole.

Brad had got back from holiday, knew nothing of Man City and was happy to stay.

By the Friday of that week Villa had offered him a life-changing and head-turning contract.

The minute I knew that there was a story about it in the Sunday People.

For the next few days after that the Grandees were clucking and saying there 'was nothing in it' and looking for the nearest sandpit to stick their heads into and waiting for the LET to do their usual half-wit denials.

Sad to say, it is proving to be the case.

NO updates this morning - although the detail in the Inde article is quite good. Robinson's agent is away on business...but they spoil that by saying Brad is going for £2 million...it is £2.75 million.

[imy9]

Are Spurs still in talks with Rovers regarding Bentley?

[nicko]

Are Spurs still in talks with Rovers regarding Bentley?

Both sides know the figures - but there is not much progress on that one.

It makes you wonder how badly they want him...

[cn_barlow]

Both sides know the figures - but there is not much progress on that one.

It makes you wonder how badly they want him...

IF we somehow end up with DB still here next season i think we will be looking very, very strong in an attacking sense.

[Will]

IF we somehow end up with DB still here next season i think we will be looking very, very strong in an attacking sense.

I'd like to think a good majority of the crowd will give him some stick to let him know just how they feel about him.

I never want to see him play for us again.

[Head Rover Heels]

It makes you wonder how badly they want him...

I would say badly enough to buy him whilst there is still a chance of a decent profit margin on him.

If they bank on him making the england squad, with Ronaldo clearly off in a couple of years (at the latest) and more than likely the other three wanting to refresh things over the same period, there is a strong chance of him going for 20m at some point.

Buy him for under 15m, sign him onto a 5 year deal, rely on him picking up 5 more caps, flog him on in a year or two for a profit. For them to pay 18 pushes the costs (including wages) into a loss maker, and therefore not worth it for them.

And we get called a selling club