[Archived] Nickos Thread

[JAL]

If Ince prefers to sign Andrews instead of Annan or have Fowler instead of McCarthy is it any wonder that the club are reluctant to give him money to spend. With a week to go before the start of the League campaign the club seems to be a total mess. Rumours of discontent amongst the players refuse to go away and there is a deafening silence from the manager and club.

We finished 7th in the League last season, have had two back to back European campaigns and we seem unable to attract any quality players of Premier League experience with the exception of Robinson - and even he is not the same calibre as the guy he replaced.

I am beginning to wonder how many of our established players will still be with us when the transfer window closes. Surely there is little to encourage the likes of Warnock and Santa Cruz that this is a club with ambition.

My great fear is that all the progress we have made under Hughes is going to be allowed to drain away and I've certainly seen nothing yet to diminish those fears.

Is there a call (coming) for Ince out, has John Williams truly fcukayed the Walker trustees, hopefully its all speculation and nicko is having a bit of fun with us all or the truth is just our worst nightmare is unfolding.

[walk down bolton road]

Great.

What on earth are we playing at with all these bloody loan deals? We have money, we don't need to do this. How we expect to get anyone half decent with all these trials/loans I'll never know.

Totally agree.If Ince thinks this 4th Division player is better than Annan then serious questions need to be asked about him,the coaching staff,and scouts.We are a PREMIER LEAGUE Football Club and PREMIER LEAGUE Football Clubs do not conduct there buisness like this,we are 1 week away from the start of the season with a squad without doubt weaker than last season the alarm bells are ringing boys and girls.

[Gamst]

This is just depressing. We finally have money to spend and we cant scrape together €2million! What on earth is going on? If Nicko is right, a highly rated young player shows a desire to join the team and we dither about. Not really good enough rovers!

Have you ever taken over Man U or Liverpool on Champ Manager and deliberately ruined the squad? Maybe Ince is doing this to Rovers? He holds some massive grudge and is seeking revenge. Sell the clubs top assets (friedel, bents and probs more..) and replace them with Robbie Fowler and Keith Andrews! Fair play Ince, you clearly have a sense oh humour! Next time I try to ruin a club I will try these players too!

On a serious note, as I have mentioned before, as a Hull City regular, Andrews is dreadful. He wasnt good enough for the Championship at Wolves or Hull. This is unbelievable.

[RibbleValleyRover]

Where's the money gone?

Beginning to wonder myself...

We have loaned Simpson and Villaneuva and if Nicko is correct we wanted to loan Annan. I'm sorry but for a club who reportedly had over £10 million to spend before we sold Bentley, it sounds rather fishy to me. £1.5 million is incredibly cheap for Annan in my opinion and if Wenger is interested we have made a huge cock up and missed opportunity. I'm guessing Andrews will cost a similar amount or more than Annan..?

I could understand maybe taking Annan on loan if almost all our cash was to spent on a really, really big signing, but we haven't been linked to any.

Where the hell has our budget gone?

[Roar of the Rover]

Is there a call (coming) for Ince out, has John Williams truly fcukayed the Walker trustees, hopefully its all speculation and nicko is having a bit of fun with us all or the truth is just our worst nightmare is unfolding.

Worst nightmare unfolding. Nicko never jokes when it comes to transfer news (trying to tempt fate)

[Eddie]

A load of bullshit again.

Annan will sign for Rovers, an agreement is reached, just to wait for work permit.

Arsenal involvment is nonsense.

How are you so sure?

[67splitscreen]

Strange going's on indeed.

Annan & Andrews, Don't know what time this was released.Blackburn to sign Ghanaian midfielder Anthony Annan

[BRFC1995]

could be worse, could waste multi millions on dave"always injured"kitson, Bobby"i only ever looked good at brighton"zamora, andy"can't score from open play or stay on my feet"johnson or alan"plain useless"smith. Its a very good time to have a shrewd un-impulsive manager at the helm, as it seems very easy these days to kill the wage bill for years to come through desperation ala west ham.

to be fair we should still be able injuries not withstanding, to put together a comfortable prem team, if annan really did'nt show himself as better than vogel or reid or even tugay there is absolutely no point in signing a further squad player. I do wonder whether certain members on here are a bit hasty in the panic stakes, as there are some seriously crap teams in the premier league this year....and we are certainly not the only club reluctant to splash the cash.

[imy9]

Once again lets reserve judgement until the signings have been made, thus far I am very happy with the signings. Ince needs time, do you think he is willing to waste the millions he has on players he is unsure about? I think he may wait for the January window before spending big, but may be wrong.

[Stuart]

If Ince prefers to sign Andrews instead of Annan or have Fowler instead of McCarthy is it any wonder that the club are reluctant to give him money to spend. With a week to go before the start of the League campaign the club seems to be a total mess. Rumours of discontent amongst the players refuse to go away and there is a deafening silence from the manager and club.

We finished 7th in the League last season, have had two back to back European campaigns and we seem unable to attract any quality players of Premier League experience with the exception of Robinson - and even he is not the same calibre as the guy he replaced.

I am beginning to wonder how many of our established players will still be with us when the transfer window closes. Surely there is little to encourage the likes of Warnock and Santa Cruz that this is a club with ambition.

My great fear is that all the progress we have made under Hughes is going to be allowed to drain away and I've certainly seen nothing yet to diminish those fears.

I have to say, I do share your concern - particularly the last bit - but I'm trying desperately not to lose hope. I keep clinging to the fact that Ince is a winner - both player and (okay, lower division) manager.

[thenodrog]

I have kept an open mind about Ince up until now , but if that is true then I think we could be deep in the mire this season.

Me too.

[DanLad]

Got to wonder on two things:

1. How much the board trust Ince if they wont let him spend big, or at all!

2. If its Ince holding back, does he trust himself?

I Instantly thought the former, to be honest.

Disappointing, but on the flip side we've learnt from the Souness days?

Maybe too cautious, though?

[philipl]

Interesting that Lee has sort of rubbished Nicko's story on the official board.

He has reiterated that the EPL rules this season only allow two loan players of anu sort and that Simpson and Villanueva are Rovers' two.

There is therefore no question whatsoever of Rovers offering Annan a loan deal as they simply would not be allowed to.

[Gumbi]

We couldn't have signed Annan on loan anyway. Premier League clubs can only have 2 loan signings at any one time and with Simpson and Villanueva already on loan it makes it impossible unless we sign one or the other on a permanent.

[Alanf]

could be worse, could waste multi millions on dave"always injured"kitson, Bobby"i only ever looked good at brighton"zamora, andy"can't score from open play or stay on my feet"johnson or alan"plain useless"smith. Its a very good time to have a shrewd un-impulsive manager at the helm, as it seems very easy these days to kill the wage bill for years to come through desperation ala west ham.

Here, here..............

[thenodrog]

I hope i'm wrong but, this may have been a mistake. I believe that Ince and Co. know more then i do about football.

Do you think they know more than Arsene Wenger too?

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

Had been relatively optimistic about Ince - till now!

If the Annan/Andrews news is accurate then its an absolute debacle.

So lets sum up. We have sold Savage, Bentley and Friedel from arguably one of the weaker squads in the Premiership. We are contemplating flogging McCarthy.

We have replaced Friedel with Robinson for a reasonable cost.

We haven't replaced Savage, we haven't replaced Bentley

We have brought in a young unproven lad at right back - on loan

We have brought in Villanueva (unproven in Europe) - is he a replacement for either of the above midfielders? - on loan

We are (ahem) trialing Fowler - on a Free

Ince would apparently like to bring in the Andrews guy from MK Dons circa £2million, as opposed to a £1.5 million punt on a highly promising youngster - there is no logic. Don't tell me the MK lad can do anything that Dunn can't - (diet excluded)

We have sent Castillo (established international) and Sable (established European player) packing.

Our performances in the Friendlies have been on the whole sh*te

Talk of unhappy players and outdated training.

Can someone please convince me that the squad is stronger than the start of last season?

Getting scared now

[Bazzanotsogreat]

£39.25m- I have posted it twice already.

And you clearly don't have the first clue about how any company does its annual accounting.

[/quote

I will hold you to that one Pip - So basically if hughes & co would of stopped & Players were not sold our wage bill would be around £45million?

And yes I have a fair clue on how accounting works- seeing as I work with three of them

[AJW]

so arsene wenger one of the premier coaches in world footy when it comes to spotting talent believes annan is good enough for the premier league , but ince prefers keith andrews!!!! WTF i am not an ince basher i was perfectly happy with him as manager but i becoming increasingly concerned about the future

[Eddie]

We couldn't have signed Annan on loan anyway. Premier League clubs can only have 2 loan signings at any one time and with Simpson and Villanueva already on loan it makes it impossible unless we sign one or the other on a permanent.

Two loan signings from other premiership clubs, we could have as many as we want from abroad.

Sorry didn't see philips post.

[The Rover of Finland]

Absolutely awful evening being Rovers fan. Annan was suppose to be our man. Young player under £2 million. Not a big gamble. Now it seems to be no deal and Andrews is back on radar. Championship player and only a few pound cheaper. Part of me hates him without even seen him playing. And what is this loan player plan? There should money!!! Although we have dozen coaches wages to pay. And IF we really have money in pocket we are doing exact what ain´t suppose to. Why not buy two or three quality players instead of many average player. But I must say that players already bought are decent. Pennant and quality CM in and that´s it. £12 million should be enough. And Axe can always be sold. Yeah, my heart is much lighter.

[thenodrog]

IF this is true then why does Ince want him badly? Surely there is a reason why he's 28 and nobody has ever paid a penny for him and has graced such giants as Oxford, Stoke, Walsall, Hull and Wimbledon

We'd better keep quiet about Andrews...... we don't want Wenger nipping in on him too do we?

[Eddie]

I hold you to that Pip - So basically if hughes & co would of stopped & Players were not sold our wage bill would be around £45million?

And yes I have a fair clue on how accounting works- seeing as I work with three of them

Get over yourself little man, we're all bored with you now.

[JAL]

Once again lets reserve judgement until the signings have been made, thus far I am very happy with the signings. Ince needs time, do you think he is willing to waste the millions he has on players he is unsure about? I think he may wait for the January window before spending big, but may be wrong.

Can we afford to wait till January, sounds like a seriously complacent statement that could become a highly dangerous situation with catastrophic consequences for Blackburn Rovers football club.

[imy9]

Had been relatively optimistic about Ince - till now!

If the Annan/Andrews news is accurate then its an absolute debacle.

So lets sum up. We have sold Savage, Bentley and Friedel from arguably one of the weaker squads in the Premiership. We are contemplating flogging McCarthy.

We have replaced Friedel with Robinson for a reasonable cost.

We haven't replaced Savage, we haven't replaced Bentley

We have brought in a young unproven lad at right back - on loan

We have brought in Villanueva (unproven in Europe) - is he a replacement for either of the above midfielders? - on loan

We are (ahem) trialing Fowler - on a Free

Ince would apparently like to bring in the Andrews guy from MK Dons circa £2million, as opposed to a £1.5 million punt on a highly promising youngster - there is no logic. Don't tell me the MK lad can do anything that Dunn can't - (diet excluded)

We have sent Castillo (established international) and Sable (established European player) packing.

Our performances in the Friendlies have been on the whole sh*te

Talk of unhappy players and outdated training.

Can someone please convince me that the squad is stronger than the start of last season?

Getting scared now

Hughes bought Savage and sold him, we have an unproven right back but that is an extra one than last year- Emerton still plays for us!

Carlos is an extra from last year- a hole which was never filled by Hughes (he left it to the ageing Tugay)

Trialing like Hughes did? He has not signed a contract yet has he?

Andrews- maybe Ince sees something we dont, again he has not signed has he?

Unhappy players? MGP, Annan have been praising Ince in their interviews.

Squad is not stronger or weaker than last year, lets wait til end of August before a judgement