[Archived] Nickos Thread

[colbert]

Who Know's.

Lets just Wait and See, maybe its a masterstroke!

[stuwilky]

You miss my point again. I am not asking for accounted details, simply what our CURRENT wage bill is today 08/08/08 . Accounts will always lag a year behind.

Again?

You are the one talking about waiting for the accounts? Not me.

Then again Im not trying to pick a fight with someone..... note to certain posterS - deliberate capitalisation.

Accounts usually lag 6-18 months behind when they are published.

[hawkiiz]

Annan will not be sold unless every club has said sod it. As of a few hours ago no bid was made. Watch it.

[Tom 1]

you can't have Ashley Young, He's going to get better and better, when O'neill bought him everyone questioned the fee (9.65m), he's worth every penny, right Tom?

And more!

You can all have Gareth Barry for Santa Cruz if you want

[Ronin]

I'm trying to convince myself Nicko's update is all just a red herring to fool the rest of the media and ol' Stroke Boy

[thenodrog]

Well tell John Williams you have £100m to spare and sign a non-disclosure agreement and you'll get to know the exact numbers complete with PAYE and ERNI.

You are such an authorative source that we all hang on your every word Philip. So surely YOU must know the relevent details?

[thenodrog]

Wenger knows his players and can really spot a young talent.

I feel we are going to seriously regret this opportunity.

He's nowt to lose...... he's got the Bentley %age remember. Talk about 'bite yourself on the bum' eh?

[Lurid Coat]

In an effort to calm those of you who are contemplating suicide over the fact that we may not be signing Annan after all - having seen this guy play a numerous times in Norway, I'd say that he wouldn't mark a very significant improvement on the other central midfielders we already have. He's decent, sure, and he's also talented, but he's not the world beater some of you claim he is. I know Arsene is excellent in spotting talent, but still - I think most Norwegians on this forum will agree that Anthony Annan is no more than a decent enough prospect at this point in time.

[tonyoz]

Just as things were starting to turn a bit more positive on these boards, Nicko delivers another "bombshell" and the doom and gloom redoubles.

Ironically, Nicko himself provided a bit of perspective in his follow-up post:

ANNAN - Let's get it right. The manager has seen him in training and made an opinion. Has anyone else SEEN him at that close range? If he is unsure, so be it.

ANDREWS - Again the manager has worked with him and rates him...a manager has to manage - whether you agree with his decisions or not.

Obviously we don't trust Ince yet. Every decision is under intense scrutiny - I guess it will stay that way until we start getting some success on the pitch.

I reckon Ince knows a thing or 2 about midfield quality and I back his judgement on Annan. If Wenger thinks he knows better, so be it............after all we all think we know better than Ince don't we?

[RevidgeBlue]

I complained a while ago about the negative slant to most of nicko's postings and I note that after getting the messageboard in an absolute lather over so called developments with Warnock he has conceded in one of his posts today that there is nothing happening there.

I'm still not having it that there's any truth in the Andrews rumours either. Wake me up when he signs for us.

I am however really disappointed about Annan. After selling Bentley I can't believe we've baulked over paying a fee of 1.5m for someone who reportedly excelled in a trial.

Is Ince only allowed to sign players on loan? Are the Trustees salting away cash to reduce debts and make a potential sale more attractive?

They won't find it easier to sell a Championship club.

[hawkiiz]

I'm trying to convince myself Nicko's update is all just a red herring to fool the rest of the media and ol' Stroke Boy

well there is no bid for annan. if it is, then it will be outed tomorrow so rovers and others can jump in. Start ONLY want to have a bidding war. there is not a snowballs chance in hell they will sell without teling every poosible club in the world about it. absolutelly no way. if we let him go without a fight it is purely because we dont want him. simple as.

if we want him, all we have to do is make a bid and tweak it until its accepted.

[AussieinUk]

With regards to recent rumours from Nicko, I think the phrase rhymes with 'clucking bell'...

I agree with Rev - wake me up when things change!

[RoversSG]

IF we sign Andrews and Not Annan then il be writing a letter of complaint to JW personally.

I would be very suprised if this is the case. Maybe the chant at the game tomorrow should be 'We do not want Keith Andrews'

Count me in if that's the case.

Maybe we can raise a petition or something to JW to let them know that we are NOT IN FAVOR of signing fowler or andrews.

Better to have tried and failed then not tried at all.

[roversmum]

Nicko gone to sleep?, How did he get on at Haydock anyone know?

Not well by all accounts. He should have linked up with Miss Roversmum. She got five winners! Not bad for her first race meeting !

[DingleBaiter]

IF we sign Andrews and Not Annan then il be writing a letter of complaint to JW personally.

seriously? Gotta love Rovers fans. Kinda like the 27 that took their season tickets back for a refund the day Bellamy went to Liverpool.

Wenger is one of the best managers in the world at spotting young talent, if he thinks Annan is good enough to sign him then Annan is good. Not even Ince's biggest fan (which is in fact ince himself) would think that he is better at spotting talent than Wenger. If Arsenal sign Annan then Ince will have made a massive mistake.

Maybe this is where the Arsenal link comes in? Can't exactly hinder the lad's case in, to be (supposedly) linked to Arsenal buying him. If Professor Yaffel is such an 'astute' fellow, how come he wasn't linked before this? Sounds a bit of a knee-jerk, or maybe was planned all along - but I would have thought our Norwegian friend, who seems to have a good angle on all this, would have known this.

This whole story is weird. Someone is pulling somebodys dangly bits somewhere along the line.

[DingleBaiter]

Without the link to Andrews - the rumours of the problems with Annan would not be viewed half as badly.

Will say that for Nicko, he certainly knows which buttons to press to leverage a story; must be the journo in him. As Vic Reeves used to say 'you just wouldn't let it lie'. Maybe it's because he's spoke of the Andrews deal with such certainty for so long - apart from a short while ago when we'd supposedly said wasn't interested, he then expressed some doubts and suggested it was something/someone else. Seems two factors seem to keep winding people up; the two instances we've supposedly change tact to offer loans, thus causing an affront to the player & the Andrews rumours not going away. Wonder if we'd be so agitated if it was Hull that were linked with him?

Could anyone seriously suggest what the problem with Andrews would be? Not that I'm pro-Andrews, but can't help wondering what ONE aspect of the deal is the sand in everone's fourskin?

Is it because it's almost nepotism, or 'jobs for the boys'?

Is it because folk think his record of being passed around suggests he's not very good?

Is it because the fee has been conveniently quoted as more than Annan (500k+ more for a lower league 28yo journeyman than an (relatively) experienced player from a better side - Ghana not Start!)?

Is it cos he's ugly? Seems half the womenfolk in Blackburn were delighted with Santa Cruz before he'd kicked a ball for us - they're perceptive football judges, them lasses, clearly they know more than us blokes. Bet they're cussing we didn't challenge the Dingles for young Eagles.

Is it because people think he will be the Tony Parkes-style 'spy in the camp' for Ince?

Could anyone offer objective, technical feedback on him as a player? That is, what is so poor about him?

Do some posters think it's the same K Andrews who's manager at Macclesfield, ex-Lincoln, with two heart attacks behind him?

Is it lower league football bias? Suppose say Alex Marrow from the Academy, a guy who was playing for Ashton & won a skills contest, makes the step into the Rovers squad at some time - would he get even more vitriol as he's come from non-league?

Did he have a campaign of sleeping with a lot of women in the Blackburn area that have subsequently got married to members on here?

The problem I have with stories such as these is that we're often too quick to criticise and make the situation untenable. For instance, if it all comes out in the wash & we sign Annan Sunday night, certain elements on here will eke every ounce of negativity out of it, such as...

"Oh, it's only cos Arsenal don't want him'

'We can't find anyone else'

'It's cos Ince can't sign Keith Andrews'

'He must be bad-Arsenal don't want him'

'Ince really had to persuade the board to let him spend some money after all'

That is, young Annan would always have some negativity over him in some people's perception since this story than if the story never came out, and when all is said and done, it's only supposition, opinion or an angle after all. Sometimes it seems better to bury ones head in the sand & ignore any media, just turn up at game as that's ultimately the thing that matters most.

It's kinda like that thing we football fans always do, we react to seemingly bad news & then form/alter judgements. If we were so clever, we'd make our points independent of specific situations (such as losing games 0r tittle-tattle stories). It's like all them Rangers fans weren't calling for Walter Smith or Murray to quit after the first leg result were they, but a lot still quote certain factors prior to the result of vindication of their bias. It's like going back to the pub after a bad performance or a result, everyone's saying what the problem is & whingeing, but would they still have the same view if we'd played well and won? I think not.

[Nelsta]

SSN saying that West Ham and Man City are battling it out to sign Santa Cruz, They are saying the asking price is 15 million.

[JAL]

I complained a while ago about the negative slant to most of nicko's postings and I note that after getting the messageboard in an absolute lather over so called developments with Warnock he has conceded in one of his posts today that there is nothing happening there.

I'm still not having it that there's any truth in the Andrews rumours either. Wake me up when he signs for us.

I am however really disappointed about Annan. After selling Bentley I can't believe we've baulked over paying a fee of 1.5m for someone who reportedly excelled in a trial.

Is Ince only allowed to sign players on loan? Are the Trustees salting away cash to reduce debts and make a potential sale more attractive?

They won't find it easier to sell a Championship club.

Regression a word used in one of the papers to describe Rovers, I find it kind of strange that Rovers have pulled down St.Bartholmews(spelling) school and the church at Ewood whist keeping it very quiet almost to the point of not wanting anyone to know about whats going on there and whos behind it .

No wonder Hughes jumped ship but I did ask about the conspiracy theory doing the rounds about the reasoning behind the publication of money given to back Paul Ince from the trustees, was it a PR move to keep the fans off the trustees back.Who knows !

As for Nicko's negativeness, hes only putting it across as it is which we are very grateful for, i think you rev like most of us see it as negative becuase it isnt what we want to hear but then that seems to be the reality of the situation we are currently in.

[Bobby G]

Ahh for God's sake cant take Santa Cruz being linked away...We have lost enough key players for more than one pre-season.

[Parsonblue]

I complained a while ago about the negative slant to most of nicko's postings and I note that after getting the messageboard in an absolute lather over so called developments with Warnock he has conceded in one of his posts today that there is nothing happening there.

I'm still not having it that there's any truth in the Andrews rumours either. Wake me up when he signs for us.

I am however really disappointed about Annan. After selling Bentley I can't believe we've baulked over paying a fee of 1.5m for someone who reportedly excelled in a trial.

Is Ince only allowed to sign players on loan? Are the Trustees salting away cash to reduce debts and make a potential sale more attractive?

They won't find it easier to sell a Championship club.

Perhaps they don't trust Ince to spend the money as wisely as Hughes. However, whatever the reason, and I am no fan of Ince, I don't think the manager is getting the support he deserves. Ultimately, if Ince can't improve the squad we can only go one way.

[briansol]

Wenger knows his players and can really spot a young talent.

I feel we are going to seriously regret this opportunity.

Alberto Mendez, Stefan Malz, Igor Stepanovs, Sebastian Svard, Francis Jeffers, Juan, Christoffer Wreh, Richard Wright, Tavlaridis etc etc.

Wenger's transfer history at Arsenal consists of a lot of lucky punts and quite a few duds. No wonder he doesn't like to buy English after the Jeffers / Richard Wright fiasco.

The only think suprising about the Annan ordeal is that Williams went public with how well Annan had done. Then it seems strange to not go through with it. Why have a trial in the first place?

[rover6]

This whole transfer period has seen the club flapping around like a swimmer out of his depth.

Ince and his team clearly lack the necessary knowledge of the transfer market and it shows. Villaneuva fortuitously came up when Ince enquired about the next Mauro Zarate from an agent. Castillo cropped up from another agent but was only given two days post-pan-continental flight to impress. Fowler given a trial because he's Ince's pal and "legend". Things have got rather desperate, so Ince moves onto a former Hughes target in Annan, who is soliciting moves to England like a man possessed.

Which begs a big question of Blackburn Rovers. Where was/is the transfer market support for Ince? The man has come from the lower leagues, he doesn't know his Vincent Kompanys from his Mario Fricks. He needs help. Don't ROvers have a centralised and permanent player database that records all players that have been tracked and their merits? It seems not because Ince has been working like a man blind-folded.

The scouting system and player database is letting the club down badly when it is most needed. It's almost as if Ince has walked into a knowledge vacuum at Rovers. No-one knows anything about anyone - so Ince is off haring after agents and old friends. Just a dire situation.

[bob fleming]

In an effort to calm those of you who are contemplating suicide over the fact that we may not be signing Annan after all - having seen this guy play a numerous times in Norway, I'd say that he wouldn't mark a very significant improvement on the other central midfielders we already have.

Oh come on! All this "seen him play numerous times" stuff is old hat Coat. Have seen him in a 20 second clip on YouTube?

If Santa Cruz is sold this summer I'm going to personally write my own letter to someone in Jersey. Literally.

Without going OTT - that would not be a good thing to do believe me. (The sale I mean, not my letter).

[DingleBaiter]

I find it kind of strange that Rovers have pulled down St.Bartholmews(spelling) school and the church at Ewood whist keeping it very quiet almost to the point of not wanting anyone to know about whats going on there and whos behind it .

Which is?

Or is it another Lone Gunmen story?

[Bazrakats]

Ince seems to be acting like a kid. Getting all his friends in his team on a school playground match. Why has fowler been given so long?

Nothing adds up anymore. Hopefully Benni potential replacment isa big name and hopefully ince wont want to take him on loan.