[Archived] Nicko's Thread

[magicalmortensleftpeg]

Nice one Rovers, we have just gone backwards since the full time wistle went at St Andrews, So many teams have overtaken us, i really hope people ask some serious questions at the fans forum, Where did all the money go, i'm so so so gutted,

Exactly how is it Rovers fault if we have gone backwards? We've not managed to replace Bentley but that does not mean we have not tried. Roque is still here and Robinson signing in place of Friedel is in no way a loss. Carlos arriving is a plus and Andrews/Grella certainly provide more cover in the midfield.

You say we have been overtaken, well how the hell could we have prevented that??

Look at Man City today - we finished higher then them last season yet they have spent £30m today on Robinho. Its not a lack of ambition which is holding Blackburn back its a lack of funds which no matter how much we can complain about, its a fact that financially we cannot compete on the same level as the clubs around us. We cannot take £8/9m gambles on players who may be past it (Joaquin/Recoba). Until we have the financial security to compete on a par with the Villas/Spurs of this world, these transfer windows will always end up like this for us. We have to be twice as cautious as the other top 10 clubs and therefore id rather we take a cautious approach as opposed to simply throwing what little money we have into players who may not produce.

[Hi Mack]

No teams have overtaken us, and nobody can say any different until the full time whistle goes at Ewood Park v WBA on May 24th 2009.

You're just another one of the "must have big names" brigade. Thank FFFFUUUU******* the window is now closed and normal Rovers fans can get on with supporting the players who are wearing the shirt, and enjoying the great football on the pitch.

Im not one of the big name brigade!but i am extremely dissapointed with our efforts in the transfer market!

And also you say enjoy the great football on the pitch.......when was the last time we played great at ewood?

And if anyone says were stronger this season than last................come on!

Bad day all round!Night people, least we can forget about all this now and hope for

a satisfactory season!

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

at least they signed someone. Lets not try and put any positive twist on this transfer window. Its been a disgrace. We'll struggle till january now, and knowing blackburn, we'll waste the whole of that window away as well.

Agreed, this has been a shocking transfer window.

By all conservative estimates we had over £20million available for this window.

We have spent £5.5 million net on Robinson (looks shaky) Grella (Is he better than what we've got) and Andrews (ditto Grella)

We've signed an unproven forward (Cruz junior, who is nowhere near the first team squad), Villanueve (on loan) who may well be a good player - but no-one -probably not even Ince, knows how they are going to fit him in the side and Simpson (on loan - no option to buy - and don't play him!)

We still look shaky at the back

We still have no pace

We still have no creativity

We have an unfit striker Benni + Fowler if he ever joins.

No doubt we will bring in some other average joe cast off on a free transfer for the right wing. Recoba fits the bill. Unfit, slow has been.

We won't pay over the odds for players -- we won't even pay the market rate. Shambolic approach by the board. Do they suddenly think the like of Liverpool will suddenly let Pennant go for £3 million in January when we are desperate for a winger?? They'll want 7 or 8 million.

It's clear that we either;

Have no money available - or aren't backing Ince

Have no ambition (makes you wonder when laudrup was a candidate)

Or Ince and his scouting network are clueless.

We will be bottom 6 by Christmas and all the good work attracting bigger gates will have gone out the window. Well done Rovers.

[LDRover]

Maybe we needed to help finance the deals of the 7 other players we have purchased this summer?

Read back to page 189 for my input on how much we've spent compared to how much we've made this summer. We have a budget of 10 million plus left over. Hughes compo 5 million, Savage 1.5 million, Friedel 2.5 million, Bentley 8 million added to trustees 3 million injection and a likely initial budget of 5 million makes 25 million.

We've spent 3.5 million on Robinson and 5 million on Andrews and Grella. If the other piddling deals cost us 3 million (which they don't) and you take away the 3 million of the trustees it's still 10 million plus.

Whatever way you look at it, we've messed up and left ourselves woefully short for a significant amount of the season.

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

You say we have been overtaken, well how the hell could we have prevented that??

Look at Man City today - we finished higher then them last season yet they have spent £30m today on Robinho. Its not a lack of ambition which is holding Blackburn back its a lack of funds which no matter how much we can complain about, its a fact that financially we cannot compete on the same level as the clubs around us.

We only needed to sign 2-3 quality players. Given the amount of money we had available, we could have bought some real talent for £15-20 million. Why couldn't we compete with the clubs around us? If we can't attract players who is that down to? Dalglish could, Hughes could and I',m damn sure Laudrup could!

[bonger 26]

Agreed, this has been a shocking transfer window.

By all conservative estimates we had over £20million available for this window.

We have spent £5.5 million net on Robinson (looks shaky) Grella (Is he better than what we've got) and Andrews (ditto Grella)

We've signed an unproven forward (Cruz junior, who is nowhere near the first team squad), Villanueve (on loan) who may well be a good player - but no-one -probably not even Ince, knows how they are going to fit him in the side and Simpson (on loan - no option to buy - and don't play him!)

We still look shaky at the back

We still have no pace

We still have no creativity

We have an unfit striker Benni + Fowler if he ever joins.

No doubt we will bring in some other average joe cast off on a free transfer for the right wing. Recoba fits the bill. Unfit, slow has been.

We won't pay over the odds for players -- we won't even pay the market rate. Shambolic approach by the board. Do they suddenly think the like of Liverpool will suddenly let Pennant go for £3 million in January when we are desperate for a winger?? They'll want 7 or 8 million.

It's clear that we either;

Have no money available - or aren't backing Ince

Have no ambition (makes you wonder when laudrup was a candidate)

Or Ince and his scouting network are clueless.

We will be bottom 6 by Christmas and all the good work attracting bigger gates will have gone out the window. Well done Rovers.

are you a rovers suporter?

[Presty On Tour]

Disappointing we never addressed the right wing position during the window but we don't know what is really happening behind the closed doors.

I still can't believe Citeh signed Robinho!

[Billy Castell]

Whilst it is good we haven't spent £8m on Pennant or some other daft deal that would be over the odds, its effing annoying that we don't have a proper right winger. The signings we have got may improve the team as a whole, but we needed someone. i'd have loved Kightley, but I doubt Wolves would let him go. Even a loan for someone like Pennant would have helped. Bentley should not have gone until we had another deal lined up.

As for the money? It has probably gone on running the club since no-one goes to our games. Unless the whole stupid money bubble bursts, and clubs start screwing up with debts or bored owners, Premiership football will become a memory for Blackburn in 5 years time. The only way we can survive in this expensive circus is to have a billionaire owner. That will not happen, even if we invite shady characters who sell dodgy AIDS pills to the 3rd World or guns to Zimbabwe. So however good Ince will be, we will ultimately struggle to stay up as all the other clubs get all sorts of rich people into their club whilst we have nowt. We will be consistent relegation battlers unless some serious poo hits the fan in the world economy.

Mind you, whilst relegation will be a very bitter pill, at least we will be away from the vile, grotesque Premiership, and have proper football issues to think about. Death to the Premiership, death to TV rights and RIP the so-called beautiful game. I wish I had Sky. Then I could watch some rugby instead of this ____.

[steverovers]

Exactly how is it Rovers fault if we have gone backwards? We've not managed to replace Bentley but that does not mean we have not tried. Roque is still here and Robinson signing in place of Friedel is in no way a loss. Carlos arriving is a plus and Andrews/Grella certainly provide more cover in the midfield.

You say we have been overtaken, well how the hell could we have prevented that??

Look at Man City today - we finished higher then them last season yet they have spent £30m today on Robinho. Its not a lack of ambition which is holding Blackburn back its a lack of funds which no matter how much we can complain about, its a fact that financially we cannot compete on the same level as the clubs around us. We cannot take £8/9m gambles on players who may be past it (Joaquin/Recoba). Until we have the financial security to compete on a par with the Villas/Spurs of this world, these transfer windows will always end up like this for us. We have to be twice as cautious as the other top 10 clubs and therefore id rather we take a cautious approach as opposed to simply throwing what little money we have into players who may not produce.

Absolutely spot on!

[tcj_jones]

Campbell to Spurs as makeweight for Berbatov, surely? I'm guessing only on loan though...

Oh, I am good...

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Let's look on the bright side, we should have plenty of dosh for the new guy to spend when the board finally come to their senses.

[jny]

please screw arrogant city someone

[Billy Castell]

They'll probably screw themselves. It may yet end in tears.

[promoted2001]

berbatov to manure confirmed. campbell going the other way on loan. 30m plus the complaint to the premier league about manure has been withdrawn.

[Hi Mack]

Let's look on the bright side, we should have plenty of dosh for the new guy to spend when the board finally come to their senses.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh controversial!

[Wing Wizard Windy Miller]

are you a rovers suporter?

A very pee'd off one.

[hollowsr]

Oh for god sake. This talk is getting rediculous now. We as Rovers fans have to get behind the team and the manager.

He decided that it wasn't worth getting anyone in for the prices wanted from clubs. He shall live by that and will be judged on that but the time for judging isn't now it will be around January time or May.

Give Ince a chance and let him take the team where he wants without having the fans on his back after THREE games

[bonger 26]

3 games into the season and we are already resigning ourselves to the fact were goin down. cant get my head round it our suposed best suporters out there would be thinking this im gutted we aint the biggest club outhere but thats what were not about were suposed to be loyal through thick and thin. things could be alot worse we could be below the dingles

[DeadlyDirk]

Read back to page 189 for my input on how much we've spent compared to how much we've made this summer. We have a budget of 10 million plus left over. Hughes compo 5 million, Savage 1.5 million, Friedel 2.5 million, Bentley 8 million added to trustees 3 million injection and a likely initial budget of 5 million makes 25 million.

We've spent 3.5 million on Robinson and 5 million on Andrews and Grella. If the other piddling deals cost us 3 million (which they don't) and you take away the 3 million of the trustees it's still 10 million plus.

Whatever way you look at it, we've messed up and left ourselves woefully short for a significant amount of the season.

Just because that is the transfer fees we have received it doesn't mean it will all go towards future transfer targets, there are other things that cost money at a football club, like Roque's new contract for one.

Don't forget we need to keep £4 million for Villanueva in case we want to make it permament.

We've spent/likely to spend

Villanueva £4 million

Grella £4 million

Robinson £3.5 million

Andrews Undisclosed

Bunn Undisclosed

Julio Santa Cruz Undisclosed

It was reported MK Dons wanted closer to £2 million for Andrews so who knows how much we eventually paid, possibly at least £1.5 million.

As for Santa Cruz and Bunn, there were probably relatively cheap but all in all it could put us close to spending £15 million on players which is a lot more than we have spent in recent years.

How true was the original £10 million we had to spend? Was it ever confirmed by the club, even if it was true at the time that was when we had Hughes in charge who had regularly had to graft for signings, it doesn't mean we were going to give Ince the full £10 million immediately upon joining the club.

Then there is Simpson, although there is no agreed fee for him, if he turns out to be a good signing for us then there is a strong chance we will want to make it permanent like we did with Bentley. We'll need money in the bank to make this happen.

It's always important to have cash in reserve and not just blow it all away, what if Judge does well and proves to be a good option on the right and we need to strengthen other areas in January, what if Santa Cruz gets a long term injury and we decide we need to bring in another forward?

You can't just blow all your money on any old player if suitable ones don't become available at suitable prices, there is no doubt we have been looking at a lot of players who just never turned out right for the club in the end.

I'm glad the transfer window is closed, we got to keep Santa Cruz and Warnock despite a lot of interest and other than the right midfield we have strenghened in every department other than arguably Friedel who had to be replaced at somepoint.

Now lets get on with what a football club should be about, playing football.

I think the whole Man City takeover and the signing of Robinho has blown things hugely out of proportion today.

Arte Et Labore

If you're that upset with the club you supposedly 'support' then go support a different one, we won't mind.

[BRFC1995]

celtic and rangers have always wanted in on the premier league, how about we sell our place for a hundred million and then win the scottish league and enter champions league every year..................... maybe thats the future for us to survive in.

I know uncle jack loved the club unlike these hillbilly foriegn clowns, but there was a time when we set transfer records and spent money we otherwise could never dream of so we can't really grumble about what is going on at other clubs.

Try to win more than we lose and play entertaining football is the future i want, and don't go bust trying to satisfy fans who want big names on huge wages.

[Billy Castell]

For the record, I am not saying Ince should go. It's just that The Premiership has destroyed football and made it worse than the NFL in terms of shallow showbiz crap, idiotic wages and pointless nonsense that is not wholly related to sport.

[Ronin]

Glad the window is now shut until it all starts up again in January.

So the incomings are that we've basically replaced one keeper, and bought another. Got in 2 new midfielders, a forward on loan from Chile. We still needed to address the right sided midfielder conundrum, but there are always still free agents to peruse over, ie Recoba, Smertin? etc. Plus if Ince gives Treacy and Judge a chance to show what they can do, as he had been doing in preseason, you could say that's another couple of players added to the first team mix.

I'm not one of those people, who would want a glamourous big name player brought in just to plug the gap, I'd much rather players that are brought in that can work well within the team and do a good job of what they're brought in to do. If there's nobody around at the moment, then I'd rather we keep the powder dry until January until someone does come along that fits the bill, meaning we would have to wee with the willy we've got until then. Personally I think we'll do alright, but it may mean a bit of switching around (Maybe switching Pedersen over to the right with Treacy on the left?)

Cheers for the updates during the summer months Nicko, see you in January?

[insiderover79]

Would it be fair to say Uncle Jack would not be impressed by the conduct of the trustees??

Useless, shambolic, and a complete disgrace to the heritage and supporters of our great club.

I for one will continue to back Paul Ince and for now John Williams but surely its time now for the supporters to turn on the people who deserve some serious abuse, the WALKER TRUSTEES??

Yes Pauls transfers may not be the best, but they certainly arent the worst in the league, but to not give him the support in the 2 areas he said weeks ago we needed cover is shocking and well for me it has to be "SACK THE BOARD" chants on the 13th September.

Come on you Blues!!

[bonger 26]

Try to win more than we lose and play entertaining football is the future i want, and don't go bust trying to satisfy fans who want big names on huge wages.

couldnt have put it better myself

[tcj_jones]

We don't want big names on huge wages, we want fundamental weaknesses in our first team addressing. We don't have a single right midfielder in our 28 strong squad. Well maybe Judge, I'm not sure, but he clearly isn't prepared to start in the Premier League.