[Archived] Big Fat Sam's Shopping List

[bennyboyt11]

im interested to see what becomes of Andrews... whether BFS deems him an asset, or whether he will be shipped out soon as possible

Pennant won't be coming here, I read a good article today (think its in the Mail) about a load of clubs releasing players, with only Arsenal and Chelsea having everyone contracted for future seasons... some good players due to be available including Wayne Routledge, Neville, Giggs, Al-Habsi..

[1864roverite]

Andrews is an OUT option only

[Mozzer]

i think every player deserves a fresh start now

if players like ryan nelsen and pedersen continue to underform- i think selling them might be best-but with a new manager coming in-theres a chance them players could return to being good as they once where..

[dingles staying down 4ever]

I'd like to see us bring in Tal Ben Haim and Onouha from City, Appiah, Adam Johnson and Pennant.

I can't see the City players will be allowed to join rovers without RSC and/or Warnock travelling in the opposite direction.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

There definitely has to be some investment and I expect Allardyce demanded some during his talks with Williams. I think the time spent between Williams and the Trustees over the last 2 weeks may lead to funds being made available.

I'd like to see us bring in Tal Ben Haim and Onouha from City, Appiah, Adam Johnson and Pennant.

I think if we got Benni fit and tell RSC he can go at the end of the season then I think players above would make a real difference.

I'd like Sam to ship out Nelsen, Andrews and Pedersen

Robinson

Onouha

Ben Haim

Ooijer

Warnock

Pennant

Emerton

Appiah

Johnson

Benni

RSC

The above team would be a massive improvement and I think the incoming players could be brought in cheaply or on loan.

I don't want Pennant he's a waster, Johnson would be great but Boro need him to replace Downing, we may be able to swap him for Pedersen though. I've never rated Ben Haim but I've got a mate who's knows his players who's a Bolton fan - he swears by Ben Haim. Appaih- Don't know enough about his current form. Onouha no better than Simpson in my opinion.

[rover6]

SO what will BFS do with Villaneuva? I fear that a short, slow man will not feature in his plans, however, skilful.

Whoever BFS signs please, I just hope that he does not:

- fill the team/squad with bosmans and loans that damage the identity of the team

- sign players on their physical attributes over their skill levels

- start playing long ball football

- kicking young players back to reserve oblivion

Too much to hope for?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

SO what will BFS do with Villaneuva? I fear that a short, slow man will not feature in his plans, however, skilful.

Whoever BFS signs please, I just hope that he does not:

- fill the team/squad with bosmans and loans that damage the identity of the team

- sign players on their physical attributes over their skill levels

- start playing long ball football

- kicking young players back to reserve oblivion

Too much to hope for?

You mean like Grella ?

Well we certainly need to boost the physical side of our game.

You mean like Ince wasn't playing long ball at the end ?

Bolton seemed to bring young players through, ours have been poor.

[rover6]

I'm not denying that Allardyce has the potential to surpass Ince by a great margin. That does not take a lot.

However, I fear what Allardyce will turn us into. Do we really want short-term "novelty signings" walking in and out of our team (Okocha/Nakata) and loanees who have absolutely no interest in the club (Mendy)? And pointless experienced players lined up on the bench (Ian Walker).

Perhaps, I'm seeing things too negatively. However, I am just going on how I perceived Allardyce's Bolton - and that was as a multinational patchwork of footballers playing an ugly brand of football to decent utilitarian effect but represent nothing that I love about football (apart from, maybe, occasionally, winning).

[tony gale's mic]

I'm not denying that Allardyce has the potential to surpass Ince by a great margin. That does not take a lot.

However, I fear what Allardyce will turn us into. Do we really want short-term "novelty signings" walking in and out of our team (Okocha/Nakata) and loanees who have absolutely no interest in the club (Mendy)? And pointless experienced players lined up on the bench (Ian Walker).

Perhaps, I'm seeing things too negatively. However, I am just going on how I perceived Allardyce's Bolton - and that was as a multinational patchwork of footballers playing an ugly brand of football to decent utilitarian effect but represent nothing that I love about football (apart from, maybe, occasionally, winning).

Multinational patchwork of footballers? As opposed to the rest of the teams in the league?

I'll tell you what happened. You saw what happened at Bolton and you didn't like it. Nor did I. What you, or probably me or most of us didnt realise at the time is that we were doing very similar things are Rovers. We got Savage and Bellamy who people hate. We maybe played marginally better football (only marginally). And we both had similarish successes. But you saw Bolton's as ugly and unacceptable while you welcomed ours. Perfectly natural reaction of a partisan football fan, but now Allardyce is our man it's time to remove the tinted glasses...

[joey_big_nose]

I'm not denying that Allardyce has the potential to surpass Ince by a great margin. That does not take a lot.

However, I fear what Allardyce will turn us into. Do we really want short-term "novelty signings" walking in and out of our team (Okocha/Nakata) and loanees who have absolutely no interest in the club (Mendy)? And pointless experienced players lined up on the bench (Ian Walker).

Perhaps, I'm seeing things too negatively. However, I am just going on how I perceived Allardyce's Bolton - and that was as a multinational patchwork of footballers playing an ugly brand of football to decent utilitarian effect but represent nothing that I love about football (apart from, maybe, occasionally, winning).

Well if you wouldn't want Okacha your mental!

It will be interesting to see what Sam does. On the one hand he has to keep us up, and is justified to use any means to do so. The sensible thing in that regard is to do what he knows best and do it well. So I cannot see past the 4231/433 formation for the near future.

However once (if) we are safe, probably next season, he will have the breathing space to reconsider. He knows that despite a very decent record he never got the England or a really "big" job on the basis that people generally do not like his style. He was turned down for the Rovers job in the summer (and probably ruled out by West Ham and Sunderland) for precisely this reason. I would imagine that, as he considers himself a student of the game, he has ideas how to develop the attractiveness of the football in order to progress his career. He will know he has to change his "branding" as a manager if he is ever going to make another step "up" the managerial ladder.

I have faith in him. He is clearly a bright guy who works hard and keeps a very open mind about how to run a football club. He has his faults but I think it is beyond doubt we have got the best man available for a club in our situation. Lets back him. I cannot see a manager out of any mentioned who would guarantee us quality football, and certainly not one who promised that and the best chance of staying up.

[Hughesy]

The man with an eye for a bargain will no doubt have a list of possibles already wrote down. He will of done his homework as he has been involved in alot of panels at games.

I think there are a number of players Sam should look to ship out - like Ooijer (going anyway), Axe, Gallagher, Roberts and Brown.

He should then also consider the likes of Pedersen, Roque (due to being unsettled) and Nelsen - These players can be great players for us, but thats down to Sam to sort out.

He also needs to consider if it would be beneficial for the likes of Derbyshire, Treacy, Bunn etc to go out on loan to gain valuable playing time and experience.

According to the press the Roque decision is his to make Stick or get £20m to play with??? Its your choice

[tony gale's mic]

RSC is a tricky one.

If he keeps him, then we might have next to no transfer funds to improve the side with.

If he sells him, we could get rid of our only bit of genuine quality in the side that, if serviced properly, can make the difference in tight games.

I say see how he does in the first half of the transfer window, see how up for it he is in training etc, and then get rid if he still looks disinterested.

[Hughesy]

Personally I just think Roque didnt like Ince, hopefully we will see a massive improvement from him. If so then we have to keep him.

[tony gale's mic]

I do worry Sam won't be RSC's type of manager even though I'm glad he's here. Hope I'm wrong though. At least he's a competent manager at the very least.

[steverovers]

I think the main thing is to actually get ALL the players match fit, something that hasn't been right all season.

[The Harwood Yankee]

I think Sam should look back to the deficiencies Rovers had at the start of the season which were never addressed and caused Ince to play players out of position, thus weakening the team in other areas. We didnt properly replace Bentley down the right, which meant Emerton pushing forward and us losing an increasingly solid right back. Admittedly Brett has been our best player this season but he's popped up in the middle and all over and allowing him to re-establish himself at right back (with Warnock at leftback, not midfield ffs!) puts the shape back in the team and forms the basis of a stable defence which Ince destroyed this season.

Soooo - right midfield/right wing - Chris Eagles. The Dingles've said they're looking to sell to strengthen this January so he might be worth a look. Certainly a better choice than Pennant, who I think has trouble written through him like a stick of Blackpool Rock.

Elsewhere, we've exhausted Tugay by overplaying him in the middle due to a lack of creativity. Poor service from midfield for our strikers has given them little to feed on & made them underperform. Dunn's return will help but I still think we need to get rid of Andrews & Vogel and bring in a creative midfielder of genuine quality. Villanueva isnt that player either (not sure what he is to be honest - he's not a proper striker, he's not a creative midfielder, not a wide man, he's just a little lad who promises but doesnt deliver). I think this is where we need to spend whatever money we have. Vince Grella cost £5 million, Andrews was about £1.5 million. Stilian Petrov cost Villa £6.5 million. To think we could have someone like him instead of Grella + Andrews and for the same money shows how poorly Ince performed in the transfer market. Sam will attract better players, purely & simply.

A player I like is Steffen Hofmann. He's the current Austrian player of the year and plays for Rapid Wien. He's a creative attacking midfield player, hard-working, very well liked by his fans, and bags of talent. He's about 28 I think. Used to be with Bayern Munich (not sure if he played with RSC) but he also contributes goals from midfield. He scored from the halfway line once, a la Beckham, and he tucks away free kicks like Pedersen used to.

If I was Sam I'd get rid of:

Mokoena

Gallagher

Andrews

Vogel

And bring in:

Eagles

Hofmann

And if we're resigned to losing Santa Cruz then use that money to bring in the abovementioned, and another bargain striker (replacing RSC + Blobby Fowler). I'll probably be attacked for saying it but Sam got great return from Diouf - he wouldnt cost that much & we'd get goals out of him, as well as some comedy no doubt!

[Fraserkirky]

Just some names that may be available in January.

Bentner(Arsenal)

Eboue(Arsenal)

Duff(Newcastle)

Smith(Newcastle)

Owen(Newcastle)

Appiah(Free)

McGeady(Celtic)

Onouha(City)

Elano(City)

Ben Haim(City)

Alex(Chelsea)

Fred(Lyon)

Diouf(Sunderland)

[Esben_DK]

Looks like RSC stays http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport...icle2049184.ece

[brfc4ever]

As a side note, who does he get rid of?

My wish list:

Derbyshire

Roberts

Treacy

Reid

Fowler

Andrews

Derbyshire ? Blackburn all the way. Just the kind of player we need imo.

- *Agger (loan, Skrtel is back soon and in any case Hypia has been preffered. He's was a rock last year)

Would be great, but I doubt it could happen.

[Oklahoma]

I think Rovers should pay a close attention to unsettled players in Man City.

If Hughes brings in more players, which he will do, some will have to leave.

[Majiball]

I think Rovers should pay a close attention to unsettled players in Man City.

If Hughes brings in more players, which he will do, some will have to leave.

There some hot talent wasting away at City. I'd like Johnson TBH, maybe sturridge although yet to be convinced. However even though according to the press the board will make funds available regardless of RSC, I doubt we could afford them.

Loantastic time for me.

[Hughesy]

Seb Larsson or Michael Kightley from Wolves seem like the obvious options for the right wing. Or maybe Lennon, as Tottenham are willing to let him go to Liverpool in a swap for Pennant (God knows why!).

We should also be looking at Aiden McGeady now that he has fallen out with Celtic. He can be abit of a brat, but he has a great cross on him, and if we could find a buyer for Pedersen (if he isn’t going to be his old self).

At City the likes of Elano, Sturridge, Onouha, Ben Haim and possibly also Benjani are all worth a look – and also maybe 1 or 2 others following their signings in January – Maybe Dunne?

A player I also like as a good hard-working option for Midfield is Leon Osman at Everton but he won’t leave there. Also wouldn’t surprise me if Sam looks Appiah, which we could do much worse than!

Im probably on my own but id like to see Diouf at Ewood, he is an option and has worked under Sam before. He can play on either wing aswell as upfront and he also adds that bit of nasty that gets under opposition teams.

Hopefully now that we have Sam here, we have raised our expectations again and wont be looking at the likes of Fowler and any other mug from League 1 or 2.

[Hog]

Hasn't Davies signed a new contract with Bolton? People will groan but he's a very underrated player. People rave about Heskey now, and Davies is similar to him. He works hard and does the dirty work to the benefit of his team-mates.

Correct. Davies signed a new contract at the start of the season and he is very underrated. Just lately he's been playing behind Elmander and there have been glimpses of the player he used to be before he sacrificed a lot of his natural game to fit in with what Allardyce needed.

Nolan would be a good signing for Blackburn - but then I'm a Bolton fan. Not that he'll come, he's got it too cushy at the Reebok.

You might get lumbered with Diouf. You'll get ten good games a season out him. They'll be very good games, but he doesn't produce week in, week out.

Roberts won't go to Bolton, he left WBA because of Megson, but don't be surprised if Sam gives him a new lease of life.

[RevidgeBlue]

Looks like RSC stays http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport...icle2049184.ece

There's that story in the Sun which is very encouraging, however the Mail runs the exact opposite story saying RSC will be sold to raise funds to wheel and deal.

How do they get paid for writing such tosh? One of them must be completely wrong!

Yet again not exactly surprising to see a negative story about us in the Mail. And Sam hasn't even got in the door yet!.

Really don't know what it is they have against us.

[Majiball]

TBH honest Hughsey I think its more like we'll be signing Bjorn whothehellamI. Even if the board dip in they not gonna produce 20M+ loans could be a good option for those not playing?

Curiously anyone know what agent allardyce favours? Nicko?

Diouf, if we're going to have a bad boy I'd rather Barton, Sam signed him once.

I see we are still being linked to that Janko but now he's worth £9M Madness!