[Archived] Nicko's January Rumour Mill

[Plastic Head]

City are a financial behemoth. They seem intent on throwing their weight about and I'm not certain that I like the cut of Gary Cook's gib. They are on the verge of forcing Milan into selling a player they didn't want to lose. We can't stand up to them and it would seem that RSC is off to Beswick whether we like it or not and at a time of Ci'eh's choosing.

Let's face it, Santa Cruz is good but he isn't THAT good. I wouldn't put him on a par with the top 6-7 forwards in the league but he is as good as anything else.

He is also likely to miss plenty of games injured. This won't be as much of a problem for City as it would be for us.

Hughes thinks he is the type of hold-up player and has the aerial power they need.

City apart...who would pay anything approaching £20M for him? Money up front as well.

Everyone on here knows where we need to improve the team. We have 2 decent forwards and will need to add another if he goes, but we will surely be a better side minus Roque but plus 2 or 3 decent midfielers and a right-back.

I'm sure we have targets and are ready to go if the money arrives.

[gumboots]

Let's face it, Santa Cruz is good but he isn't THAT good. I wouldn't put him on a par with the top 6-7 forwards in the league but he is as good as anything else.

He is also likely to miss plenty of games injured. This won't be as much of a problem for City as it would be for us.

Hughes thinks he is the type of hold-up player and has the aerial power they need.

City apart...who would pay anything approaching £20M for him? Money up front as well.

Everyone on here knows where we need to improve the team. We have 2 decent forwards and will need to add another if he goes, but we will surely be a better side minus Roque but plus 2 or 3 decent midfielers and a right-back.

I'm sure we have targets and are ready to go if the money arrives.

that's the point though. We need money now - not at the end of Jan. It's useless in terms of improving the team unless it arrives in time for you to do the deals. You can go so far with enquiries but then if you don't have the cash to get the bid in and the deal done then you are always open to having other cash rich clubs nip in and buy the players you've enquired about. That's why there should be some kind of time limit in the minds of our club that's communicated to the player and his agents. Get the deal done if we're going to do it. As I've said many times I'm neutral on whether we keep him or not as I can see the pros and cons both ways but the longer it goes on the more i come down on the side of keeping him because we may not be able to spend the cash

[Mozzer]

regarding santa cruz-my opinion is..altho he is a very good player-if he doesnt want to play for this club, we should sell-and i think a figure of over 15million would be a good fee-(altho with bellamy rumoured to be costing 12-14million santa cruz should be nearer 20million)..hes been injuried quite a bit for us, hasnt scored so many this season maybe getting rid of him now could be right for us..im sure if sam allardyce was given 10million to spend from santa cruz transfer he would find someone capable of replacing him..

i think anything over 15million we would be laughing-hes only proven himself in one season(really), and is picking up injuries reguarly...

[mattyboy6000]

im sure he wouldnt grumble at kaka though

sure, but you recognise my point though, that the sheiks are not after roque? if they were the story might be different

personally I don't think we're desperate for the money either. from looking at the current position, listening to Sam's interviews, I get the impression that if they could fill our coffers, fantastice, but we won't be losing much sleep should that not happen.

[EwoodGlory]

Seems Kinnear doesn't like the way City do business

Newcastle United boss Joe Kinnear has accused Manchester City of "taking the p***" over their bid for Shay Given.

He said: "We got offered £3m for Shay Given so I went back to Manchester City and said I'll have Stephen Ireland and Michael Johnson for £1m. If they're taking the p*** then I might as well.

At least Rovers just put a short statement on our website titled 'Bid rejected'

[Bennisfromheaven]

15 million for Roque is ridiculous in my opinion! He is a player of good calibre only entering his peak & proven in the premiership! Yes, you can argue that he hasnt performed this year & has been missing due to injury (which is most likely reason for dip in form) But we know that Hughes can get the best out of him & keep him fit!

If clubs are looking for vast amounts for youngsters due to their potential, we should be looking for at least 20 million for a proven striker sitting on a 4 year contract with his best years ahead of him!

Sam doesnt need to sell him & should not allow us be bullied by the nouveau riche!

[Tom]

Is anyone else starting to find this window quite exciting?

Not sure if its down to being a bit more relaxed as we're (marginally) outisde the bottom 3 or a sense of faith in Sams targets but things don't seem too bad.

You have to wonder just who Ince's targets would have been.

[BuckyRover]

Grella has been good everytime he has played.

Robinson looks an able Friedel replacement.

Bunn is regarded as a great propect for the future so much so that we are now selling Brown.

Andrews looks like a decent squad player (Allardyce certainly thinks so)

Villaneuva doesn't seem suited to this league (although I still dare to dream)

Fowler was rubbish.

We also heard the other day that one of the players Ince had been looking at was Matias Fernandez from Villarreal (who has been very impressive when I have seen him, although he might struggle to settle in the UK).

So Ince couldn't win many games or motivate his team, but he wasn't too shabby at finding players who were good value for money.

[philipl]

Seems Kinnear doesn't like the way City do business

Like it or not, it IS the way City are doing business with clubs in the Premier League.

NB for those who want to sell RSC.

The headlines were "City bid £8m for Given". The REALITY is they have bid £3m which is a chunk less than Spurs offered for him.

I doubt City have yet offered more than £12m for Roque in any shape or form Rovers could use to buy players in THIS window.

Bucky, Grella was absolute rubbish in two out of four appearances under Ince. Hopefully some decent Premier League coaching and fitness training are lifting him so he can play 90 minutes at the level he played against a woeful Newcastle when he comes up against the strong midfields in the Prem.

PI is indefensible.

[gazsimm]

Grella has been good everytime he has played.

Robinson looks an able Friedel replacement.

Bunn is regarded as a great propect for the future so much so that we are now selling Brown.

Andrews looks like a decent squad player (Allardyce certainly thinks so)

Villaneuva doesn't seem suited to this league (although I still dare to dream)

Fowler was rubbish.

We also heard the other day that one of the players Ince had been looking at was Matias Fernandez from Villarreal (who has been very impressive when I have seen him, although he might struggle to settle in the UK).

So Ince couldn't win many games or motivate his team, but he wasn't too shabby at finding players who were good value for money.

don't forget the loan signing of Simpson (Not good enough) what Ince made as well.

[67splitscreen]

Nicko, is this your work. It appears to be a done deal, well almost.

I know you said this morning his agent was in town.

Gueye.

[BuckyRover]

Seems Kinnear doesn't like the way City do business

Like it or not, it IS the way City are doing business with clubs in the Premier League.

NB for those who want to sell RSC.

The headlines were "City bid £8m for Given". The REALITY is they have bid £3m which is a chunk less than Spurs offered for him.

I doubt City have yet offered more than £12m for Roque in any shape or form Rovers could use to buy players in THIS window.

Bucky, Grella was absolute rubbish in two out of four appearances under Ince. Hopefully some decent Premier League coaching and fitness training are lifting him to the level at which he can play 90 minutes at the level he played against a woeful Newcastle when he comes up against the strong midfields in the Prem.

PI is indefensible.

That doesn't make any sense. So he can be a good player with coaching and fitness training.

So is he a good player or not?

I take smug satisfaction in knowing that many people (yourself included) are too proud to say when Paul Ince did anything right. It is never black and white. You can't be ALL BAD or ALL GOOD. It is usually somewhere in the middle. Some of the reports from the club about Bunn are very promising indeed.

Your inability to credit Paul Ince for anything in his tenure says a lot about your personality. I don't quite know what, but they way you talk says that you are angry about him. I dont know why.

[The Rover of Finland]

Has anyone seen this Calve on action? Not very exciting name must say. Keep Ooijer until summer just in case and there´s still Simpson. Nicko, is Seitaridis off? Also Ben Haim seems to be forgotten. By everyone actually!

[alexanders]

He was MOM against Boro and looked class. He also looked class against Newcastle this weekend.

Why can't people see that Grella is a very good defensive midfielder and stop jagging on about Vogel ?

£14m for Bellamy who is 29 years old.

City madness.

[Mr Creosote]

He was MOM against Boro and looked class. He also looked class against Newcastle this weekend.

Why can't people see that Grella is a very good defensive midfielder and stop jagging on about Vogel ?

£14m for Bellamy who is 29 years old.

City madness.

Grella is an Ince signing and will therefore never be accepted by some.

Snowing like mad in Baxenden btw!

[hawkiiz]

to be fair ince maybe had an eye for decent players, and i will always love him for getting money for friedel and signing robinson. lovely move!

however he did not get anyting out of his players - is that down to ince or the league 2 coaches? i dont know, but there is no doubt that Sam is the man for rovers. why we did not sign him in the first place is a huge mystery to me.

we are being linked with a chilean striker btw, but everton looks like they will get him on loan.

http://www.newsnow.co.uk/A/323302885?-11198

[nicko]

Gueye is here and in at training...with his agent...told it is to sign and not a trial...we shall see.

[bob fleming]

Gueye is here and in at training...with his agent...

Is his agent any good nicko? Right winger perhaps?

[nicko]

Is his agent any good nicko? Right winger perhaps?

Papa Malik Diop was a pretty good player in his day...defender.

[roversmad95]

to be fair ince maybe had an eye for decent players, and i will always love him for getting money for friedel and signing robinson. lovely move!

however he did not get anyting out of his players - is that down to ince or the league 2 coaches? i dont know, but there is no doubt that Sam is the man for rovers. why we did not sign him in the first place is a huge mystery to me.

we are being linked with a chilean striker btw, but everton looks like they will get him on loan.

http://www.newsnow.co.uk/A/323302885?-11198

big sam said he wasn't ready to start again in the summer wanted to have the summer off with his wife i read somewhere... thats why we went with ince... glad he is ready now...

come on rovers!

[Rainmaker]

big sam said he wasn't ready to start again in the summer wanted to have the summer off with his wife i read somewhere... thats why we went with ince... glad he is ready now...

I think that may just have been a "cover story" for him to save face.

I'm guessing that the massive "no to Allardyce"-campain promted the Rovers board to choose someone else than him. This may have been communicatet to Sam, and he chose to withdraw from the job rather than being turned down.

[roversmad95]

I think that may just have been a "cover story" for him to save face.

I'm guessing that the massive "no to Allardyce"-campain promted the Rovers board to choose someone else than him. This may have been communicatet to Sam, and he chose to withdraw from the job rather than being turned down.

yeah very ture... i bet those who started the "no to Allardyce"-campain are happy he is here now... i'll be honest i though ince would of done better and i wanted him rather than big sam but im glad sam is here now...

[spencey7]

I think that [the story about turning down the Rovers job in the summer] may just have been a "cover story" for [Allardyce] to save face.

I reckon that was undoubtedly the case - Any insight on this Nicko?

[Oklahoma]

Nicko, if Man City sign the players that are currently close to sign for them (Bellamy, De Jong, Kaka, Palacios and possibly Santa Cruz), who are they willing to let go?

Any news if Rovers are looking to take advantage of their big squad?

Man City have 26 players currently (that already played one game) and if they bring in 4 or 5 more players, someone will leave...

[nicko]

I reckon that was undoubtedly the case - Any insight on this Nicko?

I don't think he was the one the club wanted but he did get an interview.

Sam's story at the time was that the club had no money and it didn't feel right.

The club thought they had found the new Mark Hughes.

Never mind...move on.