[Archived] Nicko's January Rumour Mill

[Stuart]

i agree, but because of that we got diouf - allowing bert to play either centre mid, right wing or right back depending on the situation. then he got injured and we are a bit screwed. i agree to that, but i dont think it's fair to blame sam or the board or the trust for that. i believe that if we wanted we could have had the egyptian, but i trust sam that he was not good enough. so what should we do? tried for zoro, but no work permit. all decent strikers were to expensieve. only deal i can see us doing is probably ben-haim who went to sunderland on loan.

i was pretty happy and confident untill bert got sidelined, and now i am gutted and scared to death that we might actually struggle for real.

then i think of pompey, barcodes, WBA, stoke, boro, hull and a few more, and get quite happy again. we might have a bad midfield, but we do have a pretty good defence, and a very strong strikeforce + IMO one of the very best managers you can dream of. we should be ok. lets just hope we have had our bad stint, and some of the others are just about to start on their.

I really wish I had your optimism - even more I hope the team have your optimism! I just hope the old adage "too good to go down" does not haunt us in relation to your list.

So I accept other teams are also struggling but over the past few transfer windows clubs we (used to) rub shoulders with, Everton, Villa, Spurs, have strengthened (okay it's possible to laugh at Tottenham at the moment but no doubt they will pull clear) meanwhile we have not, and have started to lose ground.

Even mid-table teams like Fulham, Wigan and West Ham have improved their squad consistently.

As I've said, I hope you are right come the end of the season but for me (and no disrespect intended) many of the posters who come on here with genuine concerns are the ones who, like me, sit in the stands on these cold afternoons watching some of the poor football we've had to see and it's friends like you, from further afield, who are the ones saying 'sit tight', 'keep the faith', etc. By some miracle, we are unbeaten under Allardyce and could and should even have won several more of those games but this cannot continue forever (can it?) particularly as we keep losing players to injury and, inevitibly, suspension as we see out this season. Maybe we can get dispensation from the FA if we lose any more of our midfield - or maybe there are still some gems out of there who have been overlooked by clubs and are out of contract. Here's hoping!

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I'm totally dismayed with the whole situation. We've been crying out for an attacking midfield player since before Ince's appointment. Emerton's injury has come at a bad time but we shouldn't be in this position, we should have sorted this out in early January. Maybe Santa Cruz can play right midfield !!!!!!!!

If we stay up this season it's only a matter of time before we get the bullet. The list in The Guardian speaks volumes form me.

[imy9]

As I said earlier it is a disgrace that no one has been signed.

If they liked the Egyptian, surely after Emo's injury they would have signed him for £1.5 million, can we really not afford that?

If Poggy was ready why did Rovers not accept the £18.5 million from Man City on FRIDAY?

I think todays lack of transfer activity has virtually condemned us to relegation IF any of our key players are injured, the board is pathetic.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

As I said earlier it is a disgrace that no one has been signed.

If they liked the Egyptian, surely after Emo's injury they would have signed him for £1.5 million, can we really not afford that?

If Poggy was ready why did Rovers not accept the £18.5 million from Man City on FRIDAY?

I think todays lack of transfer activity has virtually condemned us to relegation IF any of our key players are injured, the board is pathetic.

Hmm.....would you rather be a Newcastle fan. Lost a midfield player and star forward to injury, sold n'Zogbia - most importantly Shay Given. Would you be impressed with Nolan or Taylor ?

[American]

It is probably fair to say that anybody who wanted to move today and whose club were willing to let him move probably did.

It's probably not fair to say that. I'm sure there are plenty of players who wanted to move and the club were willing to let them move. For example, Johnson at City. City was willing to let him move, just not at the price Newcastle was willing to pay.

The problem is that there probably aren't a lot of players with the talent to improve us who's club would be willing to risk sending them out on loan instead of getting money up front for them (which seems to be our MO). If we were willing to pay, we could have had players. Doesn't take much to improve our midfield, especially the right-hand side.

[daveoftherovers]

then i think of pompey, barcodes, WBA, stoke, boro, hull and a few more, and get quite happy again. we might have a bad midfield, but we do have a pretty good defence, and a very strong strikeforce + IMO one of the very best managers you can dream of. we should be ok. lets just hope we have had our bad stint, and some of the others are just about to start on their.

Hawkiz, agree with you totally, your last paragraph nailed it, we are better than most of our surrounding opposition in the area's you have mentioned, so, we have a better chance of getting results away from home, which is where most of the others will fail (And our strikers will hit some form) I think RSC will knuckle down, whatever his motives, he'll do the honours. He along with all of our players will not want want to see us go down, so you can add the team spirit thing in as well if you like.

N.B. Hull, very important match, I can go now it's been moved, Come on!!!

[Bazzanotsogreat]

It's not whether I like it or not, it is whether you are factually correct or not. I think that merhcandising alone would exceed TV money for many clubs with big support (the industry is worth £200m a year just in the UK), then add ticket sales, sponsorship deals (which are also worth a hell of a lot) and combined TV money comes no where near. At most the TV money might make up almost half of a budget (although only us, Hull, Bolton, Pompey would fall into that bracket)....

200m? The TV deal is worth over £650 million a season. This does not incorporate money from the cups & Europe. Again to reiterate a club like united who has won the Premiership& Champions league will rake in anywhere between 60,70 or even 80 million a season from the TV deal. Even little old Rovers will earn a min of £30 million this season, whilst last season they would of earnt £38 million from the Premiership alone.

[Billy Castell]

I am miffed. I wish we had got a midfielder in before Emerton got injured. Now, our squad is injury prone and paper thin in midfield. Dunn and Grella seem to be made of brandy snaps and rice krispies, Tugay is due a bus pass in the summer, vogel vague, and Mokoena being useless as ever. 4-3-3 is the only tactic we can use, and heaven help us if we get a major injury crisis.

We have a strong defence and enough quality up front, but our midfield is looking very weird.

[broadsword]

Who the bloodz hell is "Poggy"?

If Sam wants to keep a tight-knit squad together than Diouf is perhaps a strange signing.

We can all back the manager as much as we like, it's just a shame none of us can step into midfield for him. Although I'd wager I'd do a better job than the Axe.

[tony gale's mic]

200m? The TV deal is worth over £650 million a season. This does not incorporate money from the cups & Europe. Again to reiterate a club like united who has won the Premiership& Champions league will rake in anywhere between 60,70 or even 80 million a season from the TV deal. Even little old Rovers will earn a min of £30 million this season, whilst last season they would of earnt £38 million from the Premiership alone.

The TV money is irrelevant as I said before. All the clubs recieve the same. All the clubs need to stay competitive with each other, therefore most of this just goes towards wage inflation and to a smaller extent transfer fee inflation.

It's why clubs spend 5 times as much on wages as they did in 1996/97.

[Amo]

So no signings, but we still got Roque?

[Kelbo]

My own thanks to Nicko for his comments during this window!!

Looked forward to the 11 o clockers!

The important thing about this window is this, there has been no real quality available and even the money clubs have struggled to make signings!!

This window is a bad idea (amother European cock up) we should be able to sign players throughout the season, it makes it interesting and new players do put bums on seats!!

[den]

Agreed. I think that Sam's good start has convinced them that the current squad plus Spit will keep us up, which might just be true.

We have been treading water with this squad for 2 years now; RSC being the last signing who made us stronger.

Everyone else is 2 years older or has declined for other reasons. Who out of the current squad will be dependably good enough in 12 months time? I get as far as Benni, Grella, Samba, Nelsen and Warnock. RSC/Ooijer will be gone; Tugay will be playing in a bathchair; Dunn/Reid/Emerton all knackered; MGP/Andrews/Robinson all dodgy at best. No young players coming up We are just putting off squad building to the point where we will be hit by a tsunami of replacement needs all at once. No doubt the Trust are hoping to have sold by then.

Very depressed.

As, no doubt, is John Williams.

I've had the impression for quite a while now, that JW is just as frustrated as some of our fans are. His silence on all things financial, since the Bentley sale, might just be his way of saying that. He could have quite easily come out and explained the situation in order to quell some of the comments regarding the lack of investment in the squad. His silence could be his way of confirming those criticisms, - knowing that the trustees for sure wont comment on anything.

[Mozzer]

Who the bloodz hell is "Poggy"?

If Sam wants to keep a tight-knit squad together than Diouf is perhaps a strange signing.

We can all back the manager as much as we like, it's just a shame none of us can step into midfield for him. Although I'd wager I'd do a better job than the Axe.

if we play 5 across midfield mokoena could do a job there-also warnock has shown he can play central midfield..

i think we could have done with another right winger over central midfielders first

[Billy Castell]

Who the bloodz hell is "Poggy"?

Prognyak or something like that. That Russian striker we were linked with.

[broadsword]

As, no doubt, is John Williams.

I've had the impression for quite a while now, that JW is just as frustrated as some of our fans are. His silence on all things financial, since the Bentley sale, might just be his way of saying that. He could have quite easily come out and explained the situation in order to quell some of the comments regarding the lack of investment in the squad. His silence could be his way of confirming those criticisms, - knowing that the trustees for sure wont comment on anything.

Yeah, you might be right there. I seem to remember him making a few comments about teh trust when we binned Paul Inth.

despondancy is the word, methinks.

[1864roverite]

Thanks for the information updates Alan. No doubt we will all look forward to your snippets as we close the current season with you love for all things claret and blue and their hopes for promotion to the big time.

My own view is that we kept RSC at all costs, thats a statement of intent from the club.

The club, JW and Sam all know what we need in the close season and for me that is now the priority after getting in the safety zone.

For me, WBA, Stoke and Boro.......... goodbye, you are the weakest links

[Stuart]

Cheers Nicko. We've not had much in the way of good news but you've kept us informed and entertained. Although some of your jokes do leave a lot to be desired! All the best.

[nicko]

There are some ferocious lies being told about deals that 'were in progress' today and might go through later.

Anarchy.

You can date this back to the Benjani farce last season.

A game run by buffoons.

[krypton]

Hi Nicko,

In your opinion, which premier league club made the best signing of the window and with who?

Thanks

[Mr Creosote]

Who have you got your dough on for the drop Nicko?

[Amo]

Quite depressing that our official top-story is Jamie Clarke joining Rotherham on a free transfer.

[nicko]

Hi Nicko,

In your opinion, which premier league club made the best signing of the window and with who?

Thanks

Emile Heskey was good value for money and could pay his way with a Champions League finish.

Not one team in the bottom half has bought well.

[Fylde Coast Fan]

A touch of perspective here.

Great deals VERY rarely happen in the January window. The board have held back from spending but if the best Sam could offer was Bullard (on a lot of money and at least as injury prone as our existing midfield offering) then I think they've made the right decision in not spending. Look around at everyone else - no one has really improved in this window because the deals just don't happen. If we could have got Crouch or Poggy then yes, that might have been a deal worth doing, but the deals fell through for reasons other than "tight fisted" thinking.

If Sam desperately wanted to hang on to Roque then he got his wish. Let's hope he doesn't sulk and we still have a fighting chance of staying up.

Maybe 4-3-3 is the answer?

Robinson

Ooijer - Samba - Nelsen - Givet

Warnock - Grella - Dunn

Diouf - Santa Cruz - McCarthy

Benni and Diouf drop off and play as hybrid winger/support striker with a target man in the centre.

[thenodrog]

A small point here...the deals just have to be 'in progress' at 5pm...paperwork and the likes can follow.

Just how can that be monitored and verified?

There are some ferocious lies being told about deals that 'were in progress' today and might go through later.

Anarchy.

You can date this back to the Benjani farce last season.

A game run by buffoons.

So no monitoring or verification required. The inmates are definitely running the asylum.