[Archived] Mr Ruudy Van Nistelrooy!

[DeadlyDirk]

Just been ruled out on SSN's by Sam apparantley, the full interview with him is coming up shortly (So anytime in the next four hours).

Of course this doesn't completley rule it out, the same was said about Spit.

[T4E]

Just been ruled out on SSN's by Sam apparantley, the full interview with him is coming up shortly (So anytime in the next four hours).

Of course this doesn't completley rule it out, the same was said about Spit.

Has the interview been on yet DD?

[DeadlyDirk]

Has the interview been on yet DD?

Nope you haven't missed it but they've just announced it'll be on 'within the hour', bloody SkySports, so anytime between 2 and 3, I don't think it'll contain anything we don't know but it does seem to confirm that we are not after Ruud, Vieri is training with us and we are interested in Crouch. (To what extent were interested we'll just have to watch the interview, I bet a reporter brought his name up and not BFS.)

[LeftWinger]

Ruud to be a Rover is out to 7/1 after Sams comments.

Maybe it’s all part of the grand plan. John Williams is now going to put a million a quid on it and then use the winnings to pay his wages for 2 years. 

[Mr. E]

Gutted.

If we can't even afford a 33 year old striker things aren't looking good at all. But the transfer money disappearing like this needs to be investigated, this can't continue.

[LeChuck]

If we can't even afford a 33 year old striker things aren't looking good at all. But the transfer money disappearing like this needs to be investigated, this can't continue.

We can't afford his wages, that's totally different. He'll be on massive wages at Real Madrid and no doubt there will be someone in Europe (or maybe even the Arab nations) who will be prepared to match it to get him there. To be honest we were never really in the running for this one, I can't say I'm terribly disappointed because he was a gamble at his age and with that injury record.

[Mr. E]

We can't afford his wages, that's totally different. He'll be on massive wages at Real Madrid and no doubt there will be someone in Europe (or maybe even the Arab nations) who will be prepared to match it to get him there. To be honest we were never really in the running for this one, I can't say I'm terribly disappointed because he was a gamble at his age and with that injury record.

But if he only costs 1.5 million then we could have spared more of the transfer money for his wages. They would have to be lowered a bit, but I thought that was Sam's specialty - getting big players to come at a smaller club? Plus, it's not like this is a long-term investment, only 2-3 years at best.

[LeChuck]

But if he only costs 1.5 million then we could have spared more of the transfer money for his wages. They would have to be lowered a bit, but I thought that was Sam's specialty - getting big players to come at a smaller club? Plus, it's not like this is a long-term investment, only 2-3 years at best.

You're totally contradicting yourself by saying we should use the transfer money for his wages but yet not see it as a long term investment. If we would have to eat into that transfer fund to pay for Ruud's wages (2-3 years is very ambitious given his injuries) then he has completely done the right thing in pulling out of the deal.

[gazsimm]

what i don't understand, why did sam come out and say he would like to bring ruud to ewood in the 1st place, when he knew deep down we could not afford him. He was never going to lower his wages to what rovers could afford.Sam was pointless going public about it i think, unless he does not know about our board yet!!!

[BPF]

what i don't understand, why did sam come out and say he would like to bring ruud to ewood in the 1st place, when he knew deep down we could not afford him. He was never going to lower his wages to what rovers could afford.Sam was pointless going public about it i think, unless he does not know about our board yet!!!

I believe it is called Revenue producing PR.

[gazsimm]

I believe it is called Revenue producing PR.

has it worked though!

[philipl]

Mr E, RvN is on £6m a year at Real Madrid. To get the same take home in the UK, we would have to pay him £10m a year.

[Anti Euro Smiths Fan]

You do realise that it's a load of ###### don't you?

It's the old "we're going for..." game to keep the fans happy during the summer.

I think you were right.

Given that Rovers have a very low transfer and wage budget in comparison to bigger clubs in the Premier League, it was always going to be rather fanciful and unlikely in my eyes that we'd be signing Mr Van Nistelrooy, who is probably earning £100,000 a week or more at Real Madrid and would have had to take a dramatic wage cut to contemplate coming to Ewood Park.

RvN is on £6m a year at Real Madrid.

If what you say is right Philip, £6m a year equates to wages of around £115,000 a week. Rovers don't pay that type of money in wages for players, so the suggestion that the Dutch striker would sign for Rovers was, as I said, always going to be somewhat fanciful and unlikely.

Sam's words got a few fans excited in the summer and for a brief moment it perhaps took some people's minds away from the pitifully poor transfer budget we actually had last summer - minus £18 million to spend on players. Aren't we lucky?

We sold players, including Santa Cruz, Warnock and Derbyshire for approx £30m and bought players for approx £12m.

What I do know is that if we continue to have a budget each summer of minus £18m for players we will before too long be relegated. There's no doubt about it.

The Jersey Boys, who want to sell our club and are reluctant to invest in players, perhaps don't realise it, but if you sell your best players and buy inferior players for less money it eventually leads to one thing - relegation.

Graeme Souness once said of our transfer budget: "We have to wee with the willy we've got". And I'm afraid Rovers have got a tiny willy with no drops of wee coming out.

One could argue that our wonderful expert Mr Allardyce didn't use his minus £18m transfer budget in the best possible way last summer, signing too many full-backs and neglecting a desperate need for quality in midfield. But the fact remains that in terms of net transfer expenditure Rovers are woefully lacking in resources compared with some of our rivals in the Premier League.

He would be the signing to sell the extra season tickets and fill Ewood Park every week.

The Jersey Boys are reluctant to provide the funding for star signings Den, so I don't think we should build our hopes up that Ewood Park will be filled every week because of a big player signing for Rovers. The club can't pay out wages of £100,000 a week to players and a transfer budget of minus £18m makes it less likely that big names will come to Rovers even if they somehow agree to take a big pay-cut.

The cheaper season tickets and prices was an admirable move by the club that I welcomed, but it's been partly negated for much of this season by some of the ghastly football that's been served up by Mr Allardyce in many matches.

We have no money so can't do any deals.

Makes you sick when you hear teams like Wolves, Wigan and Stoke bidding for players and we've no cash?

Indeed. It's depressing isn't it, but I'm afraid it's the reality.

In the summer of 2008 Philip cheerfully told us that Rovers were in a position to buy Xabi Alonso in midfield, who the following summer was sold from Liverpool to Real Madrid for £30m. In the summer of 2009 it was suggested that we could buy Ruud Van Nistelrooy, who is currently earning massive wages way beyond our means.

The advice I'd give people this coming summer is - Don't believe the hype. Be wary of the old "we're going for...." game. If it's suggested that a superstar is on their way to Rovers, wait until he's signed on the dotted line of his contract before you build up any hopes at all. Because the sad fact is that Rovers with our present transfer budget struggle to compete even with smaller clubs in the Premier League like Fulham and Stoke.

Without investment from the owners we're in a bit of a desperate long-term situation frankly. It's like a corner shop trying to compete with supermarkets.

Following our 5th successive cup semi-final defeat in a row last night since 2003 (3 in the Carling Cup and 2 in the FA Cup) all that Rovers fans have to look forward to now for the rest of the season is a grim relegation battle.

Some fans have expressed their pride at how we played last night, and while some of our football going forward was refreshing to see for a change, personally I can never be happy with conceding six goals in a match - a number of the goals stemming from very poor defending from Rovers and a bad mistake from Samba in giving away a penalty and being sent off.

No doubt we'll be told that survival has always been the main aim all along and wining cup competitions is not a priority for the club. We have to doff our cap to Mr Expert if he can keep us up and tell Samuel what a wonderful job he's doing if we finish 4th from bottom.

Rovers fans will continue to get neck strain looking up at the big high hoof-balls up the pitch by Paul Robinson (which nearly always result in giving the ball away to the opposition) and the best we can do is to be happy with a defeat in a semi-final and an ugly relegation battle.

It's good being a Rovers fan innit?

[rebelmswar]

Been waiting since July to get that off of your chest?

We know we have no money, we know that we are likely not get much from the owners.

I just dont understand why this was posted now and why this was posted in this thread.

Do you know something we do not perhaps?

[LeftWinger]

Been waiting since July to get that off of your chest?

Have you seen the length of his post? He started typing his reply in July.

[Anti Euro Smiths Fan]

I just dont understand why this was posted now and why this was posted in this thread.

Do you know something we do not perhaps?

I was engrossed in my rant and forgot to provide the actual relevant link which I had intended to include - an article in today's paper claiming that Van Nistelrooy has turned down a big-money offer from West Ham and that Spurs are in pole position to sign him. The article claims that Stoke City and Galatasaray have also been interested in signing the Dutchman, as well as West Ham.

The idea of Van Nistelrooy playing for Stoke seemed unlikely to me, even though the Staffordshire club sadly have a good deal more money available than Rovers. But Stoke, under Tony Pullis, remain an unglamorous club with an unattractive direct style of play. It was perhaps good PR for Stoke to tell their fans they were interested in signing Van Nistelrooy, when in reality they were unlikely to sign him.

I do get very frustrated at times with the current situation at Rovers, the lack of money available and the poor football that we've seen for much of this season, but perhaps my earlier post might have been better suited to the old "Why Do We Have No Money" thread.

Link below:

Spurs in pole position to buy Van Nistelrooy