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[Archived] Phil Jones


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Gutted Jones is going, as he was a top talent. He could have been (with another season or two's development) one of the best rovers players of all time.

It was obvious that he'd move onto bigger and better things sooner rather than later, the lad's very good now and is only going to get better. In fact I'd be worried if he didn't have the ambition to play at a higher level.

Having said that, I'm suprised that he didn't decide to stay for at least another season or two for numerous reasons.

Firstly, he's 19. It's not like the opportunity won't come along later to play for a bigger club. Heck even if he moved at 21, he'd still get at least 10+ years playing for a top club.

Secondly, loyalty. Rovers brought him on and through, and gave him his chance. Jones owes rovers a lot. Not saying he's indebted to stay with us forever, but at least another season seems fair recompense for the efforts rovers have put in.

Thirdly, development. Even if solely motivated by self interest there are numerous examples where a move to a big club too soon, especially when players are still developing, is harmful to their career. Wright-Phillips is an excellent example of this, where stagnating on the Chelsea bench really harmed his progression. Surely getting another year or two of guarenteed regular football would be better for Jones then the risk of rotting on manures bench.

Four - IF true that we were offering him better money than united, the move makes even less sense for his career. Sure better opportunities to win trophies but contrasted with the opportunity to play more football, if the salery isn't also better, I definately think staying put for a while makes more sense.

All in all a sad day for rovers, and what may well turn out to be a sad day for Jones too. Perhaps when he's yet again on the bench he'll realise another year or two at rovers was a better option after all.

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Correct me if I'm wrong here, but he had a contract with 4.5 years to run with no transfer clause, we give him a new contract with a £16m clause (apparently) and he's off less than 6 months later.

How does that work then? I mean, what was the point in giving him a new contract? You might say it's to appease him with more money per week, but clearly giving him more dough wasn't enough to keep him, so that shouldn't matter. It doesn't make sense to have someone on a long-term contract with plenty left to run, then offer him a new one with a clause.

It doesn't seem like good negotiating to me.

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We have to be realistic here. What in the world would have made him stay? Loyalty to Blackburn?

I'm guessing he probably thought - what actually is loyalty? Is loyalty a load of fans who boo their own players? Players he worked with in training day in day out and therefore knew himself that no way on earth do they deserve boos. He probably thought what do I owe a load of spoilt kids? He'd be right as well.

If we really want to keep players, especially if we want the loyalty card to count for anything (and it really could in Phil's case), then we really should act that way ourseleves.

You reap what you sow I'm afraid.

So Keith Andrews being booed was a catalyst for his move?

Haha, come on son!

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We have to be realistic here. What in the world would have made him stay? Loyalty to Blackburn?

I'm guessing he probably thought - what actually is loyalty? Is loyalty a load of fans who boo their own players? Players he worked with in training day in day out and therefore knew himself that no way on earth do they deserve boos. He probably thought what do I owe a load of spoilt kids? He'd be right as well.

If we really want to keep players, especially if we want the loyalty card to count for anything (and it really could in Phil's case), then we really should act that way ourseleves.

You reap what you sow I'm afraid.

this post deserves a grooby for biggest bag of burnley post of the boards existence...
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Correct me if I'm wrong here, but he had a contract with 4.5 years to run with no transfer clause,

Thats the crux of the matter, some think he had an 8m clause in there, some don't, we'll never know Bryan.

But indications are that they improved his contract to in some way to protect the clubs investment, which seems to fit the case.

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he went to the biggest club in the country. a team which has been in 3 out of the last four CL finals.

I dont begrudge him for that I hope he has all the success he can get. we got 16million for him.

if you want to compare the situation look at Sol Campbell at Tottenham. left for free to their biggest rivals.

From whats been said he isnt going for more money but just to a bigger team.

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So Keith Andrews being booed was a catalyst for his move?

Haha, come on son!

No it wasn't. I never said it was.

It would definitely be a reason for him to think why should I stay though.

Phil Jones is actually mate's with my lad. They've been mates for years and years. Phil's Blackburn through and through. His dad bleeds Blackburn. If we can't keep our Phil Jones', then we can't keep anyone.

Like I say though, I'm pretty sure he will always be able to justify the move to himself, and even his dad, by thinking about the fans treatment of Keithy boy. I haven't got that straight from the horses mouth, but it's not rocket science to work out. He knows there was no loyalty there with Keith, he saw that week on week, even though he put on the blue and white halves the same as the other players. Therefore why should Phil show any loyalty if the fans can't show any themselves.

I'm not saying it was the reason for move because it wasn't. His reason was to play at the best club in the country and have a real chance at winning things, things even Stevie G hasn't. It just means he won't feel bad about the move, which is something we could probably do with if we are ever going to retain local players of his calibre.

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Can you please pass on a message to Phil and his dad, that we now all prefer Keith Andrews, due to the fact that he is Rovers, something Phil will never be again.

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I don't care about the money or the commercial and football realism, every time a Rovers star leaves us I am absolutely gutted and feel lower than a dachshund's tummy.

Absolutely appalled we were unable to keep Phil for at least one more season.

Apparently we offered him £65k a week, which smacks of desperation. We did the same thing with Bentley.

These lads simply don't want to be here. It's tough to swallow, but you move on. It does make it difficult to get attached to anyone that plays for Rovers though.

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Thats the crux of the matter, some think he had an 8m clause in there, some don't, we'll never know Bryan.

But indications are that they improved his contract to in some way to protect the clubs investment, which seems to fit the case.

But even more strange that a youth team player (earning a few hundred quid a month) would negotiate an 8m release clause into his 'millionaire over night' contract!

As put earlier, if we make it through the summer and sign some quality, PLUS keep our remaining few star players, I'll believe there was nothing the club could do about this. In the meantime I'll remain very sceptical about how our club is being run at the moment.

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No it wasn't. I never said it was.

It would definitely be a reason for him to think why should I stay though.

Phil Jones is actually mate's with my lad. They've been mates for years and years. Phil's Blackburn through and through. His dad bleeds Blackburn. If we can't keep our Phil Jones', then we can't keep anyone.

Like I say though, I'm pretty sure he will always be able to justify the move to himself, and even his dad, by thinking about the fans treatment of Keithy boy. I haven't got that straight from the horses mouth, but it's not rocket science to work out. He knows there was no loyalty there with Keith, he saw that week on week, even though he put on the blue and white halves the same as the other players. Therefore why should Phil show any loyalty if the fans can't show any themselves.

I'm not saying it was the reason for move because it wasn't. His reason was to play at the best club in the country and have a real chance at winning things, things even Stevie G hasn't. It just means he won't feel bad about the move, which is something we could probably do with if we are ever going to retain local players of his calibre.

Jones is a mercenary, for sale to the highest bidder, just like the rest of them. He's clearly not 'Rovers through and through'. No Rovers fan would be off at the first opportunity.

But whatever, the deal is done now. It leaves a sour taste in my mouth, but it just adds further evidence that this is a game going to the dogs.

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Can you please pass on a message to Phil and his dad, that we now all prefer Keith Andrews, due to the fact that he is Rovers, something Phil will never be again.

We've moved into the cutting our own nose off to spite our face I see, should any future opportunity arise of course.

The irony is Keith will still get booed of course, regardless of him still being our player. Hey, ho, we've only got the tools we have at our disposal I suppose. Tools being the apt word.

Jones is a mercenary, for sale to the highest bidder, just like the rest of them. He's clearly not 'Rovers through and through'. No Rovers fan would be off at the first opportunity.

Rovers fans shouldn't boo their own players though, don't you see that.

So if there's no loyalty with the fans, why should we bleat if there's no loyalty with the players either. If the players are fans themseleves then they are just acting exactly like the fans - with zero loyalty.

If we want loyalty then we clearly have to show it ourselves, otherwise it counts for nothing.

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It hurts more because he came through our system and he hasn't been playing for our side that long. People might compare it to Duff but that was really a different situation. Sure I was sad when Duffer left but I wasn't angry about it, he gave us 200+ games, helped get us back into the premier league and was part of a side that saw us win us our first piece of silverware since our league title.

Sure they left the same way both release clauses but Duff gave far more to the club that Jones did.

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Correct me if I'm wrong here, but he had a contract with 4.5 years to run with no transfer clause, we give him a new contract with a £16m clause (apparently) and he's off less than 6 months later.

How does that work then? I mean, what was the point in giving him a new contract? You might say it's to appease him with more money per week, but clearly giving him more dough wasn't enough to keep him, so that shouldn't matter. It doesn't make sense to have someone on a long-term contract with plenty left to run, then offer him a new one with a clause.

It doesn't seem like good negotiating to me.

I suppose the idea was to keep him onside for two reasons. 1) So that he played to the best of his ability for the club 2) if we hadn't given him a new deal and he agitated for a move everyone would have said - with a lot of justification - that not giving him an improved deal to eflect the fact he is our best player was tantamount to pushing him out the door.

Not sure it is possible to argue the logic of that. As for the clause it was in no one at the club's interest to sell him for below his market value so you have to assume that it was Phil and his agent who insisted on the clause. Perhaps mistakes were made in the negotiating process which led to the clause being lower than it should be, but without any information it is impossible to judge.

As for loyalty I am flabbergasted Phil didn't stay for at least one more season, but it is worth remembering as a Premier League team we benefit from luring talent from smaller clubs just like how Man Utd have played us. Hadjuck Split fans were spitting bile when Kalinic came over, there was the whole Savage media fiasco (and to be honest we screwed Brum much harder then than United have screwed us now).

No doubt we would do it more if we had the profile. Lets not pretend to be angels.

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We've moved into the cutting our own nose off to spite our face I see, should any future opportunity arise of course.

The irony is Keith will still get booed of course, regardless of him still being our player. Hey, ho, we've only got the tools we have at our disposal I suppose. Tools being the apt word.

Rovers fans shouldn't boo their own players though, don't you see that.

So if there's no loyalty with the fans, why should we bleat if there's no loyalty with the players either. If the players are fans themseleves then they are just acting exactly like the fans - with zero loyalty.

If we want loyalty then we clearly have to show it ourselves, otherwise it counts for nothing.

No loyalty from the fans? What are you talking about? Andrews gets booed by a few hundred numpties and due to this we have zero loyalty?

My loyalty is always to the football club, not to players or managers.

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No loyalty from the fans? What are you talking about? Andrews gets booed by a few hundred numpties and due to this we have zero loyalty?

My loyalty is always to the football club, not to players or managers.

Do you go to the match much? Do you think the cheers for Keith overpower the boos? Are the boos louder than the cheers? Are there many cheers?

We appear completely fickle as fans. Spoilt children deciding who should play or not based on fairly ignorant opinions. That's how it will actually appear to the players. That's the truth whether we like it or not.

I can't think of another set of Premier League fans who act the same way with one of their players as we do with Keith. It's certainly food for thought. Certainly if we want to retain players on the basis of loyalty.

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No loyalty from the fans? What are you talking about? Andrews gets booed by a few hundred numpties and due to this we have zero loyalty?

My loyalty is always to the football club, not to players or managers.

Well said, while no one can argue that Andrews is not the most skilful player but he does give 110%

Can you please pass on a message to Phil and his dad, that we now all prefer Keith Andrews, due to the fact that he is Rovers, something Phil will never be again.

I trust once you have calmed down you will retract this remark.

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No loyalty from fans? What about the ones who turn up week in and week out?

That's right they turn up week after week. They deserve to treat the players just how they want to, regardless of how fickle and childish it looks. Who cares what the players think or how it affects them on the pitch. These fans turn up week after week, it doesn't matter.

That's all well and good, just don't come crying when our decent players leave though.

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That attitude is just astounding to me. I'm obviously very naive/small time/parochrial, but so what.

Surely you played football, all I want to do is win and be in the best team, I always want to play in the best team I always want to be the star too (at my level).

Jones will be just as much a hero to the United fans and possibly England fans.

I think his problem is getting into the team.

We don't need him, would have liked more money too maybe 20 million. Defenders rarely have a value higher then £20 million.

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So jono your now another with sources .blah blah.

I've not got sources. The only info I've actually given is that Phil Jones is a Blackburn fan, and his dad is an even bigger one. Hardly ground braking info.

So if Jones left because someone booed Andrews how fickle does that make a snotty nosed wet behind the ears kid?

I take it haven't read my other posts. Please do. I didn't say Phil Jones left because we booed Keith. He went to get Premier League medals.

Booing Keith probably made it a much easier decision though. I'm guessing that would be true with most, if not all, our players. This isn't rocket science.

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Surely you played football, all I want to do is win and be in the best team, I always want to play in the best team I always want to be the star too (at my level).

Jones will be just as much a hero to the United fans and possibly England fans.

I think his problem is getting into the team.

We don't need him, would have liked more money too maybe 20 million. Defenders rarely have a value higher then £20 million.

Yep, and all I've ever wanted is to play for Blackburn Rovers, I know crazy ay?

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So fans have No right to moan or voice concerns?

There's voices your concerns and then there's treating a player like no other fans of any other club does to their own players. There's a definite difference.

Look if you think the way we treat Keith isn't going to affect others players opinion of us fans, then you must be insane. Of course it will. It's going to make any decision to leave all that much easier. This really isn't rocket science.

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