[Archived] Anthony Pilkington

[the original david brent]

I trawled throught the previous topics and couldnt find one about this.

Having gone to QPR yesterday with a number of other darreners,and then hearing that Pilkington had scored 2 for Norwich, we were all saying on the train home that he is the kind of player we would wish to see in a rovers shirt. Why on earth did we not go in for him?!

He was born in Blackburn, grew up in Darwen and is a Rovers fan. I don't know him personally but I remember him and his family going to Rovers games on the same local pub buses when he was younger. He still spends a lot of time in the area; my mate spoke to him in Darwen Sainbury's last week.

He is also seemingly a class act, having scored 3 goals already this year, which is pretty impressive for a winger. Norwich now sit impressively at 8th in the league.

In my opinion, it beggars belief that we did not take a chance on him, as Norwich did for approx £2 million. Finding affordable young British and English talent is hard for clubs like Rovers these days, let alone a local lad who actually supports the club!! Local lads like this are a rarety and we should have been in for him. These are the kind of players who the fans will pay to see - local talented players who would actually care about the club, as oppose to foreign mercenaries. Why did we not take a chance on him for £2 million, considering we paid similar money for unknown foreigners such as utter dross like Petrovic!!

I wonder what exactly are the Rovers scouts getting paid to do? Im not a scout, but could have put forward his name as a perfectly logical potential signing. Never mind looking at South America or the Balkans, why not just look closer to home?

I can't help but think a real opportunity has slipped through the net here.

Anyway rant over

[beerwins]

I think our scouts left when Hughes did, we have had bugger all worth keeping since Samba, Bellamy and Santa Cruz.

[Gav]

Add Demba Ba to the list also, free transfer

[mark1875]

Seb Larsson too, the more i watch him for Sunderland i think we really missed the boat by not going for him at a knock down price in January.

[ABBEY]

Beckham

[Andy]

Add Demba Ba to the list also, free transfer

I agree about Ba (and Pilkington for that matter).

The man is a goalscorer - similar to Yakubu, but younger and fitter.

[chaddyrovers]

Pilkington is a good player and good winger.

Demba Ba should have been our number 1 target in the summer for the striker position!!! He was on a free and rovers didn't even make a bid!!! Pathetic!!!

[cn174]

Both him and his brother played for Rovers academy (the u16 version). Can't recall when he got released but it was before the age of 16. He's turned into a decent player, but I can't think that he set the world alight when he was younger but has done very well via Stockport and Huddersfield to make it into the Prem.

[Billy Castell]

That is the problem with the academy system, unless you show amazing levels of athleticism and/or skill from about 11 you're likely to get dropped from the academy. Some young players need the time and space to develop their abilities without the pressure of having to win the next game or try and avoid the axe every year or so. There are probably hundreds of young men who would probably be able to have a decent professional career had they not been rejected at an early age and put off the game by the cut throat nature of youth football.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Only seen him once but he looks limited to me. Would you swap him for Hoilett or Ollsen ? If not what's the point ? We've got enough spear carriers as it is. Norwich are the new Blackpool , come back in May and ask the same question.

[Steve Moss]

Cruyff made this point in a recent article. Athleticism is a secondary concern, at most. All children grow. The number one criteria to nurturing home grown talent should be technique, not whether they are 6' at 14.

[Amo]

Did you suggest his name in the summer? Or only after he scored two goals yesterday?

[cn174]

That is the problem with the academy system, unless you show amazing levels of athleticism and/or skill from about 11 you're likely to get dropped from the academy. Some young players need the time and space to develop their abilities without the pressure of having to win the next game or try and avoid the axe every year or so. There are probably hundreds of young men who would probably be able to have a decent professional career had they not been rejected at an early age and put off the game by the cut throat nature of youth football.

I agree to a certain extent but academies cannot keep every child that passes their books, just on the off chance that they might come good. I don't think this is much different to other countries systems. I know we always look to Holland/Germany and their youth systems, but we only ever hear about the players such as Kluivert who have been at Ajax since they were 4 years old or something, but you don't hear about the 100s of others whom he would've played with and didn't make it at all, though possibly some of them would've been ok.

[Hughesy]

Went to my school - and il be honest, even at School he didnt stand out.

He's doing well but an average player at a club like Norwich, Swansea etc will easily stand out if they shine.

As for Demba Ba, I said all summer we should be in for him.

[darwenblueswearehere]

Went to my school - and il be honest, even at School he didnt stand out.

He's doing well but an average player at a club like Norwich, Swansea etc will easily stand out if they shine.

As for Demba Ba, I said all summer we should be in for him.

His dad was in my class at school. He tells me the younger brother is the better player?!

[Stevo]

His dad was in my class at school. He tells me the younger brother is the better player?!

[47er]

There was Jonathan Walters too from the Academy but I suppose we didn't have much choice. Went from us to Bolton as I recall.

[cn174]

His dad was in my class at school. He tells me the younger brother is the better player?!

His brother plays for York City now, so went the opposite direction to Anthony.

[Rovers_786]

Pilkington i would sign if Norwich went down and we stay up.

[Josh]

His dad was in my class at school. He tells me the younger brother is the better player?!

I believe Danny is more interested in the drink

[joey_big_nose]

Hard to hold anything against the scouts or the academy at the moment when they have recently turned out Olsson, Hoilett, P Jones and now it looks like Lowe. Arguably a better crop than Duff, Dunn, Curtis et al.

[Damien]

I work with his parents neighbour and she said he has one leg shorter than the other due to a leg break not healing properly... In time that'll cause him trouble. We haven't missed anything!

[the original david brent]

Did you suggest his name in the summer? Or only after he scored two goals yesterday?

I did suggest his name in the summer to friends, particularly when Norwich were in for him. I didn't post on this board to suggest his name though

[BiggusLaddus]

I work with his parents neighbour and she said he has one leg shorter than the other due to a leg break not healing properly... In time that'll cause him trouble. We haven't missed anything!

To look at it the other way, you've just told us we might have missed out on the 'English Garrincha'...

[the original david brent]

I work with his parents neighbour and she said he has one leg shorter than the other due to a leg break not healing properly... In time that'll cause him trouble. We haven't missed anything!

I take your point insofar that the leg break would have had a detrimental effect on him, and questions will arise as to whether he will realise his full potential after such an injury at a young age. His leg break was a particularly nasty injury and he seemed to recover from it unusually quickly.

Im not sure about the medical stuff you refer to. It's my understanding that most people have one leg shorter than the other?! I don't profess to be a medical expert but generally legs are not the same size, even it's by a miniscule length. Not a massive point but i wonder if somebody more qualified than myself will confirm if i am speaking the truth or talking rubbish.

And surely the Norwich medical team would have noticed if the leg had not healed properly during the transfer?

I suppose we should reconsider whether we have missed out on something at the end of the season. If Norwich stay up and he chips in with 8-10 goals clearly we have. If he gets injured and spends most of the season a crock than clearly we haven't.