[Archived] Phil Jones V Rovers

[Al]

12 months? felt like 6 he walked in and walked out so quickly, phil jones is superman surprised he didnt fly out of blackburn sooner. Sorry but if you support a club and get good enough pay packet to make a living dont see much point in leaving, I know if I was in his shoes I wouldnt of sold out for an extra pay packet. Yes he will win trophies but dont come out and say your a rovers fan and jump ship, We are all rovers fans but I dont see us going to manchester united games every week supporting them on so we can say we have won the title.... Your teams your team and in my view you jump ship your a sell out, and for people to say I would leave to if I was under the venkys then thats just too easy of an excuse.

As for the Shearer boos yes they were ridiculous and wrong as he was a great servant for the club in what he achieved, he also moved to 'his' home town club which he loves, didnt see him choosing manchester united which he easily could have done. Big respect for shearer and a legend, him and jones are in no way a comparision

Where is the + button when you need it.

He joined a club which has enabled him to win trophies, play in Europe and get to the fringes of the England first XI. Im confident that he wouldn't have achieved any of that if he had stayed at Rovers for another 6/12 months. We all dream of playing for Rovers but you cant hate the guy for simply fulfilling his potential. I would have loved him to stay but at the same time I dont hold it against him because I dont think its fair to have expected him, or anyone else in his position, to stay. Especially considering our ownership/management mess.

Glory hunter then?

[cn174]

There'll be 500 Rovers fans at best at Old Trafford. Doubt Jones will even hear the boos if there are some

[Stuart]

There'll be 500 Rovers fans at best at Old Trafford. Doubt Jones will even hear the boos if there are some

Dunno. It's pretty quiet at Morgue Trafford.

It's the acoustics.... apparently!

[blue_n_white99]

Where is the + button when you need it.

Glory hunter then?

No he's a professional sportsman who would never reach his full potential at Ewood, particularly under Steve Clown

[Al]

No he's a professional sportsman who would never reach his full potential at Ewood, particularly under Steve Clown

He didn't have to stay at Rovers for ever. Just until he had repaid the club for making him what he is, maybe another season, and I don't mean in terms of money.

[JAL]

You can use Phil Jones to turn against Steve Kean if you know what I mean!

[trueblueroversiloveu]

I'll be applauding, a real special player, the determination he has every second of every game is second to none. Wish he'd of stayed on for another 6/12 months and we'd have a few more points in the bag

[aletheia]

3 things.

Jones leaving tells you all you need to know about the "management" at all levels at BRFC.

Compare Jones giving 110%, being fully committed to 50/50s that could have jeopardised any move to Hoilett's (understandable) feeble

performances recently taking great care to avoid injury.

Booing, whether right or wrong, would be a mssive PR disaster at the moment.

[tonygreenbank]

Isnt Phil Jones out for a number of weeks? I`m sure I read he had a broken jaw.Perhaps no need to boo him then.

[blackburnblue]

We should applaud Jones, he has justified all the money invested in the accademy, and also fullfilled every footballers dream by moving to a 'massive club' probably on far more money.

If that is true - that every footballers dream is to play for a massive club - then football really has sunk to a new low. I can honestly say, as a Rovers fan, it would mean FAR more to me to play for Rovers than any other club. I really mean that. When that purple nosed scum has the cheek to call the integrity of honest hard working Rovers fans the same week he opens contract talks with Ryan Giggs I find it much easier to despise Man Utd than admire them.

[47er]

Boo?

Rovers fans?

Are you mad?

It's what they do best....

"they"?

[martypellowe]

Hang on a minute, a few people need a reality check.

I like the company I work for. I have their products in my house. But if a similar company came in and offered me a role with them with quadruple the salary, international acclaim and the chance to work with some of the best examples of professionals in the trade, I have to say i'd more than likely take up the offer.

Same for Phil Jones, he's a Blackburn fan through and through. But why should his emotional attachment to the club cloud his judgement? He made an exceptional decision to further his career and it was timed perfectly what with United's defensive worries this season. He's pretty much cemented a first team spot and is now a regular call up for the England squad. Should he have stayed at Rovers and declined the opportunity of a lifetime though, just because he doesn't support United? ###### to that.

And to those saying he should have repaid the club for nurturing his talent, how does c£20m sound? What other way could he repay us? We spend years and money training him and we get all that back plus more. That's the Rovers business model. You'd have to be blind to not see that's the way the club works these days. Besides, there's rumours floating about that Jones was pointed in the direction of the exit door and that it wasn't a completely honest way of doing business.

I don't hear anyone complaining about the big money flops we brought to Ewood. Jones did more in 6 months of first team football than the likes of Dahlin, Grabbi, Davies, Ferguson.. need I go on? I haven't seen anyone claim they should have done more to pay the club back for the opportunities we presented them with. No, not through the academy, but when you're spending c£7m on a player who does #### all in a season and leaves for a cut price, Phil Jones looks like a f####ng saint.

There will be bitter fans booing of course. Those of us with our heads screwed on though will show him the respect he deserves for what he did for the club and for taking up an offer he'd have been mad to refuse. He's not a legend by any means, just a damned good player that I was sad to see go.

Oh and FYI, United are NOT our rivals, they never really were. We just beat them to the title one year. I don't think any United fans lose too much sleep over us paltry (poultry? lolz) Rovers fans.

[Andy]

Well said.

100% agree.

[Mattyblue]

United were our rivals in the sense that for two years we were going toe for toe for the title- like in the days it was them versus Arsenal for the title.

Actual local rivals? Of course not!

[m1st]

I'm not sure if he'll be fit enough to play this weekend and, even if he is, I won't be there so this question's premature for me and for a lot of us on this Board, I think.

If he plays at Ewood at the end of March, I wouldn't boo him for the reasons that many other posters have given. I can forgive him [as if it were up to me, or any of us, to forgive him!] moving because he has a talent and an attitude which, apparently, impressed Sir Ferguson in the 7-1 game at Old Trafford last year. He'd be foolish not to have jumped at the opportunity which Old Trafford offers.

How many of us in our working lives would have turned down the opportunity, if head-hunted by one of the best firms in Europe, to improve our salary and working environment? Not many, I'll bet.

[bluebruce]

Being a football fan and liking a brand are worlds apart. To compare them borders on stupidity.

We could all choose to support more successful 'brands' in football if that was how it worked. we don't because we are ROVERS TIL WE DIE!

[Stuart]

He didn't say he works at his company because he likes the products/brand. In fact it's more likely the opposite!

If I worked for a small family firm that I had grown to love and had great attachment too, then it was sold off to new owners who didn't appear to care about the company, or it's workers, yet seemed to be on a big cost-cutting drive, orchestrated from miles away, and replaced your boss with a lackie who didn't have any experience but was close with the owners, I think I'd be the one feeling ###### on, not the other way around!

We can't blame Jones one bit for leaving under the circumstances. Anything else is just ifs, buts and maybes.

[thenodrog]

I will definatly boo the judas!!!

Dont know why people are giving him so much respect, he was harldy here with the first team. Didnt show the club he supposedly "supported" any respect when he was too bust signing man u shirts before he had even moved. The guy is a typical greedy bubble living footballer. Id take a nelson or a dunn anyday, I actually hope he now had a career full of injury problems and rots on man united bench.

phil jones = judas, typical overated footballer.

plus phil jones probably wont be playing tomorrow.

Immature stuff that. Dunn chose to go to Birmingham when he got too big for his boots remember.

btw not a bad player comparison all the same...... Phil Jones is like Nelsen and Dunn rolled into one.

[thenodrog]

His departure left a sour taste in the mouth:

He clearly met with Fergie months before actually leaving the club, which is bang out of order.

He was seen having his medical before a deal had been done.

He should have given the club at least 1 more season before leaving, were his boyhood club after all and we needed him.

For these reasons alone he deserves booing.

Don't be daft Gav. The way subsequent events have gone completely validates his decision. If he was warming someones bench like Bentley / RSC / Bellamy all did then it might be a different story but he's quickly turned into one of the first names Fergy will write down on the teamsheet.

This will stick in your craw but the best chance of keeping him for another year or two (when imo we would have got significantlky more for him) was if we had retained the services of the manager that you and the Blackburn End Facebook warriors hated so much. A few people glancing in the mirror might reveal the people we should really be booing.

[Rovermatt]

He deserves it as a United player but frankly Rovers supporters have more important things to be jeering about.

[roversfan1]

I dont agree with booing Jones, he went to Utd and would have been insane if he didnt!! He is a qaulity player who will go on to bigger and better and going to Utd will give him the opportunities he would never have got at Rovers.

Given the stick Rovers fans are getting from all sides for booing at the moment, any similar treatment of Jones will be seen as sour grapes and heap more criticism on the fans there by diluting the effects of the genuine protests aimed at Kean and Venkys.

[blue_n_white99]

Immature stuff that. Dunn chose to go to Birmingham when he got too big for his boots remember.

btw not a bad player comparison all the same...... Phil Jones is like Nelsen and Dunn rolled into one.

I would also add that "Reality check" Dunn is more than culpable than most players in our current plight with his poor performances and repeated public support for Kean and Venkys

[thenodrog]

If that is true - that every footballers dream is to play for a massive club - then football really has sunk to a new low. I can honestly say, as a Rovers fan, it would mean FAR more to me to play for Rovers than any other club. I really mean that.

So say most of us whilst we let our hearts rule our heads. Course thats not the way of the world is it? If it were Rooney would still be at Everton we'd never have seen the likes of Batty, Le saux, Hendry, and worst of all Tugay would never have left Gala would he? On the plus side we'd never have seen that swindling little sh1t Barry Ferguson!

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Booing, whether right or wrong, would be a mssive PR disaster at the moment.

Exactly..the media would beat us senceless if it happened,they would revel in sticking the boot in more.

[Majiball]

If people want to Boo, Boo Fergie.