[Archived] Phil Jones V Rovers

[HATRIX]

He did a great job for us last season, raised £16.5M and then moved on to much bigger and better things, can't fault the lad at all, as for booing him that would be a real disgrace. Only shame is we replaced him with the new Chris Smalling

BOO him ,not even a full season for the club that give him his education in football and big breakin the best league in the world .As for raising 16.5 mil, ha ha you actually make it sound like he was down clitheroe carboot on a club fundraiser.

[grizfoot]

I don't know why everyone makes the "if I was offered a better role than with the company i'm currently at" comparison when football is a completely different matter. For one Premier League footballers are paid large amounts of money regardless of who they play for. Secondly people support and love football teams unlike normal companies. For Jones to leave after just two seasons in the Rovers first team does leave a sour taste. A defenders career in football is longer to that in other positions, Jones could well have a 20 year career as a top-flght footballer, you would have thought he could haver stayed at the "club he supports" just that little bit longer. Even more so with the current regime you could say where we could do with him more than ever. I get the point about players wanting to move to "bigger clubs" to win trophies and progress their career but if every player had the attitude it would be a sorry state of affairs. Who knows if Rooney had stayed at Everton they might be now occupying a Champions League berth right now.

I agree that sometimes in football you have think in terms of business and sometimes selling players is the right thing to do. At Rovers we usually get that right with the sales of Santa Cruz, Bentley, Duff, ect. happened at the exact time when their value was highest. Maybe this was taken out of their hands on this occassion with the release clause (although you could argue there shouldn't be such a clause in the first place). Jones could have easily played for us for another 4 or 5 years and he'd still have plenty of time to move somewhere else if he didn't like how things where going at Ewood. But to jump ship after just 2 seasons for an insulting amount for one of England's finest prospects leave you with a feeling that the clubsd been well truely screwed over by Jones.

[Sandiway Blue]

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.

Post of the week for me how anybody can contemplate booing him is beyond me....

[HATRIX]

I thought it was brilliant when he first moved to united how he instantly tried changing his image with that crap 90s style dyed blonde barnet.community shield ,jumping in on evey photo being taken by the presS. As a rovers fan it is youre rite to, if you feel you want to boo an ex player .After all if there was no fans there would be no proffesional football. Im booing him ,that's up to me and i'll enjoy doing it. ROVERS ROVERS RAH RAH RAH!!!

[Commondore]

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.

I'm sick and tired of the "of someone offered ME double salary for doing the same job in a different town blah blah blah"-thing. A normal person could turn his or her entire life around with a doubled paycheck, but Jones already makes heaps of money! A rise in pay or even quadrupling it wouldn't change his way of life squat, he's just as much bloody millionaire who can buy more or less anything he points at as before. I'm not begrudging him leaving Rovers, even for United, but I do begrudge him doing so after not even completing a full season for the club that nurtured him and gave him a chance to play in the PL, not to mention it's fans. Would it have been so horrible for him to spend ONE measly full season at Ewood before moving on to other challenges?

[Mattyblue]

Face it, the likes of Man United are now too big, they completely dominate the media, the trophies on offer, they have legions of plastic fans.

'Good player that Jones, he'll soon get a move to a big club'.

Clubs like us just don't hold on to players like that anymore, we have a glass ceiling and it is impossible to get through it. Blame the biased system, not the lad.

[martypellowe]

Would it have been so horrible for him to spend ONE measly full season at Ewood before moving on to other challenges?

Probably not, no. But have you not considered that this "full season" would have been under Steve Kean's guidance? Opportunities to play for clubs like United do not come very often. He could have happily stayed at the club, played this season, got fat or injured like the rest of the squad, been ill advised on his career by the bald testicle, anything could have happened.

Maybe Jones saw it as chance to jump a blindingly obviously sinking ship?

It was a wise career move, end of story. Convenient that United knew exactly how much to offer to allow them to speak to him, hey? Almost as if they already knew.

[blue_n_white99]

Probably not, no. But have you not considered that this "full season" would have been under Steve Kean's guidance? Opportunities to play for clubs like United do not come very often. He could have happily stayed at the club, played this season, got fat or injured like the rest of the squad, been ill advised on his career by the bald testicle, anything could have happened.

Maybe Jones saw it as chance to jump a blindingly obviously sinking ship?

It was a wise career move, end of story. Convenient that United knew exactly how much to offer to allow them to speak to him, hey? Almost as if they already knew.

I couldn't put it any better, good post.

[Doug]

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.

Sorry to have to ask this but have you lived in a cave for the last 50 years? Is there any other type of footballer?

[John]

Come on Phil, say why you think we are bottom of the table, beacause Kean is a brilliant manager surely....

"Unfortunately they are at the bottom of the table but they are a lot better than their league position shows."

[bellamy11]

I'm sick and tired of the "of someone offered ME double salary for doing the same job in a different town blah blah blah"-thing. A normal person could turn his or her entire life around with a doubled paycheck, but Jones already makes heaps of money! A rise in pay or even quadrupling it wouldn't change his way of life squat, he's just as much bloody millionaire who can buy more or less anything he points at as before. I'm not begrudging him leaving Rovers, even for United, but I do begrudge him doing so after not even completing a full season for the club that nurtured him and gave him a chance to play in the PL, not to mention it's fans. Would it have been so horrible for him to spend ONE measly full season at Ewood before moving on to other challenges?

Not trying to pick on you, but your post highlights what I think are two big oversights that are made on this mb (a third being that Jones left to double his salary - I doubt United are paying him twice what we would have offered him to stay):

1) For us "normal" people, incremental increases in wages are hugely important, but "rich" is all one homogeneous status where it makes no difference, and that those who do think it makes a difference are just pure greedy.

I can't understand this, even though I see why people make the point. I think it just comes down to a lack of comprehension. 99.9% of us will never know what it's like to be a millionaire, so imagine it as a lifestyle of mansions and yachts and Ferraris and all the things we might wish we had, and give it little more thought than that. The idea of being affected by the idea of MORE money once you can afford an Aston Martin is dismissed as "greed". I'm not sure why. Is a leap from, say, £15k a week (£780k a year) to 25k a week (£1.3m a year) inconsequential? It's bloody massive! It's only greedy in the same way that I fought for an extra payrise when I last got promoted because I thought I deserved more. I already had a car and a nice flat, could afford all my bills, could go on nice holidays etc. The payrise just meant I could move to another nice flat, have more nights out etc. But that isn't greedy because the car isn't a Ferrari and I may make around the same money as an average Joe? The difference between £20m a year and £40m a year is just as big as the difference between £20k a year and £40k a year.

2) Phil Jones/academy players "owe" us a full season/one more season/two more seasons etc (see also Junior Hoilett).

Don't get this either. Why? Because we coached them from a young age? We coached them purely to become assets to us. We coached them because we thought that in the long run they might turn into players that make us a better football team and/or make us money. They were coached by coaches who received a salary for coaching them. Yeah they put time and effort in, but they would have put time and effort into players that turned out to be bad (and they got paid for doing so - it's not charity work). They were given an opportunity, not out of the goodness of our hearts, but because we thought it would turn them into excellent players. Phil Jones doesn't owe us for being a good player - he would have been a good player whether he played on his own on the street, or whether he went to another academy. And even if Phil Jones DID somehow owe us, we just got £20m compensation for him! I hope next year we make 20 Phil Jones' who bugger off to United after 30 games!!!

Also, this "owing" never seems to apply both ways. Once Robbie Savage got injured and came back a slightly weaker player, did we owe him the rest of his contract because he'd played well for us and the injury wasn't his fault? No, we sold him! Even Matt Jansen, who got paid YEARS after his accident ruined (making him one of the biggest charity cases in recent football history), only had a contract because we were holding out hope that he would become a valuable asset to us again - not because we owed him anything.

[HATRIX]

I think it hurts more when they are supposed to be one of your own.He loves himself a tad to much these days our owd phil.

You know he'll only score if does get booed, so unless you want him rubbing your face in it, don't bother.

When does jones ever score?

[Amo]

When does jones ever score?

Sod's law.

[HATRIX]

Sod's law.

Venkys law

[AllRoverAsia]

Is there no end to this:

Kean discovered Jones

It's getting to the stage where IT - previously known as Coco - is trying to find new way of screwing us.

[bluebruce]

The bit at the bottom of that is the most ridiculous. Didnt jones already have 4 yrs of contract remaining? So unless there was a clause in that old contract, it is inconceivable that we would have got less for him.

[Commondore]

Not trying to pick on you, but your post highlights what I think are two big oversights that are made on this mb (a third being that Jones left to double his salary - I doubt United are paying him twice what we would have offered him to stay):

1) For us "normal" people, incremental increases in wages are hugely important, but "rich" is all one homogeneous status where it makes no difference, and that those who do think it makes a difference are just pure greedy.

I can't understand this, even though I see why people make the point. I think it just comes down to a lack of comprehension. 99.9% of us will never know what it's like to be a millionaire, so imagine it as a lifestyle of mansions and yachts and Ferraris and all the things we might wish we had, and give it little more thought than that. The idea of being affected by the idea of MORE money once you can afford an Aston Martin is dismissed as "greed". I'm not sure why. Is a leap from, say, £15k a week (£780k a year) to 25k a week (£1.3m a year) inconsequential? It's bloody massive! It's only greedy in the same way that I fought for an extra payrise when I last got promoted because I thought I deserved more. I already had a car and a nice flat, could afford all my bills, could go on nice holidays etc. The payrise just meant I could move to another nice flat, have more nights out etc. But that isn't greedy because the car isn't a Ferrari and I may make around the same money as an average Joe? The difference between £20m a year and £40m a year is just as big as the difference between £20k a year and £40k a year.

What can you buy with £40 million that you can't buy with £20 million? A NASA rocket? Slippers and a top hat made out of diamonds? And, even if he so despeartely craved a NASA rocket or diamond slippers, would it have been insufferable for Jones to wait for one more season before he'd be able yo buy them? And yes, you are underlining the difference yourself. Do you think a payrise for Phil Jones means being able to afford more nights out or movin to "a nicer flat" while still being able to pay his bills? I'm thoroughly certain those kinds of economic improvements are left way, way behind any professional footballer.

2) Phil Jones/academy players "owe" us a full season/one more season/two more seasons etc (see also Junior Hoilett).

Don't get this either. Why? Because we coached them from a young age? We coached them purely to become assets to us. We coached them because we thought that in the long run they might turn into players that make us a better football team and/or make us money. They were coached by coaches who received a salary for coaching them. Yeah they put time and effort in, but they would have put time and effort into players that turned out to be bad (and they got paid for doing so - it's not charity work). They were given an opportunity, not out of the goodness of our hearts, but because we thought it would turn them into excellent players. Phil Jones doesn't owe us for being a good player - he would have been a good player whether he played on his own on the street, or whether he went to another academy. And even if Phil Jones DID somehow owe us, we just got £20m compensation for him! I hope next year we make 20 Phil Jones' who bugger off to United after 30 games!!!

Also, this "owing" never seems to apply both ways. Once Robbie Savage got injured and came back a slightly weaker player, did we owe him the rest of his contract because he'd played well for us and the injury wasn't his fault? No, we sold him! Even Matt Jansen, who got paid YEARS after his accident ruined (making him one of the biggest charity cases in recent football history), only had a contract because we were holding out hope that he would become a valuable asset to us again - not because we owed him anything.

Would you rather have sold Jones, or any other player for that matter, for £20 million before this season or kept him over the season and then sold him for slightly more (or even slightly less)? It's not even a choice for me anyway. And obviously we were the club who believed in him enough to put time and money into his development, is that not worth a full seasons service before he buggers off to somewhere else?

I do agree that clubs hardly has the right to speak about loyalty when they themselves gets rid of players whenever it suits their interests, but I don't see how the situations with Jansen and Savage apply to Jones in this case?

[ewoodpo]

Phil Jones reaction after todays defeat for Utd.

Ferguson's annoyance was rammed home in even more forceful fashion by former Blackburn defender Phil Jones, who was facing his former club in a fixture he lost 7-1 with Rovers last term.

"I am gutted," he said.

"The manager's birthday as well.

"We weren't at the races. Too slow, too laboured. Not quick enough.

"The injuries don't help. But they are no excuse. We were nowhere near good enough."

In fact, Jones felt United had not done themselves any favours by getting back on level terms so quickly.

"That was our downfall, coming back too soon," he said.

"I think we thought we had won it.

"We got two back, we thought we had won it and we eased off.

"They punished us. They thoroughly deserved their win. We weren't at the races today.

"It will be a bad New Year's Eve.

"I feel worse today than when we got smashed 7-1 last season playing for Blackburn. That puts into perspective how disappointed I am."

[Stuart]

"I feel worse today than when we got smashed 7-1 last season playing for Blackburn. That puts into perspective how disappointed I am."

GOOD

[ewoodpo]

GOOD

He's really gone down in my estimation with a comment like that, calls himself a Rovers fan.

[Stonesrick]

I must say that I don't go along with all the experts who say that his best position will be centre back. Today he was given a torrid time by the Yak and get's caught on the back foot too often for my liking.

He will end up as a midfielder, either holding or box to box.

[mr bishi]

The sight of him waving an imaginary card at the ref trying to get Yakubu booked really got my back up.

[AllRoverAsia]

Phil Jones reaction after todays defeat for Utd.

Ferguson's annoyance was rammed home in even more forceful fashion by former Blackburn defender Phil Jones, who was facing his former club in a fixture he lost 7-1 with Rovers last term.

"I feel worse today than when we got smashed 7-1 last season playing for Blackburn. That puts into perspective how disappointed I am."

That's sums up Judas

[bluebruce]

Then go fck yourself phil. That's finally and irreversibly made my mind up on him. I wish him every misfortune.

[Tom]

Rubbish today, Yakubu bossed him and the second goal was awful from him