[Archived] Do Players generally improve their careers when leaving Rovers?

[neekoy]

We did have a quite succesfull run of signing players that were on som level considered to be failures at their previous clubs (Santa Cruz, Bentley, Samba, Warnock, Bellamy) and giving them more important roles to play at Rovers. It's only natural those kind of players would take a few steps back again when they left for bigger clubs where they had to play bit parts instead.

I don't really agree with that, it wasn't really "failure" , I think they were quality second string players that couldn't break through into quality lineups Santa Cruz had to fight for his position against Roy Maakay, Bentley was never going to get past Ljungberg, Samba was a complete unknown, Warnock had to fight for his position against Riise, Bellamy had major attitude problems.... they were very good second string players which we elevated to regular first teamers, When they left to go to bigger clubs they were relegated once again to playing second fiddle.

Could have gone to a big club and been recognised as the best striker in Europe.

Went to a crap club for big money, never won another trophy in his entire career.

Either he wasn't that confident in his ability or he was just plain stupid. Throwing away the chance to be the next Van Basten and actually choosing to become Le Tissier instead.

Complete waste of talent. Still, at least he got to punch Keith Gillespie's lights out.

That is a massive call, better then Batistuta, Weah, Romario, Bergkamp, Ronaldo, Stoichkov, Baggio, Cantona?

I always classed him in the Klinsmann, Suker, Inzhagi, Wright group

[patrickvalery]

I know this is the wrong thread and off topic. But in the heady days of the mid nineties i recall having the discussion with a Spanish friend of mine about who the better striker was - Shearer or Ronaldo (the chubby Brazilian one). I know Ronaldo had an unbelievable career and is widely accepted to be one of the all time greats. But i honestly believe Shearer could have rivaled that level of sucess had he been more single minded. I would imagine i am in the minority, but for me Shearer was the better of the two. OK he didn't have the grace and technique of Ronaldo, but he could finish with the same ease and what he lacked in flair he made up for in physique and timing. Had Shearer played in the sides Ronaldo did i have no doubt he'd have been hailed as a world great. I'm sure i'd be accused of bias and over egging his ability, but i honestly don't think i've ever seen a more complete forward in my life time.

[bob fleming]

That is a massive call, better then Batistuta, Weah, Romario, Bergkamp, Ronaldo, Stoichkov, Baggio, Cantona?

I always classed him in the Klinsmann, Suker, Inzhagi, Wright group

He was certainly up there with all of the above and head and shoulders above quite a few - imo. As others have said, in those first six months he was completely unstoppable and had everything. When he came back after his knee injury he was a tad slower, but just as lethal and still no slouch. 30 + top flight goals a season for three seasons - first time since Jimmy Greaves in the 60's. Will that ever be achieved again?

Make no mistake here, the Blackburn Rovers Alan Shearer was the real deal. The best in Europe? I wouldn't have ruled it out, I wouldn't have swapped him put it that way.

[darrenrover]

He was certainly up there with all of the above and head and shoulders above quite a few - imo. As others have said, in those first six months he was completely unstoppable and had everything. When he came back after his knee injury he was a tad slower, but just as lethal and still no slouch. 30 + top flight goals a season for three seasons - first time since Jimmy Greaves in the 60's. Will that ever be achieved again?

Make no mistake here, the Blackburn Rovers Alan Shearer was the real deal. The best in Europe? I wouldn't have ruled it out, I wouldn't have swapped him put it that way.

Me neither and what is generally forgotten or ignored, is he was our first line of defence. He used to tirelessly work the opposition back four and central midfield when they were in possession. As an all out striker with all the necessary attributes, there was nobody to touch him IMO.

[den]

Could have gone to a big club and been recognised as the best striker in Europe.

Best striker in Europe? Hmmmmm............

There wasn't another striker in the world that I would have swapped him for.

[G Somerset Rover]

I know this is the wrong thread and off topic. But in the heady days of the mid nineties i recall having the discussion with a Spanish friend of mine about who the better striker was - Shearer or Ronaldo (the chubby Brazilian one). I know Ronaldo had an unbelievable career and is widely accepted to be one of the all time greats. But i honestly believe Shearer could have rivaled that level of sucess had he been more single minded. I would imagine i am in the minority, but for me Shearer was the better of the two. OK he didn't have the grace and technique of Ronaldo, but he could finish with the same ease and what he lacked in flair he made up for in physique and timing. Had Shearer played in the sides Ronaldo did i have no doubt he'd have been hailed as a world great. I'm sure i'd be accused of bias and over egging his ability, but i honestly don't think i've ever seen a more complete forward in my life time.

Ronaldo was simply unbelievable during his time at Barca/some of Inter. People forget just how good he was.

Shearer was born for the Premier League. I have no doubt that he would have been in the top 2 or 3 strikers in whatever league he played in though as he was that good. He had it all...apart from the trophies. Shame for him that he bled black and white otherwise he could have won it all abroad.

Neeoky just seen your post. To put Shearer in the same category as Wright, Inzaghi and Sukur is quite insulting! As others have said, prior to his first major injury he was head and shoulders above all of those and still a much better player after.

[neekoy]

There was no disprespect to him intended, I just didn't see him as complete as those I had mentioned as "greats"

I guess we never got to see the best of Suker, Klinsmann in the BPL compared to what they did in Europe, Inzaghi's record speaks for itself and Wright was crucial to anything Arsenal did for that period.

Maybe I need to go back and watch some games with him at Rovers, top 5 strikers ever in BPL for sure but I always felt he was more important to the liek sof us or Newcastle then he would have been at Utd or aboard at the other clubs of that upper echelon.

[Ozz]

Neekoy-Shearer was on another level above Ian Wright. And Wright was very good, eventually.

[thenodrog]

Could have gone to a big club and been recognised as the best striker in Europe.

Went to a crap club for big money, never won another trophy in his entire career.

Either he wasn't that confident in his ability or he was just plain stupid. Throwing away the chance to be the next Van Basten and actually choosing to become Le Tissier instead.

Complete waste of talent. Still, at least he got to punch Keith Gillespie's lights out.

The popular belief is that Jack Walker admitted defeat in getting him to stay but wouldn't let him go to Man Utd.* As a result Shearer imo was sold a right pup by the combined might and persuasive skills of Sir John Hall and Kevin Keegan.

*The result imo of a lot of ill feeling through the then close rivalry between the clubs and the managers particularly cos we outmanouvered them over Shearer and they did the same to us over Kean. SAF is a bully and JW would not be bullied hence our retaliatory Cantona bid. Such a pity we let our attention be sidetracked so much by them cos the much easier signing of Zidane and Dugarry a year earlier would have blown them out of the water completely and re written Prem league history to boot.

[thenodrog]

I don't really agree with that, it wasn't really "failure" , I think they were quality second string players that couldn't break through into quality lineups Santa Cruz had to fight for his position against Roy Maakay, Bentley was never going to get past Ljungberg, Samba was a complete unknown, Warnock had to fight for his position against Riise, Bellamy had major attitude problems.... they were very good second string players which we elevated to regular first teamers, When they left to go to bigger clubs they were relegated once again to playing second fiddle.

That is a massive call, better then Batistuta, Weah, Romario, Bergkamp, Ronaldo, Stoichkov, Baggio, Cantona?

I always classed him in the Klinsmann, Suker, Inzhagi, Wright group

To a side with good wide men Shearer was stand out alone as the best. To a side which employed a more 'continental' style Shearer would be way down the list.

btw you missed out the best and most complete striker of the lot... Marco Van Basten. He would be a perfect fit into any team playing any style imo.

[Baz]

That is a massive call, better then Batistuta, Weah, Romario, Bergkamp, Ronaldo, Stoichkov, Baggio, Cantona?

I always classed him in the Klinsmann, Suker, Inzhagi, Wright group

Better than Bergkamp, Stoichkov and Cantona and all of that second group.

[Leonard Venkhater]

The popular belief is that Jack Walker admitted defeat in getting him to stay but wouldn't let him go to Man Utd.* As a result Shearer imo was sold a right pup by the combined might and persuasive skills of Sir John Hall and Kevin Keegan.

*The result imo of a lot of ill feeling through the then close rivalry between the clubs and the managers particularly cos we outmanouvered them over Shearer and they did the same to us over Kean. SAF is a bully and JW would not be bullied hence our retaliatory Cantona bid. Such a pity we let our attention be sidetracked so much by them cos the much easier signing of Zidane and Dugarry a year earlier would have blown them out of the water completely and re written Prem league history to boot.

Keegan's own autobiography says that the price was £15 million to everyone else and 20 million to Man U. ..

Something about this whole transfer never quite rang true to me. Someone as ruthlessly ambitious as Shearer would surely have wanted a transfer to Utd ? After all, he is supposed to have told several Utd players in the England camp that he was joining them at Old Trafford.

Two different, quite unconnected "ITK claimants" both told me a similar story that Uncle Jack and Shearer actually agreed the deal that would earn Shearer a king's ransom plus 82% of the riches in Solomon's Mines.

The story went that Jack reflected that Shearer was taking the proverbial and rang up and told him so. This was the cue for Shearer to arrange the Newcastle deal.

Anyway, it's a long way from the Garden of Gethsemane to St James' Park!

[Leonard Venkhater]

The topic of Simon Barker appeared in another thread and I thought it was worth considering which players have gone on to bigger and better things after moving on from Ewood? Simon Barker certainly did as did Kevin Hird and John Bailey from the same era.

From my days watching Rovers, those that have definitely improved their careers from moving on, also include Hunter, Given, Kevin Davies, Newton, Duff and Walters. I've undoubtedly missed a few.

Those that we saw the best of at Ewood IMO would include Keeley, Bradshaw, Shearer, Sutton, Santa Cruz, Le Saux, Wilcox, Sherwood.

The likes of Hendry and Alan Wright I'm unsure of.

What are your views?

Years ago we used to go on about the "Ewood curse" on former players' careers.

In those days, lots of our favorite players did leave, only for their careers to nosedive. Notable nose-divers included Eamonn Rogers, Billy Wilson, Andy Kennedy.

I think Tony Field-another one much mourned at the time-did pretty well at (then) top flight Sheffield Utd... and New York Cosmos, where he appeared alongside Pele and Beckenbauer.

We still talk about his goal in the Blackburn End against Watford, when he dribbled past five defenders. Happy days!

Incidentally, I am not sure David May was such a great success actually on the field. He only played 80 odd games over 9 years or so at Utd.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I don't really agree with that, it wasn't really "failure" , I think they were quality second string players that couldn't break through into quality lineups Santa Cruz had to fight for his position against Roy Maakay, Bentley was never going to get past Ljungberg, Samba was a complete unknown, Warnock had to fight for his position against Riise, Bellamy had major attitude problems.... they were very good second string players which we elevated to regular first teamers, When they left to go to bigger clubs they were relegated once again to playing second fiddle.

That is a massive call, better then Batistuta, Weah, Romario, Bergkamp, Ronaldo, Stoichkov, Baggio, Cantona?

I always classed him in the Klinsmann, Suker, Inzhagi, Wright group

I once saw George Weah go from the edge of his own penalty area to the other penalty area before banging one in. He was some player in Italy.

Look for his goal for AC Milan v Verona on YouTube.

[onlyonejackwalker]

A flat track bully. If he was that good or even remotely ambitious, Jack couldn't have stopped him joining a decent club.

But he preferred to be the big fish in a small pond, throwing his weight around in a dressing room full of nobodies.

Do you know what a flat track bully actually is? Normally a phrase allocated to cricketers (batsmen) that only contribute heavily against easy teams on easy wickets and struggle as they go up the grades. Ramprakash and Hick being the two most notable English examples.

Levelling that term against Shearer is just plain daft. He may have had bad games, but it wasnt through a lack of heart or technique and he certainly did not go 'missing' or get 'found out against the best teams in England or at International level.

One of the most accomplished and complete all round strikers I have ever seen and in the top three strikers in world football at his peak. In the top ten in Europe most of his career even after injury. Some of the names he has been compared to weren't fit to lace his boots as he left them way behind and few would have swapped him for any other players when at the Rovers.

[bluebruce]

The likes of Hendry and Alan Wright I'm unsure of.

What are your views?

Are you?? We definitely saw the best of Hendry.

[bluebruce]

He was different gravey that first season and he'd have won us the elague on his own that year if he'd avoided that injury. Like you say he wasn't as quick once back but what a player to be able to adapt as he did as his body let him down. Pity Jack wouldn't let him join United

Ewwwww! No it isn't!!!

[arbitro]

Samba on the move again (apologies if this has been covered elsewhere).

http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/clubfootball/news/newsid=2159194.html

[Lie_still_Rover]

Conversely ... Do all players careers improve when they join blackburn rovers?

[darrenrover]

Conversely ... Do all players careers improve when they join blackburn rovers?

I guess times have changed somewhat and it's a fair question.

Previously they could be conceived to be a big fish in a small pond, move on and the reverse could apply.

Now thoughts of a potential big fish in a previous big pond which is now a puddle but with aspirations to be a lake once more, may be appropriate.

Problem is its a bit of a drought currently but we're praying for torrential rain!