[Archived] Tom cairney

[Husky]

I don't deny he was a skilful player with potential - but as anyone that saw him last season - he was absolutely toilet - lightweight, no drive, no enthusiasm.

If he plays well with Fulham for an extended period then I guess you could say that he was just another little lamb that wasn't happy/coached/managed properly at rovers.

[JHRover]

As we languish in the bottom 3, suffer from a lack of creativity and goals and Cairney is earning rave reviews from Fulham fans and scoring wonder goals in games the number of people on here and the terraces at Ewood who supported his sale will quickly diminish.

Before long we'll have almost universal acceptance amongst Rovers supporters that it was a huge mistake to sell him.

There were loads of people on here who said that the money was far too good to resist, that Cairney had flattered to deceive, that he had lost his touch last season, that we could easily manage without him etc etc.

It was complete madness to sell him to Fulham, and we still haven't had the truth from the club as to how or why that move came about. Something simply didn't add up with that one when you consider the determination with which we have fended off interest in Rhodes and Marshall yet suddenly out of the blue offloaded Cairney to Fulham.

Fulham won't suffer here, nor will Cairney. Only Blackburn Rovers. Another great piece of business in selling off our best midfielder to one of the few teams who have started the season as badly as we have.

[Rover_Shaun]

It's early days yet at Fulham for Cairney so lets not get ahead of ourselves. Just like Delfonso and Guthrie haven't yet hit the dolloper mode that they have found at all their other clubs

[A cup of beans]

A very good player who seemed to lose a lot of his drive last season. He'll be a great purchase for Fulham if they can keep him motivated.

By the end of last season, he seemed to have lost all his confidence.

There was one night game (cant recall the opponent) where He missed several sitters.

I remember feeling desperately sorry for him.

He started last season off spectacularly (2 wonder goals). Unrecognisable by the end.

Wonder where the blame lies.

Is it:

With Tom for losing focus/ interest.

With GB and the coaching staff- Misused and poor man management ?

Regardless, Rovers didn't see the best of him consistently.

We are already feeling his loss.

[tomphil]

It won't last ,a good footballer with more potential ability but a bit of a wuss and with far too laid back an attitude it seems. Us in our position needed to keep our best players but Bowyer had no idea what to do with him and the player had given up. For someone to bung us nearly 3 mill for him with possible add ons at this moment in time we've had their pants down imo.

[JHRover]

But if Cairney is a mainstay in Fulham's team and goes on to score 10 goals + this season which ensures they finish above us and in turn possibly relegates us?

He's already shown what we are missing with wonder goals against Brighton and Hull. Nobody else we have looks remotely capable of doing that, apart from Koita who came close against Cardiff and Wolves.

£3 million won't be worth it then if Fulham stay up due to his goals and we go down.

[tomphil]

I'd prefer to have kept him, Evans would have been the first I'd looked to have flogged. TC did jack all for us last season though barring a couple of spectacular goals early on and at no time did he look a potential 4 million pound player. Surround him with better players and a gaffer who has some idea and maybe he'll prosper. He needs a team working and performing around him though otherwise he's lost.

[Gav]

Here we go again....

Tom Cairney was absolute rubbish last season and whilst I'd not have sold him myself, they got good money for him, even if thats a mute point really in the grand scheme of things.

He never fell out with anyone, was number one choice in the midfield all season but simply didn't produce, which could be said of the rest of the squad to be honest.

Was it Cairney that broke in the second half against Liverpool at home? down the Riverside touchline towards the BBurn End? only to fall over his feet checking back on to his left foot and fell over sort of sums up his season for me.

[DE.]

Markus Olsson winning player of the season kind of summed up how the rest of our team performed over the campaign, Cairney included. No offence intended towards Olsson, but it's not often you see a LB with a couple of assists win player of the season.

[sambo]

I don't think being shunted to the right wing helped him one bit.

It must be demoralising seeing Williamson and Evans playing in your preferred position whilst you're out wide as a square peg in a round hole.

For me, Bowyer just doesn't know what to do with a creative player. He would much rather have 11 workhorses, with versatility being an added bonus.

[BlooBoy]

But if Cairney is a mainstay in Fulham's team and goes on to score 10 goals + this season which ensures they finish above us and in turn possibly relegates us?

He's already shown what we are missing with wonder goals against Brighton and Hull. Nobody else we have looks remotely capable of doing that, apart from Koita who came close against Cardiff and Wolves.

£3 million won't be worth it then if Fulham stay up due to his goals and we go down.

What happens if Cairney does his knee (god forbid he does ) in his next game and spends two seasons out of the game?

Its all ifs and buts...

The only fact there is,is that he had a very poor season and when a bid of £3M came along based on his general average performances it was good business for us.

If Cairney scores ten and Fulham stop up and we go down it will only be the fault of how we have performed on the pitch in 46 games not what Tom Cairney may or may not do at another club.

[Stuart]

To be fair, most of those comments mirror exactly what rovers fans thought when he first signed and into the start of last season. Then he seemed to lose something, couldn't pass forward, was knocked off the ball too easily. If they can keep the Cairney they have now they'll have a very good player, but there are no guarantees

Yes, he lost his place in CM to the midfield enforcer that is Jason Lowe.

Made me want to weep reading that thread.

But this isn't about the merits of individual players, it's about a system that Bowyer wants to play which involves two DMs at all times. It's not even about not having the personnel to play the system that he wants because he's had 2 years to bring in the right kind of player (regardless of pedigree). If we are struggling at full back then I'm sure there are/were L1 players who could fit the bill. At least six League One full backs reach the Championship every season anyway.

This system frustrates the fans because it removes the spectacle of attacking football and provides little enjoyment, and we don't even get the quid pro quo that at least we are winning games 1-0 - because we aren't.

At the moment the best we can hope for (in terms of excitement) is a kitchen sink 10-15 minutes to try to snatch an equaliser. We don't even go kitchen sink to get a winner because all Bowyer would do then is try to protect the point!

[joey_big_nose]

I wouldn't have sold him. Currently we have one midfielder who can pass the ball in Guthrie. We could easily have two in the squad and lose one of the Lowe/Williamson/Evans triumvate. Or indeed not have signed Peschi as he is never going to play. If/when Guthrie gets injured we are really going to miss Cairney.

The most interesting thing about Cairney at Fulham will be if they manage to play him in central midfield. In my opinion he's never going to be a top player out wide, but in a traditional central position he could be. On the ball he is one of the best technical players in the division. However Bowyer was worried about him defensively, and ultimately never trusted him at centre mid. I wonder if the Fulham manager will form the same opinion.

[Mattyblue]

What triggered me to post the link was domething den posted on a different thread.

For the last 5 disastrous years we have sold player after player and each one has been 'no loss'. I would say the unrelenting decline on the pitch says otherwise.

I would also say the progressively poorer performances in young lads like Cairney and Marshall is down to the manager and general set-up at Brockhall. Constant chopping and changes of position, of formation, no-one seemingly sure of thier jobs etc.

Young players can often have a dip in perfromance and a quality set up can get them through it- does anyone believe that is the environment at the club presently?

[Rover_Shaun]

Didn't Den mean fans said "no loss" when each player was sold?

[Mattyblue]

He did, that was my point, according to many on here from N-Zonzi through to Cairney, no-one has been a 'loss'.

[jim mk2]

In addition to N'Zonzi the worst "no loss" player (according to the experts) was Scott Dann - who has been outstanding for Palace since he left (player of the year) and is now on the verge of an England call-up according to reports.

[joey_big_nose]

Well there are always a small percentage who say "no loss" but I hardly think they are representative of the fanbase as a whole. All fans would have loved to keep Gestede, and in the vast majority would have liked to keep Cairney. There were not many who said we should sell either of those so I don't think the point really stands as a criticism of the fans.

To be honest I don't think there has been a player who the fans wanted sold who went on to do good things. The majority of fans wanted to keep Nzonzi, Hoilett, Phil Jones, Dann etc. The likes of people who the majority of fans did want out of the cub - Best, that daft right back etc - did f-all after leaving.

I don't really understand what you are getting at.

ps. The only player that the majority of fans wanted out who arguably could have done a job for us, imo, is Andrews. Tin hat on..

[jim mk2]

The point is, there are plenty of fans who are apparently happy to see the back of good players just because we have received a decent fee or the player wants to leave. They say these players are "no loss" when clearly they are a big loss because they are rarely replaced by a player of equal ability.

[JHRover]

What happens if Cairney does his knee (god forbid he does ) in his next game and spends two seasons out of the game?

Its all ifs and buts...

The only fact there is,is that he had a very poor season and when a bid of £3M came along based on his general average performances it was good business for us.

If Cairney scores ten and Fulham stop up and we go down it will only be the fault of how we have performed on the pitch in 46 games not what Tom Cairney may or may not do at another club.

Fulham clearly thought he was worth £3 million and made him their top transfer target despite his 'very poor season'. I'd suggest that when a side claiming to be targeting promotion comes along with big money for one of your most important players then it tends to suggest he has something about him that is sought after. If we had meant business we would have kept him. Sold him if a Premier League club wanted him like with Gestede but kept him out of the reaches of rival clubs.

There's no doubt in my mind he was our best midfield option. We've let him go and now he's already shown so far what he's capable of whilst we have looked alarmingly short of creativity and our goals scored column reinforces that. If he carries on as he's started at Fulham then they've got the better end of the deal.

[Gav]

What triggered me to post the link was domething den posted on a different thread.

For the last 5 disastrous years we have sold player after player and each one has been 'no loss'. I would say the unrelenting decline on the pitch says otherwise.

I would also say the progressively poorer performances in young lads like Cairney and Marshall is down to the manager and general set-up at Brockhall. Constant chopping and changes of position, of formation, no-one seemingly sure of thier jobs etc.

Young players can often have a dip in perfromance and a quality set up can get them through it- does anyone believe that is the environment at the club presently?

I've been of the opinion since Venkys came to the club that a lack of coaching and decent backroom staff have contributed to the lack of progression of players like Hanley and many more and that shouldn't be underestimated.

All that said, we brought Tom Cairney in because he was let go by Hull probably due to his inconsistency, not his lack of ability. All the players coming to Ewood these days are not good enough for the Premiership and some aren't even good enough for the Championship, inconsistency being the main missing attribute, so its no surprise that Cairney had a dip in form last season.

[Amo]

Rochina scored at the weekend, too. Just sayin'.

[Gav]

Rochina scored at the weekend, too. Just sayin'.

Show pony, just sayin'.

[Amo]

Show pony, just sayin'.

Better than a carthorse.

...just sayin'.

[Gav]

Better than a carthorse.

...just sayin'.

Gestede wasn't that bad, just sayin'