[Archived] January Transfer Window

[Lancaster Rover]

Here we go, Marshall a la Duffy becomes the bad guy and Venky's and co get off scott free.

Looking at it objectively I do not blame Marshall for wanting away in the slightest.

We are a poor side, battling relegation with no signs of that changing in the near future. All areas of the club are being down graded year on year, why wouldn't he go to a different employer offering more money and better working conditions?

The fault lies completely with Cheston et al who have failed to offer Marshall a contract that would see us receive sufficient recompense should he leave, its not like this contract situation has sneaked up on them. Instead we are left with a player with 6 months to run on his deal, which is worth next to nothing. They only fee we will be getting for Marshall is the net saving on his wages from January to July 1st. Anyone who thinks we will get anything but buttons for Marshall wants their head looking at.

I expect to hear Coyle in the LET talking about his hands being tied, the boy wanted to leave, we were powerless to his demands, etc ,etc. It's textbook.

As for people saying he's not fit to wear the shirt, he's playing no differently now than he has for 85% of his Rovers career, barring a purple patch at wing back under Bowyer and Lambert he has largely been seen as lazy and un-committed. I seem to remember after his first season here Bowyer had told him to find another club. The lad is a middle of the road championship player who will have good games and bad. He probably is performing under his ability at the moment but I think I'd struggle to get motivated for work if my line manager was an over-promoted PE teacher who has swallowed a copy of leadership for dummies.

[Parsonblue]

LT REPORTS "Marshall's wage demands are reported to be £25,000, with Rovers said to value him in the region of £1.5m".....

If that is a wage PER ANNUM it is still way too much for a journeyman plodder like Marshall...a supposed Big Fish in the smelly stinking pond that is Blackburn Rovers.

Rovers want £1.5 million for him? Ok right I believe in Santa too....if Lambert wants him he can take him for nowt and I'll pay the feckin taxi for the ingrate git.

Meanwhile Rovers should fine him 3 months wages for being fat overweight and with a hairdo that shames us.

Completely agree. The lad hasn't looked interested all season and his performances have been poor. The quicker he goes the better.

[arbitro]

Completely agree. The lad hasn't looked interested all season and his performances have been poor. The quicker he goes the better.

Which begs the question Parson why he has been picked all season, only missing one game when he was suspended. I haven't seen him play live but from your (and others) judgement he should not be anywhere near the first team.

[JHRover]

Here we go, Marshall a la Duffy becomes the bad guy and Venky's and co get off scott free.

Looking at it objectively I do not blame Marshall for wanting away in the slightest.

We are a poor side, battling relegation with no signs of that changing in the near future. All areas of the club are being down graded year on year, why wouldn't he go to a different employer offering more money and better working conditions?

The fault lies completely with Cheston et al who have failed to offer Marshall a contract that would see us receive sufficient recompense should he leave, its not like this contract situation has sneaked up on them. Instead we are left with a player with 6 months to run on his deal, which is worth next to nothing. They only fee we will be getting for Marshall is the net saving on his wages from January to July 1st. Anyone who thinks we will get anything but buttons for Marshall wants their head looking at.

I expect to hear Coyle in the LET talking about his hands being tied, the boy wanted to leave, we were powerless to his demands, etc ,etc. It's textbook.

As for people saying he's not fit to wear the shirt, he's playing no differently now than he has for 85% of his Rovers career, barring a purple patch at wing back under Bowyer and Lambert he has largely been seen as lazy and un-committed. I seem to remember after his first season here Bowyer had told him to find another club. The lad is a middle of the road championship player who will have good games and bad. He probably is performing under his ability at the moment but I think I'd struggle to get motivated for work if my line manager was an over-promoted PE teacher who has swallowed a copy of leadership for dummies.

I think you're right. The club are playing games, just like they did over the summer with Shane Duffy and in previous years with Junior Hoilett, Ryan Nelsen and others.

It's blatantly obvious what the club's sole aim is here. They want Marshall gone. They wanted him gone in the summer, possibly even earlier, and the only reason he didn't leave was because no club came in with a firm cash bid for them to accept (even though the club advertised his availability in the press several times to encourage other clubs to bid for him). If they had any intention of keeping him then contract negotiations would have begun back in January when Lambert was asking them to.

The fact that it was left until August/September to even initiate these so-called negotiations in itself tells us all we need to know about the club's intentions.

I suppose it depends on each individual and your perception of the club as to whether you believe the club has been making efforts to keep him since August/September. If you listen to Coyle's relentless babbling then he would have people believe that serious sustained efforts have been made in recent weeks to keep him with an improved contract offer sat on the table for Marshall to think over. I'd suggest that flies in the face of everything this club has done for the last 18-24 months. They've cut back in every single department, so to expect me to believe they're now offering improved terms to Marshall is asking a lot. I don't doubt Coyle would like him to stay, but this story about a new contract offer is in my view completely fictitious. It's sole purpose is to try and shift the blame for the impending sale of a so-called 'star' player to a rival club away from the club and onto the player.

Just like it was with Hoilett, just like it was with Nelsen/Samba and just like it was with Duffy.

They did a fantastic job with it in the summer with Duffy. They succeeded in convincing the majority of the fanbase that Duffy was a bad egg who needed offloading asap for the good of the club/team. God only knows what went on behind the scenes to ensure that his move to Brighton came about. In the end the player we were eventually happy to see the back of has gone on to become a mainstay in the best defence in the League for a club that will almost certainly be in the Premier League this time next season. His position was made untenable after the horror show at Cardiff.

As for Marshall can I blame him for having one eye elsewhere? Not really. If my belief is right and the club has been trying to get rid of him like they did with Rhodes/Hanley/Duffy/Cairney then it is a natural outcome that the player will feel unsettled/unwanted and not be at 100%. I know the theory that as long as we're paying his wages we should be getting 100% effort and commitment from him but these days it just doesn't work like that in practice. If a player feels unwanted or sees himself being pushed towards the exit door then he won't be at 100%.

The shame is that like with Rhodes and Cairney I think he probably is quite settled at Rovers and would be quite happy to extend his stay with the club were the club prepared to keep him. Unfortunately in this new era of Venkys ownership any player worth anything is being cashed in on with no reinvestment so the player's wishes are irrelevant.

In the end I just don't trust them and I don't believe what they come out with in the Telegraph. I think Marshall is another pawn in whatever scheme is going on here. Come this time next year he'll no doubt be putting in impressive performances for a top half side whilst we're languishing either in a similar position to now or more likely in League One.

[davulsukur]

I wouldn't be so quick to pack Marshall off. He is a very talented footballer and like alot of footballers, needs the correct management to get the best out of him.

Coyle is not that manager because he is woeful.

[Lancaster Rover]

Marshall is better than anything we will replace him with, that's where it starts and stops for me.

[tomphil]

We've been here consistently before over the last few years. At the end of the day he's one of our better players ability wise and he's always been inconsistent from the word go as have most of them. He can play in 3 different positions and when he's up for it he's decent in any of them and we are looking at the Feeneys of this world to replace who whether they are up for it or not are basically crap playing a full league above their abilities.

Yes he wants out that's obvious but they want to cash in and he'll have known this for a while so now he's getting himself ready to go. Plays right into their hands again this, Rudy, Rhodes, Hanley, Duffy all exactly the same scenario and fans turn around and say get rid.

What we have to really ask is just why these players continually end up with this attitude ? Yes it stinks and whilst being played they should bust a gut but they always end up having no respect for the club and no wonder because no one does anymore least of all those pushing it's buttons. Cannot blame players for wanting to better themselves and they know there is no ambition here whatsoever from the owners.

We are owned by an almost faceless holding company and the club itself is possibly nothing more than a holding franchise holding and feeding players for a hidden set of people who then benefit from moving them out and others in.

[Oldgregg86]

I'd sell Marshall. Use the money to extend Wes Brown's contract after an excellent half an hour in the reserves in August. Extend lowes contract with a pay rise so he can get his hair cut and possibly start to see the man he's suppose to pick up and by Steele some massive gloves. It's a better outcome than what actually will bestowed upon us by February the first

[Athlete]

Completely agree. The lad hasn't looked interested all season and his performances have been poor. The quicker he goes the better.

So why is he being selected c'mom PB get your head out the sand...

BTW do you reckon he'll be replaced with a better player.. C'mom even you know the answer..

After everything what's gone on under venkys ownership or none ownership people still can't get there head around the player sales we've been here before...

[OJRovers]

Completely agree. The lad hasn't looked interested all season and his performances have been poor. The quicker he goes the better.

But a couple of weeks ago Coyle said he's been superb. Which is clearly not true.

sounded to me like he was trying to generate interest for him in January.

[LDRover]

He also said he'd been too loyal to some players and that maybe they should be replaced in the team - even more or less named our number 6 as the one he was referring to. He then dropped Guthrie who had played about 4 games and kept Captain Fantastic plodding away.

[JHRover]

Guthrie is another one they have down for the exit door. He let the cat out of the bag in the summer in his interview in the Telegraph when he admitted that Coyle had told him he could find a new club. I wonder how many others have been told the same in recent months?

Then all of a sudden he was in the team and playing every week, only to be moved out of the way to enable Lowe to occupy a central midfield position.

I expect that's the last we'll see of Guthrie. On the evidence of his performances for us this season I'd prefer him in the centre of midfield than anyone else at the club, but I expect the powers-that-be will have other ideas. He's out of contract in the summer and there hasn't even been a murmur about keeping him so I expect he'll be on his way soon. Only trouble is I doubt he's done enough this season to encourage another club to make an offer for him, so he might be consigned to the bench for the next 6 months before he leaves on a free transfer.

[Lancaster Rover]

If he goes on a free in Jan it's another net saving on wages, every penny counts to lifelong Rovers fan Michael Cheston.

[tomphil]

He also said he'd been too loyal to some players and that maybe they should be replaced in the team - even more or less named our number 6 as the one he was referring to. He then dropped Guthrie who had played about 4 games and kept Captain Fantastic plodding away.

I jumped on that as soon as he said it and i posted it'd be Guthrie he was on about. The only reason he got games was shop window then he was set up to be the fall guy. He's also inconsistent and too fragile but football wise Lowe can't lace his boots but cheap plodders come first instead of trying to get the best from whatever bits of championship quality we do actually have.

He'll be on 10-15k pwk so he's marked for the out door. Hell with Marshall and him gone that's possibly a 30k pwk saving and maybe a 500k fee in as well, the possibility of a twenty thousand crowd v Newcastle at cat A+ and well magic Mike & the partners will be dancing into the new year. If they sold someone else as well for money and got another wage off i doubt they'd be able to contain themselves.

Coylees late Christmas present from his bosses will be a luxury list of names to pick a couple of freebies from. The list will be marked from the Greer/Brown/Barnes section of the market but remember Owen only offer 2 or 3 years to them !

%%%%

[Lancaster Rover]

Giles Barnes is a top quality striker who was coveted by many elite teams, we tried wer best to get him in the summer but we've done wer sums and put something to the boy and his representatives that's very attractive, its a great bit of business for the football club, we keep working hard on the training ground and putting the performances in on a saturday.

Owen Coyle, February 7th 2017.

[tomphil]

That's just how Nixon was talking him up in the summer

[Baz]

No point selling Marshall, we'll get a pittance for him, and never see the money reinvested. Keep him till summer, because in a relegation battle you need your best players.

Total mismanagement from the club to wait until he has only a few months on his contract left before even approaching him for a new deal.

Then again let's just blame the lad because his heart isn't in it, without any evidence, just like the dozens of other good players who have been sold in the past 6 years (Nzonzi, Samba etc...)

[JAL]

Selling Ben Marshall will only go to highlight the lack of money that the clubs has by showing that it can't afford to pay the market rate for one of its better players.

What does that say to the rest of the playing staff and supporters.

Feeney should be moved on in January not Marshall.

[roverstdt]

To be honest I think we need to stick to players being in their natural positions.

-------Steele-------

Nyambe---Hoban---New CB----Williams

Marshall---Lenihan/Lowe---New Creative---Conway

---------Graham/Emnes-------Gallagher------

Sell for free or anything: Akpan, Guthrie, Evans, Feeney, Ward.

Sign: Emnes for heavens of god, a new CB and a new CM then I will start believing in this team a little more.

I like some of the players in League One at the moment like Jack Balwin, Michael Smith, Shaun Cummings, Conor McLaughlin, and one i would sign in a heartbeat if Marshall goes is Ademola Lookman absolutely love that player

[bob fleming]

Selling Ben Marshall will only go to highlight the lack of money that the clubs has by showing that it can't afford to pay the market rate for one of its better players.

What does that say to the rest of the playing staff and supporters.

Feeney should be moved on in January not Marshall.

"One of its better players" - says it all really. I can't be bothered even looking it up, how long he's been with us. It's coincided with one of the cackest periods in the clubs history. He's not been any cop for 3 years since he had a good half season at right wing. He's the best right back at the club IMO. Better than Lowe, better than Henley. Neither of whom are good enough. If / when he's sold he'll be replaced by someone even cracker who'll probably be given a three year contract.

Fact is if we were to get 1.5m for Marshall and a decent manager was given a third of it we'd end up with a proper right back, plus that manager would probably get two other players in as first team regulars better than the ones we have in certain positions.

That won't happen. Coyle can't set a team up to save his life. There's nothing to suggest any manager would see a penny. Two transfer windows now - circa 250k spent on Williams. Well worth coming out of the embargo wasn't it? £25-30m in sales since summer 2015?

Why does anyone think it'll be any different this time? If they were serious about the club being successful (I.e. Winning games and challenging for promotion) then the last thing they'd have done is appoint Coyle.

So why are they still here? What's the plan? Ssshhhh - no tricky questions please. We'll just be paying up Feeney's contract as JAL suggested - what a shame. All that money going to waste and adding to the debt.

[Cherry Blue]

Gallagher on radio lancs doesn't think OC will get any money to buy.

[LDRover]

Cutting edge stuff from Gallacher there. I wonder what gave him that impression?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Gallagher on radio lancs doesn't think OC will get any money to buy.

Wow, that's astute of him. Does he do horse racing tips as well ?

[roversfan99]

What did he say?

[chaddyrovers]

I think Coyle will be lucky to get Ba and Barnes.

Venkys are probably still confused from 5 years ago