Niall Ennis

[JacknOry]

Just now, philipl said:

Eyal Berkovic (who was slightly younger) was released to make space for Tugay.

 

 

fantastic player - which is why most were not that happy with the Tugay signing at the time - they wanted Eyal. 

[Mattyblue]

He was only here on loan.

[JacknOry]

5 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

He was only here on loan.

 

I know that - but when we went up most wanted us to go in for him permanently.

[Mattyblue]

I was responding to Phil that said he was ‘released’. 

Just not having that the fanbase was angry about a bloke with a shed load of caps for Turkey arriving. Not exactly a marquee signing like Cole, but most fans were just a bit non plussed - just like when Brad came in.
 

[Hasta]

23 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

I was responding to Phil that said he was ‘released’. 

Just not having that the fanbase was angry about a bloke with a shed load of caps for Turkey arriving. Not exactly a marquee signing like Cole, but most fans were just a bit non plussed - just like when Brad came in.
 

Filan had just won player of the season, and Friedel was remembered for his Liverpool mistake at Old Trafford, so I think we were all a bit short sighted on that one.

[roverandout]

I was livid when souness went for tugay over berkovic. I remember saying on here it was a huge mistake.  Then I saw him play and the rest is history

[JacknOry]

26 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

I was responding to Phil that said he was ‘released’. 

Just not having that the fanbase was angry about a bloke with a shed load of caps for Turkey arriving. Not exactly a marquee signing like Cole, but most fans were just a bit non plussed - just like when Brad came in.
 

 

ah okay, agreed then.

[JacknOry]

1 minute ago, roverandout said:

I was livid when souness went for tugay over berkovic. I remember saying on here it was a huge mistake.  Then I saw him play and the rest is history

 

Exactly, Berkovic was brilliant for us and helped us get over the line. We all wanted him back. Then we signed Tugay, who at the time most never really knew anything about. Very doubtful Berkovic would have gone down as a legend like Tugay. Probably one of the best cases of the fans don't know everything.

[roverandout]

Imo the best central midfielder rovers have ever had.  In my lifetime anyway.  Hopefully one day Adam Wharton can be as good 

[JacknOry]

Just now, roverandout said:

Imo the best central midfielder rovers have ever had.  In my lifetime anyway.  Hopefully one day Adam Wharton can be as good 

 

Best in my lifetime for sure. We have plenty of good'uns but nothing like him. That clip of his top ten goals when he only scored 11 for the club - amazing. It's not just those moments of magic though, he could control matches from his position. 

[roverandout]

Just now, JacknOry said:

Best in my lifetime for sure. We have plenty of good'uns but nothing like him. That clip of his top ten goals when he only scored 11 for the club - amazing. It's not just those moments of magic though, he could control matches from his position. 

He could have played for real Madrid in his prime

[JacknOry]

1 minute ago, roverandout said:

He could have played for real Madrid in his prime

 

biased opinion of course, but he could have got in most teams int he world. I'm not sure what happened for him to not really get noticed until late in his career.

[roverandout]

1 minute ago, JacknOry said:

biased opinion of course, but he could have got in most teams int he world. I'm not sure what happened for him to not really get noticed until late in his career.

Because we were unfashionable.  I think of him as the early 2000's luka modric. 

[Oldgregg86]

1 hour ago, philipl said:

Eyal Berkovic (who was slightly younger) was released to make space for Tugay.

 

I remember thinking that was insane at the time

[philipl]

My recollection is we had an option to make Bercovic permanent and the player himself really wanted it.

There are enough posts to have made my point that the Tugay signing divided the fans.

Here's hoping mention of Tugay and Bercovic on Niall's thread rubs magic onto his performances this year!

[Mattyblue]

It didn’t ‘divide the fans’ as nobody knew owt about him to start with. So of course it wasn’t a particular ‘popular’ signing.

Just a bit of a pointless debate you’ve started.
 

Edited May 28, 2023 by Mattyblue

[wilsdenrover]

3 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

It didn’t ‘divide the fans’ as nobody knew owt about him to start with. So of course it wasn’t a particular ‘popular’ signing.

Just a bit of a pointless debate you’ve started.
 

We know nowt about a lot - doesn’t stop us having an opinion on everything…

[philipl]

4 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

It didn’t ‘divide the fans’ as nobody knew owt about him to start with. So of course it wasn’t a particular ‘popular’ signing.

Just a bit of a pointless debate you’ve started.
 

And two posts above this there is a post saying he thought it insane at the time.

[Mattyblue]

So? I agree with you that he wasn’t a ‘popular’ signing’. My point is why would he have been? He was a cheap unknown. Ergo I’m not sure what your point is.
 

 

Edited May 28, 2023 by Mattyblue

[JacknOry]

You have to separate it. I don't think the Tugay signing was unpopular per se, just that people really wanted Berkovic back. 

[Mattyblue]

I get it, I was there. But what’s this got to do with Ennis? Who we pining for instead?

[Upside Down]

I'm going to make a bold prediction here.

He'll score on his debut.

[DeeCee]

9 hours ago, Upside Down said:

I'm going to make a bold prediction here.

He'll score on his debut.

Against Stanley?

[chaddyrovers]

 

 

[bluebruce]

2 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

 

 

I'm not a fan of one or two of the data points used, we need to remember it's just stats based off comfortably the best season of his career (could be a purple patch) and it's only League One....but, I feel a bit more confident about Ennis after watching that. To regularly rank in the top 10 (sometimes top 3) for his position in his league on a range of important metrics is encouraging.

On a free, presumably fairly low wages (this would be the kicker for me, if he's on 10k p/w or something like that then it's a big risk) and on a 4 year deal with a 1 year option, still quite young at 24 but has some experience...you can't really argue with that business. Sealed nice and early to give him time to adjust to the playing style, manager and his teammates. I'm not going to say I'm expecting immediate fireworks, and I can't say I want to risk him being our main man up top out the gate, we still need someone who has shown they can smash them in at this sort of level. But on the face of it, he seems a decent squad addition to compete for a regular goalscoring role.

The proof, as always, will be in the pudding. With him still having room for growth and perhaps needing time to adapt to the level, as well as with it being expensive to permanently buy established Championship strikers, I'd think a loan is our best bet of reliable goals in the middle. Cannon or Archer are the two firepower options (see what I did there?) I'd prefer in this regard, then we get a season to see if Ennis can deliver for us.