[Archived] Likely Transfer Window Targets

[RevidgeBlue]

btw why on earth can people still not grasp the fact that transfer fees are history for all but the clubs that enjoy Champions league qualification!

Gordon, you've been saying this for ages now, but no clubs appear to have actually adopted your concept?

[Jan]

Anyway moving forward from that a question for the "Buy big / Walkers are shiitting on us" club members who appear to be in the majority on this mboard ...... Whats most preferable to us at the moment paying some club 5m for a midfielder and giving the player a 3 year £1 million pound per annum contract or getting a midfielder and a right back and giving them a 3 year £1.3million pound per annum contract each? That is the market that we are in at the moment. Transfer fees are for stupid managers employed by idiot chairmen.

Much prefer to pay wages than fees. Agree

[RevidgeBlue]

All hypothetical but right at the moment I'd rather have the top quality midfielder than two squad fillers who would cost you more in wages over the long run anyway.

Gordon, I thought you said in the past the priority is players to improve the starting eleven rather than the squad?

[Anti Euro Smiths Fan]

I think we know which section of the Community tends to err towards supporting Liverpool and the Red Scum.

The community which it seems we are not allowed to mention on here without the mods having a collective panic attack and threatening to delete posts. All rather sad in my view Simon and a complete over-reaction from the powers that be.

But as I've been told before: "If you don't like the new rules then bugger off."

Anyway - going back on topic now so as to not upset anyone - I hope that there's some money in the kitty to spend in January. But I fear that there won't be much available. It's almost laughable now to recall the words of our old friend Lofty (for those who don't know, he was a former board member on here). Lofty introduced a new topic on the M/B a couple of years ago in which he claimed that it was only a short matter of time before Fred Walker, the brother of Jack, was going to invest heavily in new players for Rovers.

When this was questioned by others, Lofty threw a big strop and insisted that Fred was a massive Rovers fan who was going to shortly put huge new funds into the club. Well if only....

I don't think any of us should be waiting with baited breath for that to happen. While other clubs in the Premiership are shopping in Harrods, unfortunately Rovers are now having to make do with the bargain bucket at Woolworths.

I'd be surprised if Hughes was allowed to spend £7m on a player in the near future in the same way that Souness was given the funds to blow £7m on an Italian striker. What a disaster that turned out to be - and it's almost criminal how the £17m we got for Damien Duff was wasted on players like Lorenzo Amuroso.

Having money can be a big advantage, but it obviously has to be spent in the right way. Souness completely lost the plot in his final 18 months with us and although I've had some recent criticisms of Mark Hughes's selections and tactics - I'm pretty sure that Hughes would spend any money given to him in a more sensible manner than Souness did after Duff was sold.

At the moment we can only use guesswork as to how much (if anything) Hughes has got to spend in January. I'd be surprised if it was more than £5m over and above any transfer sales. The worrying thing is that there are clear deficiencies in our squad, particularly in midfield, which require investment. How much longer can Hughes keep us challenging for Europe on a shoestring?

Eventually things could catch up with us and I fear for the club if we ever got off to a really poor start one season. There was a lot of optimism at the start of the season but the last eight matches have shown there are significant weaknesses in the Rovers squad. Our ball retention, quality of crossing and our defending certainly leaves much to be desired at times.

[JAL]

What do you think gates should be, 40, 50, 60k?

And without wanting to reopen this particular can of worms I think we know which section of the Community tends to err towards supporting Liverpool and the Red Scum.

I'm talking purely about the whiter side of the community supporting other teams and i'm coming from a money generated through the turnstlies point of view, doesnt matter how many just the total amount of cash generated by that number and the sustainability to generating more money.

[T4E]

The community which it seems we are not allowed to mention on here without the mods having a collective panic attack and threatening to delete posts. All rather sad in my view Simon and a complete over-reaction from the powers that be.

But as I've been told before: "If you don't like the new rules then bugger off."

Anyway - going back on topic now so as to not upset anyone - I hope that there's some money in the kitty to spend in January. But I fear that there won't be much available. It's almost laughable now to recall the words of our old friend Lofty (for those who don't know, he was a former board member on here). Lofty introduced a new topic on the M/B a couple of years ago in which he claimed that it was only a short matter of time before Fred Walker, the brother of Jack, was going to invest heavily in new players for Rovers.

When this was questioned by others, Lofty threw a big strop and insisted that Fred was a massive Rovers fan who was going to shortly put huge new funds into the club. Well if only....

I don't think any of us should be waiting with baited breath for that to happen. While other clubs in the Premiership are shopping in Harrods, unfortunately Rovers are now having to make do with the bargain bucket at Woolworths.

I'd be surprised if Hughes was allowed to spend £7m on a player in the near future in the same way that Souness was given the funds to blow £7m on an Italian striker. What a disaster that turned out to be - and it's almost criminal how the £17m we got for Damien Duff was wasted on players like Lorenzo Amuroso.

Having money can be a big advantage, but it obviously has to be spent in the right way. Souness completely lost the plot in his final 18 months with us and although I've had some recent criticisms of Mark Hughes's selections and tactics - I'm pretty sure that Hughes would spend any money given to him in a more sensible manner than Souness did after Duff was sold.

At the moment we can only use guesswork as to how much (if anything) Hughes has got to spend in January. I'd be surprised if it was more than £5m over and above any transfer sales. The worrying thing is that there are clear deficiencies in our squad, particularly in midfield, which require investment. How much longer can Hughes keep us challenging for Europe on a shoestring?

Eventually things could catch up with us and I fear for the club if we ever got off to a really poor start one season. There was a lot of optimism at the start of the season but the last eight matches have shown there are significant weaknesses in the Rovers squad. Our ball retention, quality of crossing and our defending certainly leaves much to be desired at times.

Funniest Thread Ever?

[JAL]

Gordon, you've been saying this for ages now, but no clubs appear to have actually adopted your concept?

Hes seems to be out of sync Thenodrog with the rest of the footballing world the stakes or cost of maintaining modern day footballers just seems get higher and higher every year its been a minor miracle that Rovers have been able to operate at this level for so long.

[thenodrog]

All hypothetical but right at the moment I'd rather have the top quality midfielder than two squad fillers who would cost you more in wages over the long run anyway.

Gordon, I thought you said in the past the priority is players to improve the starting eleven rather than the squad?

I was meaning the same hypothetical midfielder Rev..... PLUS a quality right back.

[thenodrog]

Gordon, you've been saying this for ages now, but no clubs appear to have actually adopted your concept?

Well we have.

The model is Bolton's (Anelka excepted) who have maintained top half status under Sam without spending much in terms of transfer fees to the clubs. I think that you will find most clubs apart from the CL clubs and the nouveau riche catch-ups drawing their horns in now though Simon.

I first noticed our change of policy when David Brown replaced Uncle Jack behind the scenes in Div 1 days and the mad spending days were curtailed. Note that Hughes can spend whatever he likes as long as he generates it through sales / reductions in wage bills first.

[EwoodGlory]

Latest is that Blackburn are set to fly over a Korean star In Jan........................Watch this space............

Is the player Cho Jae-Jin?

Premiership teams linked, Newcastle pull out of deal

[RevidgeBlue]

Note that Hughes can spend whatever he likes as long as he generates it through sales / reductions in wage bills first.

Errrrr............ so that would be nothing then?

[Paul]

Hes seems to be out of sync Thenodrog with the rest of the footballing world the stakes or cost of maintaining modern day footballers just seems get higher and higher every year its been a minor miracle that Rovers have been able to operate at this level for so long.

Absolutely right. The problem Rovers face is taking on debt with no hope of repaying it. We have to be realistic the club don't have funds to allow for any other transfer policy than that currently employed. The majority of PL clubs spend money in a fashion which will eventually destroy them. I read somewhere in the last couple of days Spurs will be bidding £18m for some striker I've never heard of, apparently Bianchi is unhappy at City with the food and weather, so that's £9m down the toilet. Roy Keane spent £36m last summer and is rumoured to have £20m for January. So hopefully that will be £56m back in the Coca Cola by May. Successful or not imagine the impact on Rovers of spending £56m in six months, regardless of all the "Sparky would do it better stuff."

These amounts would leave Rovers in deeper trouble than the pre-Walker days. No one in their right mind is going to fund Rovers to these levels. Our board can only adopt one policy, limit the club's financial risk while looking to employ talented, hungry managers who can build a team from other club's cast-offs.

The gates are there to generate more income by paying a decent price going into the ground generating a decent revenue then buying the merchandise neither of which the Blackburn public do

The gates will never generate sufficient income to make a real difference. We are better off with a policy which attracts more fans to the ground, the long term impact will be greater. I'm not sure club merchandise or match day spend is important to any but the biggest clubs. One has to be honest, what is there about visiting any PL ground that would encourage the average punter to spend more than the ticket price? I was at COMS on Thursday, it's brand new and frankly lacks any decent facilities. I didn't even think of buying a cup of tea, and as for the food.......vomit inducing.

Merchandising has long beeen a severe problem at Rovers. I wear the same polo and sweatshirt today as I did in 94. I have rarely seen anything I would buy for myself. This Christmas the only Rovers item was Mike Jackman's book, bought in W H Smith - purchased by a friend. This in a household of three die-hards and one part-timer. Sad situation.

[winner]

Winner? More like Whinger! Personally though I think 'Cupid Stunt' would be a far more accurate boardname.

Anyway CS never mind McCarthy just tell us all exactly which of our players do you think would turn down a lucrative 'double your money' move to Chelsea if they came sniffing around this January?

Nice to see the winner has an early fan.

The problem with McCarthy is his constant whoring himself to Chelsea in the newspapers.

No players attached to a club should do this, out of respect to their current club and team mates.

Question 1: Do you agree, that this behaviour is unacceptable?

We can all agree that most players would not say no, to a double your money deal at any club, do not insult my vast intelligence by suggesting otherwise.

[RoversFanUSA]

I have to agree. Most players now a days are really only out for the money. Lucas Neil case in point. I think if chelsea came knocking on the door with a pile of cash and said "you'll play CL and be part of a "top four club" AND will be payed double" most players would leave in a heart beat. Now there are the few that are class like Big Brad, extending his contract over a cup of coffie and a muffen,but those are far and few inbetween.

I hope that Sparkey comes up big in January and that some of the first teamers see that if they dont get there ish together there gonna be replaced. Up Rovers!

[philipl]

I don't think it needs nostradamus to work out that there is going to be an unseemly scrap as clubs bid for Savage and Roberts- they are both decent Premiership-proven performers whom every club 14th downwards in the Prem and 12th upwards in the Coca Cola would love to have. The transfer fees realised will be interesting but I guess Sparky will ship them out quickly if indeed the rumours about them being disruptive elements are true.

My view of Benni is that he is a classic engager of mouth before brain in a stream of consciousness and even pro-footballers would tend to say "its Benni". I doubt many revolutions have been sustained by Benni-types. Winner seems willing to follow Benni out of the trenches but nobody else would and therefore Benni is staying (it also helps that he is a goal every other game forward and those are rarer than hen's teeth unlike big muscular bustlers such as Roberts).

Then all resources will be focussed on getting the right midfielder(s) but I am anything but optimistic we will succeed despite our financial muscle relative to all other leagues in the world. There are too many other bling covered Prem clubs in the same market.

Given Sparky has been willing to go back to 4-5-1, I guess he will live with having just three frontline forwards to choose from and would go 4-5-1 of neccessity if two out of Roque, Benni and Matty are unavailable.

If the agent who got significantly richer through Rovers bringing Samba in on trial is dismissing us for wanting trial players this January then frankly I cannot see the trial route yielding much this time round.

[herbergeehh]

The problem with McCarthy is his constant whoring himself to Chelsea in the newspapers.

Go on, do you have any 'proof' of this alleged crime? Can't say I've seen anything since Mourinho left, at least.

Andreas Hinkel is being linked with Borussia Dortmund and now Celtic (mentioned in a newsstory about Nakamura on Setanta) - a solid right back both going forward and defending. Not sure about the price though, he might be way too expensive.

[RoyRover]

I think that Hinkel has more or less signed for Celtic.

[JAL]

Absolutely right. The problem Rovers face is taking on debt with no hope of repaying it. We have to be realistic the club don't have funds to allow for any other transfer policy than that currently employed. The majority of PL clubs spend money in a fashion which will eventually destroy them. I read somewhere in the last couple of days Spurs will be bidding £18m for some striker I've never heard of, apparently Bianchi is unhappy at City with the food and weather, so that's £9m down the toilet. Roy Keane spent £36m last summer and is rumoured to have £20m for January. So hopefully that will be £56m back in the Coca Cola by May. Successful or not imagine the impact on Rovers of spending £56m in six months, regardless of all the "Sparky would do it better stuff."

These amounts would leave Rovers in deeper trouble than the pre-Walker days. No one in their right mind is going to fund Rovers to these levels. Our board can only adopt one policy, limit the club's financial risk while looking to employ talented, hungry managers who can build a team from other club's cast-offs.

The gates will never generate sufficient income to make a real difference. We are better off with a policy which attracts more fans to the ground, the long term impact will be greater. I'm not sure club merchandise or match day spend is important to any but the biggest clubs. One has to be honest, what is there about visiting any PL ground that would encourage the average punter to spend more than the ticket price? I was at COMS on Thursday, it's brand new and frankly lacks any decent facilities. I didn't even think of buying a cup of tea, and as for the food.......vomit inducing.

Merchandising has long beeen a severe problem at Rovers. I wear the same polo and sweatshirt today as I did in 94. I have rarely seen anything I would buy for myself. This Christmas the only Rovers item was Mike Jackman's book, bought in W H Smith - purchased by a friend. This in a household of three die-hards and one part-timer. Sad situation.

Cheers Paul for your honest thoughts, i think they mirror what many Rovers fans actually do.

[waggy]

how about that sylvan eubanks bloke from plymouth

[philipl]

how about that sylvan eubanks bloke from plymouth

I was wondering seeing he is riding high in the CCC goal scoring charts- he's the only one up there who isn't either past it or proven not good enough at EPL. Then again, his record is poor compared with Derby's Howard last year. Anyone seen Eubanks-Blake play?

[rebelmswar]

I don't think it needs nostradamus to work out that there is going to be an unseemly scrap as clubs bid for Savage and Roberts- they are both decent Premiership-proven performers whom every club 14th downwards in the Prem and 12th upwards in the Coca Cola would love to have. The transfer fees realised will be interesting but I guess Sparky will ship them out quickly if indeed the rumours about them being disruptive elements are true.

I think that Roberts will go to Boro they are badly in need of a striker and seem to be keen.

[herbergeehh]

Our old youth player Joe Garner has scored ten goals in Football League One already..?

[waggy]

Our old youth player Joe Garner has scored ten goals in Football League One already..?

not deemed good enough by hughesy

[thenodrog]

Our old youth player Joe Garner has scored ten goals in Football League One already..?

Good for him and very pleasing. Our all time leading scorer Simon Garner scored plenty in Divs 2 & 3 too. Unfortunately and obviously neither Garner are / were of Premier division quality.

[philipl]

Guardian are reporting a Sunderland £1m offer for Savage has been lodged but Rovers want £2m with Derby, Fulham and Wigan interest.

Times say Chelsea and Bolton are in negotiations to get Anelka to Stamford Bridge for £10m ahead of the ANC starting.