Souness must go ?

[waggy]

if i remenber correctly todd was in the team on friday,and when sourness's favourite son amoruso,declared himself fit,which he clearly was not,souness dropped todd and played amo.

result we lost the game,todd threw a wobbler.how many rovers fans were backing souness that night.

souness and his man management,is poor.he has his favourite's and like i said before the souness way is not always the correct way.

[Alan75]

If I remember correctly, Todd went home ill from training on the Friday and Souness had to change the team selection, Todd then arrived Saturday but refused to sit on the bench.

[Manchester Blue]

Funny how people's memories differ isn't it. Alan's is much more in line with what I remember whereas Waggy seems to have got the events jumbled somewhat. Strange that.

[Cocker]

I thought that it was Short that came in for Todd and not Amo

[broadsword]

Alan and Cocker have it right, I'm sure.

[jim mk2]

To state as someone did earlier that Cole is not a good striker is clearly nonsense.

A career record of 198 goals in 358 league games (Rovers 27 in 74) and 57 goals in 109 cup matches is the record of a top-class player in anyone's language. I would wager there are many Premiership defenders delighted that he will not be lining up in a Rovers shirt next season.

In the end Souness keeps or loses his job on decisions like this but it must be obvious even to his his keenest supporters that he is taking a big gamble in relying on the unproven Gallagher and Stead and the dubious quality of Dickov to see us through the season.

I forgot to add of course,

Souness out.

Edited July 16, 2004 by jim mk2

[Presty On Tour]

i think g.s wants the best out of his players and when they are not doing it he gets frustrated.

does go a bit over the tp on refs and their assistants on the touchlines sometimes but he got one hell of a winning pedegree.

he hasnt won 25 or something medals looking at the turf with his hands on his hips.

[broadsword]

Was Ian Wright still a good striker when he played for Burnley then Jim?

[waggy]

If I remember correctly, Todd went home ill from training on the Friday and Souness had to change the team selection, Todd then arrived Saturday but refused to sit on the bench.

must be the superbok in my system,if that's the way it was,then thats the way it was,but i wonder if lucas niell had gone home from trianing 'ill' on friday would he have been omitted on saturday

[Tris]

To state as someone did earlier that Cole is not a good striker is clearly nonsense.

A career record of 198 goals in 358 league games (Rovers 27 in 74) and 57 goals in 109 cup matches is the record of a top-class player in anyone's language.

His pedigree may look impressive, but in a Rovers shirt he has been far from impressive.

As I said in the earlier post, he is a good player. He has a fantastic first touch, makes intelligent runs into space and gets into goal scoring positions that many other strikers do not.

On the other hand he can be guilty of woeful - almost careless - finishing when presented with the easiest of chances and if you want to talk raw statistics then his goal scoring record since coming to Ewood is a disgrace.

Weighing up the pros and the cons it doesn't make any sense at all to get so worked up about losing a player who has consistently been a disruptive figure, whinges at his team mates for misplacing passes, refuses to help younger colleagues, mopes off on extra holidays and takes home the most obscene anount of money to boot.

[den]

Weighing up the pros and the cons it doesn't make any sense at all to get so worked up about losing a player who has consistently been a disruptive figure, whinges at his team mates for misplacing passes, refuses to help younger colleagues, mopes off on extra holidays and takes home the most obscene anount of money to boot.

It's just that many members on here, me included, think that if he's sold and not replaced, it will see the club relegated.

Simple as that really.

[broadsword]

I do remember him trying to head a goal at Man Utd and scoring it off his nose.

And remember that air shot against Finland up at Anfield? He did one for us not long after.

[Tris]

It's just that many members on here, me included, think that if he's sold and not replaced, it will see the club relegated.

Simple as that really.

Well fair enough, but let's take one step at a time.

It emerged this week that Cole is refusing to do his job.

The season starts in 4 weeks time.

The transfer window closes in 6 weeks time.

Let's get shot of the bad apple then worry about the rest later.

[Scotty]

It emerged this week that Cole is refusing to do his job.

No it hasn't. That was the slant put on it by the LET but do you really know that to be the truth?

[Blue blood]

Weighing up the pros and the cons it doesn't make any sense at all to get so worked up about losing a player who has consistently been a disruptive figure, whinges at his team mates for misplacing passes, refuses to help younger colleagues, mopes off on extra holidays and takes home the most obscene anount of money to boot.

It's just that many members on here, me included, think that if he's sold and not replaced, it will see the club relegated.

Simple as that really.

Totally agree. Cole may be a pain to work with, but we really need a target man/regular goalscorer up front, and Cole is the best we've got. Stead and Gally are too young to take on the responsibility as yet. If you look at teams which go down, often they don't have a pinch hitter - someone who will regularly get the goals for them. A god example is Sunderland when Phillips stopped performing.

If it is decided that Cole has to go, then get rid of him and quick. All this anamosity and romours aren't helping the club. However if Souness does not replace him with a quality replacement before the transfer window closes, and Dickov doesn't count, then you have to question Souness' tactical nous, again.

[T4E]

It emerged this week that Cole is refusing to do his job.

No it hasn't. That was the slant put on it by the LET but do you really know that to be the truth?

Exactly - nothing concrete has emerged at all.

[Tris]

It emerged this week that Cole is refusing to do his job.

No it hasn't. That was the slant put on it by the LET but do you really know that to be the truth?

Well humble apologies oh master of the conspiracy theory.

Kindly elaborate and present your evidence that anything other than Cole refusing to do his job is what has happened.

[Scotty]

It emerged this week that Cole is refusing to do his job.

No it hasn't. That was the slant put on it by the LET but do you really know that to be the truth?

Well humble apologies oh master of the conspiracy theory.

Kindly elaborate and present your evidence that anything other than Cole refusing to do his job is what has happened.

So you don't know that to be the truth then?

[Walls]

IF he was of that mindset etc have we only found this out just now? This is after all the same player who was DIRECTLY QUOTED earlier in the summer as saying he wanted to stay at Ewood.

Cole realises that he is no longer the player to be able to command a salary in line with what we are (reportedly) paying him. If you were him would you announce that you wanted to leave the club just before you were to earn £250k for sitting on your moody arse and doing nowt for 8 weeks? Wouldn't be very clever now would it. The timing of this suggests to me that the situation is of Cole's instigation, not of Souey's.

If Souness wanted him out surely he would have said so earlier in the close season to give him more chance to line up a replacement. He will realise himself that we can't go into the season with only 1 provenish (Dickov) and 2 unproven (Stead and Gally) strikers to chose from. His experience of the game goes back 30+ years. If we can see it as supporters do you (collective you - not just Revidge) not think Souness can? Don't be stupid.

The only time Cole has earned his money for Rovers was the half season after we bought him when he had a terrific partnership with Jansen (to those who are blaming GS for the size of the transfer fee it was paid back with interest over these few months). Cast your minds back 2 years and remember how excited everybody was about the Yorke signing. This partnership was going to be better than the SAS. It wasn't. It wasn't just Yorke who disappointed either.

Cole has underperformed consistently for the past 2 seasons and it was only after Souey (could say it had the desired affect) gave him a rocket up the jaxy that he slightly bucked up his ideas. His work rate improved but his goal scoring didn't. There are 3 absolute stinkers that stick in my mind from the tail end of last season that cost us points and could have ended up costing us a lot more (Southampton, Bolton and Leeds - all at home). A striker on his wages should not have missed. You can forgive the odd one but not so many. Although no one can argue with his goal scoring record, as Glenda famously said it his is goals to chances ratio that lets him down.

He has become a bad influence and a disruption. Its time to cut our losses and get rid.

[waggy]

i ain't a fan off either yorke or cole,but to spend 9 million on them and recieve zero back,is criminal.

[Ricky]

Which is why we are getting rid now. If they both go now we save around 6-7m in wages and bonuses. Surely that is the best option for the club.

[Manchester Blue]

But what would you propose if no clubs are prepared to pay anything for them. We payed over the odds for Cole maybe but Yorke at £2.5 was seen as a steal at the time, particularly after Boro agreed to pay £6m for him 6 months earlier.

p.s. Ricky will you please stop replying a minute before me with the same point please

Edited July 18, 2004 by Manchester Blue

[waggy]

you miss the point SOUNESS PAID OVER THE ODDS,and then tried to break yorke leg in trianing

[Manchester Blue]

You miss the point Souness didn't pay over the odds, £2.5m was a very good deal at the time. The training ground incident is poor but has prompted Souness to stop playing in the 5 a sides. Bad tackles go on all the time in training and many managers play in the small matches. Tony Parkes even still plays in them so it's not unusual.

[Ricky]

We didn't pay over the odds for Yorke at all. I remember in the build up to the deal a figure of 6m was being touted around. We got him for less then half that. Unfortunately things didn't work out and now appears to be the best time to get rid.

Manchester Blue, you know what they say about great minds and all that