It doesn't really matter how we pay for the fee. If it's all we've got I'm not happy splurging it out on one young player.

We were a different club then. If Shearer had have flopped here we would have sold him back to Southampton at a loss and Jack would have got the cheque book out for another top striker. The current team needs strengthening in several positions and we're planning to blow most if not all of our transfer budget on a young lad who doesn't really play in any of the positions that need strengthening. I watched the video and I'm thinking he isn't a Graham replacement and if this lad comes here where does Armstrong play ?

The point I was making is we put all our eggs at that time in one basket with him. And he never played more than a game or two.

Those of us with long memories can recall managers betting the ranch on other young upcoming stars. Jimmy Kerr and Steve Agnew anybody ? Did they play 20 games for us between them ?

I'm not looking at us in a few years time, I'm looking at where we're going to be next May.

Not for me at that price. Walk away.

There's a reason why " he wouldn't be on that much compared to other strikers in the division".

Nearest player to Jimmy Greaves in recent times would be Micheal Owen.

Moving to get rid of them and actually seeing them through the door are two entirely different things.

Another aspect of play then was nobody came to " park the bus ". Teams came to win. If they got beat fair enough but they gave it a go. There wasn't the money in the game then even at the top level so it wasn't a life and death situation as it is now.

Hull away isn't the same as Carlisle away. I expect the usual suspects to be playing on Saturday.

I'd class Tommy Briggs as a centre forward Al. I was really talking about supporting strikers. I was there when Andy Mac got 4 against Spurs. That was some game.

It says a lot about the directors of other established Premier League clubs that they aren't prepared to take a chance on him. Maybe he should change his name to Stefano Dychio.

Yeah, he turned our wildest dreams into reality. He'll be " Our Jack " as long as there is a Blackburn Rovers.

I've seen some really great goalscorers at the club Stuart. Disregarding the centre forward type players such as Shearer, Pickering, Sutton etc Bellamy was the best in my opinion. I go back as far as Peter Dobing, Roy Vernon, John Byrom, Andy McEvoy, Simon Garner, Matt Jansen ( who I thought was a fantastic player ) , even Damien Duff.

Yeah, I thought that as well.

I wish. Unfortunately he lacks the aggression that made Bellamy such a difficult opponent plus a yard of pace. What would Bellamy be worth today ?

If you're a small guy and you're playing up front on your own either you have to be special or the service up to you has to be special.

Gestede, Duffy, Marshall ?

I was waiting for that, just wondered who'd be bored enough to bother correcting me .

That's fine. I'm not you and I'm not Venkies. You can't always plan beyond the end of the current season. I remember watching Tiny Taylor and Johanneson playing at centre half for us and thinking that once they developed we had that element of the team covered for the long term. That went well didn't it ? Reason being they never developed beyond a certain level.

Yes you are right. No signing is a certainty at our level. However if you get a guy in who has been a regular scorer in this division it's not unreasonable to expect goals from him.

Gazza was a one off. They don't come along often.

I don't know because I'm not a scout. Forest knew who to sign though because they signed a proven striker in Grabban and put this kid on the bench. I'd have Grabban tomorrow. If we were an established Championship side I'd say we could take a gamble, but we aren't. It's absolutely Imperative we stay up this season. We need players who will definitely help us stay up, not players who might. Watching the video this lad likes to start out wide and come inside all the time. He also favours his right hand side a lot. He's new to the league and opponents haven't figured him out yet. They'll be working on that. I didn't see any signs of heading ability for a tall lad. Jim won't be signing him anyway - he wears gloves !

If this was the old " Loadsamoney " Rovers you could say " Yeah sign the lad, he's a gamble but we can stand the loss if he turns out to be the new Ashley Ward, Nathan Blake, Kevin Davies etc etc ". As we all know things have changed. This could be the equivalent of betting the ranch on a young untried player. We could lump all our dosh on " red " and " black " turns up. Unless of course we have got more money to spend than we all think. Our current recruitment would suggest that's not the case. For that sort of money I'd like a more proven player at this level.