The Rovers Return

Steven N'Zonzi celebrates scoring at Arsenal, chased by, among others, fellow youth star Martin Olsson.

Most successful teams of the past are assembled around a core group of established, senior and experienced team members, while bringing in top quality youth players to learn from said core senior players and, eventually, carry on in their place when they move on.

Sam Allardyce, somewhat covertly, is doing this now. It’s been a bit more than a year since he took the reins at Ewood and, having spent his first season concentrating on avoiding the drop, he was then able to begin moulding the side as he wants it.

Over the course of this season, we’ve seen the emergence of some great young players. Martin Olsson, Steven N’Zonzi, Junior Hoilett and Nikola Kalinic are the four main stars.

All of whom have played, I think, a much bigger role than they were expected to at the start of the season. N’Zonzi was brought in to play the odd game while developing into a better player. In the end, through a succession of injured midfielders and his own solid performances in that role, he has become a first team regular. Read more »

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Jason Roberts slots home Rovers' third.

Credit where it’s due. I, along with a large majority of Rovers fans, was having a right go at Sam Allardyce while huddling for warmth at half time at Ewood on Saturday.

One up front and 1-0 down while playing absolutely terribly, things were looking bleak.

Then Big Sam made one of the most attacking tactical changes he’s probably ever made. Removing the very much below par Pedersen and Diouf and throwing on Jason Roberts and Benni McCarthy proved to be a master stroke as Rovers dominated the second half having been extremely poor in the first.

Jason Roberts has come in for plenty of stick this season and he answered his critics in the best possible way. Yes, they were easy finishes, but he got himself into the right positions to give Rovers the equaliser and then sealed the win with the third after a wonderful link up with Benni. Read more »

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Benni McCarthy could be heading for the exit.

I like Benni McCarthy, but I do think he’s past his best. Unfortunately, when Franco Di Santo leaves, he’s about the best we’ve got, unless Nikola Kalinic turns out to be any good…

In spite of this, it appears Big Sam doesn’t rate him and will allow him to leave in January, that’s if anyone will stump up the £3.5m we want for him!

I don’t mind him going. He deserves first team football and he’s not looking likely to get that at Ewood. However, I don’t him to end up at Burnley, Bolton or Wigan.

As long as he disappears to a side that doesn’t have any local rivalry with Rovers, I’ll be satisfied. Hopefully Sam will be able to use the cash to bring in some sort of replacement, which we will definitely need if Di Santo does go back to Chelsea.

In other. slightly more distressing news. As Aston Villa continue to prove they aren’t actually that great yet, they threw away another game in the dying moments, losing 2-1 to West Ham at Upton Park.

That result sees The Irons climb out of the relegation zone and above us in the table, pushing us down to 18th!

This adds to the importance of Pompey on Saturday. Three points are desperately needed!

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Michel Salgado celebrates his first goal for Rovers.

Headline copyright Richard Boardman (2009)

Rovers showed their class by brushing aside Championship strugglers Peterborough to avoid any cup embarrassment and progress through to the League Cup quarter finals.

Despite having players quarantined because of the swine flu illness that swept through the side, goals from Pedersen, Reid, Salgado, McCarthy and Kalinic ensured an entertaining cup tie ended in success for Rovers.

It’s great to see all of those names on the scoresheet.

Pedersen finally reminding us what he’s capable of from a dead ball situation. Reidy grabbing himself one, despite it being a penalty, after all that has been said in the press recently. Salgado has been far from impressive so far, but his goal that restored Rovers lead after we’d been pegged back twice was a lovely finish from a tight angle. Benni hasn’t featured much this season but his goal showed he’s still got the finishing touch. While £6-million future of Croatian football Nikola Kalinic finally got on the scoresheet (yes, another penalty) which should work wonders for his confidence!

It was also good to throw all those smug comments from Fergie Jnr well-and-truly back in his face.

On top of that, Sam was able to run the rule over a number of fringe players, whether he wanted to or not. Jason Brown, Michel Salgado, Phil Jones, Martin Olsson, Junior Hoilett, Brett Emerton, Steven Reid, Benni McCarthy and Nikola Kalinic all started the game. Read more »

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No marks for accuracy.

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I’ve stopped posting stuff from the newspapers really because, let’s face it, you’re more likely to read them than this. So you probably already know.

However, a couple of articles this week have got my juices flowing.

Article one appeared in the Daily Mail, listing the owners of all the Premier League clubs and how much money they have. I’ve stolen their graphic to post below, but technically I’m an employee anyway so I hope they don’t mind…

It shows our gracious benefactors, with Uncle Jack’s money, very high up in football’s rich list, with £590-million to their names. That’s £160-million more than Walkersteel sold for back in 1992.

Now, I know they’re trying to sell up, but until the sale they’re stuck with us. When Jack died he left that money in a trust, with some instructions in place, I’m no financial expert but I believe we get the interest or a percentage thereof, from the money as it sits in the trust. Read more »

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Stephen Warnock has left for Aston Villa.

It is with great sadness I bid Stephen Warnock farewell as he leaves for Aston Villa.

He has officially signed for the Midlands club tonight to end weeks of speculation surrounding his future.

For once, I can fully understand the decision of one of our top players to move on. Warnock has always been loyal to Rovers, given 100 per cent and repaid the faith shown in him when he was signed by the club by becoming one of our best players.

Moving to Villa at a time when the club are in a position to challenge higher up in the table represents a good career move for the defender and I wish him well. It will also bode well for his England ambitions as, with Rovers, England careers are a practical impossibility.

With the sad news of Warnock’s departure comes the better news of Big Sam’s latest recruitment, Pascal Chimbonda. I’m assuming Allardyce made sure the signing of Chimbonda was wrapped up before the sale of Warnock was officially sanctioned, and I hope the money from the sale of Warnock will be used to strengthen even further.

Chimbonda is a good defender. A solid performer with proven Premiership credentials. He has signed from Spurs for about £1.5-million.

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David Hoilett

Ok, a tad exaggeratory headline, but Rovers have set a new precedent for future work permit cases.

As I pointed out in an earlier whinge, Rovers’ Canadian striker David Hoillet, who had spent two years out on loan in Germany, was refused a work permit to come back to us, his employers. I was extremely confused by this situation.

However, according to The Mirror, in a ‘landmark permits case’ a special appeals committee has ruled Hoillet can come back and play for Rovers.

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What a fantastic performance!

To a man, everybody at Ewood Park can take some credit for today’s vital win over Wigan.

In defence, Paul Robinson was unbeatable. An absolute wall in the Rovers goal. I saw some stupid article, probably written by some twat from America who’s never actually witnessed a real football match, which ranked Robbo as the third worst signing this season, he has surely answered any critics today, and with the England goalkeeping situation as it is he’s surely worth a chance, isn’t he? Very unlucky not to get Sky Sports’ man of the match in my opinion, although McCarthy did play well!

The rest of the defence was very solid. Givet and Nelsen never lost anything, Ooijer and Warnock at full back as reliable as ever. Special mention must go to Nelsen for scoring the best goal I have ever seen… What a time to score your first goal for the club! Read more »

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Surprised to hear there have been two firm bids for on loan Chilean attacking midfielder Carlos Villanueva.

The lad’s been a huge disappointment since joining from Audax Italiano. Especially after we all, including a certain Mr Ince, saw the YouTube videos of him playing in the fast paced and highly competitive Chilean league.

I’ll be honest, I’d have liked to have seen him given a few more starts. As a player coming in to a whole new culture and someone who doesn’t speak a word of the Queen’s, he must have found it difficult to settle and with only playing the odd cup game and getting the odd 20 minutes as a substitute he was never going to bed into the side and find the rhythm he may be capable of.

I am a little dubious as to the validity of the ‘offers’ made by two ‘unnamed clubs’. If I was in Audax’s position and hoping Rovers were about to throw £3-million our way I think I would make a rumour that someone else was about to jump in and sign them so as to make them act fast.

Unfortunately I don’t think Big Sam rates him at all and don’t expect to see him with us next season, whether we stay in the Premiership or not!

Here’s one of those videos, it has to be said he does look fucking amazing!

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