The Rovers Return

The Times' online report of Lincoln City v Rotherham United. A game in which on loan 'Bolton' player Gavin Gunning impressed.

In my real life, I work as a sub-editor on regional newspapers. This means I design the pages and ensure the writing is accurate and grammatically correct.

Mistakes happen. As with any job. But there are a lot of things that are basic. Rule one type stuff.

One of those is, make sure headlines and straplines (the smaller bits that tend to elaborate on the headline) are spot on.

You will understand, then, that mistakes like the one pictured are absolute howlers.

How you can confuse one Premier League football club with another is beyond me. And it’s not the first time it’s happened, especially since Sam Allardyce became our manager.

I can, sort of, understand why it has happened. We are geographically close, have both had Allardyce as manager, and both well-known for a not-too-pleasing-on-the-eye style of football. But it’s absolutely school boy.

I’d love to think I could be good enough to work in national newspapers one day. But with a standard of subbing like this, I could probably get away with it now!

I’d like to add that I work with James McMath, who wrote the article, and he was not responsible for the error.

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Benni McCarthy looks set for West Ham

EDIT: BENNI MCCARTHY HAS NOW APPARENTLY AGREED PERSONAL TERMS WITH WEST HAM

It’s been an extremely quiet transfer window so far. Not just at Rovers, but across the Premier League as a whole.

But a few snippets of speculation have emerged recently as the window enters its final week.

It was always expected to be pretty movement-free, particularly at Ewood, where no secret’s been made of the fact that funds are tight and Big Sam has to sell before he can even think about buying.

The only deals that have gone through are those of youth players Andy Haworth (Rochdale) and Marcus Marshall and Gavin Gunning (Rotherham) who have all gone out on loan.

Rovers have been linked quite regularly with Eidur Gudjohnsen and  Valdiray Basturk (Daily Mail) throughout the window. But no move is likely unless certain players leave the club.

McCarthy is being linked with a move to West Ham as new owners Gold and Sullivan look to strengthen the Hammers’ squad. Alan Nixon wrote in The Mirror that he may have to go on loan until his contract with Rovers finishes in 18 months as his recent lack of international caps means he would not get a new work permit. Read more »

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Familiar face. Villa manager Martin O'Neill is eyeing a triple-whammy over Rovers this month.

Happy new year.

We now embark on a new decade, hopeful of an upturn in Rovers fortunes, and ‘looking forward’ to three (yes, bluddy three) games against Martin O’Neill’s Aston Villa.

Today’s FA Cup tie at Villa Park, which I’m not overly confident about and not too bothered about either, will be followed by a much more important game against the Villains on Tuesday night.

That game, the first of a two-legged Carling Cup semi-final at Ewood, represents a real chance at some glory for Rovers, whereas the FA Cup third round is a decent distraction from league football, but not a realistic opportunity to win a trophy if we’re honest.

Big Sam will almost certainly have one eye on Tuesday’s game when he send out his side for today, so I would expect key players to be rested and can’t expect David Dunn to feature if he is indeed fit enough now after injury.

Unfortunately, the response from Rovers fans has been poor for this game. Unsurprising given the nature of our recent performances. But as of yesterday Rovers had sold only 11,000 tickets for the game, with Villa already selling out their allocation.

I’m being a hypocrite for this one as, due to work commitments, I am unable to get over for it. But I implore you, if you can get down there, do it. Rovers need you. 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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I tend to slag Emile Heskey off when he plays for England. But if Big Sam was to swoop and bring him to Rovers in January, I certainly wouldn’t complain…

From The Sun:

EMILE HESKEY could be offered an England World Cup lifeline in January – by Blackburn.

Rovers are keeping tabs on the situation of the Aston Villa striker, who is not currently a first choice.

Rovers boss Sam Allardyce is resigned to losing on-loan Argentinian hitman Franco di Santo back to Chelsea.

So he will be in the market for a new target man in the transfer window, with £6million Croat Nikola Kalinic still finding his feet.

Heskey knows he risks a South Africa KO if he is not playing regularly.

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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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Stephen Warnock

My dad runs a dry-lining firm (anyone in the north west wants some dry-lining doing, let me know), and his firm will be dry-lining David Dunn’s new castle mansion palace house.

He was over there on Friday chatting with the Rovers midfielder and, although it’s no secret something’s going on, Dunny told him he reckons Stephen Warnock is on his way to Villa.

I know it’s not the most ground-breaking, shocking secret ever to emerge from Ewood Park, but, horses mouth and all that…

It’s been in the news today that the left back, who has been a revelation since reviving his career at Ewood, was left out of the Sunderland game because he ‘wasn’t in the right frame of mind’ because of the constant talking about his future.

Now, it seems, we may be resigned to losing him. Which is sad. Warnock is one of those players that seems like a genuine nice guy. Not someone who’s in it for a year only to take the money and run. One for the fans to love.

In other news, The Rovers Return has been given the highly-prestigious honour of being Wsn.com’s best independent Rovers blog. I’d like to thank God, I’d like to thank my daddy…

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Di Santo with Rovers chairman John Williams

You wait for a signing and then two come along at once…

Franco Di Santo has finally completed his loan move to Rovers and was quickly followed by ‘the future of Croatian football’ Nikola Kalinic, for £6-million.

The signings relieve a lot of the tension surrounding our apparent lack of fire power heading into the imminent start of the new season, now just under two weeks away.

According to certain sources, we may also be tying up a deal for Man City’s Benjani, who would be available for a reported £5-million, leaving us with a bit of loose change to look into strengthening other areas of the squad.

Both signings excite me, mainly because of their age. Di Santo has impressed the Chelsea management in pre-season, and they now want to see him play some first team football. Ironically, he was signed from Audax Italiano by Chelsea, where he was teammates with a certain Carlos Villanueva, but he appears to have what it takes to make it at this level. Read more »

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Nikola Kalinic

With the Franco Di Santo loan move looking a formality, after the striker has been declared available for loan by Carlo Ancelotti, Big Sam is now focusing all his efforts on bringing in a permanent replacement for the departed Roque Santa Cruz.

It now appears we are leading the race for Croatian striker Nikola Kalinic, who’s name is a lot easier to pronounce than ‘that Russian’.

We’ve dropped out of the race for Kamel Ghilas, after Allardyce felt it necessary to stop the deal at the 11th hour, I can only assume for very good reasons. I could make the ‘hump’ joke again but it’s probably not necessary…

Back to Kalinic, the 21-year-old plays for Hajduk Split who, despite not being a major footballing force, are still about the best side in Croatia, and would cost in the region of £5-million.

He was looking like signing for Portsmouth – who I’m tipping for relegation, along with Burnley and Hull – but talks with the south coast club have broken down, leaving the door open for Rovers to take him if the deal’s right. Read more »

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Franco Di Santo could be on his way

I keep holding off posting in the hope I’ll have a nice new striker to write about. Unfortunately, that day is still yet to come.

It doesn’t mean there has been no press coverage though, we have been linked with half of the football world this summer.

We’re still in the hunt to take Franco Di Santo on loan from Chelsea. It’s a win-win situation if we can get hold of the lad. He’s obviously a talent, although I know very little about him, you have to be to survive in Chelski’s youth set up.

If we can bring him in it will benefit us for the time he’s here, his own personal development by surely playing on a regular basis, and ultimately Chelsea who will see if he’s worth keeping hold of. On the other side if he turns out to be shite we can just not play him and it’s no big deal.

Other strong links at the weekend were made regarding Zenit St Petersburg’s Pawel Pogrebnyak (how much will that be to get on the back of your shirt). Apparently the 25-year-old turned us down in January but could now be keen on a move to the Premiership. Read more »

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