The Rovers Return

As I said in my previous post, a rumour emerged yesterday that Rovers had bid £2million for former England, Leicester and Liverpool forward Emile Heskey, now plying his trade at Aston Villa.

It turns out the club is denying the rumour, but it hasn’t stopped people talking.

It amuses me how much one player can cause so much nationwide hatred.

On The Rovers Return’s Facebook page, I posted: “Heard this one at work yesterday but didn’t want to say anything in case Telegraph were doing something, but I see it’s hit the rumour columns today. Heskey £2m anyone?”

Here are the responses:

Duncan Miller likes this

Bryan Bayfield: That’s what we’re missing right now. Goals and excitement

Shaun Haworth: He wasn’t worth 2 million in his prime!!!! Let alone now..:-(

Richard Boardman: Exactly type of player alladyce will resurrect! Also will be good for niko.aslong as he doesn’t try step overs he’ll be a good signing for me.

Vicki Bell: Duh, duh, duh, duh E-mile Heskey!! His name fits into the song, so he’s fine by me!! xx

Shaun Haworth: Would rather them spend 1.5million on beattie, think he would score more goals.

Bryan Bayfield: an’t name you a better player that would cost £2 million, you’d need an unknown for that. Still, that doesn’t mean that Heskey isn’t gash.

Dave Walsh: oh great heskey and roberts up front just what we needed maybe we should consider buying someone that can score more than twice in the same season

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Rigters in action against Southport on Saturday

Big Sam and Rovers have made no secret of their desire to sign another striker.

Having sold Matt Derbyshire and Benni McCarthy (no great loss) we’ve been left with two recognised strikers in Niko Kalinic and Jason Roberts.

But a transfer budget of just £2.5 million has seen Allardyce struggle to get anywhere in the market.

This could force him to look at the resources he already has available. Junior Hoilett may be able to play up front, and he could use Diouf. He’s already used Chris Samba in a forward role in the past as well.

There is one other, though, in Maceo Rigters.

Remember him? He’s that Dutch lad that scored a wonder goal in the Euro under-21s against England a few years ago, then Mark Hughes signed him, only for him never to be seen again.

With the situation as it is, this could be Rigters’s last chance to make it at Rovers and in the Premier League.

He scored for us at Southport on Saturday, but he needs to be able to do it at the top level.

Rigters is one of those ever so frustrating cases of a player not living up to huge promise. Having started his career well at Dutch side Dordrecht, and going on to score six in nine for Holland under-21s, he never got going at NAC Breda and Rovers offered him a route out. Read more »

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Ah the excitement of the close season. Transfer gossip. Ins and outs. Comings and goings.

Erm, no.

This has been one of the most boring close seasons of my relatively short time as a Rovers fan. You may have guessed this from the dire lack of posts on here.

It’s nobody’s fault really. The club has so little in the way of money that we can’t afford to throw money left, right and centre at any half decent-looking foreigner.

Things take time when you’ve got a transfer budget of 99p.

It always makes me laugh when you pick up the Sunday paper and we’re linked with a £5m move for whoever. No we’re not. If it’s 5p we might have a chance!

Balls to the Dindanes and the Nugents. If we can’t get anyone worth getting on our meagre budget there’s no point getting anyone at all. Stick to what we’ve got. Give Rigters a bash, or use Hoilett if we need to.

If we’re going to sign someone we may as well make it worthwhile, otherwise what’s the point.

If I’m honest, my money is on Benjani being a Rovers player by the start of the season. Read more »

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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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