The Rovers Return

Just a couple of minor stories involving Rovers coming out of the press over the last couple of days.

Former youth striker Rostyn Griffiths has joined former Rovers teammate Robbie Fowler at Australia’s North Queensland Fury.

The 21-year-old English born but Australia youth team capped player’s contract ran out at the end of the season and he hadn’t done enough to make it at Rovers.

All the best from The Rovers Return Rostyn.

Rovers have ended a long association with Morecambe by moving reserve games from Christie Park to the 10,000-seater Leigh Sports Village.

The state-of-the-art complex, home to Leigh Genesis Football Club, managed by Gary Flitcroft and current employers of Rovers legend Matt Jansen, will host reserve matches for the coming season. Read more »

Just had a little flit around YouTube for Tugay videos. A true Rovers legend and a guy who seemed to genuinely love the fans who took him to their hearts.

Here’s a tribute to one of the greatest players we’ve had:

And here’s something I assume was filmed for Turkish TV at the West Brom game, although the middle section is a bit pointless as it just has music over an interview…

Crap manager Paul Ince is in talks with League One MK Dons, the club he left to join Rovers after the worst appointment in Rovers’ history since Brian Kidd.

Fair play to the lad. He left Rovers early on in his Premiership management career having proved he is a long way from having the qualities required to succeed at this level.

However, Pete Winkelman has obviously not let that cloud his vision of the man who led his side to promotion and the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy in his only season as the club’s manager.

I quite like Pete Winkelman, he seems a nice chap when he’s interviewed and he obviously loves his football team.

The Rovers Return would like to wish Paul Ince all the best. Despite the bad memories of his time here at Ewood, he was clearly out of his depth, and I hope the MK Dons give him his chance of a return to management and, if he is successful again, he hangs around longer to get the experience he needs to succeed!

Over the last couple of days Rovers have secured the transfer of a couple of new players.

Yesterday, Lars Jacobsen was signed from Everton on a free transfer. The right back, brought in to fill the void left by Andre Ooijer’s departure to PSV, was out of contract at the Toffee’s and represents a great signing on Big Sam’s part.

The Danish international is a good player, although he missed the majority of last season through injury. His qualities were underpinned by his performance in the FA Cup final when he was brought on as a replacement for Tony Hibbert who was being run ragged by the Chelsea attack!

Another Toffee that may follow him is Andy Van Der Meyde. The Dutch midfielder is not really wanted at Goodison and reports suggest he could be on his way to Ewood. I’d love to see this guy in a Rovers shirt. He’s one of those players who, earlier in his career, was going to be the next big thing. The next Van Basten maybe! Read more »

I couldn’t quite believe my eyes when I looked at some reports in the media today, but Big Sam has confirmed he is interested in signing Ruud Van Nistelrooy from Real Madrid!

Normally I would dismiss these rumours but when ITN, Sky, the BBC, The Sun, The Mirror, The Daily Mail, The Daily Telegraph and the Lancashire Telegraph all carry something on it, it just has to be a possibility doesn’t it? (For some reason this computer won’t let me link to the BBC and Sky reports but I promise you, they exist!

Big Sam has said he is no longer interested in Michael Owen, as he is too injury prone and Kevin Davies has also been ruled out as he is unavailable. But with Spurs and Fulham also being linked with the ex-United striker it could be difficult.

Nistelrooy is also likely to be on a mega-wage at the Bernabeu as well, which could prove a stumbling block.

One thing I will point out, as Big Sam has done also, is:

“Who’d have thought Bolton would get Nicolas Anelka? Nobody did. But I went out and did it.

“It would be nice to do it with a Van Nistelrooy.”

I couldn’t agree more Mr Allardyce!

We’ve also confirmed the permanent signing of Gael Givet, about time too.

David Hoilett is a 19-year-old Canadian who has a contract with Rovers.

Over the last two seasons we have loaned him out to clubs in Germany, yet when Big Sam wants to bring him back to have a look at him, his work permit is rejected…

How can he be refused a work permit when he already works for us? Can anyone with any employment law knowledge clear this up for me as I am most confused…

Also in the Lancs Telegraph:

A Rovers Championship medal from 1912 has been sold at auction for £3,000. It belonged to keeper Alfred Robinson who helped us to our first Football League championship.

Just a word of warning to any Rovers fans intending to buy season tickets whi haven’t already.

I’ve just ordered my Dad and myself one. Hoping to get decent Blackburn End lower seats,  I was bitterly disappointed. The stand is sold out. Yes, Rovers and sold out in the same breath! The woman in the ticket office couldn’t believe what she was saying!

The board’s excellent season tickets offer has obviously been well received by the community, who have snapped them up in double quick fashion!

I’ve ended up five rows back in the Riverside Stand, not my ideal place to be, but at least I’ll be in the ground!

However, we are still within the deadline for current season ticket holders to renew their’s, so if anyone daft enough to cancel their ticket does so, hopefully I’ll be shifted into the Blackburn End where I belong!

This turn of events has left me feeling both disappointed that I may not be sat in the Blackburn End, the stand I’ve sat in for as long as I can remember, but also very excited for the atmosphere within the ground.

Hopefully we can shake off the stigma of having a half-empty ground every week and other sides with a much larger fanbase laughing at us, and show them that with a bit of consideration for the fans, and a price reduction on tickets, they may well respond by buying turning up in their droves!

Bring on the new season!

Just as I was starting to wonder if the transfer window was going to be as boring as the ones we had under Hughesy, it all kicked off!

Disappointingly, Matt Derbyshire’s move to Greece is all but done. I like Matt, and thought the way he performed in Greece may have shown the management he is worthwhile having around.

Unfortunately, despite being a decent player for us, although he only ever seemed to impress from the bench, I thought it was worth another season.

Derbs hasn’t been treated well by Rovers ever since bursting on to the scene. Neither Hughes nor Big Sam have played him on a regular basis, and for a long period Hughesy kept sticking him at right wing, a position from which he rarely excelled!

The turning point for him seemed to be that equaliser for Man City at Ewood early in Big Sam’s reign. It was Derbs’ decision to try and play Emerton in rather than head for the corner flag that gave the ball away and saw City score a late goal to make it 2-2.

His moved to Greece on loan last season has proved to be the making of Matt. He has been treated well, put up in a nice villa in a posh part of the country and playing on a regular basis has seen him chip in with some vital goals for the club, becoming a bit of a hit with the fans already! It’s also a good move for him, moving from a relegation threatened small club in the Premier League, to the biggest club in Greece playing in the Champions League next season. And I wish him well. Read more »

A story that made me smile. Matt Jansen, a Rovers legend, has been signed by Gary Flitcroft, another former Rover (a good servant and player but wouldn’t call him a legend).

Flitcroft is currently manager of Leigh Geneses, who play in the Unibond League Division One North, and has signed his former teammate in a player-coach role.

It’s been heartbreaking to see the decline of 31-year-old Jansen who, when on the brink of the England team while playing the best football of his career at Rovers, fell of a motorbike in Italy, threatening to curtail his career altogether. Read more »