The Rovers Return

Lars Jacobsen

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

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!

Matt Derbyshire

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 »

Matt Jansen, left, with Leigh manager Gary Flitcroft

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 »

That’s right, the new season looms. It’s only a few weeks since we ended a disastrous season with that 0-0 draw at home to West Brom and bid an emotional fairwell to Tugay the Legend.

However, the draw was made today for the fixtures for the coming season. Here’s the dates for your diary:

FIRST SIX

15/08 Man City at home, our first home start for five years and an early visit from ex-boss Hughesy

18/08 Fulham away, subject to change as Roy Hodgson’s boys are in the Europa League

22/08 Sunderland away, may turn out to be our second game of the season if the Fulham game moves

29/08 West Ham at home

12/08 Wolves at home, the last home game against newly-promoted Wolves was a 5-1 thumping in the first game of the season a few years back Read more »

Now then, it’s been a while, but thanks for your patience!

I’m back online again, hopefully for good, and I have a lot to write about over the coming days.

Indeed, there’s been a lot I have wanted to write about over the last month but have been unable to!

Anyway, top of my agenda, is a great big thank you to Mr John Williams. A man not many people outside of Rovers will be familiar with.

He’s not a famous club chairman, like those higher up the football spectrum, but in my eyes, he is the best. By a long shot. A man who has kept the interests of the fans very much at heart with recent developments at the club.

I speak, of course, about the Taking Back Ewood initiative, which saw a major attendance boost in the last three games of the season. That attendance boost, which culminated in four walls of Rovers fans (the away fans tucked up into the top tier) and an inevitable improvement to match atmosphere, saw an improvement in the players’ performances and a much-needed feeling of togetherness throughout the club.

A struggle against relegation usually brings this out in clubs. The added pressure of the perilous possibilities provides the club with a chance to call on the fans to come out in their droves and raise the roof, ‘be the twelfth man’ and guide us to safety.

Instead of simply saying this, Mr Williams used actions, instead of words, and gave the fans an amazing opportunity, which they duly grasped. Read more »