The Rovers Return

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.

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…

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 »

A nice message to Stephen Warnock and the Rovers for our tribute to the 96 who lost their lives at Hillsborough 20 years ago:

“Stephen Warnock yesterday made a gesture that will live long in my memory, and I’m sure I speak for countless Liverpool fans who feel very much the same.

“As he walked across the Anfield turf, carrying a floral tribute from his club Blackburn Rovers to our ninety-six victims, he was walking through an atmosphere heavy with the kind of emotions that really should never have been present inside any kind of sporting venue. Read more »