Oh wait….
….there’s nothing.

Well, nothing solid I should say. There’s always the tabloids who claim that our best players will be leaving the club for next to no money, because why would Rovers ever have a player worthy of a high transfer fee. We only have one of the best wingers in the Premiership and one of the highest scoring strikers of the last term. Both of who are already sold to Spurs and linked to Le Arse. All said and done though, that’s the same with our best players every summer, but I still get annoyed with it.

There hasn’t been much transfer gossip about who we will be trying to bring in, but it is reported that Chelsea’s backup keeper Carlo Cudicini is set to be Ince’s first signing. Dumb. Why would we sign someone just as old as Big Brad? I don’t get it. Either way, there hasn’t been anything solid yet on the incoming front and it has to be said that the manager hasn’t even met all of the team yet, so expect any of our moves to till the latter stages of the summer period.

The one positive thing(if you can call it that) is a possible new potential buyer for the club. It was reported in The People on Sunday that businessman Nabeel Chowdery was interested in looking into buying the club. He was quoted as saying that the club was worth about £40million; and while though I don’t know what that really means in actual terms of worth, I know it falls short of the £50 million minimum that it was reported the trustees were looking for.

The new kits will be out soon too hopefully, and we’ll have more to report on and discuss. Until then, use this to comment on stories we may have missed and Up the Rovers!

Let me be the first to say “Thank Goodness” that this whole saga is over now. I can’t name a single person who had Ince as their first choice (let alone even on their list) but I can imagine the feedback to his appointment being as varied across the spectrum as anything else that goes on in the world of sport.

Issues have been raised as to the eligibility of his coaching credentials, but according to many sources, the Premier League has given him a 2 year window to get all the badges he needs. Recently reported also however, is that Ince skipped his first viewing of the coaching course offered by the FA of Wales, something not too promising if true.

I myself am not too sure what to make of this. After this whole saga, I can’t help but feeling almost numb and maybe a tad underwhelmed, but I am extremely anxious to see who (if any) faces Ince can bring in and looking forward to seeing his attacking style of football being played by our club this coming term. Now I know many of you have something to say on this, so comment and let your voice be heard.

So, the front runner is now Paul Ince of the MK Dons. BBC Sport and The Times are saying that he has agreed terms with us and that all we need to do is sort things out with the Dons. One complication could be that Ince doesn’t yet have a UEFA Pro License, however in recent years both Gareth Southgate and Glenn Roeder have been given permission by the relevant authourities to manage in the EPL without one, so hopefully it should be a problem. The LMA (League Managers Association) have already said they have no qualms with it.

This all seemed done and dusted untill I read news this afternoon that Michael Laudrup, former Denmark international and ex-manager of Getafe, has been interviewed for the job. It seems that since he has told the press about this, he won’t be getting the job. This is a shame. Whilst Ince will be a great appointment, I think Laudrup is more proven as a coach at this level. However, I think the board may well have wanted someone British.

Rumours are also circulating that a mystery candidate has also been interviewed. This may well have been Laudrup, however I’ve heard rumours that it may have been Henk Ten Carte (despite him accepting a job at Panithinaikos last week) or Slaven Bilic (yes please!). How significant this is I do not know.

McClaren and Allardyce we know have been interviewed.

So Ince is the clear favourite, but I sense another twist to come. Who knows?

Either way, after a fortnight of doubt about the prospects of this club, I’m finally feeling more optimistic.

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PS. Some thoughts on David Bentley:

Dear David,

Well, thanks for the memories, but you do have some ego problems mate. Without wanting to sound childish you are a fool. Here you are guarenteed first team football, top of the wage bill, being the centre of the team and adulation by the fans (well, not anymore). I won’t begrudge you succeeding, but if you don’t (and we do) I will laugh. Lets sort this out quickly.

Surely this thing signifies everything that is wrong with football transfers these days? I understand that players want to play for the biggest clubs, and I understand that some cockey customers (like Bentley) assume that they can succeed at the top. However, he’s under contract, and to say that he wants to leave before a club comes calling for his services surely assume a bit too much. All I’ve heard about interested clubs are rumours in the press. Now of course, something might be going on behind the scenes, but we don’t know that. Bentley should have kept his trap shut untill another club had made a bid for his services (however good that bid may be).

The other issue is that if he goes go to one of England’s shoe-in CL clubs, he may not get as much football as he does here. He certainly won’t be the star of the team. But footballers seem to be okay with that prospect. On the other hand, perhaps they all really are so deluded that they think they can all be first teamers for the top 4 (think Steve Sidwell, how did he not see last season’s occurances happening).

Why can’t Bentley be like Mikel Arteta? He’s the star at Everton, and would perhaps make it at a big club, but there’s no talk of him leaving. He’s happy being the centre of a smaller club (with respect to Everton) than warming the bench at a larger one.

I hope more players can be like Arteta and not Bentley, otherwise there will be no good players for mid-table clubs left. They’d all rather be on the fringe at Man Utd.

“I made it clear to the club what I wanted to do. The situation is I want to move on. I want to be playing Champions League football, or in Europe.”
“I’ve been here for three years and I love the club and I love playing for them but I feel I’ve done everything I can”
“I owe so much to them (BRFC) and I hope I’ve repaid them with the way I’ve played, But I need to be pushing and moving on somewhere else, so we’ll see what the summer can bring - and in this transfer window, hopefully something can be sorted out.”
“I want a new challenge. I believe I have done as much as I can at the club and want to push on somewhere else.”
“I want to move on and try and push up the ladder and push on and try and be as successful as I can be in football and I believe that lies elsewhere.”

Wow. What an immature, childish, tactless fool. At this point, I say sell him, we’ll take 12 - 15 mil for him. If not, let him rot in the reserves. Something happened to his mindset after getting capped for England, and it wasn’t a positive change. How do you feel about these latest remarks?

And it’s not as if this blog will be giving a balanced view, since Jim is also against appointing the man who gives boring football an even worse name.

To that end I would like everyone to take a look at this:

Name: Alan Shearer
Odds: 5-4
History: No managerial experience, but a Rovers legend on the pitch.
Pros: Shearer would certainly be an exciting appointment. He seems to have a good knowledge of the game, he would certainly have the respect of the players (and may convince our key ones to stay), and he could possibly convince a few good players to come in with his reputation.
Cons: No previous experience (obviously). However, more worrying is that we would essentially be a test drive for that inevitable day when Newcastle come calling.
Rating: 7/10

Name: Sam Allardyce
Odds: 7-4
History: Did very well at Bolton, not so well at Newcastle.
Pros: A disciplinarian (though not even he could control Joey Barton), and good at grinding out results. A dominating figure who could bargain well with the board. Can get the best out of not very good players.
Cons: Not at all inspiring or successful in the transfer market. Can’t seem to get much out of very good players. Style of play is boring and monotonous, and worst of all his time at Newcastle showed an inflexibility boarding on arrogance, when he put confidence in a system that wasn’t working and refused to change it.
Rating: 3/10

Name: Paul Ince
Odds: 7-2
History: Saved useless Macclesfield from relegation, and this season took an upward MK Dons storming through League 2 this season.
Pros: An exciting and determined manager who had a fantastic career, playing for Man Utd and Inter Milan. Has been hugely successful so far in management. Like Shearer, his reputation could attract good players. Saving Macclesfield was akin to working miracles.
Cons: No experience at the higher levels of management. MK Dons relative financial power may have flattered him a bit and we certainly do not have such relative financial strength.
Rating: 7/10

Name: Steve McClaren
Odds: 12-1
History: No 2 to Sir Alex during the glory days at Man Utd. Did a good job at Boro and we all know what happened with England.
Pros: Wants the job, which is good to see. Did a very good job at Boro (particularly in cup competitions). Has shown a willingness to learn from his mistakes with England. He could be a very different prospect to the one at Wembley last winter as Mladan Petric drove the ball across Scott Carson.
Cons: England during his tenure were poor and boring - never convincing really. His reputation is in tatters and I’m not sure if I want Rovers to be the place for him to rebuild it. He doesn’t play the media very well at all (though that shouldn’t be too much of a problem here).
Rating: 5/10

The others:

Some less likely prospects:

Michael Laudrup is a very exciting prospect, if unlikely. He has done wonders with Getafe, who are a similarly sized club to us. Hopefully he would be a good mix of Spanish flair and Scandinavian effieciency. 8/10

Dick Advocaat knows how to play attractive football and if he did come to Lancashire he would hopefully bring along some of his UEFA Cup winning Zenit St Petersberg side. He has experience in these isles with Rangers. 8/10

Slaven Bilic has made a name for himself with Croatia and speaks English having played in the EPL. A fantastic character who commands great respect amongst his players and good team spirit. He’s also got a fantastic football brain. He has said he wants to manage in the EPL. 9/10

Even less likely:

Zico has recently left Ferhabache. 8/10
Gordon Strachan may want to return to England. 7/10
Roberto Mancini may be desperate for a job. 8/10
Kenny Dalglish would be popular. 5/10
Avram Grant would be interesting to say the least. 6/10

So my pick would be Bilic, but out of the favourites I would have to go for Laudrup or Ince.