So basically I’m saying tune in for the live blog tomorrow. Unless there’s no feed. Because then there will be no live blog.

Hope to (maybe) see you there!

(EDIT:This next paragraph was added after initial posting)However, I am really tired of players thinking that it is so bad here at Rovers. To be fair, in interviews since the move Warnock has not slated the team or club, and has actually been pretty classy. But when the fan’s player of the year jumps ship for “European football” (which villa were eliminated from today) you really have to wonder. It wasn’t too long ago Rovers were in Europe. And we all know what happens when individuals feel too big for the club: See Bellamy, Bentley, Santa Cruz, etc. I like Warnock, the guy always gave his all and usually I like Villa too, only rooting against them when they play us. But the sad truth is Warnock will probably be one of those to see the hard way that the grass isn’t always greener. All the same, I dont wish him bad, but if Villa finish 16th, I won’t be shedding a tear.

What I didn’t expect though, was this move for Chimbonda right away. Now, some people have been concerned that this gives us a million Right backs and no leftbacks up to par and still hasn’t addressed the midfield situation. However, I think Salgado was brought in to play a holding midfield in front of the back four as a transition guy and first line of defense. I see Chimbonda playing the RB off and on with Jacobsen until one of them lock up the spot with Samb and Nelsen at CB and Givet on the left. Not too shabby if you ask me.

Plus, this is pretty shrewd money wise as well. The deal is reportedly in the £1.5m-£2m pound range and the 30 year-old defender has signed for two years while the Warnock sale is speculated at around £7m.

For the sake of sanity, I will keep my blue and white Spectacles on, and not get into the reasoning behind letting a player like Warnock leave.

Also, we beat Gillingham to advance to the Carling Cup third round. Goals from Dunn, Junior Hoilett and MGP secured our passage through. No highlights available for posting, will update when I’ve got my hands on them.

West Ham preview up tomorrow and as always, UP THE ROVERS!

So what does this mean for our striker force?

It means we have a ton of strikers again. Paul Gallagher, Benni Mac, Jason Robers, Di Santo, Dioufy, and now Niko. I believe we’ll see a good healthy mix of Benni, Jason, Di Santo and Niko with Diouf probably playing on the right wing as a RM.

So what’s everyone’s take on this new boy? Yay or Nay? And how do we feel about the start of this season? Let me know! UP THE ROVERS!!

Excited for the league to start this weekend? Can’t wait to sit down and turn on your Rovers, after waking up early to make sure you catch them on TV? Well, you wont be turning on Fox Soccer Channel, at least not till after September.

Setanta isn’t showing us much love either, with only 2 matches being shown in August, and only one of those 2 is live. To quote the wise words of Mr. Rodney Dangerfield, “I get no respect!”

However, a new option has emerged. Just a few days ago, The Offside’s very own Daryl wrote a piece talking about ESPN showing 2 premier league matches a week on ESPN2. Read that blog here. That would be exciting stuff indeed, and would offer more chances to watch our Rovers.

In this edition of “Did I Miss Something?!” I play the fool as I clearly have missed the official signing of Nikola Kalinic. I had referenced it a few posts ago, but it wasn’t until I checked my fantasy team that I realized he had been officially signed. (Click the picture for full size)

Now that’s all well and good. Celebrate a new striker right? Yeah, hold the champagne, because he hasn’t been given a squad number. Curious.

Last but not least at all, Rovers are facing a small injury scare. Big Sam was quoted as saying “Unfortunately I think from our point of view that the game was over when Gally, Ryan and Chris got injuries, and they are looking pretty serious as well for next week.” AKA all three are doubtful. Awesome…not. Basically no midfield, a weakened defense, and a strike force that can’t score goals? I went from kinda hopefully optimistic to straight up afraid of this game against Citeh this weekend.

I won’t be talking about the friendlies for two reasons.
1. They’re friendlies.
2. We lost or tied them.

So, coming up this week you can look forward to a preview and some big hype leading up to the kickoff of the 09-10 season. As always, UP THE ROVERS!

Here’s some daily headlines before I bow out for a night or 3 as my birthday celebrations begin tonight. Normal coverage will resume Thursday evening hopefully, unless there’s a signing, in which case life stops and I post on here. Enjoy !

Bunn becomes a Blade…..for a month – Offish click

Judge moves to Plymouth….for a few months – Double Offish click

New First Team Coach – Offish Site all day click

Big Sam laying down the law, NO GUARANTEES – Foxsportsclick

Rover sign Kalinic?? (Waiver…I never get my hopes up until the medical is passed and the offish site confirms it…..I recommend you do the same) – SkySportsclick

UP THE ROVERS!!!

21 year old Croatian International Nikola Kalinic is the leading contender to be signed at Ewood Park now. Reports coming from The Mirror and the Lancashire Telegraph have both confirmed the striker talking to Rovers today, with Rovers looking to steal the deal from Portsmouth, who couldn’t come up with the transfer money Hajduk Split wanted in the first installment. So what’s the CV of this Kalinic guy?

First off, the guy’s tall. Like 6 ft 11⁄2 in tall. Nice to have up front. Internationally he played U 17, U19, U21 and now has made two appearances in the Senior Squad for Croatia. Between 2005 and 2009, Kalinic scored 32 times in 58 appearances for Split in the Croatian top flight, the Prva HNL. So he’s young, tall, and knows how to score. Sounds exactly like the profile for a striker the Rovers need right now. Having said that, before today I have never heard of him. So has anyone else? What’s your thoughts on this sudden development? Let me know! UP THE ROVERS!!!

We’ve looked at a ton of strikers and have graced the football hot sheets’ back pages many times this summer. Lets take a look at some of the strikers we’ve been linked to this summer shall we…..
We were in for Ruud, but that quickly fell through. Then we were out of the race for Crouch before the race even started. Then it was crafty old vet Vieri’s turn for a chance to shine at Ewood. But he pulled a no show and is now playing poker. Some one wanted a move for Bent, so of course we were linked to him straight away, for a hefty £13million sum no less. Glad we missed that one. Then we inquired about Benjani, followed by an unsuccessful attempt to lure Niko Zigic from Valencia.

More recently, the signing of Algerian international Kamel Ghilas fell through before it became serious as the striker from Celta Vigo failed his medical.

Now we play a waiting game. After writing on a report in the Mirror, Rovers are still waiting on the arrival of Chelsea striker Franco Di Santo on season long loan. Even Benni Mac, who is working on his fitness all summer, would love to see the strike force bolstered, even if it means a cut in his own playing time.

So everyone from Big Sam right down to myself is eager to see who we can bring in to increase our goal count for next season. With a little more than 2 weeks till kickoff, who can we hope to see walking out onto the pitch in the famous Blue and White Halves? I might not know exactly who right now, but I have faith that it will be someone who can do a job for us up front, and move us back up the table where we belong.

In this Andy Cryer piece on the Rover Reserves 2-0 win over Leigh Genesis, you can read about how he Hoilett scored the two goals for Rovers. This promising youngster set to light up Ewood this season was almost not to be due to some work permit restrictions though, but heres what happened.

A product of the Rovers academy, Hoilett was sent out on loan to SC Paderborn for a half season in the 2. Bundesliga where he scored once in 12 appearances. Then last season, he was on loan at FC St. Pauli, also in the 2. Bundesliga, where he scored six in 21 appearances. Needless to say the youngster, only 18 at the time, (he’s 19 now) was showing some promise.

When it came time to decide what Rovers wanted to do with him this season, he declared he would not be returning to the 2. Bundesliga or St. Pauli, and wanted t play at a higher level and Rovers decided to bring him back to the club to play witht he Ressies and possibly the first team.

However his age, his lack of caps for Canada and Canada’s Fifa ranking left some issues with Hoilett’s work permit. This confused everyone, including Rovers, who requested a meeting with the Board to hear the case of the youngster. Rovers had his rights, he was under contract with us. He was, for all intents and purposes, a Rovers player. How could he not be allowed into the country?

In a landmark decision, a review board voted unanimously to allow Hoilett back into the country to play for Rovers. In a crazy football world with rulings and decisions all the time that make us scratch our heads, with smaller clubs being abused by a Big 4 bias, it was very rewarding to see some level headed and fairness. I look forward to seeing this lad come out with some sub appearances and light up the pitch with his pace and skill. Best of luck to him.

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Keep reading. It’s good, I promise……I think

I’ll be using this to link to every article I write here on the main page, but also much much more. Usually when I write a post I like to have a decent amount of info to talk about, or at least a solid opinion on the subject. Very rarely will I post about just a few links, and when the posts are just links there’s a ton of them for us to talk about. However, while still using the page for substantial news, I can use the twitter account to link to solid stories from news papers and websites.

It’ll work (in my head at least) so that I can share all the little links of the day and clutter up the Twitter feed while keeping this main page neat, tidy, and easy to read and access.

The comments section will now hopefully be used to comments on the stories I write and anything you might find interesting off of the twitter. That way if a story gets a lot of feed pack or attention, I can see what you guys and gals are interested in, and feature it on the main page. Or if this is just a horrible idea, let me know if a week or two, and we’ll ax the whole idea. But give it a chance. I think it could be good….UP THE ROVERS!! (and twitter!!)