Blackburn Journals Monday 29th August – Monday 3rd September 2006
Monday 28th August 06
Well, wasn`t the weekend result I was hoping for, but I guess I`d rather lose 2-0 to the quality of Chelsea than to a lesser team. I just hope that our fortunes turn.
Hughes is speaking of his frustration of how he thinks John Terry conned the referee into giving a penalty. He feels Ooijer`s challenge was fair and he went down too easy. Unfortunately this is not an uncommon thing and it will keep on happening and people like us will continue to be mugged and these decisions do turn games!
On the topic of Ooijer, he will know better than anyone that he had a nightmare of a debut. I think it is however too early to write the chap off as he is a proven player with many great years of experience. I hope Hughes is right which I`m sure he will as I like many have faith in our leader. After all, Ooijer has only just come here and has missed training sessions with PSV due to the transfer saga and I think he will come good.
As revealed here first on Vital Blackburn, Wael Gomaa has joined us? if only on a trial. He appears to be a good defender from what I have heard and hopefully we will soon find out. Also, fellow Egyptian Amr Zaki is being linked with us, as well as Man City. Whatever happens, we`ll have to get a move on with it as we only have till midnight Thursday to tie up any deals. Click Here for Full Article
Tuesday 29th August 06
Our captain Andy Todd is reported to want to leave. He was not played against Chelsea, so maybe this could be why? He is said to want to move in the next twenty-four hours to secure his exit to a new club. Click Here for Full Article
Danny Mills is again being linked to us today, but no apparent move for him appears to have been made. A move looks quite possible as new City arrivals have pushed him down the team list. I am not sure if Hughes would go for another defender at the moment though as we have just signed Ooijer. Click Here for Full Article
In our match against Chelsea, Jason Roberts felt a penalty decision for him having his shirt pulled was not given as he is a big strong chap and is expected to be able to stay on his feet. I`m not saying this is the case, but he did have a genuine penalty call as he did have his shirt pulled and I`ve seen penalties given for a lot worse.
Also during the Chelsea match, it`s good to see that Brett Emerton had a good game playing as emergency right-back, even winning man of the match. Talk is that he might switch to that position permanently as he enjoys playing it, but Emerton is not getting caught up in all the hype and is happy to just be playing regular football. Click Here for Full Article
Wednesday 30th August 06
Liverpool are bidding to sign our Lucas Neill. I am not surprised that people are coming in for him, especially the likes of Liverpool and it being last two days of transfer window. It`s common knowledge that Neill does not want a contract extension and we will loose him for nothing if he stays, but I suppose if he can help us progress in Europe and have a decent season, it`s a gamble worth paying for success. Click Here for Full Article
I have learnt that Wael Gomaa is having a trial with Newcastle, which has confused me as I thought he was over here on trial with us. We will just have to watch this space and see what happens hey. Click Here for Full Article
Nicolas Anelka has talked of how we were interested in him along with Fulham. It came down to who would meet Fenerbahce`s asking price. However, we got Benni and Roberts along with others and I am quite content with that.
Danny Mills is again being linked with us and we are supposedly making a move for him as replacement for Lucas Neill, so it looks as though maybe Hughes might want to cash in for him after all. Mills has been brought to Hughes` attention but no bid has been reported as of yet. I think at £750,000 he would be worth a.
A former defender of ours Vratislav Gresko has been taken on trial by Nuremberg. He was released at the end of last season and was unfortunate I guess to have had so many problems with injuries. He did look promising at times but I guess it was not meant to be.
Thursday 31st August 06
It is final day of the transfer window and things are sure to hot up and get exciting.
Jonathan Douglas was a reported target for Roy Keane`s Sunderland. Keane has many people on his list, along with Andy Todd. However, Douglas has gone on to join Leeds. He left for an undisclosed fee and signed on a three-year contract. He was there on loan last season, but appeared to feature heavily in pre-season and I thought he might stay, but obviously not. At least he`ll get regular football and good luck buddy. Click Here for Full Article
Keith Barker has joined Rochdale on loan until the end of January. The striker is only 19 and has not yet appeared in the senior squad, but first team football is always good, so maybe he can impress and then come back an even better player.
Lucas Neill was again a target for Liverpool, but a fee was not agreed after we turned down their first offer, so he remains an Ewood player. We will obviously lose out on a fee for him as he will become a free agent, but we need players of his quality. Never know he might even do a u-turn and decide to stay as sometimes it happens.
We managed to sign us another striker in the last few hours of the window. Roma striker Shabani Nonda has joined us on a one-year loan. The 29 year old DR Congo International looks quite promising as he has had a good goalscoring record at all his clubs, including winning the golden boot. Roma are letting him go as he has slipped down the team order due to problems over his one and only season at Roma with injuries. At full fitness, he looks like he could be a promising prospect so I say he could prove a good coup. Click Here for Full Article
Friday 1st September 06
After a long summer, the transfer window has finally closed. I`m surprised we did not get any more people in on deadline day. Nonda looks a good capture and I have done my research and been watching footage of him on the Net and he looks incredible. I think and should definitely bring something to the team and score us some goals. He`s always had a great scoring record and has played at top level in the Champions League.
Shefki Kuqi left us moments before transfer day deadline in a deal thought to be £2.5m. Click Here for Full Article I think maybe the arrival of Nonda convinced him it was time to go as starting places were competitive enough as it was without Nonda`s arrival. He was surprised to be able to leave as was always said to be not for sale. Click Here for Full Article I`m sure he`ll do well at Palace and maybe he`ll be competing against us next season, who knows!
We managed to keep Lucas Neill which was great. Liverpool were not the only team after him on deadline day, Newcastle reportedly made a late bid. Liverpool failed in their bid to sign him possibly because they didn`t want to give up Stephen Warnock as part of the deal as well as paying a fee. Click Here for Full Article Fair enough though that they wanted to keep their player, just like Hughes did. Click Here for Full Article
I feel we have brought in some good players and like Hughes says, especially with the strikers, he has got players that will complement each other. I hope he is right and this team does prove to be even stronger than last season.
Saturday 2nd September 06
It feels weird now that after a long summer of transfer speculation that it is all over. For so long there has been plenty to talk about and the gossip and speculation, even though most of it not being true was exciting to read.
Like many people I was a bit confused about the situation with Wael Gomaa and what was happening. Today it appears to make more sense. It was confusing as he came to us and then was reported to be having a trial with Newcastle. What it was is that Gomaa was not looking for an instant summer move as he felt his club Al Ahli would not let him leave as of yet, but he was here in England with intent of impressing potential employers ready for January. He is claiming that he has done enough to impress Hughes and has been reassured that we will sign him in January. If so, see you in January Gomaa!
Sunday 3rd September 06
I heard that Hughes attempted to re-sign David Dunn from Birmingham but they turned down a £2m offer. It would be good to have him back as he is quite a creative player, he should never have left, but then again, Souness was in charge back then and things aren`t pretty if u fall out with him!
Talk of the Chelsea penalty against us is still lingering. Hughes strongly believes that John Terry cheated to gain advantage as he knew where the referee was positioned and that he would win a penalty. But Terry Venables has come in to defend Terry, even claiming that there was as much chance Terry would cheat as Hughes would of back in his day. Andre Ooijer appeared to have his arms round Terry whilst the free kick was coming in and people do tend to get away with this more than not and Venables believes it is a good thing that Ooijer got punished for this and that more people should as well.
