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Getting to Know…..Roversfanben!!

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Roversfanben goes head to head the Sas, answering all the important questions….

Born in Blackburn, raised in Blackburn, living in Darwen, Roversfanben was found by The Sas, hiding away at the local pub, a few beers on one side, a few pies on the other, warming up before the next encounter at Fortress Ewood

1) So who exactly is Roversfanben. What does he do, where does he hail from, and why Rovers!

I am a born and bred Blackburner. Well I live in Darwen and have done all my life, but I was born in Blackburn! I am a firm believer in the ‘support your local team’ philosiphy, and as such it was only natural that I grew to love Rovers. But my dad and brother had a bigger hand in my allegiance to Rovers than anything else, they too are Rovers mad, so I grew up with Rovers talk and I grew up going to matches on a regular basis. I can’t imagine not following my beloved Blackburn for the rest of my life. They are and always will be my first love.

2) Is the loan signing of MB Diouf and free transfer of Benjani going to provide us enough, alongside of Kalinic and Roberts, up front, in terms of goals scored to convert all those missed opportunities from last season?

Yes and no. The addition of Baby Diouf and Benjani gives us more options than last season, and more versatility in terms of formations we can play. But whist I am confident that more goals will come this season, I still don’t think we will score as many as we should. If and when the takeover goes through, I would like to see Big Sam make a prolific striker his main transfer priority. It seems to be a never ending story for Rovers, we out play teams but we don’t quite have that cutting edge up front required to kill teams off, if we do sign someone who can score 20+ goals per season, there’s no reason why we could not make a push for the European places.

3) Who do you think will be our X Factor, the player to turn the game around on its feet, at the time we most need it?

This is the easiest out of all your questions, to answer. Chris Samba. I am sure some of you will read this and think I am only saying his name due to how he has started the season, but if you check back to ‘Vital Blackburn Crystal Ball’ article, you will see that I replied with my own thoughts, stating that Samba will be our player of the season this season. The guy is a rock in defense, and he is so versatile that I would be happy to play him anywhere in the outfield. Big Sam has used him as a striker on more than one occasion, and he has always been quite effective when playing up front. His versatility, leadership and passion are 3 qualities that make him not only a brilliant player, but also a crowd favourite. Give him another 2-3 seasons and he will soon be held in such high regards as Henning Berg and Colin Hendry, and eventually I am confident that he will be thought of by many as our greatest ever defender. Giving him the captaincy was a stroke of genius by Big Sam, it seems to have given him a major confidence boost and now he is leading the team, he is doing so by example. He gives his all for the team and he never does anything silly in defense, if the ball needs to be whacked into row Z he has no problem in putting his foot through the ball, but if we require something more refined he is able to run at defenses with confidence, and the big man has a great pair of feet on him. It’s also helped Nelly out with his game, now he no longer has the extra pressure of being the team captain, he seems to be playing as well as he did when he first came to the club and established himself as our number one defender. Along with Chris he forms one of the most solid central defence partnerships in the league.

4) So many youth in our squad, mixed with a touch of experience. Are you happy with the way things are progressing under Sam Allardyce?

Very happy. The key word in that question is ‘progressing’ and that is exactly what we are doing under Sam. He took us over in a time or peril and dismay, many fans thought that we were going down the season he took over, but he came in and provided stability to the team, managing to pull us out of the deep end in the process. He has esatblished us as one of the best teams in the league at home, and he has made teams such as Arsenal and Man United fear coming to Ewood. This season we have impressed in every game, we may only be 4 games through the season and we may only have 4 points to show for our good play, but we have played Arsenal, Everton and Man City in 3 of those games. Arsenal are my favourites for the title, Man City are a lot of peoples favourites for the title, and Everton are an established top 8 team. Yet none of them outclassed or outplayed us. We also played Birmingham away, who have an even better home record than we do, and we were very unlucky to not come away with all 3 points, let alone one. Whereas last season we weren’t only losing away, we were also playing poorly to boot, this season thus far we have played excellently away from home and if we continue to do so we will progress on last years 10th place finish.

5) Takeover. Will it or wont it happen. If it does, will it be Syad, Shah, the Aussies, some dude from Iceland, Delap and Bom….heck who knows?

Yes, it will. And it will be Syed that takes the club forward. I have maintained right from the start that Syed is the right man to take the club forward, and my opinion on the takeover has not changed. Reporters are always going to try and dig up dirt on any person trying to takeover a reputable club such as Rovers, but in the end perspective new owners have to pass stringent tests before they are allowed to assume control of a club, if Syed passes those tests then there should be no doubt in the mind of Rovers fans that he is indeed a legitimate businessman, and that he will invest £300 million into the club. I am fully confident that Syed has the funds to support his financial promises, and I am fully confident that he is indeed the man to take the club forward.

6) Where will Rovers finish, who will win the EPL and who will get relegated!?

Again, going back to the ‘Vital Blackburn Crystal Ball’ article posted by Mikey, I said back then that we would finish 8th and I am still confident that we will do so. I think we will finish on 56 points, which 8 times ouf of 10 will be enough for an 8th place finish. But I would be happy with 9th or 10th, as long as we give a good account of ourselves in every match we play. When the season started, I chose Blackpool, Wigan and Wolves for relegation. So far I am being made to look like a fool, but I still stand by what I said back then. Blackpool will be found out eventually, just as the dingles were. Wigan are just utter rubbish, and Wolves will eventually slip up and hit some bad form. West Ham will eventually start to play some decent football, and the likes of Scott Parker and Carlton Cole will pull them out of the myre. As for the champions, my money is on Arsenal. In Chamakh, they finally have someone up front to put defenses to the sword, something they have not really had since Thierry left . Koscielny looks like the real deal in the heart of their defense, and Cesc will want to give something back to the club before he inevitably leaves. I just wish they would’ve signed a world class goalie, because I like Arsenal and would much prefer they won it than Chelsea or Man United and everyone knows that Almunia is not premiership quality.

Some top quality answers there. Well in mate!

If anybody would like to be part of Getting to Know, please feel free to private message me via the forums with your email address!

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