Heffs Staying with Brizzle Rovers

[coventryrover]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/bristol_rovers/8557673.stm

[DRNaith]

Through to the end of the season and so through to the end of his contract with us.

[BillyStubbsTears]

So the best goalscorer that the club has had since Alick Jeffrey effectively leaves for free today and it doesn't even warrant a mention on DROS.

Good eh?

[Dutch Uncle]

Agreed BST

Except second best since Alick - after Peter Kitchen

Maybe DROS will catch up later today (that was written under the influence of optimism)

[DRNaith]

Technically he could yet sign a contract extension with us. I doubt they'll thank him for his services until his contract runs fully down.

[Smeg]

Im not too arsed about Heff leaving to be honest. I think we have moved on as a team and are doing well with what we have or have loaned. Good luck to the lad though as he has given us great service in the past.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Dutch Uncle wrote:

Agreed BST

Except second best since Alick - after Peter Kitchen

Maybe DROS will catch up later today (that was written under the influence of optimism)

The Kitchen case is arguable Dutch. I agree that Kitchen had a better strike rate in terms of overall appearances, but it'd be very unfair to base Heffernan's strike rate on his total appearances, since he has had so many 2 minute sub appearances chasing lost causes under O'Driscoll. I THINK that Heffernan has a better strike rate for us than Kitchen did in terms of goals per start - although I don't have the figures for Kitchen's number of starts, only his total appearances.

In any case, Heffernan has been plying his trade at a significantly higher level than Kitchen did for the majority of his time with us. That quality difference is the clincher.

[dumbroofer]

we will see what we have at the end of the season,and what we have to spend to replace heffs,billy = out of our league,brooker we shall see ,lewis guy,fairhurst maybe a bit soon.

[Dutch Uncle]

BillyStubbsTears wrote:

Dutch Uncle wrote:

Agreed BST

Except second best since Alick - after Peter Kitchen

Maybe DROS will catch up later today (that was written under the influence of optimism)

The Kitchen case is arguable Dutch. I agree that Kitchen had a better strike rate in terms of overall appearances, but it'd be very unfair to base Heffernan's strike rate on his total appearances, since he has had so many 2 minute sub appearances chasing lost causes under O'Driscoll. I THINK that Heffernan has a better strike rate for us than Kitchen did in terms of goals per start - although I don't have the figures for Kitchen's number of starts, only his total appearances.

In any case, Heffernan has been plying his trade at a significantly higher level than Kitchen did for the majority of his time with us. That quality difference is the clincher.

A tough call Billy and I accept the higher level that Heffs has played at for Rovers. Certainly it is no insult for Heffs to be compared so closely with PK who went on to score goals at a higher level for other clubs.

However in the most emotional and least scientific manner possible I am going to vote for PK along the grounds that the longer ago a player played the better he seems now (aka tricks of the memory)    

Whichever way, it is still a strange decision by the club unless they are more optimistic about one or more of:
1: Signing Billy
2: Brooker's fitness
3: Waide's progress
4: Signing some other top striker
than either you and I are  

In any case all the best to Heffs (and Newtownjoe)

P.S. I used to have a T-shirt for playnig squash matches in veterans competitions - it had the text 'the older I get the better I used to be'.....until I got too fat to wear it any more.

[newtownjoe1]

All the Best Dutch,and to Billy,Bobg,Philsky and all the good posters it was
a fantastic time at Donny, not only for Heffs but
for all of us over here.Great memories.I will be
back on here from time to time,just to keep an eye
on you,so be good....\\\\\\\\\\\\regards Newtownjoe.

[BillyStubbsTears]

All the best Joe. It's been a pleasure having you here.

Give our regards to Paul. Everyone with half a brain cell here knows that we would be back down In L1 without his heroics last season. Here's hping he can go on one of his phenomenal scoring runs down at Bristol Rovers. We might get to see him at the Keepmoat next season with them if he does.

[Alan Southstand]

So the best goalscorer that the club has had since Alick Jeffrey effectively leaves for free today

That's a big assumption to make, BST. I can't see the Club letting yet another player leave for nothing, especially after the 'Green' debacle. I'd assume, the fact that they've let him go until the end of the season, that there's a hidden deal in there somewhere. CCC strikers who can score goals are hard enough to come by as it is, without giving them away.

There's got to be something behind that decision, hasn't there?

[Barmby Rover]

The club will not have any choice about it Alan, if offered a contract what would you say if you were Paul Heffernan? I know what my response would be!

[Dutch Uncle]

BillyStubbsTears wrote:

All the best Joe. It's been a pleasure having you here.

Give our regards to Paul. Everyone with half a brain cell here knows that we would be back down In L1 without his heroics last season. Here's hping he can go on one of his phenomenal scoring runs down at Bristol Rovers. We might get to see him at the Keepmoat next season with them if he does.

My sentiments entirely Joe

Hope to see you here every now and then and all the best to Heffs

I was very impressed with Brizzle fans at Cardiff and it looks like they have a jewel to cherish

[BillyStubbsTears]

Alan Southstand wrote:

So the best goalscorer that the club has had since Alick Jeffrey effectively leaves for free today

That's a big assumption to make, BST. I can't see the Club letting yet another player leave for nothing, especially after the 'Green' debacle. I'd assume, the fact that they've let him go until the end of the season, that there's a hidden deal in there somewhere. CCC strikers who can score goals are hard enough to come by as it is, without giving them away.

There's got to be something behind that decision, hasn't there?

I think it goes without saying that there us something behind the way that the club has managed the Heffernan situation.

Whether that something is sensible and rational is an altogether different question.

[Savvy]

BillyStubbsTears wrote:

Dutch Uncle wrote:

Agreed BST

Except second best since Alick - after Peter Kitchen

Maybe DROS will catch up later today (that was written under the influence of optimism)

The Kitchen case is arguable Dutch. I agree that Kitchen had a better strike rate in terms of overall appearances, but it'd be very unfair to base Heffernan's strike rate on his total appearances, since he has had so many 2 minute sub appearances chasing lost causes under O'Driscoll. I THINK that Heffernan has a better strike rate for us than Kitchen did in terms of goals per start - although I don't have the figures for Kitchen's number of starts, only his total appearances.

In any case, Heffernan has been plying his trade at a significantly higher level than Kitchen did for the majority of his time with us. That quality difference is the clincher.

So how many of Heffernans goals came against lower league opposition? Seem to remember him doing well from a goal scoring point of view. Incidently Kitchen scored and hit the bar against a great Liverpool side at Anfield does that make him a Top league player?

I can think of at least half a dozen strikers that were better than Heffernan and he certainly isn't/ wasn't in the same league as Peter Kitchen!

[Barmby Rover]

I would like to see the \"at least\" half dozen strikers that had a better record than Heffernan at Rovers.I presume you can name at least 7 then?

Heffs was never in the same league as Kitchen of course, over half of PK's career was in the Fourth division, and more than half his goals. Heffs has spent his career in the Second or Third division of course,obviously it has been far easier for PH to score goals as the defences in higher divisions are so easy to score against.

[Jonathan]

It's disappointing that Heffs is leaving as he has been an excellent player for the club. He's showed a great attitude in his time here and has scored lots of important goals to contribute to some memorable times (Carling Cup run, JPT, reaching the play offs, staying in the Championship). When a player has enjoyed such great connections with a football club, it's always difficult to see him move on, but that would appear inevitable now so good luck to him wherever he ends up, hopefully he knows that he was hugely appreciated by the vast majority of Rovers fans.

I think there is also plenty of reason to say we should place our trust in the manager to solve the goalscoring issue without him, it has certainly been sorted this season, hasn't it? Keeping Billy Sharp may yet prove to be beyond our means next season, but in that event, what's to say there isn't another striker out there that can come in and do a job for us? O'Driscoll's CV doesn't exactly have a void of managing goalscoring strikers down the years, does it? We're all experts on here of course, but let's not forget that if we merged the judgements of Barmby Rover and BST (two of the most prominent posters on this thread/topic) then in Billy Sharp we were getting a selfish money grabbing sulk that was incapable of scoring goals at this level. It hasn't really panned out like that......

[BillyStubbsTears]

A bit unecessary Jonathon.  You generally post sensible stuff but that misrepresentation is just silly.
 
I'll admit that I was ambivalent about Sharp but I never have questioned his integrity or profssionalism. I also never said that he was 'incapable of scoring goals at this level'. That would have been a daft thing to say since he had already scored goals at this level. I did question whether he could score so many goals that he would justify us discarding Heffernan.    I'm delighted to gave been proved wrong about his ability to score goals at this level. Sharp has after all, scored at almost exactly the same rate that Heffernan did last year, which is a superb performance in this division.  

 
My main point back in August (that signing Sharp meant the end of Heffernan's time here, and that the only way we could afford to sign Sharp for next season was if he was a failure THIS season) still stands. Whichever way you look at it, we are still left having to fork out over a million quid the summer fora decent goalscorer while we are in the process of letting the best one that the club has had for 40 years go for nowt.

Agreed?

As a by the way, I did also say in August that there was only one logical reason for jettisoning Heffernan and bringing in Sharp. With your encyclopaedic knowledge of my posts an opinions, no doubt you'll remember, but here it is again just in case it passed you by.  That was if Sharp turned out to be a significantly better all round player than Heffernan, and that the aim for this season was an assault on the top rather than a dog fight at the bottom. Might yet prove to be the case.

[Jonathan]

BillyStubbsTears wrote:

A bit unecessary Jonathan.  You generally post sensible stuff but that misrepresentation is just silly.
 
I'll admit that I was ambivalent about Sharp but I never have questioned his integrity or profssionalism.

Whoa, hang back a second before you get too wound up! That's precisely why I combined your judgement with that of Barmby Rover, who questioned Sharp's motivation and character possibly even more times than you mocked his scoring record at this level!

[Barmby Rover]

I don't want you to feel under attack here Jonathan ,but I haven't questioned Billy's ability at all, it is the problem that we will face at the end of the season that has always worried me. BS was always going to advertise his services with Rovers, duly done. He is now worth how much to Sheff United as a saleable item in the summer? More than we can afford, JET is the same in a way, here to show his ability at this level to Arsen, and then off back to the Prem. lifestyle. What are we left with? Wade Fairhurst and James Hayter, both able players, but not of the standard of the two loanees. I am like you, I trust SOD and his judgement, Heffs has gone for whatever reason, I hope he has a plan in place to replace him. We have no money from his leaving to help with the replacement though, so don't go grumbling too much when we are struggling to make decent enough signings over the summer like last year!

[BillyStubbsTears]

Jonathan wrote:

possibly even more times than you mocked his scoring record at this level!

I think you're confusing the word \"mocked\" with the phrase \"commented upon\" spadger.

I also prefaced many of my observations about Sharp's scoring record at Bramall Lane with the (unnecessary really, but the atmosphere got that poisonous at the time) comment that I'd be delighted if he proved me wrong.

Which I am, while he's with us. Not the least because I've had a tenner each way on him at 40/1 to be top scorer.