SSN Billy to Burnley Link

[Smeg]

The only thing that will substantially increase attendances is challenging for promotion. People always want to be associated with success. If we ended up getting promoted then there would be an explosion of interest. There is an appetite for football in Donny but our history still holds us back. We are in a much better position than say Wigan Athletic who struggle to get any sort of crowd except for big games as they are a rugby town.

[vaya]

I think people are possibly superimposing their desire to sign a certain player/players onto the general local population as a whole, and assuming they're of the same mindset.

Plenty of people here miught think the same, but it's a captive audience. The club's got to deal in realities and I don't see them breaking the bank at the expense of long-term stability.

[PDX_Rover]

It's a Catch 22 though isn't it?  In the second tier of the best league in the world (arguably), we should have at least some ambition and seek to move up a degree each year, as we have done in the past decade.  

The reality is that if we want to start attracting players of Sharp's undoubted (and proven) quality, then on occasion we may have to push the proverbial boat out a bit. After all, there are only so many 'rough diamonds' or 'players who have lost their way and need the SO'D touch' knocking around, I reckon.

If we do not sign BS, then that to me, is a HUGE indication of the real feelings of certain board members' (NOT Sir John I hasten to add...).  ON this occasion, with this player, we'd be barmy not to speculate to accumulate....

Another interesting snippet..... I heard from a very, VERY good source that Barnsley players are only paid on average around 3k a week. If that's the case (and I found it hard to swallow that one initially), Shacks must have got one massive signing on fee and Barnsley must have one hell of a bonus incentive scheme.

[CusworthRovers]

I will lay any odds that Billy will not put an extra 2500 ST on the books and will also throw in...keeping the squad in tact and a couple of signings.


Personally speaking I do not believe Billy is worth 1.6m in todays market. He's in the last year of his contract and I have predicted a fee of 750-800k many moons ago. Someone like a Burnley may go to 1m or 1.2m with their windfall and if they get a reputed 7m for selling Thompson to Wolves.

It's more a case of how much will Burnley offer him in wages than the actual fee IMO

[PDX_Rover]

To Vaya and Bob G:

Our history works against us.  Of course attendances will not rocket overnight - it will be a cumulative thing... as it always is with Rovers.  

As we have discussed ad infinitum on here: Better marketing of DRFC needed for starters.

And let's have a bit of ambition.   Billy would be FANTASTIC for us.

[vaya]

Or Robbins is a muppet and the club's set up for plenty of wage-based dressing room bust-ups.

[graingrover]

Alick Jeffrey put thousands on our gates but he was also a focal point for the media of course which helped us attract folk

[BobG]

True. I forgot him. But I suppose he had two things in his favour: return of the ultra talented prodigal son, and, before 40 years of decline and near death drove away generations of potential supporters. They've gone now so no Billy Sharp is going to bring them back like Alick did.

BobG

[Barmby Rover]

If BS would put so many bums on seats how come it didn't happen last season. It would take an extraordinary signing to make a significant difference to crowds, and with the current financial set up of football that is not going to happen. If Burnley have offered Billy a lot in wages, then he will go I would have thought. Get real, that would not be the end of the world, Rovers would not be automatic relegation candidates and we would still be getting a striker of some kind. We would still win games,SOD will still be manager, and JR will still be working to improve Rovers chances of signing good players. Let's wait and see what happens and stop panicking over one player, the rest of the squad that have not signed yet are just as important, if not more so.

[DMnumber4]

Burnley already have Patterson, Fletcher, Nugent, Thompson, Illeuwmo

I don't know which of them is off to Wolves, but it's meant to be around £7M and they didn't break the bank last season which was sensible, so they definitely can afford a few million for Sharp.

As much as I would love to see Billy here, my desire to see the club financially stable is greater.

No player has, is or will ever be bigger or more important than the club. If our resources don't stretch or match, then we have to accept that and sort that out first before shelling out and then figuring a way of how we're going to pay it.

[BillyStubbsTears]

CusworthRovers wrote:

I will lay any odds that Billy will not put an extra 2500 ST on the books and will also throw in...keeping the squad in tact and a couple of signings.


Personally speaking I do not believe Billy is worth 1.6m in todays market. He's in the last year of his contract and I have predicted a fee of 750-800k many moons ago. Someone like a Burnley may go to 1m or 1.2m with their windfall and if they get a reputed 7m for selling Thompson to Wolves.

It's more a case of how much will Burnley offer him in wages than the actual fee IMO

Agreed in spades.

Sharp is a damned hard worker and good line leader, but signing him would be a gamble. Take out one purple patch last autumn, and his goalscoring record in three years at this level is average to say the least. Add the fact that he's available on a free in a year's time, and there is no way on God's Earth that a sensible club would offer more than £1million for him.

He MIGHT come good. He MIGHT reproduce last autumn's form every season. Equally, he MIGHT carry on scoring at one every 4-5 matches or so, like he has done either side of that run in his time in this division. Which is journeyman return at this level - worth half a million quid investment, tops.

If Burnley are talking £1million+, then good luck to them. They can afford the risk. Taking that sort of gamble could destroy us.

[DMnumber4]

BST i agree that he MIGHT on all levels, but isn't that what we're about now...gambling? But gambling sensibly?

We can't take 'proven at this level' because a) they're too expensive and b) they wouldnt want to play for us.

Who do we have who is a Championship standard player who has made it at another club?

If we get ALF...it's a gamble, same for the unproven Joe Garner!

Billy is as close to a safe bet as we're going to get for our money (fingers crossed, if miracles happen!)

[BillyStubbsTears]

DMnumber4 wrote:

BST i agree that he MIGHT on all levels, but isn't that what we're about now...gambling? But gambling sensibly?

We can't take 'proven at this level' because a) they're too expensive and b) they wouldnt want to play for us.

Who do we have who is a Championship standard player who has made it at another club?

If we get ALF...it's a gamble, same for the unproven Joe Garner!

Billy is as close to a safe bet as we're going to get for our money (fingers crossed, if miracles happen!)

Good points. I'm just thinking of the response on here is we pushed the boat out, found £1.5million plus £10k per week for Sharp and he'd scored 5 or 6 goals come Xmas.

Who's Alf by the way? Is he a throwback, Alan Warboys stylee, shout-down-'-pit-for-a-centre-forrad tek-'ball-'keeper-'nets-'pegs-an-'posts-'out-if-it-means-scoring big lad up front?

Gerrin.

[Simple]

BillyStubbsTears wrote:

Who's Alf by the way?

ALF = Adam Le Fondre

[BillyStubbsTears]

Simple wrote:

BillyStubbsTears wrote:

Who's Alf by the way?

ALF = Adam Le Fondre

Ahhh. Does he work darn 'pit?

[Jonathan]

I think we need to get a few things straight here;

Billy will not be moving for £1.6 million, that was a figure plucked out of the air as something Sheffield United paid for him and would ideally like to recoup (but in reality will not be able to).

It will always be impossible to quantify the effect that signing a player will have on increasing attendances. One thing that is noteworthy is that Billy seems to have had the most significant impact on capturing the imagination of the younger generation of fans, certainly since Michael McIndoe. Many times I've cited the quote from Dean Barrick (teaching at the time) that kids in the playground suddenly didn't want to be the Manchester United player when they were playing football, they wanted to be McIndoe. Since those days Rovers have become far more fashionable amongst the kids in the town, and I know many teachers in local schools that never hear the end of 'Billy Sharp.'

As far as risk goes, I think this one is almost as minimal as it can be. While we are talking about a lot of money in the historical context of the club, we are not talking about amounts that will gamble the future of the club away on a lottery ticket. As important as it is to learn lessons from the stupidity of the likes of Leeds, Portsmouth, Palace etc. I think we need to get away from this falacy that signing one player for a significant investment will send the club to the wall. Billy Sharp has proved that he has a positive impact on the team, the performances, results, and everyone associated with the club. He is at an age where the prospect of him appreciating in value is likely. We could raise the fear of him getting injured (a risk with any player at any club ever), or analyse his time here and 'take out his purple patch,' but why would you want to do that? Those goals still counted. If my Auntie had b*llocks she'd be my uncle.

We may ultimately be outbid, he may opt to sit tight where he is or move elsewhere, but as a Rovers supporter I would find it very disappointing if we didn't try as hard as is realistically possible to bring him to the club.

[RobTheRover]

BillyStubbsTears wrote:

Simple wrote:

BillyStubbsTears wrote:

Who's Alf by the way?

ALF = Adam Le Fondre

Ahhh. Does he work darn 'pit?

Wi a name like \"Le Fondre\"?   I think he's a personal shopper or summat equally new-fangled and soft as shite.

[PDX_Rover]

Agree with everything Jonathan says.  Billy Sharp is as proven a goalscorer as we are likely to be in the market for this summer.  He knows the system, likes it at Rovers.... To me, it's the perfect marriage.  Yes, we are a small club in a big league.  So were/are Blackpool.

Players like Sharp do not come along to clubs like us very often.  In 35+ years following Rovers, I can probably count them on one hand, two hands at a very hard push.

Sharp is as sure as bet as SO'D has had during his tenure.

f**k it. Sign the lad.  Get him on a sensible not-breaking-the-structure salary but incentivise the buggery out of his 4 or 5 year contract.

[BillyStubbsTears]

I'm not sure anyone is raking into a
ccount just how much beyond our previous budget Sharp would be. A million pound fee and 10k a week (say) on a four year contract means the club committing to a £3million investment. I suspect we've never previously spent a quarter of that on one player.

Which raises questions about just how much would be in the pot for other players in areas that we badly need to strengthen.

THAT us why it would be a huge gamble. Commit that sort of money to Sharp and you are putting all your eggs in that particular basket. If we have that sort of money to spend, would we be better off spreading it around several decent quality players. (£3million is probably about the sum we spent on fees and wages for O'Connor, Mills, Wellens, Heffernan and Stock combined when we first signed them.)

So, if you are putting all your eggs in the one basket, you'd better be sure the basket has been thoroughly appraised. Which us why I raise the scoring issue. We are assuming that Sharp's six week spell in Autumn last year is the real thing, and the 150 weeks either side when he's scored at a moderate rate are a blip.

Might be right. Hope it's right if we shell out three million quid on him.

It's a tough one. It would be wonderful if we could pick up a player of the quality of Sharp. But it would be far from a one way bet. Unless we really do have serious money to spend.

[BillyStubbsTears]

I'm not sure anyone is raking into a
ccount just how much beyond our previous budget Sharp would be. A million pound fee and 10k a week (say) on a four year contract means the club committing to a £3million investment. I suspect we've never previously spent a quarter of that on one player.

Which raises questions about just how much would be in the pot for other players in areas that we badly need to strengthen.

THAT us why it would be a huge gamble. Commit that sort of money to Sharp and you are putting all your eggs in that particular basket. If we have that sort of money to spend, would we be better off spreading it around several decent quality players. (£3million is probably about the sum we spent on fees and wages for O'Connor, Mills, Wellens, Heffernan and Stock combined when we first signed them.)

So, if you are putting all your eggs in the one basket, you'd better be sure the basket has been thoroughly appraised. Which us why I raise the scoring issue. We are assuming that Sharp's six week spell in Autumn last year is the real thing, and the 150 weeks either side when he's scored at a moderate rate are a blip.

Might be right. Hope it's right if we shell out three million quid on him.

It's a tough one. It would be wonderful if we could pick up a player of the quality of Sharp. But it would be far from a one way bet. Unless we really do have serious money to spend.

[Filo]

Snods Shinpad wrote:

You're right Dutch. They have changed the text:

BURNLEY have expressed an interest in signing Sheffield United striker Billy Sharp.

The Lancashire club, who were relegated from the Premier League last season, are understood to have approached there Championship rivals earlier today.

But despite reports to the contrary, The Star has learned that Bramall Lane's board of directors are yet to receive an official bid for the marksman.

Indeed, Burnley are believed to be among a number of teams monitoring Sharp's situation at Bramall Lane.

Former Sheffield Wednesday boss Brian Laws, who took charge at the Turf Moor club in January, has already bolstered his attack by capturing Wolves' Chris Iwelumo for an undisclosed fee.

He worked with Sharp during the players previous spell at Scunthorpe.

It looks like someone is trying to engineer a bidding war, if no other bids have come in for him then if I was JR and we could afford it I would go back to Sheff Utd with a slightly improved bid, getting in and speaking to Billy and his Agent first may be crucial to who bags his signature.




The fact that no other bids have been made for him since our bid was rejected suggests that any other club interested are not willing to pay much more than what we offered

[sheffieldROVER]

Filo wrote:

Snods Shinpad wrote:

You're right Dutch. They have changed the text:

BURNLEY have expressed an interest in signing Sheffield United striker Billy Sharp.

The Lancashire club, who were relegated from the Premier League last season, are understood to have approached there Championship rivals earlier today.

But despite reports to the contrary, The Star has learned that Bramall Lane's board of directors are yet to receive an official bid for the marksman.

Indeed, Burnley are believed to be among a number of teams monitoring Sharp's situation at Bramall Lane.

Former Sheffield Wednesday boss Brian Laws, who took charge at the Turf Moor club in January, has already bolstered his attack by capturing Wolves' Chris Iwelumo for an undisclosed fee.

He worked with Sharp during the players previous spell at Scunthorpe.

It looks like someone is trying to engineer a bidding war, if no other bids have come in for him then if I was JR and we could afford it I would go back to Sheff Utd with a slightly improved bid, getting in and speaking to Billy and his Agent first may be crucial to who bags his signature.

u mean like barnsley did with shacks filo?

[Jonathan]

Must just point out that most strikers score in bursts. It was the same for Heffernan a lot of the time, a run of games without a goal and then a 'purple patch.' It's the same for Rooney. It's harsh to pay too much attention to time playing on the wing at Sheffield United, BST makes out like we're trying to sign someone with the goal scoring prowess of Emile Heskey save for 6 weeks. It's simply misleading.

And before we get too deep into the old argument of 'if we sign Billy then player x will become unhappy and demand more,' let's not forget that several of our key players spoke out in the press about the importance of signing Sharp. It would be far more likely to keep our team together, not drive it apart.

[PACMAN]

http://www.thestar.co.uk/rovers/Rovers-may-go-for-loan.6334476.jp

I think the last couple of paragraghs are key here, if we were to land Sharp the majority of our budget would be gone and compromises would have to be made elsewhere.

Hmmmmm.....................lets move on shall we, I'd rather see 3-4 quality additions than one plus a few squad players, it is a team game after all!!  

[5minstogo]

PACMAN wrote:

http://www.thestar.co.uk/rovers/Rovers-may-go-for-loan.6334476.jp

I think the last couple of paragraghs are key here, if we were to land Sharp the majority of our budget would be gone and comprimises would have to be made elsewhere.

Hmmmmm.....................lets move on shall we, I'd rather see 3-4 quality additions than one plus a few squad players, it is a team game after all!!  

I was just thinking the same. As much as I'd love to have Billy, we can't afford (literally) to put all our eggs into one basket.  We need strengthening all round.

[graingrover]

last season we had 7,000 STH this season we have 4,500 to date ... Billy would put 2,500 on that , bacause signing him would show the true level of our ambition .( I believe )

[PaulRover08]

You are more than entitled to believe that if you want to but I dare say there are a few people who like me have had season tickets for over 20 years and can't (not won't) get one this season for personal money reasons. Its got nothing to do with the clubs ambition for me otherwise I would have not bothered getting one until the Penney days.

I can't imagine for one minute that signing Billy will suddenly put that extra £300+ into my pocket that is needed. Anyone who refuses to buy one due to lack of ambition at DRFC must be having a laugh. The club is in its best shape ever and I for one would not want to see it all risked for 1 or 2 bank busting signings and then end up gathering outside the Keepmoat like Palace were at Selhurst Park at the weekend. If you can afford a ST then you should buy one as this is easily the best team we have ever had and, who knows, it may never get any better.

As is pointed out correctly earlier, Billy Sharp didn't put bums on seats last season so why would he this. The truth is that people have other priorities at the moment, like feeding families for one. DRFC are very important to me and i'm gutted that I can't afford a ST, but some things are more important. I suspect the numbers are down as a lot of people will be in the same boat.

[steve@dcfd]

5minstogo wrote:

PACMAN wrote:

http://www.thestar.co.uk/rovers/Rovers-may-go-for-loan.6334476.jp

I think the last couple of paragraghs are key here, if we were to land Sharp the majority of our budget would be gone and comprimises would have to be made elsewhere.

Hmmmmm.....................lets move on shall we, I'd rather see 3-4 quality additions than one plus a few squad players, it is a team game after all!!  

I was just thinking the same. As much as I'd love to have Billy, we can't afford (literally) to put all our eggs into one basket.  We need strengthening all round.

Sean has been given the largest budget in Doncaster History thats what JR said. The Targets of Billy Sharp, Jason Shackell or Elliot Ward have been there also. Did we think when setting this substantial increase in budget that our No1 targets would come cheap if so we are naive!!. To get a striker or centre half of the quality of our two targets was going to cost. I do not believe that Sean or JR are naive so lets not start now getting fourth or fifth best.Also lets stop comparing these signing to the Crystal Palace situation, we set our targets if they are to costly to match the clubs expectations then the club should say so, they have not yet.

[RobTheRover]

Its not about 4th or 5th best, but SOD certainly does have a list of targets ranked in preference order.  JR asked for plans B through E if Plan A didnt come off.

[PACMAN]

steve@dcfd wrote:

5minstogo wrote:

PACMAN wrote:

http://www.thestar.co.uk/rovers/Rovers-may-go-for-loan.6334476.jp

I think the last couple of paragraghs are key here, if we were to land Sharp the majority of our budget would be gone and comprimises would have to be made elsewhere.

Hmmmmm.....................lets move on shall we, I'd rather see 3-4 quality additions than one plus a few squad players, it is a team game after all!!  

I was just thinking the same. As much as I'd love to have Billy, we can't afford (literally) to put all our eggs into one basket.  We need strengthening all round.

Sean has been given the largest budget in Doncaster History thats what JR said. The Targets of Billy Sharp, Jason Shackell or Elliot Ward have been there also. Did we think when setting this substantial increase in budget that our No1 targets would come cheap if so we are naive!!. To get a striker or centre half of the quality of our two targets was going to cost. I do not believe that Sean or JR are naive so lets not start now getting fourth or fifth best.

Newsflash...............Shackell & Ward are no longer options and if Burnley, armed with the parachute payments and a reputed £7m fee for Fletcher from Wolves, are seriously interested Billy Sharp won't be an option for longer either!!

FFS, wake up and smell the coffee!! We are a small club in a big league and our biggest ever budget is small change to some.