CONFIMRED - Blackman to Derby

[tmesis]

....bit like saying Jamie Cureton wasn't up to much.
Offered very little to the team, but earnt us many points with his goals.

Blackman is not fit to be mentioned in the same thread as our Lord Curo. Cureton's goals were crucial in getting us out of Div 2, Blackman's goals haven't had anything like the same impact ( in fairness you could argue that without them we'd be in the relegation zone now but I'm not going to let reason spoil my post).

Forster's goals were crucial in getting us out of League 1. If he hadn't scored those 18 goals that season then the goal hanger wouldn't have had the chance to steal the spotlight in the last game.

Cureton got 16 himself.

I don't really know why so many downplay the art of being a six-yard box poacher so much. If being in the right place at the right time is so easy, than every striker would do it.

[AthleticoSpizz]

Correct

The point being, why are so many downplaying a fellah that has got us a dozen goals by Christmas?

[TBM]

Tommio has had a mare there but the point still stands you said Blackman is crap "out wide" and then say that's where he's scored most of his goals.

It's all academic now, hopefully the Derby forums will be awash with "Where is Blackman's best position?" threads - or more realistically he'll be on the bench as they concern themselves with chasing and solidifying an automatic promotion.

I wasn't sure his position for most of his goals but I'm pretty certain it wasn't playing out on the right

It was as a right forward in the 4-3-3.

You mean left, not right

[TBM]

Sell him to Derby with Pearce coming home as part of the deal

That'll be handy

[genome]

£2m is decent

[Pepe the Horseman]

Sheffield Wednesday target Lee Tomlin to be the back up signing if the Blackman deal falls through. Looks like Wednesday are really going for it. Ah well, we'll see for ourselves in a few weeks.

Pretty similar players tbf.

[blueroyals]

The club will have to turn the PR machine all the way up to 11 to put some positive spin on this. Selling your top goal scorer a few weeks after beating the promotion drum? Yeah, right...

[genome]

Sheffield Wednesday target Lee Tomlin to be the back up signing if the Blackman deal falls through. Looks like Wednesday are really going for it. Ah well, we'll see for ourselves in a few weeks.

Pretty similar players tbf.

New Sheffield Wednesday signing Lee Tomlin, giving his first interview

[Ian Royal]

My only real issue with selling Blackman is that its another srap of evidence that suggests we're not going to play the more fluid and intricate style I think our squad is currently best suited to and that I want to see.

If we're not going to play that style, then Blackman is nothing more than bang average, to use a floydism, so we may as well cash in on what we can get, as I and many others have already said. You only have to have seen him play before this season to know he has a somewhat unjustified view of his own ability, and despite his excellent form for much of this season and the goals he's got, he's still been playing more for himself than for the team. Something that's demonstrated by his complete lack of anything good the second he was moved back into a conventional right wing slot. Regardless of whether that was the right decision and place to play him doesn't particularly matter, he needs to work harder for the team, not just turn it on for Nick Blackman when he's playing where he wants to.

It'd be a shame to lose him now he is top scorer and has finally contributed something worthwhile. But considering he's only done it for about 6 weeks and was toss for virtually all of the preceding two and a half years, I don't see any reason to get upset about it. Especially when we have no idea who might come in. Lets face it, McCleary will do a far better job at right wing and we've got Hurtado sitting about rotting in the reserves as back up.

The concern is where are the goals going to come from, but I think it's fair to say that give Sa decent service from quality wingers and he should do better in an improving team. And Vydra has more than enough quality to take up the slack if we can get him firing. Plus McDermott is exactly the sort of manager who has it in him to get the best out of Cox if he comes back and is wanted. Cox and Sa wouldn't be too dissimilar to the previously very successful partnership of Murray and Cox. Then we've got Liburd and Piazon who may yet prove handy.

We're clearly not going anywhere fast after the shambles that was Clarke's tenure. So lets stabilise, and try to build a platform to attack the top of the league from next season.

[andrew1957]

Rumours are that Derby will pay 1.5 to 2M.

To accept such a small fee for our top scorer says to me that either we have given up on promotion and the club decided to cash in and get what they can - or else he really is trouble in the dressing room and we had to get shot of him at any price for the longer term good.

As with many things ta RFC I doubt we will ever get the truth.

[Ian Royal]

Rumours are that Derby will pay 1.5 to 2M.

To accept such a small fee for our top scorer says to me that either we have given up on promotion and the club decided to cash in and get what they can - or else he really is trouble in the dressing room and we had to get shot of him at any price for the longer term good.

As with many things ta RFC I doubt we will ever get the truth.

He can leave in the summer for free, he's only had half a good season, we're going to be nowhere near realistic promotion. There doesn't have to be anything sinister or shambolic going on. £1m or more is good money under the circumstances.

[Royal_jimmy]

Sell him to Derby with Pearce coming home as part of the deal

That'll be handy

No it wouldn't. We did a great job finally getting that liability of a player out of the club.

[Ian Royal]

Dellor said Derby will use him wide of a front 3, of which you said he's useless out wide. What relevance does how bad is he out wide have to do with Derby when they'll use him in a front 3?

you do realise a "front 3" means one plays centrally and the other 2 play, errrr, wide

You even quoted it saying they'll use him wide

4-4-2 Blackman wide

......FB.........CB....CB........FB
RW............CM......CM...........LW
....................ST...ST

4-3-3 Blackman wide forward

...FB...........CB....CB............FB
..........CM.......CM.......CM
.........RF.........ST...........LF

You'll notice one is wide in the shape of the team, and the other is just wide in comparison to the central forward or a conventional striker, not the whole team, it's also a more advanced position with less defensive duties.

[Extended-Phenotype]

Massive shame this.

Deffo a sign we don't consider ourselves promotion candidates this season. Sends the wrong message to our rivals and fans.

In my opinion we should be finding a way to make it work with Blackman, either tying him to a new contract or throwing caution to the wind and risk him leaving on a free if we fail to go up.

Might be the wrong way to look at it but to be honest I'd prefer us to be throwing all we can at every season and really go for it rather than take an option which to me feels like giving up, with only half the season over.

All this 4-3-3 or 4-4-2 BS is well over thinking things too. It's very simple: play him as a winger and he won't get you as many goals. He's no target man but up top with the support of one whatever the formation and he'd do fine.

Sadly it looks like it could be another team willing to roll the dice and give it a shot.

[CountryRoyal]

You mean left, not right

No, I don't.

[genome]

Not buying all this hogwash about us throwing in the towel. We've been offered a decent sum of money for someone with 6 weeks of good form in two years, who is out of contract in the summer and is probably going to be after a nice pay-rise. Take the money now, simples.

There's plenty of quality in a squad who will no longer need to accommodate an out-of-form and (allegedly) selfish player in the way they play. We might even sign a replacement.

[blueroyals]

If they felt promotion was no longer feasible, why pay up Clarke's contract? Might as well have given him until the end of the season. Shocking. Who is in charge of setting the direction of this club?

[Ian Royal]

If they felt promotion was no longer feasible, why pay up Clarke's contract? Might as well have given him until the end of the season. Shocking. Who is in charge of setting the direction of this club?

To avoid getting relegated.

[3points]

The club may have one eye on the 17/18 season when our parachute payments finish and not wanting to commit the club to a big long term contract, for a player that has only shown flashes of talent in three years. I don't imagine Blackman is currently on big money - he joined from Sheff Utd in League 1 and while we were in the Prem, I'd be surprised if he didn't have a relegation clause in his contact.

While I have no specific info on Blackman's current pay, the average Chump player earns about 9k per week, and that would be a significant rise to what he was earning at Sheff Utd. It might be his relatively low wages that gives him his attitude issues with his team mates who are potentially earning a lot more (eg Williams, Vydra, HRK, Gmac) if he thinks he's better than they are.

His goals will be missed and it looked like he'd probably get to 20 this year. Brian is clearly a Vydra fan, and is surely confident he can pick up the goalscoring mantle. Brian obviously likes HRK as well - I find it interesting there's no rumours about HRK having a bad attitude, not being liked in the dressing room, refusing to sign a new deal, etc (or other clubs wanting to buy him). But Blackman's recent demeanour on the pitch hasn't looked good, and I have been wondering if he knew he was likely to be leaving (and said as much to my mate). I just hope he doesn't score against us in the next couple of weeks, where ever he ends up.

[Winston Smith]

If the Telegraph are correct and he will join Derby for £2M tomorrow, then that is an absolute astounding amount of money for a bloke who only has 4 months left of contracted football with us and has been as close to dog sh*t as possible in almost every month of the 3 years he was with us.