CHRIS DUNLAVY
Why he won’t believe Jordan Rhodes is staying put until the window’s shut
WHY didn’t anyone take a punt on Danny Ings last January? Because a big scary ginger bloke growled them all away. “We let it be known that Danny wasn’t for sale,” said Burnley’s manager, ‘Stone Cold’ Sean Dyche.
“People often say ‘Well, what does that mean?’ But if you tell people firmly and make sure everybody knows you mean it, other clubs will generally respect that.”
Given his size and reputation, I’d respect pretty much anything Dyche said. But you get the picture – when it comes to selling players, no doesn’t always mean no.
A real no happens behind closed doors; owner to owner, manager to manager, a Chinese whisper without the ambiguity.
A pretend no is broadcast in public, through bombastic club statements and hammy interviews on Sky Sports News.
Which is why everybody could see straight through the missive released by Blackburn Rovers last Saturday morning.
Having rejected offers from Hull City of £8m and £10m for Jordan Rhodes, the club’s owners said it was “not their intention” to sell their star striker, calling him an “icon” who is “integral” to their chances of promotion.
Yet just a day earlier, Hull boss Steve Bruce claimed the noises coming out of Ewood Park ‘indicated’ that Rhodes was hung front and square in the shop window.
What changed? In short, nothing. Rhodes was still for sale. All the statement did was raise the stakes.
It was a canny move by the Venky’s, a sign, perhaps, that the club’s Indian owners are no longer the mugs they’ve often been taken for.
Succeed in scaring Hull away and they appear resolute and ambitious, willing to give up £12m to pursue Premier League football.
Fail and the Tigers would have no choice but to come back with a bid so vast that it seemed good business to even the most ardent Rovers fan. Either way, the owners come out smelling of roses.
Now, of course, Steve Bruce says any deal is ‘dead in the water’. Don’t believe that until the transfer window is locked and bolted. Regardless, if Blackburn don’t go up this year, Rhodes will be gone. Parachute payments are running out. Financial Fair Play is kicking in. And with their previous accounts showing losses of £36.5m, cost-cutting will need to be savage – starting with the sale of their prime assets.
In gambling on Rhodes staying put, the Venky’s are having one last gung-ho shot at returning to the Premier League before the being forced to slum it with the also-rans.