HIGHLAND NEWS 20th January 2011

UNDER-pressure Hibs boss Colin Calderwood is hoping to land Caley Thistle striker Adam Rooney on a pre-contract.

The Dubliner, who has scored 14 SPL goals this season, was in talks with the Edinburgh club yesterday (Wednesday), ICT boss Terry Butcher confirmed, although these dicussions were at an early stage.

Hibs were dumped out of the Scottish Cup by part-time Division Two side Ayr United on Tuesday and Calderwood quickly needs players to help fire them out of trouble.

This news comes as speculation that Swiss club Young Boys of Bern was poised to make an offer.

Last week, Russian club Kuban Krasnodar had a ?100,000 offer for the hitman rejected.

Butcher said: "Adam is talking to Hibs, possibly along the lines of speaking about a pre-contract, which would see him move in the summer. It's early days, however, and our full attention is on the Hamilton game this Saturday."

His silence says it all for me , if he wanted to stay surely he would say so ?

Would anyone have believed him if he had said he wanted to stay?

His silence says it all for me , if he wanted to stay surely he would say so ?

Would anyone have believed him if he had said he wanted to stay?

Eh yes , why wouldn't they ?

His silence says it all for me , if he wanted to stay surely he would say so ?

Would anyone have believed him if he had said he wanted to stay?

Eh yes , why wouldn't they ?

Cause they all say things like that....

Who will ever forget Old Grandpa Broon, one of the most honest and trusted men in the game, telling the world how much Motherwell FC meant to him - everyone from the chairman down to the tea-lady was just so special - the players the fans - everyone. There was no way he was ever going to leave a club like that.

24 hours later he was unveiled as Aberdeen's new manager!

Coming out and saying he wants to stay would be the worst thing he could do. We are all pretty sure he is leaving, we all know the club would take a reasonable amount of money if offered. Think about previous players and managers here and elsewhere have come out and talked about loyalty etc and then buggered off!

Well, some fans may consider his actions disloyal, insomuch that he was talking to other clubs and looking to move away, and if that were to fall through and he all all of a sudden proclaimed his future to Inverness some fans might think that he only stayed because he could'nt get a move.

Ref: R Hastings W Rooney

Anyone think the likelihood of Rooney accepting a move to Russia could be affected by the bomb at Moscow airport?

Im more than happy to be "stuck with him" thank you. Hope he stays at least until the end of the season.

Then walks away for nothing !!

Could be wrong but if he starts banging in the goals and gets us a good position in the top 6 it could work out better financially. I think every place brings in more cash. However my prefered option is that he signs the contract offered by us but think that is unlikely now.

Well, some fans may consider his actions disloyal, insomuch that he was talking to other clubs and looking to move away, and if that were to fall through and he all all of a sudden proclaimed his future to Inverness some fans might think that he only stayed because he could'nt get a move.

Ref: R Hastings W Rooney

You've picked me up wrong guys , I meant if he'd come out and said he was happy with life in Inverness and at ICT when the transfer speculation first started .

Fair enough, but maybe Rooney really wants away to enhance his bank account, going to Hibs would do that, but not in footballing sense - remember Mark Brown going to the tims, no way was ever going to be first choice but he increased his salary fourfold and sat on the bench,

Wait till monday - late.

I'm sure many folk, like me, are tired of this saga now. Even Terry must be wishing it would be settled one way or another so that he knows whether to concentrate on getting a replacement (whether it be Tade or anyone else) before the window closes. So come on Rooney and your advisors, get things moving.

Provided we have the money I think we should just get Tade anyway, or at least get him to sign a pre-contract with us.

Provided we have the money I think we should just get Tade anyway, or at least get him to sign a pre-contract with us.

I'm really not sure Tade is the answer, the last thing we need is another striker like Barrowman who hasn't already proved himself at the higher level

dougal

Comparing Barrowman to Tade is harsh.

Rooney owes the club nothing because he has played superbly for us so surely that is payment enough. I know fans would love to believe we will keep great players like rooney and hayes etc. but as with all clubs of a similar size, its great business to get in young players to increase their ability and sell them on for profit. I would love to see him stay as i feel he could earn us a top six spot with is worth far more than his transfer cos not only is it more money but its also a selling point to get to new players in. While some here may feel its a slight inconvience for them, remember this is his life and a wrong decision could set him back years so lets give him a break and just see what happens!

I think we should sign this guy from Real Madrid, he's a real (window) box player and could be just what we need.....

This is just getting boring! When is he away?

Comparing Barrowman to Tade is harsh.

Why?

Both players have scored their goals in the lower leagues if i'm not mistaken?

I doubt the laddie tade has got what it takes to step up a level

Do you understand?

dougal

Barrowman is a striker who didnt strike, Tade is a midfielder who sometimes scores goals - unlike our midfield.

I think we should get a woman to play up front.

Here's a striker that's just been released, dunno if we can afford his wages so he'll need to take a drop and he is a bit of a controversial character but you can't fault his goal scoring record.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/9373280.stm

I think we should get a woman to play up front.

I think we should get Dougal to play up front

Comparing Barrowman to Tade is harsh.

Why?

Both players have scored their goals in the lower leagues if i'm not mistaken?

I doubt the laddie tade has got what it takes to step up a level

Do you understand?

dougal

Of course I understand. Barrowman scored a lot in the 2nd division and continues to struggle with county. Tade is playing with a first division club which is flying at the moment,

Comparing Barrowman to Tade is harsh.

Why?

Both players have scored their goals in the lower leagues if i'm not mistaken?

I doubt the laddie tade has got what it takes to step up a level

Do you understand?

dougal

Of course I understand. Barrowman scored a lot in the 2nd division and continues to struggle with county. Tade is playing with a first division club which is flying at the moment,

Tade is hardly flying though , 3 league goals so far this season in the 1st division

ICT didn't make a mistake by signing Barrowman, they made a mistake in paying him the wages they were when he was unproven at SPL level. Signing a 2nd Division player on a wage which was comparable (actually a little higher) than we were paying an internationalist (Niculae) was asking for trouble and we got burned badly on it because not only did he not produce the goods, but he didn't provide so much as a penny in return for the investment.

While Rooney is still on the books then we can't afford to be looking at another striker on that kind of money. Even if he was to leave, the club would be taking a big risk blowing whatever wages are made available on a single player....regardless of what level they are currently playing at. Can't see us looking to sign anyone much above the level of Tade and even loan signings aren't going to be anything more than lower end English Championship fringe/youth players who are looking to prove themselves. Our current league position isn't going to have other SPL teams falling over themselves to loan us anyone either....so success on that front is probably working slightly against us.

Personally, I'm not as convinced as some of you seem to be that Rooney is off and still have a sneaky feeling he'll put pen to paper on an extension with us before the end of the season.

even loan signings aren't going to be anything more than lower end English Championship fringe/youth players who are looking to prove themselves.

... or maybe a highly rated youngster from a 7th placed English Premiership side .....

http://www.rovers.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10303~2275668,00.html