Source: Team_Talk
Big Sam highlights wage gap
lackburn boss Sam Allardyce claims soaring wages mean he can barely even afford to sign players available on free transfers.[LNB] Indian poultry giant Venky's are expected to complete a takeover of the Ewood Park club next month, but chairperson Anuradha J Desai revealed earlier this week just £5million will be made available for players.[LNB]Allardyce admits he has had to rely heavily on the likes of 18-year-old Phil Jones, Steven Nzonzi, 21, and Martin Olsson, 22, this season rather than on bringing in big-name signings because of financial constraints.[LNB]And that has perhaps told in the club's position in the Premier League, where they lie fourth from bottom with nine points from nine games ahead of tomorrow's visit of leaders Chelsea.[LNB]"We've benefited greatly from the youth element at Blackburn," said the former Bolton and Newcastle boss. "Life is difficult as it is. Without them it would be even more difficult with the financial problems which we've had to resolve in my time here.[LNB]"We've made a big profit on transfers which hasn't been reinvested in new players - it's had to secure the club financially. So youth is the name of the game and of course with youth you get inconsistency so you have to be even more patient.[LNB]"The vast sums of money that are coming in at the top end of the game are stretching the rest of the sides to try to get as much benefit out of what finance they've got and get the best players they can find for that finance.[LNB]"But I think that there's a big factor that's sneaked in that's made it that much more difficult and it's not transfer fees - it's wages.[LNB]"They are astronomically high and have now made it very difficult to even take a very talented free transfer today which is what the norm would be for Blackburn Rovers in the past, or a small fee with good wages.[LNB]"Now astronomical wages are making it very difficult to take somebody who might not even have a transfer fee attached to them, because of the net value that they want and the net value that they're worth.[LNB]"And they know if you don't give it to them somebody else will."[LNB]Allardyce has also had to watch potential stars identified by the club's scouts get snapped up by other teams.[LNB]"The scouting system has been hugely frustrated this summer because we've had lots and lots of players we've been unable to secure because of the finances and they have gone on to very good clubs indeed," he added.[LNB]Blackburn's chief problem this season has been scoring goals - they have managed just six from their own players in nine league games this season, with the other two they have scored being own goals - and Allardyce admits that is unlikely to change any time soon.[LNB]"It really does lie with all the players on the field equalling the goals out between them," he said.[LNB]"We have to rely on everybody to try to score a goal rather than just your front-liners because our front-liners, I believe, will not score the sort of goal ratio that's needed if nobody else is scoring.[LNB]"If you look at our goals scored scenario it's slightly less than one goal a game so it doesn't take me or anybody long to work out what needs to be done.[LNB]"We need to win a lot of games 1-0 in this league because we're on average not capable of scoring more than one goal a game."[LNB]Christopher Samba and Ryan Nelsen are set to return to the centre of the Blackburn defence against Chelsea.[LNB]Samba will come back in to the side after missing last weekend's defeat to Liverpool at Anfield through suspension.[LNB]Nelsen, who has been missing with a thigh injury, trained with the squad yesterday and will return provided he suffers no adverse reaction.[LNB]Jason Roberts is also back in full training, but midfielders Nzonzi and Vince Grella are out with hamstring and groin injuries respectively.[LNB]
