The Ricketts Saga comes to a close for Shrimpers

22 July 2011 13:41
Southend United trialist Rohan Ricketts will not be joining the club. Not hot news, S24 have been joining the chorus that felt the deal was dead long ago, but it was fun while it lasted! Rohan Ricketts: It went on and on but it's over at last It started with a hat-trick on a summers evening in Great Wakering and the word soon got round that former Arsenal youth Rohan Ricketts was a signature that Blues boss Paul Sturrock should grab as soon as possible. And who could argue, even against the level of opposition, a mate texted me the day after saying the guy looked class, sign him up! Sadly, as tweets started flying from various camps it began to be seen that maybe RR was not all that he seemed. A football who was very media savvy with blogs regularly updated and advertising contracts in the past it was all getting a touch too matey with the Shrimpers faithful who also like a tweet or two. There seemed to be a split camp, great stuff, a footballer who speaks to his fans on one hand, sounds dodgy and he should keep quiet to the other. Negotiations have finished said the Roots Hall sources, the player himself insisted they were, we were just trying to pay him less dosh! It was too much for Southend United CEO Tara Brady who has finally confirmed we will NOT be signing the former Tottenham winger who will have to look elsewhere. Brady told www.echo-news.co.uk: “We will not be signing Rohan Ricketts and not because of finances either. It’s purely because Paul Sturrock doesn’t think he would fit in to the squad we already have here. In addition we also had concerns over the level of his fitness and at no point did we ever offer Rohan a deal.” Not sure about the finances Tara, but why not get a bit of spin in there while you have the floor. We could post links to all the articles on Rohan over the last week or two but we'd run out of room! The last two sum it up pretty well and you can look back on those below, however, if you want more, click on to Shrimpers News and dig them out, or just place 'Rohan Ricketts' in the search option at the top of the page, quite a list turns up! In the meantime another striker is still being sought and hopefully will be signed up in time for the opening league game against Hereford United on Saturday, August 6th at Roots Hall, or we could be a touch light up front. The Ricketts File   Personal information Full name Rohan Ricketts Born 22 December 1982 (1982-12-22) (age 28)Clapham, England Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) Playing position Winger Club information Current club SV Wilhelmshaven Youth career 2000-2001 Arsenal Senior career* Years Team Apps† (Gls)† 2001–2002 Arsenal 1 (0) 2002–2005 Tottenham Hotspur 30 (1) 2004 → Coventry City (loan) 6 (0) 2005 → Wolverhampton Wanderers (loan) 7 (1) 2005–2007 Wolverhampton Wanderers 44 (0) 2007 → Queens Park Rangers (loan) 2 (0) 2007–2008 Barnsley 10 (0) 2008–2009 Toronto FC 39 (4) 2010 Diósgyőri VTK 1 (0) 2010 Dacia Chişinău 4 (0) 2011- SV Wilhelmshaven 12 (1) National team 2000 England U-18 5 (1) 2002 England U-20     * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 3 June, 2011.† Appearances (Goals). (Player info supplied by Wikipedia, for the full article go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rohan_Ricketts)  

Source: FOOTYMAD