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Writer: Mikey Delap 
Date:Sunday April 24 2011
Time: 1:52PM
UK time is: 05:11:41
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Raul could have been a Rover
Former Rovers boss Sam Allardyce has claimed that the pre-season could have bought about a mega signing in Schalke's Real Madrid legend Raul.
A deal to being both Guti and Raul was in place after Rovers nutjob Michel Salgado was responsible for persuading them to come to the club but at the last minute the deal went dead.
Big Sam has now explained that the deal was closer than most thought...
Allardyce told the Daily Star - "Both players were keen to come to Blackburn, not just to play in the Premier League but to link up with their great friend Michel Salgado.
"I had used Michel to set up the deal and, as far as I was concerned, it was all agreed - then the chairman, John Williams, got a bit frightened of it.
"I was very disappointed at the time but that`s life. When you are with a small club with a small budget, those things happen.
"And the deal was never fantasy - no one can put fantasy to my name when you think of the players I took to Bolton when I was manager there. Who would have thought at Bolton that we would have brought players like Campo, Djorkaeff, Hierro and Okocha to the club? But that`s what I am about.
"So, instead of playing in the semi-final of the Champions League for Schalke against Manchester United, Raul could have been playing for Blackburn, and he has proved he can score at the highest level.'
Would his signing have bought about the extra goals needed to avoid the current mess?
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Your Comments
Definitely a big shame we missed out on him! Would have been amazing to see him here!
Mikey Delap
apparently Spurs were very interested in raul, but perhaps also like yourselves couldnt compete with the huge wages offered by Schalke last summer.
oxfordspur
Should of signed him, he has been awesome this season, but at least we were in the market for him pre venkys
glen9mullan
I'm really saddened to see Sam blame John Williams in his statement. We all know what an amazing job Williams did for Rovers, and while I would have loved to have seen Raul at Rovers, we didn't survive for a decade in the top flight on a shoestring by accident. Gambles were calculated and risks were avoided. If he was great for Rovers, then fantastic, but we all know that players coming from other leagues take a while to adapt to the Prem - look at Salgado, who with all his experience took most of a season to get up to speed. I remember Sam doing this with Phil Gartside at Bolton too, who backed him with some unbelievable signings - see the names in the main article - but it wasn't enough for him, and when he left he called Gartside for his lack of ambition.
Sam should have rather more class than to come out in public and have a go at the man who kept us going through thick and thin.
rossp2112
TBH Sam don't owe us anything, he stopped this club from going down 3 years ago when we looked certainties for the drop, he then on that very shoestring turned us back into a top 10 club, whilst introducing the youth players into the first team, These players are now our best players. Rovers well and trully pooped on Sam when we should be forever in his debt for saving us back then
glen9mullan
For me, if Williams said no, then there must have been cause to and I'd follow his advice before Sam. With our debt, wage structure and income at the time Williams would have known it would have been a big risk. Also, Raul is a proven striker in Spain and now Germany, but would e have done it in the prem?
FreidelNo.1
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