I'd certainly recomend REM's new album. I fell in love with it on the first listen - which hasn't happened with the last 3 albums. I guess because it is probably what you'd expect from them this time, whereas the last few albums have always been a bit different to what they have done previously. There are still a couple of surprises on the album though. Beautiful music and beautiful lyrics.

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I have been looking forward to this one since the fixtures were announced! Going to do it there and back from Blackburn in the day providing the Astra holds out cos we'll have to share the driving.

Very dissapointed, especially as we created so much going forward, just couldn't finish. Was not impressed by Bothroyd. Gresko still spends more time trying to pull at forwards over rather than jumping for the ball. Tugay........just played himself out of the team as far as i'm concerned. Wouldn't be too bothered if we don't see him much this season. There were a few positives to be taken: 1. Emerton looks confident and will run at defenders. He has some nice little tricks too. 2. Gally put in some good crosses and took his goal well. 3. Pedersen looked to have some nice touches and made some good passes. Took his goal very well too. 4. Value for money - £10 to see Rovers have 8 penalties!! Imagine how many matches you'd have to pay for to see us get that many pens in the league! Overall though - VERY UNHAPPY

I wasn't sure what the situation was this season when I posted. As I understand it there will be no bus parks on the Triangle this season, but it is a police decission. The club have/are considering park and ride schemes, etc, but with anything like that the police have to be consulted.

The club are aware of issues like this and are continually trying to address them. I believe they have consulted with the police on several occassions regarding bus services to Ewood and the biggest problem is with arranging somewhere suitable for the buses to drop people off, park during the match, then collect people afterwards. I know in the past buses have stopped on Bolton Road (close to the Ewood Arms), but obvioulsy the space there is limited. Paul is correct that the club have tried and will continue to try a variety of marketing ideas. The ideas have been very wide ranging and innovative, but have continually met with a frustrating lack of response.

We'll see. Good on him but he's still a long way to go so stop posting out of your arse. Here, here SAR. Just hope if he does score anymore this season the players are a bit more careful with him in the celebrations.....MIND HIS HEAD LADS!!!

According to Radio Lancs they have realised. Apparently the calls are already coming into the local phone-ins saying exactly that. Listening to BBC Radio Newcastle etc., is about the only thing that would cheer me up tonight.

Well, BBC Wales think its a likely enough possibility that they've arranged an interview with a member of the mb to discuss just just that. (More news later). Ohhhhh. Today just keeps getting better!

You keep believeing that! In my book, 2 points out of a possible 12 and second bottom in the league is simply not good enough.

I know many people on here don't seem to agree but I feel like a huge weight has been lifted today. I am please to see the back of Souness. Just out of interest, is this the first job he hasnt been sacked from?! I would love to see Mark Hughes take charge at Ewood, but I am not sure he would want it considering his current position. Just off to crack open a bottle or bubbly to celebrate (or maybe just a couple of cans of Worthy's!).....

I would love to see Mark Hughes take charge at Ewood, but I am not sure he would want it considering his current position.

Excellent post Capt Kayos. Sadly though, I think Blue and White Army is right. Even if we have a season as bad as last season I cannot see Souness being shown the door, not until the summer anyway. The board seem quite happy to accept his excuses and public fall-outs, even when it is damaging the club. And it is the finacial damage that is the most worrying. However, I guess sacking the manager mid-contract could equally lose us as much money. I dont think Rovers' fans are unrealistic. Most now can accept that we are not going to challenge for the title every season, but equally we shouldn't* accept a season of poor home performances then all the ref/luck/injuries excuses. *EDIT: oops, should have been an 'n't' at the end of that should!

Spot on Exiled - totally agree. As far as I am concerned Souness has had chances and time. Things are going to have to improve majorly, I have very little patience left for him.

That is appalling! But I guess it sums up the mood/feeling in and around the club at the minute. Bit gutted we didnt get more out of the game, but I am trying to keep optimistic

I may be wrong, but I havent spotted Cole in any of the pic in the LET of pre-season training - maybe he thought he wouldn't bother joining in that too.

Spot on Den!! And a great post!! How on Earth do the club expect people to get excited when every season all we hear from Souness is 'survival is our main aim'? The problem is that what Souness is saying is true, but we need to find a balance between being honest and promoting some excitement about the club. People are beginning to realise that we will not be challenging for the championship again (well, not in the near future). The best we can hope for every season is a top half finish (top 6 would be an amazing achievemnt) and maybe a decent cup run. We don't seem to be taking any cup competitions seriously (including UEFA last season). Its all very well Souness saying we will concentrate on the league, but look where that got us last season!! I wish I knew the answer, or at least how we could find a happy medium. The club is aware of the impact of what Souness says and how the fans react to it, but it doesnt appear they want to control what he says too much - which I guess is fair enough.

My point was that if they stop promoting season tickets then the numbers will never even remain constant, they will continue to decrease every year. I know they have decreased every year for the past 8 or 9 years, but if you look at the figures, the club is attracting new season ticket holders. I can't remember the exact number from last season, but I remember that the net loss of season ticket holders was reduced significantly because we acctually gained a lot more new season ticket holders. The advertising has been quite embarassing at times, but they have to keep trying. In my opinion, there are a lot of basics that they have already that they just need to market better that could improve matters - that is both with season tickets and matchday tickets. They often fail to get basic, useful information out that would help supporters. One of the biggest problem I can see is with what supports percieve and what is acctually true. Many people think that there are loads of top tenner ticket matches every season, for example. They have been called top tenners in years and last season there was only one £10 match! Many people don't realise that you can watch Rovers for £15 every week in the Riverside outer blocks (don't quote me cos I havent got the info to check that, but I think its about right). The biggest problem Rovers have is that there is effectively no need for anyone to buy a season ticket. I know that for basically any match, expect perhaps Man U at home, I can walk upto the ticket office 10 minutes before kick off and buy a ticket. Why buy a season ticket when you can pick and chose the games you go to? You don't have to fork out the money up front and you save money if you miss more than a couple of games. That is why we have this problem.

Fair point Ossydave, but the club would be up s#!t-creeck if they took that attitude to season ticket sales. I think at the end of the day people who can renew will, and those that cant won't. The club can do all the research in the world they want to why people dont renew, but at the end of the day I reckon the majority now will quote 'change in circumstances' as the reason and there is nothing the club can do about that. All they can do is keep trying to hammer out the message of how how relatively cheap it is at Ewood and how easy it is to buy tickets.

I don't know if the new system will be ready by then. If it is it will be an opportunity to test it, but don't be surprised if we are back to old fashioned ways. Btw, I'm not sure if the new system is meant to be saving us money either.

Bolton were one the first clubs in the country to use the smart card system. They're using a different system to ours, theirs is called TeamCard. I went to Basel this weekend and paid a little visit to FC Basel's ground. They have an new turnstile entry system similar to the one I believe we will have at Ewood this seaon. Didn't look anything too impressive but providing it gets us all into the ground on 14th August then I'm not too worried about all the other fancy stuff it can do. My only concern was when I arrived back to the UK this morning I noticed that the long stay car park at Liverpool airport had a similar system, designed by the same company. Guess what....... Yes, we couldn't get out! It wanted £33 from us, even though we had already paid! Had to get some lad over the intercom to let us out! Of course I am not worried about the system at Ewood - I know it will all run smoothly from the start!

I think its daft its got to the stage that Meier needs police protection because he has received death threats. However, I don't think he is doing himself any favours by talking to the media. I heard an interview with him on Radio1 on the way home and he was saying that both Campbell and Terry fouled the keeper?!?!? I think he should just shut up if he doesnt want to make things worse for himself. Just for reference, I am booked on a flight to Switzerland on Friday morning, but I do not plan to visit any grocers stores in Zurich to hunt down the little cheat.........honestly!

I think that although the club gave an official direct debit deadline, you will be able to apply via this upto the start of the season. Apparently this happened last season too, but the club arent great at comunicating basic information like this to us. Basically, the official DD deadline applies for the regular payemnt schedule. If you apply after the deadline you will have to pay 2 or 3 months at once up front, then you will be able to pay the rest as per the regular scheme. Hope that makes sense!

From what I have heard I'm not sure if it will even be at that stage for the Sporting Lisbon match. I dont think it was ever the plan to use that match to test the system. I think we will have to wait untill tomorrow to find out what the first date we will be testing them will be. Man U at home?!?!

Did Croatia have a free kick in England's half they didnt score from?!