Thats exactly the point. The fact that you are referring to the fans as "middle-men" outside the the "A to B" route is removing the fans. The middle-man is B - the employers being A and end beneficiaries being C. Without B, the path from A to C is non-existent. Without B, the money remains with A and never finds its way to C.

No, the employer pays the fan for services rendered - the fan from there chooses to spend some of their money on following football. You can't just remove the fan from the equation - without the fan the employers money would never have been diverted in that direction. Equally, without the fans work ethic, the money would not have appeared in the first place. If anything, the fan plays a bigger role in this than is being credited.

Sadly a reference to Bruce Willis' character in the film "Unbreakable", not David Dunn the footballer. If only.

What an odd post.

Bellamy goes, and we get Jeffers and Roberts. I'm finding it hard to feel anything but negative about that. Jeffers was horrendous for Rangers last year, an absolute abomination. I rate Roberts but replacement for Bellamy? I think not. We need to splash some cash on a big big signing up front. I'm not even sure Mido would be the answer. Disappointed tonight.

I thought of Spain but ruled it out due to the penalties thing. Arguable they were contenders too.... I think the Rovers/England thing is a bit skewed. England winning the World Cup and Rovers winning the league are not directly comparable, admittedly. A better comparison would be CL qualification - something we flirted with last season. Its not beyond possibility, as Everton showed. However, when Rovers failed to make it, most of us were philosophical and took it rather well. For some reason that balanced viewpoint doesn't translate to international football.

Any of you guys ever kissed a girl?

England are consistently poor in World Cup finals. Poor teams do not win World Cups. From that point of view, it was never going to happen. We can argue til the cows come home how good the team looks on paper (pretty damn good, for the record), but when it comes to the crunch, you have to perform. England rarely do. When was the last time England beat a genuine contender for a major trophy in a knockout game?

Faith restored by trusty ol' FLB. Good on ya buddy

I reckon so Drake. Zidane was unbelievable, I have to admit I thought performances like that were behind him. Roll on the semis.

Thats simple. With Rovers we are all realistic. We know the limitations and can manage expectations accordingly. With England, reality is suspended. The hype is believed and usually well balanced individuals turn a blind eye to the obvious and buy in to the media rubbish. The inevitable eventually returns, but hurts way more than it should be allowed to.

Rooney stamped on the bloke. Ronaldo didn't make him stamp on him, he did it of his own accord. Stop looking for a scapegoat and for once attempt to come to terms with reality.

What were you watching?!

Interesting to see how this develops in light of todays happenings......

Thank God for that. We can all get on with watching the rest of the tournament now. Spineless, boring, simply not good enough. Roll on Euro 2008 - you'll get it right then........

Not Ayala - Aimar. I don't point that out to be a pedant, infact I think it strengthens your point.

Well done Jan - very jealous!

Neither. Messi. What a player he is.

You lot are unbelievable. Crouch is playing well and scoring goals for your country, yet you slate him like he's Heskey! You aren't above having a player like Crouch, as much as you like to think you are. Get down out of the clouds and appreciate the excellent work the guy is doing.

For those of us stuck in the office, anyone found anywhere to get a live feed of the games on the net? Apologies if this has been covered....

Can't see the Argies going home early - best team so far I reckon. Not that Tevez got a look in!

Well said Matt. The anti-German sentiment aside, I found it insulting that in the build up the game at hand (the opening game of a World Cup, featuring the host nation after all!) was almost completely ignored, coverage sacrificed for updates on how England's training session had gone that morning. As if that wasn't enough, we got more of the same at half time. Very off putting - it's a real shame there is no viable alternative..

Tevez at 40-1 is a cracking bet. Quite like Ronaldinho at 14's too, think he's got as good a chance as Ronaldo/Adriano.

Whether he said that or not, he's way too big for his boots and should be sold immediately. He's not as good as you all think anyway.