Heroin exists and it's not going to go away. We either deal with it or put our heads in the sands. I'd suggest hoping that in some fantasy version of the UK that it would disappear is acting like an ostrich at the beach. Even eradicating heroin would not make much difference to poverty. It would still exist just as always.

The ones that Hughes feel have the potential...and when the players in the first team could benefit from a rest or have been consistently poor so that we need a change. Nolan and Derbyshire both played well today considering how daunting an occasion it must have been for both. Peter wasn't on-song today but then...none of our experienced players were either. McEveley and Gallagher have both had many chances and I'm not sure either is up to it. They are few years further on in their experience compared to the others mentioned and I'm not sure where they will end up. I feel sorry for them as they probably aren't sure what way their careers are going to go. I'm not sure how well Rovers have played in developing them. Souness brought them into the first team yet they have been in and out then sent on loan etc. Whether they would have benefited by a less haphazard role in our first-team squad is debatable. I'd suspect not but there was always that chance. So to summarise...we've been playing without any youngsters and been losing. Yet tonight we played with some youngsters yet while still rubbish we did actually win. So...it is hardly the end of the world to give youngsters a try every now and then. No need for the knee-jerk reactions I'd have thought but it is always the same on here these days whenever a youngster plays and doesn't win the game single-handed. Hughes must think they have some potential...so use them every now and then to stop the first-team having to play constantly. This is what I am suggesting...if Peter played a little bit more he may gain some confidence himself AND it would mean we wouldn't be running MGP into the ground. The guy seems to have be playing almost every minute until recently and hasn't looked like providing a spark. See what a difference subbing him made against Charlton...wonder goal in his next game and tonight it looked like he had a point to prove. We have to wee with the willy we've got...so let's not use it out! If we have such a small squad that we need youngsters to play a bit more for the good of all then so be it. The Premiership is a very competitive league. We can't afford to have tired players compared to the opposition who may not have to deal with being in Europe or may have a far larger squad.

It's an urban thing. Go into the countryside for a walk and people will say hello and ask how you are doing as you pass them. The same people wouldn't so much as acknowledge you if you walked past them in the city in which they live...people are scared of being in some public places and it isn't about cowardice but more how we have been conditioned. The best example is probably on the London Underground where people will studiously stare at the floor or furiously read a paper just to make sure that whatever else happens they don't make eye contact with anyone else. It's not a Lancashire thing...Go to any large town or city in Scotland and it will be much the same as it would be in the rest of such places anywhere in the UK. I'm not convinced it was ever THAT much different in the past. People may well have talked more but there was certainly never a time when people in a large urban area would acknowledge every single stranger of the hundreds who would walk past them each hour.

They shouldn't though - I'm sure the majority of away fans in the boxes behave perfectly fine but it's just a few that spoil it from time to time. Same with away fans in home areas...as long as they behave reasonably and don't taunt the home fans. Usually I'm more disgusted with the over-the-top and often violent reactions from some of the home support which is often unnecessarily harsh. The fans complaining about Noel Brotherston's son and his friend and getting them manhandled and kicked out despite being Rovers fans just for the crime of taking a picture says it all. Is such a response really necessary? A quick chat and it would most likely have been sorted out. Shame some can''t seem to handle a goal against the team like an adult but have to lash out. They weren't taunting anyone...they were taking a picture of some footballing superstars - CALL THE POLICE! On the other hand there was the Man City game so I do realise why some are so against any away fans at all in home areas. As long as Rovers ask them to not smack the windows and taunting fans might work, well if they threatened to fine if they did it might anyway. Not that it was perfect in the old days (despite what some might say)...football violence involving Rovers has been going on since Victorian days!

It's not a question of relegation OR a Uefa Cup run. We have months off from Europe after tomorrow so we might as well make sure we are in a good position. What if after a few months we are comfortably in mid-table? We could then look forward to giving it a real go in the competition. I'm all for mixing it up and giving some players a chance but to not care about the game? Just plain daft. Enjoy the game...then after we can start worrying about the league. We're certainly going to have plenty of time to do it so what's the rush? Come on Rovers...we've waited over a decade for this European Run...ignore the moaners or the nay sayers and let's wrap up this group in style.

Not exactly...the cheap tickets for the Bolton game certainly affected the gate. That said...I do think it has got to the stage where Rovers are peeing in the wind a bit with cheap tickets. Let the kids in cheap (we have to get them in surely as we need all future support we can get!) but I'm not sure the club is wise to keep on with cheap deals. It seems to be devaluing the perceived (note that word! Perceived not actual) value of season tickets.

Good post Rev - I fully agree with what you have said. However I do think that Hughes could have used his squad players more wisely. Todd has only been brought back in...if his spell on the sidelines was due to disciplinary issues than it should only have been for something very serious and not just, as is rumoured, for his agent looking for a new team (and related to the Panorama programme)...after all, didn't stop Lucas getting the armband did it? Not only that but Peter and Jeffers should have been given a bit more playing time to both give them a chance and to let other players have a bit of a rest every now and then. If 4-5-1 had been used at some away games then likewise one of the front two could have had a game off or at least one when they didn't have to play it all. I'm no fan of Matteo either (is anyone?) but surely we could have used him a bit more? We have a bunch of players (especially the internationals) who have been playing two games nearly every week and we seem to have been on the receiving end of more niggling injuries as a result. Still...it has happened now so no point giving up just because of one game. We need to go out and win this...we will have to play two games anyway in the next round so we might as well try and make the best of it. Hughes could use this game to try out a couple of players who we haven't seen as much of. Maybe Derbyshire instead of Nonda (his partnership with Benni ain't working) and Peter given a start for a change. If it all goes pear-shaped then...hey...that is what half-time subs are for! The team is crying out for some new ideas and some new faces though so we might as well have a go at spicing it up a bit!

I'd suggest then you don't know the general public of this country as well as you think you do. Royalty is still a great source of pride (or arse-licking) to many in this country. Look at how each news station has 'a Royal Correspondent'...there will have been enough 'umble people who will have been happy enough to ring and vote for a nice young royal. Why do you think there is so many 'Royal pullouts' that dot the national papers? No surprise at all that she won really when you actually think about it. Wish I'd thought about it earlier and put some money on. Many of the people who voted won't have been avid fans of sport. A combination of there not being a stand-out winner (unlike, say, Flintoff last year or Wilkinson in 2003) and the remnants of deference won it for Zara. Who, to be fair, is a lot fitter than I though she was! Photographs don't do her justice. Just as Clarke received second place Zara turned to Tindall and seemed to say when the camera cut to her "It's Calzaghe then" or something so it did seem an actual surprise to her.

Might also be free soon if he can't reverse Luton's freefall down the Championship table.

Aye but Leamington was nothing compared to the grandaddy of Rovers home grounds; Oozehead just off from St Silas Church. How many grounds these days have a ditch in the centre of the pitch where livestock can graze and slop up the rainwater when the team isn't playing? Eh? OK...I'll grant you Turf Moor...but not many more!

A victory for deference and knowing one's place!

Blackburn post positive bulletin on Reid Reid could be back for the new year games which would much sooner than expected time of February/March.

The article also mentions some stats, including..."£1.5m Average annual spend on Premiership academies by each club". We don't know for sure how much Rovers are currently spending on their academy but it is hard to believe it is over a million more than the average for the whole Prem. £1.5million would buy practically nothing in terms of players - one cheap foreigner for a fee of under a million and their signing-on fee and wages for the year at most. Yet we wouldn't even be able to afford that as we would presumably still have a youth team and that would cost money. So...economically speaking the Academy seems a fair better option than anything else. All we need is one player to come through every few years and it will have more than paid for itself. Let's just hope the club don't outsource the bloody thing though or it really will all go to pot!

19,225 against Newcastle for a Saturday 3pm kick-off. Let's be honest, even cheaper prices aren't going to get many more people in. The East Lancs public just don't seem to care about football so much anymore. Burnley aren't far off the top in the Championship yet their crowds are rubbish. Accy Stanley's crowds have been disappointing and they have had the manager and chairman urging more fans to come. It's an uncertain future we face. We just better make sure we are in the Premiership next season so we don't miss out on the TV windfall... Anyway...Merry Christmas folks!

In that article Coar also says... "“If I had a son coming through, in some ways I’d send him to an academy in the Championship. He might have a better chance of rising to the top there." Two points - 1. I'm sure Coar's son would be able to get a job at Rovers somewhere Just kidding 2. It is obviously very difficult to bring players through in the Premiership yet just about every other team have better recent records than Rovers. We haven't brought through a single player in last half decade and, even now, when the conditions seem ideal (poorly performing player who supposedly still has a niggling injury he is recovering from) to give youngsters a chance the manager refuses to give them a start. Both the management and the players are to blame. That article mentions the success stories at the moment. So...why are Rovers (or Charlton as the article mentioned) so poor in this area at the moment and for the last few years? Other than twiddling their thumbs and bemoaning their fate what new initiatives have been followed? What new faces have been brought in? It may all be peeing in the wind but it'd be good to see them trying new something new.

Bit of a concern that for the second game running Hughes has had to make two substitutions at half-time. Reminds me of Souness slightly who never seemed to know his best team and made changes at half-time many times. Not that I'm comparing them too much but instead of solely blaming the players I must say that some of the team selections this season have baffled. MGP is poor yet keeps playing and looking tired. Why not try Peter just for a couple of games and at least let MGP have a breather? The Nonda and Benni partnership has looked about as potent as a neutered gerbil for some time so who start today...Nonda and Benni. There are times to play 4-5-1 but we seem to be just going for 4-4-2. We all know Mokoena can't play as a central midfielder in a 4-4-2 yet when Savage was injured Hughes played him there...and we lost the Prem games while our central midfielders were overrun. Hughes has proved to be a very good manager for the club so far and we are lucky to have him but some of his decisions recently have been baffling. Now I'm not trying to suggest I know better than Sparky as I don't but hopefully he will make changes in the future if things aren't working. Neither playing MGP all the time or Nonda/Benni up front seem to be working. Hughes needs to come up with a Plan B as we can't just wait until the transfer window - it is still quite a few games away yet. Another worry - Todd back in today. We aren't a club that can easily afford to ostracise players from the squad yet wasn't this his first league appearance since the first week of the season? Isn't that cutting off our nose to spite our face somewhat? Do others think these are these valid concerns or not? It's easy to form knee-jerk reactions after a defeat but I think some of these issues have been slowly boiling away for a while. Ah well...Europe next up! For the first time in our history European games are actually a nice break from the league!

Lancashire United would have to play in traditional blue and white surely Fifester...

You say..."broke the friggin thing"...but do you mean the wall or your hand???

Came through the Academy so thought of as "one of us" in some ways just how Duff was viewed despite being as about as Lancastrian as Riverdance.

I have no idea but that is an excellent point. Many Rovers fans are far too quick to judge young players. A so-called 'established' player can play poorly all season but if a youngster isn't George Best in some brief substitute appearances when the team has been been performing inadequately then they can suddenly be written off for life. The George Best reference isn't that much of an exaggeration by the way from some Rovers fans. I think Rovers fans are often harder to please than many other fans, they are a tough crowd to please and the area is full of people quick to grumble should things not go their way. Some areas of the country seem to have more negative outlooks than others. Didn't really notice that until I moved to other parts of the country but East Lancs folks really can be a pessimistic, miserable bunch. Maybe it is all the rain up here. Stan Ternent described it perfectly when he said some Burnley fans are only happy when they're moaning! That applies to some Rovers fans too! Including...as you can see...me! We also have a love-hate relationship with a local lad that does well. For all the people wanting Dunn back there are far more rubbing their hands in glee shouting 'Pie boy', 'crock of ....', 'lazy' etc etc. Far harsher than for non-locals usually.

If this is true then why are some people blaming the Academy system rather than suggesting Rovers get their act together? It seems to be not that Academies don't work but just that Rovers Academy isn't working! That said Hughes can help by giving the (few) real prospects to have come through the Academy. Now is as good a time as any to give them a couple of starts and see what they can do. Peter for MGP so Pedersen can have a rest and why not give Derbyshire a few games as we need pace and Nonda is not cutting it? About time Hughes gave two players a rest instead of running them into the ground. Maybe if those in the Academy saw that it is possible to progress eventually to the first team some might start working all the harder to impress!

Does Peter have much to offer? ask the quite impressive new Rovers site at Vital Football.

True...it's not been the success it was hoped for. So who does the buck stop with? Furthermore, what are they doing different to make it more of a success in the future than it is at the present? I really do hope they don't have an attitude of "oh it isn't working immediately so get rid" like some fans would be happy to see.

Do the trust actually care? I'm not sure if they look that closely into how the club is run but leave it up to the management. Does anyone know? Anyone seen some swiped minutes from one of their meetings??? If they did then they should be asking questions about why other Academies are producing while Rovers hasn't for some years. Jack Walker put a lot of money into this club to have it competing at the top level. It seems for all the money that has been thrown at it that the Rovers Academy is not doing this. What changes could benefit? New ideas and new people are often the best way forward.

Well...say it is £2.5million. That doesn't mean we would save all that by closing the Academy as the youth setup would presumably still cost quite a bit of money however we do it. Also, I do think just having an Academy gives us a better chance to attract young players to the club. It sells the club to youngsters and parents as well as showing ambition. Plus, the Academy has regularly produced small fees for the club by selling them to the lower leagues so I would expect that overall just the fact we have an Academy doesn't cost that much. How much would we really save by closing the Academy? Probably not enough to bring anybody decent in and we would likely make it far more difficult to attract the next Duff to Rovers. He'd probably go to Boro or West Ham and their nice academies!