Not only does Mike Newell want bungs out of the game...but he reckons they can take their women with them! NEWELL BLAST FOR FEMALE OFFICIALS "She should not be here. I know that sounds sexist, but I am sexist, so I am not going to be anything other than that. "We have a problem in this country with political correctness" Sounds like he would enjoy contributing to the ICBINF forum on here! Could even advertise it. Coming soon to a messageboard near you...Newell's views on the death penalty, global warming and those pesky fake emails doing the rounds!

Since Bellamy left...Who is our fastest player anyway?

We can't play Mokoena as a central midfielder in a 4-4-2, it just leaves us too vulnerable. Stick someone else in there as well - anyone. Gallagher, Bentley, bring Benni back a bit to play as an attacking midfielder, get Hughes out of retirement I dunno...just lets not try and play with The Axe as one of the two central midfielders again eh? Thought Ooijer looked good today but playing an unfit Neill is worrying and surely the subs could have been given a bit more time? Not sure it was the best day at the office for Hughes, just hope Savage is back soon as that seems to have well and truly shafted us.

Hmm...Highercroft Beckham does have a ring to it...

Would be a good move, won't happen but at least we could look forward to plenty of newspaper articles showing him going from the beauty of Madrid to the back streets of Mill Hill...paella for tripe...bull-fighting for whippet racing etc etc In fact, I can almost hear the strains of the Hovis advert now!

There's no point whatsoever in ever moving from Ewood. Three sides are excellent with wonderful facilities. I'd love to see the Riverside changed into terracing but it isn't going to happen. If it did I'd go there as I still like standing for games and I've been to quite a few grounds in the last few years to be able to do so. It won't even be discussed seriously while we are in the Prem though, so don't get your hopes up.

This guy is just one-man charm offensive isn't he? Bolton Striker Quizzed Over Wife Assault

There is a bizarre rumour on the official board - New Left Back for Rovers in Jan? Who? Jon Harley from Burnley!

Think you may be expecting too much if you expect them to go straight into the first team. John Williams said that the strategy in future was supposed to be buying only players that can go straight into the first team whereas the squad is be bolstered by some younger players. We're not often going to get a Dunn or a Duff but we can see in players like Gallagher and Peter that we can still bring players through that are squad players who can be called upon when need be. The only recent signing of Hughes that isn't either a youngster (Bentley, Brown, Jeffers) or can be put straight into the team (Benni, Roberts, Ooijer, Nonda) is Stephane Henchoz. It seems as if he was brought in as an emergency replacement for Todd who seems to be unwelcome in the plans of Hughes, persona non grata I would say if I was being pretentious.

Regarding Europe...after the Feyernoord match we will only have one Uefa Cup game in almost the next three months and hopefully that one (against Nancy) will have seen us already qualified. So there will be plenty of time to concentrate on the league and there will still, hopefully, be the knockout stages in Europe to look forward to as well. It's not an easy juggling act but at least it makes the season far more interesting.

Don't really see how they are much different. Other than better facilities, more money spent on it (although I'm not sure if we do spend all that proportionally more of our income on youth now than we did in the past) and having an actual center for the youth players it is more or less the same system. Players are signed, receive training and either make it or don't make it. The only real change seems to be that players are brought in from further abroad than before. Whereas even a decade ago anyone from outside the British Isles was a rarity.

Agree, Mokoena in a 4-4-2 just doesn't work too well and he just can't do the job of Savage. Perhaps bring back Benni to be our attacking midfielder and have Nonda up front? Crowd the midfield and make it harder for teams to play - certainly away from home. Benni seems to have to keep coming back for the ball anyway, just start him further back and he should have more space to run into. I'd have said Roberts would be our best option up front in a 4-5-1 but alas he won't be back before Savage it seems.

Hmmm...with Rover6 and Rover The Moon on my side how can I possibly be wrong? You don't see many people disagreeing with them!

True but we will never know if they aren't given a chance. I'd like to see them more involved with squads and being named as subs. It's the only way we can increase squad depth without splashing out. It's a while ago but we lost Shay Given through never giving him a stint in the first team, as well as James Beattie. Both could have been playing for us for years and have saved us a fortune in transfer fees. Recently, Neill Danns is a part of the Birmingham squad. It's never easy but if players show some potential then it makes sense to blood them and preferably one at a time. Our regular starters have been two games a week for most of this season and we seem to be feeling it a little. EDIT - It's been said that we will only be bringing in players that can go straight into the team. Well...if so then we will have to rely on youngsters to build up the squad anyway.

Not sure why rover6 is getting so much grief, much of what he says is spot on. We will never know if youngsters can cut it if they are never given a chance. If they are not being given a chance because the first-team players are doing the business then fair enough. If, however, the 'established' players are playing poorly that what is the harm in giving a youngster a chance?

Not instantly and permanently, no.

Talk Sport have just been slagging off Wigan and Bolton for attracting just under 20,000 for the derby at the JJB today. "They are unfashionable sides and that's why...they can't attract 20,000 for a local derby" etc. So it's not just Rovers getting stick...

Just stopping that farce whenever the opposition have a goal-kick would improve their performance no end.

Ultimately the choice is whether to go for a short-term strategy of maximising revenue or the more long-term strategy of trying to entice former attenders of Ewood Park back. Personally I think that the club has to keep up with these initiatives as the club cannot go on hemorrhaging fans year in year out. However, the longer some ex-attendees stay away then probably the lower the number that will ever return. So it is vital to act in time. However, human beings are not like taps. They can't just be turned on and off with cheaper tickets/more expensive tickets. The cost is only one of a number of reasons why fans aren't coming back. It's good to see another reason (illegal pub broadcasts) also being tackled. We'd all love Ewood to be full and for the atmosphere that brings to come back but if that is to ever happen more than once or twice a season then it will take a long, long time and a lot of work. The club can't do much more and deserve backing but some of the people on here who expect people to come flooding back overnight are living on cloud cuckoo land. If it was that easy we would all be able to manage a football club!

I'm pretty sure he speaks English fine but just doesn't like giving interviews, uses it as an excuse. Can't remember where I read it though!

No it certainly wasn't down to cost but I do wonder just what sort of crowd would have attended if the ticket price had been, say, the £40 that Uddersfelt Blue mentions above which Tottenham charged last night. 5,000 maybe? Along with a truly awful atmosphere in a stadium that holds 31,367. Tottenham Hotspur are simply a much bigger club than us in terms of support and their local population/catchment area as well as being in a city far wealthier than East Lancs. The story of Rovers for the past forty years has been our difficulty in competing with big city clubs. It ain't going to change anytime soon. Cost is certainly not the only reason why Rovers have lost thousands in the last three years.

Hmmm...must say I did expect more to have been there. That said...how many would have been there without the cheaper than usual tickets? Does anyone think that one of these days the drummer really is going to put the goalkeeper off?

I've no idea what kind of crowd people expected. We should be getting roughly about what Bolton and Middlesbrough (both larger than Blackburn) attracted at this stage last year while offering cheaper than usual tickets. Is that really so bad? Should we expect to be getting substantially more than teams like those? Shouldn't we wait and see what crowd it actually is first?

Alternatively you could encourage them to go instead. Berating people is not going to help the situation. It's not easy as some of them are lazy and prefer the pub but Rovers need all the support they can get.

Or for crying out loud Jan, open your eyes will you? It's Blackburn! What planet do YOU live on? Planet Jan - it certainly isn't related to what is happening in Blackburn. You can make statements all you like about what everyone who says they are Rovers fans should be doing according to you but the club has to operate in the real world. They won't actually get any of those lapsed fans back in. Lower prices might, putting them up obviously doesn't. Do you just want the crowds to go down year after year after year? Seriously, how much do you think Rovers should be charging for the game against Basel? It's £15 for non-season ticket holders. What price do you think it really should be? Moreover, how many would come at those prices? This isn't Man U, it isn't Chelsea, it's Blackburn Rovers - a small club in a Northern town hardly known for wealth. £15 is reasonable if they want to get people in for a Thursday game. Why you are bringing Celtic into it I don't know - those will iinclude packed-out games against Man U and Benfica. They can turn people away while we have to constantly advertise and have special offers to get people in. That is the planet Rovers have to live on. Both Bolton and Middlesbrough struggled with crowds at this stage last season while having deals on the tickets, I'm bemused as to why you expect Rovers to be operating in a different economic reality to clubs like those.