You've gormlessly put the cart before the horse! Murdoch (an Australian with no vested interest one way or the other) put money into English football not to help it out or to make it better but because it is more marketable and he will make even more money by doing so! PERIOD. To put that amount of money into Scottish football would have been suicidal from a business point of view. Try and think things through before you let your prejudices run away with you. Hit the nail on the head there drog. The reason Sky pump so much money into Premiership rights is because worldwide the people who want to see the English game is huge, much much larger than the Glasgow/Irish diaspora around the world who might have a fondness for watching the Old Firm game once in a blue moon (even though it isn't all that special since they started playing each other six times a season). No other league in the world has the perceived quality of product that the Premiership has. Whether it really is as good as people like to think is another matter. They may have better teams in Spain or more quality of play in Italy but the Premiership is the most succesful league in the world. When the SPL can ever command the same overseas rights or viewing figures then they will have cash thrown at them as well. They do to an extent, which is why the Old Firm game can be broadcast in England but sure as hell no other Scottish team will be. The Premiership makes more money from overseas rights than the likes of the NBA and NFL, Sky's money couldn't do that if the product wasn't there in the first place. Chicken and egg you might wish to call it. PS - dado - If you make silly points people will rightly ignore them. Posting 'FACT' after an opinion is a bit much as well.

Rubbish. Football is no more about individual emotions than reading a newspaper on the bloody toilet is. Football is so obviously a communal experience that I can't even be bothered arguing the point. DEFINITELY NOT.

There's a few players from the fifties and sixties who we haven't heard too much about. Fred Pickering - Five goals in three England internationals and scored a hat trick on his international debut against the USA. Still finishing well to this day in Blackburn last time I heard; pints that is. Unfortunately buggered off halfway through the season the last time we had a chance of challenging for the title before the 1990s. Had two spells with Blackburn and lives somewhere near the Mill Hill area of the town to this day I think. Roy Vernon - Highscoring Welsh international. and, most controversially - Derek Dougan - Brilliant striker but Barry Ferguson had nothing on him when it came to leaving the club in the brown stuff. Placed in a transfer request on the morning of the FA Cup Final! Went on to become a Wolves legend and a TV pundit. Irish international? Can any of our members who were around to see those three give us any feedback?

Well...I only used southerner to mimic your use of the word northerner but you are right that lumping people together is just as redundant as referring to large areas as if they were just the same all the way through.

I wish Northerners would not lump every thing South of Birmingham as The South. Have you ever been South? Your description sounds like the South-East and not teh South West. The South West has a lot more identity than The North. This is probably due to, as you would say, most of the North is an homogenized area anyhow when compared with the South West. and I wish Southerners would not lump everything North of Birmingham as The North, but they often do. Cuts both ways really. I'd think the main reason people lump large sections of the country containing wildly differentiating places together is because they frankly can't be arsed being any more specific. People like yourself with their references to "The North." Why you calling the kettle black Mr Pot?

Have I told you about those bloody attendances lately.. Oh wait...Tris is thenodrog isn't he??? Altogether now...LANCASHIRE UNITED!!!

Not really I just wish you would have a think about it and then decide without having to just narrow it down to who you have seen with your own two peepholes. I and others just want you to read the threads then make a decision. Not come into it and think...that's it, if I ain't seen him I can't consider him. I'm not Jim and I'm not here to call you names but I wish you'd open your mind first before deciding.

Great posts Eddie...I really underestimated you. Bugger that arbritrary intelligence lark eh?

Fair point. On the Savage thread I commented how dodgy the entire Savage saga was. Unfortunately rover6 decided I was hyocrite for denouncing the actions of both Savage and Ferguson. Can you not take him to your boards and call it fair dos...we will both be happy? Actually...you won't be happy but we won't care as long as we get rid of rover"championship manager"6 but them's the breaks eh???

Eh??? A price quoted for a player has never been THE price, merely the beginning of the haggling process and while it sometimes happens that the price is met on the majority of occasions there is a compromise between the two parties. Human beings have been bartering for thousands of years so we can hardly lay the blame for that one at the door of John Williams. Oh and the short answer to Jim's first question is "yes" he can refuse to play for us because he said he wasn 't mentally up to it. It's a crock of crap of course but a highly paid solicitor would be able to cite all the upheaval and speculation etc and make a good case for Ferguson being under a lot of stress and pressure. Besides, what would we do if it was a breach of contract? Sack him? Just because a football club values a person as a commodity doesn't mean the law will do regarding personal matters. We can harldy get him to pay up the difference in valuation in what is essentially a human being. So he doesn't feel like playing; what we really going to do? We could sack him...but then we might as well go the whole hog and give him a lift up to Ibrox and hand him a specially wrapped leaving gift of our own nose which we just cut off to spite our face. As for trying to force him to help us until the summer - the guy engineered his own move to Rangers (Viola did very well taking the flak when he was essentially just representing his client in the best way he could), whinged to the papers about our own business dealings of having the cheek to set our own price and followed it up by refusing to play against Colchester. As for the whole Christening malarky in Glasgow he was supposedly attending...well, make up your own mind about that. If anyone seriously think that after all that behaviour and those acts of petulant selfishness that he's just going to say "aye...welll nae bother" and roll up his sleeves (no doubt covered with bloody crocodile tears at missing out on Rangers) to playing his best for the club if we refused to sell him? All I can say is I could do with a pint of what they're having. If we hadn't sold him then we'd have lost a hell of a lot in wages alone. Would anyone have stumped up more in the summer? Nah...seeing as (and it seems about the only thing he was truthful about) Barry wanted to go home. John Williams is certainly not above criticism but I fail to see what else he could have done that would not have financially damaged the club. Might as well have the money than have a player not doing his bit. The midflield would only have been weakened if we could trust in the performances of Ferguson and I don't trust him as far I can throw him anymore. Thanks to Ferguson Rangers had us over a barrel, why anyone would want him any longer making a mockery of our club and own loyalty and passion is beyond me. Barry refused to play

You are being naive, the so-called club captain handed in a transfer and did his damndest to get out of the club in the middle of a relegation battle. Ferguson's actions for the past month have been of a player who seriously did not want to play for the club and his refusal to play was merely an extension of such actions and was predictable, if still a bit of a kick in the teeth.

You're a stupid old fart. Anything else you want me to call you?

Belt up teapreacher, neither of the Old Firm are anywhere near being one of "the biggest clubs in the world". You're not even up there with the likes of Ajax never mind the real big clubs of the world such as Man United, Barcelona, the Milan clubs etc and at least Celtic have won the European Cup even if it was in the days of the Beatles, your lot hasn't even reached the final. Until you leave the SPL (and that won't happen for a hell of a long time) you'll have to be content with saying "we could one day be big you know". To be fair, your comments about Rovers aren't too far from the truth mind...

Dave - you are quite right, I've amended the original post. Think the site is mostly houses now.

Quiz Question - Who are the three brfcs board members glued to their "transfer deadline day minute by minute" sites?

No suprise whatsoever. Only suprise was those who continued to believe it wouldn't happen. It happened the day Ferguson handed in a transfer and made up some cock-and-bull story about soandso being homesick. The guy wanted out...and fast, homesickness isn't that fatal a condition usually... After 250 or so posts between them Dada Prso and philipl should hug and make up. I'd also say they should admit they were both wrong but that'd be another 200 posts long so forget that bit! Barry shafted us big time on this...can't believe how many wanted him to remain at the club after he shoved his hand in our direction and flicked two fingers up at us but whatever. From the evidence we have available he didnt want to play for us...so why expect too much? Maybe I should forget about all that the club stands for and be willing to accept a selfish little t!t of a captain playing for us but no thank you, not just yet. Ferguson has been a tw@t all along in this. Not Viola, not Murray, not nobody but wee little innocent Barry. Why the hell couldn't he be a decent person and wait three months until the summer when we would (hopefully) be safe and he could go with the blessing of many??? Three sodding months that was all... Just wasn't man enough. Still poor wee Barry and all that...######...

We'll be lucky to get £5m imo. and to be honest he ain't worth that much...whatever we paid in the first place.

And shove it soft lad wee Savage. Is the poor chap close enough to his family now?... Hypocrite. If you are suggesting that it is I who am the hypocrite then it is obvious you haven't read my posts on Savage. Indeed I even raised the point about his moving from Statford on-Avon to Cheshire not requiring a change of club at the same time as he could still make his way to Birmingham and that was...oooohhh...AFTER....he signed as a Rovers player. It isn't too hard to find the posts on there . Either I have misunderstood your post for which I apologise or you are an ignorant twit. Anyway please elucidate us on the "hypocrite" part...if you can. Ah sod it...let's be honest. You haven't actually got it in you have you?

If If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or, being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise; If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with triumph and disaster And treat those two imposters just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to broken, And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools; If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breath a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on"; If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch; If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you; If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run - Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son! Hell of a lot of ifs in there den but I bet Grampa Ferguson isn't going to be calling wee willy weepie Bazza a man for a while yet. Him or his family homesick in bloody Lytham St bloody Annes? Shove it soft lad wee Bazza...

couldn't agree more. Ferguson just isn't terribly good. He's not terribly bad either. But I think Savage will be 3x the player for us that BF was/is/whatever... Ferguson is our best midfielder. Savage is better in his job over the last eighteen months than Ferguson is in his job. Emerton has been better him this season, so has MGP and he has only been around a few games. None of which is the point - the point - the point is that our captain in midfield wants out in the middle of a relegation battle and was willing to give up a hefty sum in loyalty bonuses by handing in a transfer fee to get it. Shearer was our best striker = he wanted to leave as well. It happened, and it will with Fergie. Sooner than later if we are not to suffer more depreciation.

So what is he doing in Scotland then? Family christening; aye alright. Apparently De Pedro had a bar mitzah a few days ago in Perugia as well... Ferguson badly wants out and is doing all he can to make it happen. Nothing of Ferguson's behaviour over the period of his Rovers life leads me to believe that if he stayed he would give his all for the club and keep us safe from relegation. He's best out the club, why cannot that be seen? Is my interpretation so different from everybody elses? Am I on my own here? The man does not want to be here or he wouldn't be courting Rangers like a frustrated old spinster after her last chance. Am I missing something? What has been wrong with his performances on the pitch for the club? Nothing as far as I can tell. Granted he hasn't been the Keane or Viera we maybe hoped but that's one of those things. So what has been so right about his performances that we should put up with our so-called captain scurrying around after his previous club? Ferguson is the modern-day Ewood equivalent of the Hans Christian Anderson's 'The Emporers New Clothes'. Some fans desperately attempt to allign themself with him because they believe it takes more insight than the normal fan possesses to understand the nature of a "cultured" player like Ferguson. Load of tosh just like the original story. Ferguson has been consistently poor with only some redeeming performances since he got here. If he was willing to stay and to try to improve it would be a different matter, yet he clearly isn't. Anyway - the question was...What has been wrong with his performances on the pitch for the club?...simple. If he'd done what he was paid handsomely to do we would be out the relegation dogscrap and nearing forty points by now. Not good enough on the pitch... or off it.

So what is he doing in Scotland then? Family christening; aye alright. Apparently De Pedro had a bar mitzah a few days ago in Perugia as well... Ferguson badly wants out and is doing all he can to make it happen. Nothing of Ferguson's behaviour over the period of his Rovers life leads me to believe that if he stayed he would give his all for the club and keep us safe from relegation. He's best out the club, why cannot that be seen? Is my interpretation so different from everybody elses? Am I on my own here? The man does not want to be here or he wouldn't be courting Rangers like a frustrated old spinster after her last chance.

FA Cup final may top it but nothing else. There will be a buzz around both Blackburn and Burnley that has not been seen for a long while. It's what we have been missing out on for too long...a local rivalry.

1960 - we beat the them on the way to their last league championship as we went along to the FA Cup final but it took two classic matches which are staples in the history of both clubs. Cannot believe it...twenty years supporting Rovers and have been praying for Burnley every single FA Cup draw. Move halfway round the world and we suddenly get them straight away. Gutted I can't be there but am praying it will be on TV. I've seen us beat them at Ewood and t'Turf in the Lancs Manx Cup...does that count? Gutted. Mind you - best thing that has happened to East Lancs football for quite some time.

Believe all you want Rev (and you can keep Revving up all the way to the end of the transfer window ) but to keep Ferguson we really have to be sure that he would be giving his all for the cause and trust in his professionalism. A month ago I'd have had no doubt about him giving his all for the team but his conduct over the last three week in despereately trying to engineer a move home DESPITE the team not being safe means I'm not sure that he will be providing his services to an acceptable level if he stays. The worrying thing is that none of us knows just how he would behave because in the career of Barry Ferguson there is no precedent for the current situation. That's why I would take the money if it is near the valuation. Besides even if he was gloriously happy here a quality forward would still be worth more to Rovers than Ferguson if it was a straight choice and I'm sure we all must agree after the desperate mix-and-match of Monday night strikers.