Oh , do we have to wait? I'm still waiting for Fred Walker investing as well as Solskjaer joining from United- and that really has been a long wait.

The side we had for the 2001/02 season after we signed Cole was probably the best we have had since Souness has been here. With Duff, Dunn and a pre-accident Jansen as our three attacking musketeers and Cole at his best (it's fair to say he hasn't been as consistent since although he's a still a good player) blended with the experience of Berg as well as younger versions of Short and Tugay. Flitcroft and Neill seemed to remember what to do then as well. As good as Duff and Cole were, I'd still say our best player was Matt Jansen. We may have finished sixth the season after but if Jansen hadn't been in that accident...well, no need to dwell. We probably have a stronger squad now but I don't think the starting eleven we can put out is as good as it was. A couple of quality additions before the transfer window could make all the difference though.

There was a discussion on another thread comparing the record of Dalglish to Souness. It's slightly unfair on Souness as Dalglish walked out after three and a half seasons with his reputation intact. If Souness had 'done a Dalglish' after three and a half years with the club he'd have been in the same kind of exalted company as the mumbling Championship-winning Glaswegian. After three and a half years at Ewood Souness had brought promotion, a cup win, two European qualifications and a sixth place finish to the club. An excellent achievement it has said, particularly after the last days of Hodgson and all of Kidd's time at the club, not to mention Tony Parkes's one-caretaker-manager-stint-too-far period. That was in 2003 though, the success he then achieved has since been balanced by last season. Let's be honest - we survived easily but we were awful, at home at least. In fact the home form was so atrocious that we actually attained four points less at home last year than we did in the 1998/99 relegation season. Worse than that, at times the style of play was also pretty dismal to watch. Last season we could always give Souness the benefit of the doubt because of what he achieved early on. The goodwill has run out though and he needs to start delivering again and show us just why he is being paid such a lucrative contract. It's his job to improve on last season. I'll be very happy if he manages to improve the performances and the results but the fact is I'm a Rovers fan first and foremost not a Souness fan. If he has taken the club as far as he can he has to go. Two games is far too early in the season but certainly with a third of the season he has to be judged on where the side is then. Souness out? Nope, not yet...hopefully we'll be in a safe position by then. Hopefully Greame will also have decided on his best side. The only real problem is the lack of any suitable replacements at the moment. Gordon Strachan has been mentioned but I can't see why he'd leave Southampton of his own free will to spend time relaxing with his family and doing some easy TV work to move up north to a provincial mill town which gets lower crowds and seems to have less transfer money than the club he walked away from.

Probably best to keep schtum on that or Ferguson might be finding himself with a three match ban.

It shows the kind of arrogance that is typical of Souness and i'm amazed that it would surprise anyone. Would you prefer he responded like Ferguson and just barred any journalist who disagrees with him. Most Managers are arrogant and don't take criticism very well. I'd prefer him to debate the matter like a reasonable person and at least attempt to discuss in a rational manner. It's not as if he's ineloquent, certainly when on Sky he discusses the game with great insight. Why can't he do that instead of trotting out a tired old cliche? Managers like Martin O'Neill or Arsene Wenger answer questions by convincing others of the rightness of their opinions without attempting to belittle the interviewer. So can Souness when he wants to.

I have it on good authority that a certain contributor to the LET was mentioned in Souey's press conference and challenged to 'put his medals on the table'. I really hope that isn't true. It's immature and shows an inability to discuss things without resorting to bullying tactics or throwing the toys out the pram. Hopefully it didn't happen like that. On another note - The half time substitutions and constant tinkering are a worry as it suggests Souness doesn't know what his preferred team is. Quite simply he needs to make up his mind and try sticking to it as the next few games may be a nightmare otherwise.

It'll be the away win at Leeds you're thinking of tom - we won 3-2 and Dunn scored a penalty.

Souness has been quoted in the LET that there will be a different team and formation against Southampton and that the formation used on Saturday was in an attempt to be less vulnerable at home. Souness hits back at critics

Our biggest threat will probably be Jens Lehmann. If he goes all butterfingery like he has before we may just nick a goal. I'll go 3-0 Arsenal and that's not being negative just realistic. That's why it is so vital that we get something from the Southampton match.

That's a bit like saying how can we say Jack the Ripper was a bad man if we haven't seen him kill? It's a quite simple decision - do you have to have personally experienced something to have an opinion on it? Many people say Saddam Hussein wasn't the world's nicest ruler bt how do any of us know if we never went to Iraq? In other words people need to be capable of using their imagination rather than just thinking the world revolves around their own two eyes. We can either look at the cases made for each player and use those for the decision or we can just vote on those we have seen which means I probably have to choose between Brad and Tim for Best Goalkeeper. Which is hardly 'greatest' anything never mind of all time. It's difficult obviously but if we are going to have people only considering players from (for example) after they started watching Rovers in 2001 then it's going to be a bit poor when Gresko gets votes for greatest left back ever.

Well... I can help out a bit with players from before the war - write a little piece about what they did and have people judge them on that but obviously it's all secondary evidence so those on here would have to be willing to approach it with an open mind. Or...it can just be the same old thing with a team made up of players from just the last ten years, and we do seem to have those kind of threads a couple of times of a month. "hmmm....Davidson or Bjornebye for left back? Oh how can I ever seperate those two?!?". There's also players like Bob Crompton who even Jim can't have seen play (assuming Jim is the age he maintains and not just some thirtysomething pretending to be a pensioner on an internet message board ). I didn't start going to Rovers regularly until the late eighties so do I not consider the likes of Gennoe? It's a bit difficult this lark of trying to decide the actual greatest team ever

Al - Blacklaw played for Scotland when with Burnley I think although I've added something to my Rovers knowledge as I'd never even heard of Paul Bradshaw. Think we may need to approach this slightly differently otherwise the older players have no chance. Maybe if someone made a case for each player and the votes were made on that? It's difficult but otherwise people will just go for those players they have seen and we'll end up in the kind of daft situation where Brett Emerton gets votes as the greatest ever Rovers right winger while actual greats of the likes of Douglas and Clayton struggle. Is it to be the greatest player in that position or just the best player each person saw? What does everyone else reckon?

It's a good thing definitely. Barry needs all the games he can get after the amount of time he has had out. Don't think we have to worry too much of burnout in mid-August. With all this talk about Gray for England or what he was like at Celtic we seem to have missed the most important point. That point being; where on earth is MickeysNo1fan? She gone off him or what?

Football Focus is today starting their new feature with the cult heroes of Wolves, Cambridge and Inverness. It does have Rovers connections as the choice of Wolves fans are (along with Steve Bull) former Roverites Derek Dougan and Dave Wagstaffe. Although before my time many still seem to have fond memories of 'waggy' but I don't think there'll be too many fans of 'The Doog' seeing as he handed in a transfer request at Rovers on the morning of the 1960 FA Cup Final. Wolves' cult heroes

Sky Sports News currently have a reporter at the Rovers training session and there has been some shots shown of them training. Other than Tugay waving to the camera and an interview with Souness the main news they have grabbed hold of is that Dwight Yorke will be playing tomorrow. They'll be interviewing some players when the training session is over.

With Viera seemingly (eventually) destined for Real Madrid I'll have to back Chelsea. Even with Viera I'd probably still lean for Chelsea- two quality players (at least) in every position. Not only that but they'll be likely to strengthen the squad during the transfer window (as they did last season) for the final push. Arsenal to be quite close as even without Viera they are still a great side. Then Liverpool and Man U. I'm not sure what it is about United but for the past three seasons they just haven't looked the same. Even when they won the league they didn't manage it in quite the usual swaggering, arrogant, sweeping aside all like they used to. The team I'll go for to improve is Middlesbrough. They've been threatening a decent season for years but with Parlour, Viduka, Reiziger and Hasselbaink coming in they are far better team than last year. They already had a great defence and the likes of Mendieta and Zenden should make sure of another Uefa Cup spot. Newcastle....lucky to be I think as all is not well between Robson and Shepherd. Milner, Butt and Kluivert are their main signings. Milner is still a kid, Butt is good but nothing spectacular and there's a reason why only Newcastle wanted Kluivert who is incredibly overhyped. The next Shearer he is not. Rovers - mid-table. Which is damn sight better than last year. The FA Cup is probably beyond us (no team outside those that finished in the top four last season have won it since 1995 - Arsenal three times, United three times, Chelsea twice and Liverpool once) so the most important cup for us has to be the League Cup. It's the only one we can really hope to win. Cardiff 2005? We can but dream. 1. Chelsea 2. Arsenal 3. Liverpool 4. Man United 5. Middlesbrough 6. Aston Villa 7. Newcastle United 8. Birmingham City 9. Charlton Athletic 10. Tottenham Hotspur 11. Blackburn Rovers 12. Fulham 13. Manchester City 14. Southampton 15. Bolton Wanderers 16. West Bromwich Albion 17. Norwich City 18. Portsmouth 19. Everton 20. Crystal Palce

Well I did email them with a link to this thread but just received an automatic reply. Hopefully they'll eventually get around to reading their emails and by that time everyone who needs to will have voted in the poll. Oh and another thing - poor Hughesy!

Got to feel a bit sorry for 'Killer' Keeley. The only one of those in the poll yet to receive a single vote. Maybe people are remembering his debut sending off for Everton in a Merseyside derby (never to play for them again) or his butter fingers routine when dropping the Full Members Cup. While I only saw him at the very end of his Rovers career he was still ferocious in the tackle. Good to see him still employed at Rovers as part of the corporate hospitality section on matchdays.

Every single player we have makes mistakes yet only Nissa seems to be expected to never make them. If we didn't play Amoruso because he'd make mistakes then we's never have seen the long-haired Italian! Central defenders need runs in the team so they can slowly get used to their defensive partner, just like forwards can build up an understanding with a partner. Nissa will have off and on games if he is continually shoved in and out of the team and often asked to play out of position (left back then left midfiled for crying out loud). It's about time Souness gave him a run to find out if he is the answer or not. The belief that central defenders only come into their own about 30 years of age is a load of rubbish and isn't backed up by facts. Players like Keeley, Faz, Berg, Hendry, Short, Henchoz etc etc all got in the team (not necessarily Rovers) in their early to mid twenties and while they may have developed over the years Nissa aint going to do that in the reserves. It's about time Souness gave Nissa the chance to sink or swim, if he is serious about playing Matteo in midfield this could be the perfect time. If it doesn't work then go after another Moore-type without such dodgy knees. Otherwise you've saved the 500k or whatever and have a player who ( thanks to regular first team football and the growth in confidence that would come from knowing you have a manager that actually believes in you) is finally living up to their potential and growing in stature and belief as a player. Time to let the Nissa out if you ask me! As for Jim - well, he may be overly negative as always but he makes some very good points. For better or worse they'll be answered a few games into the season.

Dr Rich - I forgive you your comments as you're a damn philistine and hence know no better. You can, however, shove your Ripley where even the Aussie Sun don't shine!

An Irishman in Australia. What a bloody combination! Anyway- it looks like it'd going to be Hendry, Garner and one other for the top three from the votes so far.

Thought Den was doing one as his list was fine except for the inclusion (nothing wrong with him just that it is for ex-players and not current ones)of Big Brad. I proposed Sellars as the replacement but am willing to let it go if other people (with less taste) think otherwise...

If De Pedro is the kind of winger that likes to whip crosses in behind the defence for oncoming strikers it will be like manna from heaven for the strikers. Stead has height but I'd have to say that the player at the club with the best heading skills is... Dwight Yorke. Even in his uninspiring spell at Ewood he has contributed his fair share of headed goals. Before that he has consistently scored headed goals throughout his career, both at Villa and Man U. Not just any headed goals either, he made it somewhat of a trademark scene for him to run on to balls curled in the region between the central defenders and the goalkeeper before finishing clinically. Bringing him back may be a good idea after all...and not just to put him in the shop window! Yes, I know he has only been back for one pre-season game and this is being overly optimistic but I'm allowed to be at this time of the year. With Cole gone we could really do with a rejuvenated Yorke to bring quality, skill AND experience to the squad, something no other striker we have provides. Something as well which Yorke didn't provide last year but here's hoping anyway.

Regardless of the ifs and buts surrounding his future with the club, I cannot see any reason whatsoever for not keeping him in the squad. It's just a waste of money and resources. Same with Andy Todd, although it seems Wigan are preparing to take him JJB-way very soon.

Yes Tom...he certainly weas. Personally I'm just concerned as to who is going to supply the updates on the Fred Walker situation. With his insider contact, lofty2k2 knows more than most.