Soccernet: St. Andrew's Postmortem Really a well-written article (especially if, like me, you have a particular distaste for the Big Club). Some of the notable excerpts: Now I'm left with a dilemna... who is our most hated Premiership opponent for next year?

Ohhhh that could be priceless, Neil. No doubt we'll be in the bottom half, possibly the bottom five--though he was a bit more positive toward the end of the year. Between Lawro and everyone else's predictions, this thread should make for some good reading next week then.

I was going to start figuring things out after Sunday's matches. Just a warning, that it is finals week for me and so I might not have it done until Monday night sometime... but it's always fun to see who did well, right?

Poetic justice methinks.

A chance to help send the Big Club down and we're plain and simply not taking advantage. Come on Rovers.

Maybe I'm more of an optimist, but I take it as a compliment. He was probably asked about the manager of the opposing side this weekend, and that's about the highest praise you can give a former Man United player who is now in management. I don't want Hughes to go anywhere--not yet, anyway--but I don't really see anything malicious in Whelan's comments.

Soccernet Insider: Man U 3 - 0 Brum An article mostly about Giggs, but some interesting comments regarding the Big Club and its manager. I quite liked the last one.

Well, Germany is certainly back on track. An absolute farce of an effort from the U.S. defense has seen Germany score 4 in the opening 25 minutes of the second half. They're probably not done yet, either. I'm still not that incredibly impressed, however. If the U.S. had had Onyewu and Pope at the back, there wouldn't have been the complete defensive ineptitude that was on display today. Ballack looks phenomenal though. Just what Chelsea need--another world-class player to play every other game.

Wonderful. Just wonderful. I had them 11th in my preseason predictions, and I don't think I've ever been happier about being wrong.

Greening: Gold slight fired us up "Their chairman said they had more quality than us. We all heard what he said and our captain Kevin Campbell mentioned it just before we went out," [Greening] revealed. "To be honest, that wound us up a bit. We happen to think we have got a lot of quality in our team. We were the ones playing football while they were launching it. "We were devastated not to have won it." I was devastated too. Leave it to the Big Club's idiot chairman to provide bulletin board material to motivate the opposition.

A name that I thought of the other day is John O'Brien. Formerly of Ajax, now of ADO Den Haag in the Dutch Eredivisie, O'Brien played left back for Ajax but plays central midfield for the U.S. and is quite influential in that role. He's 28 and has had his share of injury problems--he's out now, and has been since September--but when on song, he's excellent technically, a natural defender and is a superb distributor of the ball. He's also one of my favorite players, so perhaps I'm being a bit biased. Perhaps American or seahawkdad or some of the other Americans on this board have heard what's wrong with him recently... I think he's an excellent player and, if Rovers could convince him to come to England, the fee would be miniscule (if any at all) and he'd be an excellent gamble worth taking. Best get him now before he plays well in the World Cup.

Of course, philip, it can often be that the manager isn't good enough, not the players--which I clearly believe to be the case at the Big Club. The only players I can realistically see Hughes going after are Dunn and Taylor. Heskey is on too much money, Pennant is too much of a headache, Davies and Gera would be chased by a host of clubs, and the rest probably wouldn't go straight into the first team, a requirement for Hughes and JW if they're going to consider most players. That being said, there are plenty of names that could help us, but I can't see Rovers going after any of Kanu, Mendes, Davis, etc. Just as a point of information--what type of player is Gary O'Neil?

I think that's something important to remember. Cole was a showboating trick-pony until Mourinho helped him get his head screwed on straight--and that was last season, when Cole was 23 going on 24 years old. I'm not sure if Bentley can be the next Tugay (I personally think he plays too far up the pitch to assume that type of role), but based on what he's shown us so far as only a 21 year old the future is very, very bright for him.

Sounds completely undeserved from how Rovers have been playing this half too.

Sounds like the pace provided by Pongo and Bellamy is a handful for Spurs... come on Rovers!!!!!

This is where the debate should begin and end. I'd personally like to have him back, but I'll trust Hughes' judgment either way--he's earned at least that much from us. I just hope the speculation dies until summer comes.

Couldn't have said it better myself. I really and truly believe, and have said since the beginning of the season, that Rovers would be better next year than this... so for a place in Europe looking like a very real possibility so soon, I can only say that there are very good days ahead for the club.

QOTSA, that's an excellent post and we're all glad to hear that. These are exciting times for the club--what Sparky has been able to do with limited resources in so short a time is nothing short of astounding.

Perhaps the only silver lining in our loss today is that the Big Club is now five points adrift of seventeenth place.

Peter on for Tugay. Edit: "Has he got Paul and Mary with him?" Oh, what a hoot these commentators are.

Just one lucky bounce..... come on Rovers.

I'm having flashbacks to the World Cup. YEAH BIG BRAD!!!!!!!!!!

Pure guts from Rovers right now. Gotta love it.

That's what they said. Also, as the Rovers commentary points out, it's almost double last night's attendance at the JJB.

24,348... well done Roverites.