Matteo was by far and away the man of the match for me, playing at centre back. 

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Hmmmm interesting. Perhaps if Gresko can recapture the form of his loan spell, Matteo can be used in the center as a replacement for Nelsen or Todd in the case of injury? An in-form Gresko and Taylor available at left back, with Matteo providing the ability to play either at that position or center half, would be a big boost for Rovers defense.

I would rather watch us battering the hell out of Arjen Robben and staying in the Premiership, then us being the tippy-tappy football and getting relegated.

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As would everyone, but the media simply doesn't get that. I've read in more than one place this summer grumbling about how Crystal Palace and Norwich and their flowing football will be missed in the Premiership next year. That's all well and good, but if you asked any one of their supporters I'm sure they'd trade places with the savage horde of the Blackburn Bruisers in a heartbeat.

So how old is Keith Treacy, 16 or 17 I'm guessing from unleaded's little bio? Sounds a good prospect, and while it's a bit too soon to be calling him the new Duff, I think it's certainly positive for kids his age to be training and playing with the first team during the preseason. It can only bode well for the future.

The presence of a trial goalie in Fredici is interesting. We were apparently interested in Stuart Taylor earlier in the summer, and now a trialist at the position? Maybe Hughes isn't satisfied with Enks as cover?

Birmingham, Spurs, and Diouf for the reasons mentioned above.

And I know Manchester United has been mentioned, but I'd like to reserve a special place for those bandwagon "fans" who have oh so much love for the Red Devils. It's horrible over here in the U.S., where people who know little to nothing about European football purport to love Man U simply because it's the team that markets itself the best on this side of the pond. A good friend of mine, when I asked him to name all the players he could from his "favorite" club, came up with about seven or eight--and that's better than most. Half of them reach for Beckham as their first player!

I suppose you could say the same for fans of all the big clubs--Real, Chelsea, etc.--who have no idea what they're talking about.

Cheers for the info and pictures, guys, it sounded like a great time out.

excuse me?

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Come now, roversmum, you shouldn't even be reading this thread in the first place. Everyone knows that a woman's place is in the kitchen, and as far away from the world of football as possible. Silly girl.

A very informative match report, thanks Lee. Of particular interest was Emerton's near goal, when he "broke down the right wing, beating his man for pace." Hopefully an indication of things to come this year?

Oh, and any news on those who didn't feature? We know about Bellamy from the official site, but what about Jansen? And how close are Gresko and Thommo to featuring again?

Oh that's poor!

*grimace*

I believe I read on Teamtalk this morning that John Curtis is about to sign for Plymouth.

Trust me philly, i was not havin a go at souey.......wen he was here i loved the guy....and i think wot he did for rovers in his time here was great and i hate the dicks that boo him wen he came bak wiv the toon! All im sayin was that someone was sayin Kuqi would be no good cos Souness turned him down 3 years ago........and thats stupid......AND i didnt say all souness signings were bad just that a few were......and that so far hughes signings have been crackin.....i mean who eva heard of Nelson b4 we bought him......(well actually US fans might of and NZ) but now id say his one of top 10 def. in prem....so maybe we should trust hughes on kuqi

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Wasn't trying to nitpick, skip, and I do agree with most of what you've said. A lot of members of this board will slate Souness to no end nowadays, constantly harping on how he never saw the plot in the first place and wishing him total ill will at Newcastle. I'm not a huge Souness fan but I do like the guy and appreciate what he did for the club. I'd even go a step further and say that he left the club on amicable terms, so I can't understand all the hard feelings toward the guy.

It's not Rev or jim or anyone who I begrudge, because they always made it known how much they disliked our former manager... it's the Johnny-come-latelys of the "We hate Souness" camp who seem to slate him for no other reason than that it seems fashionable.

Back on topic anyway, I agree that I trust Hughes' judgment better than Souness'--although time will ultimately tell how good of an evaluator Sparky is, his record thus far is unblemished. But has anyone also considered the possibility that the extra few years in the lower divisions helped Kuqi refine his game to the point where he is now a Premiership player, where he might not have been a few years ago?

Tugay? Friedel? Stead? Even Todd was a Souness buy, for God's sake. Not having a go at you personally, skip, but a lot of people think it's fashionable to have a go at Souness now--they focus on his faults and overlook the good things he achieved during his tenure here.

Come on, guys, paddy's obviously bored and he's coming here to try to wind us up. It seems to be working, too.

I know it's the dog days of summer, paddy, but can you please crawl on all fours back to your own forum?

I hadn't bothered to read a whole lot on the incident, but that firsthand report has me completely stunned at Barton's idiocy. Amazing how such a once-promising young player has such little control over himself. Hitting the boy was bad enough, but attacking his good friend who tried to intervene? Despicable behavior if I've ever seen it.

If he is sacked, whichever club picks him up is dealing with a public relations nightmare on a Bowyer-esque level.

Good spot, John. I wrote the obvious in responding to their question... that as Dickov was purchased for a mere £150,000 and his goals helped save us from relegation, he most certainly was a hit.

Dickov's popularity certainly took a hit over the second half of the year as he struggled with injury and the task of playing up top in a 4-5-1, but he never complained whilst turning in a season worth of gutsy performances for the club. I'll admit that as this summer has approached, I've overlooked Dickov a little bit with delusions of bringing in a Bellamy and McCarthy strikeforce, but I think if we're all realistic then Dickov will certainly have a role to play next year. I can't see him starting for the simple fact that he and Bellamy don't seem to complement each other well, but he'll be a valuable asset off the bench and in those starts he does make we know the effort we'll get.

Thanks for your hard work so far, Paul, and let's keep up that work in the coming season.

Agree that I'd rather see a "flair player" making the breakthrough, but Harkins has played with the reserves for a while now, and I believe he captained the Academy side when he was younger (although I could be making that up).

If Harkins has worked harder and is more advanced at this stage, then he deserves the spot more so than Peter or Welch--seeing as none of them will probably get a look in this year anyway. However, I get the feeling that Harkins won't ultimately make the grade at the Premiership level.

Morecambe goal?!?!?!?!?

That's it, it's over... relegation for sure this season, a record low 12 point haul and Hughes to be fired in November!

  Spooky

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Well done to you sir. Let's just hope that our "Welsh Wizard" ends up performing better than our "Spanish Pile of Dog Poo."

'Twill be interesting to see how Kuqi looks in the second half.

Gotta love this: "Bellamy is at the heart of everything that is good for Rovers."

Edit: damn you Craigman and modes.

Thanks Clare.

Up the Rovers! Bellamy to bag a brace on his debut.

Will there be match updates on the official site?

If Cookiemonster is right with this team, then perhaps it is a hint of who Hughes expects to play a part this season:

Here is the Rovers team for today

ROVERS: Friedel, Taylor, Matteo, Todd, Nelsen, Tugay, Johnson, Flitcroft, Dickov, Gallagher, Bellamy. Subs: Harkins, Mokoena, McEveley, Gray, Derbyshire, Reid, Douglas, Peter, Kuqi, Jansen, Enckelman.

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I knew waggy would love this thread. Anyway.....

Keith Barker could be worth keeping an eye on.

He played 4 or 5 games for the reserves late last season and scored a few goals.

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Garner grabs all the attention out of the Academy--rightfully so with his exploits for both Rovers and the England youth squads--but we don't always hear a lot about Barker. Still only 18, his goalscoring record from last year is certainly impressive (19 in 29 appearances for the Academy, 4 in 7 appearances for the reserves). He looks like a big kid, too. He's getting to the age where he needs to make a breakthrough in the next year or two in order to make it--so can he do it? Those who have watched him play for the Academy and reserve sides... what kind of player is he?

Keith Barker Academy profile

There have been a couple threads on individual youth players--Matty Derbyshire springs to mind--but I wanted to get a feel for the youngsters that everyone can (realistically) see making an impact this year. In recent seasons we've seen the likes of McEveley, Gallagher, Johnson, and even Derbyshire (to an extent) break through to make an impact on the first team. Meanwhile, players such as Danns and Fitzgerald have failed to make the breakthrough and are now departed.

Which of the current crop of youngsters could make an impact this year? I would think that Garner is still a bit young, but it'd be interesting to see if Andy Taylor has an impact should Matteo and Gray depart (as has been suggested), and I wonder if those who have come back from loan to Cercle Brugge, i.e. Watt and others, will get a look in.

Does anyone who watches the youth and reserves regularly--or has any connection with the club--have anything to add?

Damn you, den, using your mod powers to edit Arsenal into that post without that tacky little edit notation at the bottom... now I look like the idiot!

Wow, they're not even giving Arsenal a chance to win the title. I'll take those odds!

I mean this  in all seriousness.Would we be willing to accept say 250,000 pounds for Amoruso (obviously at a significant loss to what we paid Rangers) and say 250,000 for Gray to take a trip one way to the Tyneside?If those numbers are laughable ,what would be significant enough for said deals to occur?(i.e. what would Rovers management be willing to take to get those two off the books?)I would snap their wrists off if souness came in with a net of 500,000 pounds for those two.(this may be more of a visceral reaction on my part rather than a logical one from a business perspective,I realise)

Florida Rover

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In my opinion, they're two completely seperate cases. I'd think that the club would readily give away Gray just to be rid of his contract--such a situation almost transpired earlier this summer, but Leeds couldn't afford to match Michael's current salary and the deal fell through.

Amoruso, on the other hand, is providing cover at a position where we lost two players who regularly featured in the first team or at least on the subs bench (Nissa and Short). Unless someone offered us silly money for him (i.e. £750,000 or more), Amo probably still has a somewhat important role to play as cover in central defense. If someone were to come in with an offer for him--and let's face it, nobody would--then Hughes would only be able to consider it if the money gained could be put toward purchasing a replacement.

This is all hypothetical anyway, as I don't realistically expect either to be leaving.