We need cover now, the fee will be small and waiting would increase the chances of him being snaffled by other clubs. I'm not sure I buy the idea that just because he's from Blackburn he will neccesarily turn down more lucrative offers from our competitors in the Prem. If he was available on a free loads of people would be having a look, it would be very messy IMO. All that said if the fee demanded rises beyond a million then we should walk away for now. ps. Really good point about heskey. Brum got 6 million for him and managed to make us part with 3.3 million for Savage, Pennant went for seven million. They drive a hard bargain. But in this case I'm reasonably sure that 1 million is pretty much the absolute maximum they can hope for in light of injuries and his contract status.

Tris I think you are living in dreamland a little bit. Clearly we need creative midfield players now, we have struggled to carve out chances as the season has progressed, and when one of our starting four has been injured or suspended the replacements seem inadequate. Man City have enquired about Dunn. I am certian if the terms that you suggest were on the table (free transfer and a grand a week wage) then every single club outsie the top four would have a look. That would represent almost zero risk for a potentially excellent player, you would have to be insane not to give it a shot. But Dunn realises this and commesurately will ask for more money. That is how market value is set, supply and demand. he knows, or his agent will, that clubs will be happy to give him ten grand a week (this is my guess but i feel an accurate one), the average wage of a footballer in the premiership. This will represent a third of what he is on at birmingham, so if you want him to suffer then he will as much as the mega rich can. You do have a point about waiting till the summer so we don't have to pay a fee but i would say 1) we need him now, we need a little quality on the bench at the moment, we have no one ot bring on to scare the opposition, dunn is a different sort of player to what we have. 2) he can provide cover for both midfield and up front. This season has shown how thin our squad is. 3) City are sniffing around, I'm sure others will be interested, we could lose the opportunity if we wait. i suppose it all comes down to our assessment of Dunn's potential, and i think relative to the modern transfer market 500k-1m is good value (despite in a 'real sense' it being an obscene amount of money) to acquire it.

You cannot exploit him because he is a fan. While he has a passion for blackburn rovers he is not going to work for a club for nothing, just as you would not work for nothing. It is entirely reasonable for him to expect a wage at his market level (as said massively reduced at present), if we don't offer it to him someone else will and he is entitled to take it. while a crock and so forth he is clearly a very talented player so there a number of clubs who will be interested at a low price which is the case at the moment.

We would not get him for nothing and earnng nothing except when he plays. He would go to a different club. Clearly we have to pay a fee and pay him a wage, that is the way the world works. Both are massively reduced and, IMO, represent good value. he is a high quality creative player, name another player of his standard we could hope to sign for around a millionquid, perhaps less? It's a gamble lke bellamy.

Just on a statistical level McCarthy is clearly doing a great job for us. He is matching bellamy's strike rater and seems to have the massive added advantage of not getting injured regularly. If we can find a partner for McCarthy with a bit of pace to scare opposition defences into sitting deep then he will imprvoe also. It's a real shame we don't still have Bellamy AND McCarthy, thye would be a dynamite combination.

Sadly wrong that really. If things were only that simple.

Very very long! I honestly think once Reid, Emerton and Nelsen are fit, Roberts is available, we have Dunn (if he comes)as an option on the bench and a left back, and perhaps another striker once Nonda is packed off (has to almost be a certainty now?) we will not only be a decent side but a really good one. In the meantime we are treading water though. We shouldn't be dispirited if lose at the Emirates providing we put the effort in.

Man Utd have the virtue of posessing some of the worlds best players so can afford to blood youngsters far more than we can as the quality can cover for mistakes. That is a crucial problem for us. When we were in the Championship we had a similar advantage with Dunn and Duff tbh. Now it is incredibly hard for us to put someone in as if we go a goal down it is difficult for us to turn the game around, today was the exception rather than the rule. As someone who really wants the youngsters to succeed it is hard for me to say, but really McEverley, Gallagher and even Peter have had quite a decent amount of time on the pitch now and don't look like they are going to meet the standard of the players we already have. I was suprised Derbyshire didn't make an appearence today, he would of been a better shot than Nonda, but we are kidding ourselves if he would even get a sniff if Jeffers or Roberts were fit.

I'm a little suprised, I take it the Axe is unfit or he would certianly start in a 451. Bizzare lineup. i can't quite believe McEverley is playing. Maybe: -------------McCarthy ---Gray--------------------Bentley ---------Pedersen Tugay ----------------Savage ----McEverly Todd Ooijer Neill ------------------Freidal This is a bit of a slap in the face for Peter if it is 451

I would take issue with this on the basis that I have loosely follwed him since his time at Brum and in a reasonable amount of the games he has actually played for them he has been described as their best player (including four or five last season in the prem), and that in a number of positions including up front. I certainly wouldn't say that there is a problem with him producing the quality on the pitch, rather its getting him out there in the first place. I think really you have to come down to the analysis that we are not going to get a player of his standard for the fee that is being bandied about. Injuries are a massive problem, but really I cannot see how it is going to make us weaker as a team than we are now. Worth the gamble for 500k-1m, even if he manages only ten to twelve games throughout the rest of the season.

I'm not sure that's true because France, for example, have an excellent coaching setup for the last 20 years and consistently produce a higher average standard of player than we do. It does have an influence. What I would say is a massive issue is that the physical demands of the premeirship, much much larger than continental football, make it hard for young players to be allowed to develop in the way they are over the channel. Pl;ayers like Peter, Gallagher, Pedersen, Derbyshire would all be afforded a little more room and subjected to less bullying than they get on these shores.

I think if anyone is the 'club captain' it's Nelsen. Clearly Todd isn't as hughes has lost faith in him entirely, to thepoint where he signed another player (Henchoz) to take his place on the bench.

In Rover 6s defence when Curbishley did have money to spend, like when he got 10 million for Parker, he didn't set the world alight. It will be interesting to see how he handles the Icelandic millions and a genuine global superstar in Tevez. Management is a strange game, there are some born winners I suppose - Ferguson, Mourinho, Clough etc. - and then for the rest it's more of a mixed bag perhaps. It is really hard to sit down and say 'so and so' is definately a better manager than 'so and so'. So many factors are involved - injuries, size and pulling power of the club for players, transfer funds, boardroom stability, quality of the inherited sqaud. You really can't judge till they have a year in the job at least.

Savage has real loyalty to Hughes rather than Blackburn. Just as good a reason to give him the armband imo. I would guess the only reason he hasn't got it already is to head off suggestions of favouritism from the rest of the squad. And I imagine his personality probably gets up the nose of one or two players. While I have no problem at all of Niell playing for the club I do find this whole captaincy thing bizzare. I bet Hughes is hoping that Nelsen comes back quickly to sort things out smoothly.

I would say Nonda has lost his chance. I will be suprised if Derbyshire doesn't play at Reading, despite obvious problems with his youth and so on, and absolutely without a doubt Roberts and Jeffers would be playing if they were available. It's a shame really as Nonda seemed in his first couple of games as if he had something to offer. Now we really look like having to go back out into the transfer market despite bringing in 4 strikers in over the summer.

I would say there has to be something in this. So many people are saying the same things. We won't have long to wait to find out though as, if the situation is as it is described, he will move on the first or the second of January. And to be honest even those of us who are not huge fans of Dunn can't really argue we don't need him, we need ANY quality midfielder at the moment, even if they can only manage half of the season's games. Peter, Mokoena and Gally are not providing the sort of first team backup we desire, and Dunn has the huge advantage of being able to play all the way across midifeld and potentially up front too. I would suggest though that we probably need another more workmanlike midfielder also.

With Todd out we are in trouble. We can either play Moko at RB or in the centre, or play Nolan in the centre. Neither fill me with confidence. I rekon Derbyshire will get the start with benni. Apart from that ususal team.

I think he will, he has been so far. He values being professional and he needs to play well so that he gets the move he wants to a big team in January.

He is employed by us, he works hard for us, I don't see the issue. He has the right to move clubs if he likes just in the same way you have the right to move jobs. He is in the team because he is our best option available. He is not taking the p---, he is just behaving in a purely professional manner for better or for worse. However I do completely agree that he shouldn't be captain, that just seems daft as we will have to hand it over to someone else in Jan/Feb. Savage is here for the long haul and is committed and I cannot work out for the life of me why he isn't captain already in Nelsen's absence.

But isn't the whole fitness thing just a result of higher standards and more intense competition across the board? Management and so on is more scientific and more cutthroat so look for any advantage they can, and physical condition is an obvious one. The only way of taking that out of the game would be for managers to allow their players to become less fit. Is that going to happen? Also, if Britian had a much higher technical standard of play how come we have made such little impact on on the international stage 1966 aside?

I don't think that's true, but you have to accept a balance. The game today is different but somethings are better for it. Tugay is the sort of player wou would have been exceptionally unlikely to see back in English footie in the sixties. The pace of the game is quicker too, and the Prem can ligitimately be said to hold someof the most skillful players in the world. Royal Fleet: That is an impressive list, and kudos to Copell for assembling it on such small money. However I am a bit suprised Seoul is not on there... It will be interesting to see whether Copell can maintain success on such meagre resources, and take the club forward without resorting to foreign players.

Don't you think it would be more damaging to restructure now? Just look at Charlton. And the core of the team - Savage, Nelsen, Ooijer, Reid - are all likely to be very loyal to Hughes so it could result in an exodus. If we are in the relegation zone come January you will have a case, but for now it is inconclusive. And the big question is there anyone out there who is better than Hughes who is going to come to Rovers?

Well I wouldn't say it is too bad. In England at the moment I would say domestic players are becoming better because of the competition from foreign players. I cannot see how the quality of English players suffers from it- if you're good enough you play. Les get the chance to play top league football but that is an incentive to work harder in training. While we had an exceptionally good team in the sixties today we pretty much rely on foreign players to get a high standard of football. If foreign player restrictions were brought in we would be in serious trouble as the few high standard english players would be nicked by the big four plus Spurs and Newcastle.

I think Pedersen will play. Hughes likes his defensive attributes and he has just scored. I just can't see him being dropped. Jeffers or Derbyshire starting is much more likely. Nonda's half time substitution against Toon and his terrible performance against Charlton all point toward it. In fact I think Jeffers would have started against Toon if he was fit. Todd's not going to get the armband. Or if he does it's bizarre since Hughes has frozen him out for months, even resorting to signing player to take his place. I am suprised Savage doesn't get it, clearly the best man fo rthe job. Tugay would be fine too.