The Sun, The Mirror, The Daily Mail (especially) etc all rely on sensation to sell newspapers and all report vitriolic bile with no real interest in journalism, merely in profits.

The Hillsborough report was a quite breath taking example of this but in general the moral standard of the mirror is no better than the sun.

The people who are responsible for this cancer on our society are not the editors or journalists but the idiots who buy them.

Well thank God he’s signed at last. Not just because he’s a good player and because he’s free but more importantly because I’ve spent the last three weeks perfecting this song in anticipation of his arrival and it would have been a shame if all my hard work had gone to waste. It’s to the Great Escape tune…

“Dom Dom, Dom Da Dom Dom, Dom Dom, Dom Dom Dom, Mat-te-o,

Dom Dom Dom Dom, Dom Da Dom Dom, Dom Dom, Dom Dom Dom, Dom Dom.”

I did think about using the Imperial March from Star Wars.…

“Dom Dom Dom, Dom, Da Dom, Dom Da Dom,

Dom Dom Dom, Dom, da Dom, Dom Da Dom......”

...but I wasn’t happy with the lyrics.

I was thinking about using Jaws sound track

dom, dom...............dom, dom........dom, dom.........dom, dom......dom, dom...dom, dom..dom,dom dom,domdom,dom dom,dom dom,domdom,dom dom,dom dom,domdom,dom dom,dom dom,dom dom,dom dom,dom MATTTEEEOOO!!!!!

Top stuff! Intimidating yet fun, the ideal combination for any chant.

Seriously think this should be adopted.

It gets even worse for Leeds !. Or maybe not.

How does a player go from the England first team to ignomy before he is 31? Did he have an injury or something? He has been awful for so long that I have forgotten when he actually became rubbish.

Very intersting article on the BBC about the Chelsea squd. Morinho has openly set a limit of 24 players and actually declared who is in at the moment.

Link

As it stands only Cudicini, Cech, Ferrera, Johnson, Bridge, Babyaro, Terry, Lampard, Robben, Duff and Gudjohnson appear to be defiantely safe.

Davids joins Chelski

I don't think anyone saw that one coming.

Smells of Abramovich just sticking his oar in where he fancied, doubt Morinho had much influence on this one.

Chelsea have one bloated midifeld: Robben, Duff, Geremi, Makelele, Lampard, Parker, Cole, Gronkjaer, Davids. This is all ignoring Stanich, Oliviera, Nicolas, Smertin and Petit.

If Parker is deemed surplus to requirements (seems increasingly likely)we should definately have a look. Any manager with his head screwed on right would go for him, but you dont get if you dont ask.

Souness did make enquiries last year when he was still at Charlton.

This just goes to show that in football there is NO preordained elite who will win games just because of their status.

Football is game played by 22 men for 90 minutes, nothing outside of that, so provided your team is well drilled and has talent you are in with a chance. I hope some of this rubs off on the premiership next season- Arsenal, Man Utd and the like have a huge psycological advantage which wins games before a ball is kicked. If mid table sides adopt an approach of believing they can compete and WIN against the big sides we will have a very interesting season.

Being "practicle" (ie. aiming merely to achieve what seems 'possible') is just negativity dressed differently. Curbishly, O'Leary and even Souness should be inspired by what the Greeks have achieved.

Fair enough, it is a lot harder to overcome bigger teams throughout a 38 game season, but it is counter productive to envisage yourself in an set order of clubs.

Incidentally, Alan Smith must be delighted to find out that he is being offered as a makeweight in the ManU bid for Rooney.

Isn't that illegal?

Can't remember the details, but it's one change of clubs per year or somehing?

Its got to be less than a year- im sure people have moved twice in 13 months. Although it is not in England Hakan Yakin moved between three different teams in the last year.

Have Bolton no ambition? Why can't they buy an "exciting" player rather than this fella who'll come in and do a good job for a season? What's wrong with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink? Next Sam will be talking about "budgets" and "wage structures".

Les Ferdinand - Allardyce really is starting to believe his own hype.

They might as well disband their youth set-up, apart from Nolan and Hunt, do they have any home grown talent?

Ferdinand is incredible, to still be a decent striker at that age beggers belief. Hats off to the man!

On the other hand I would rather stick a fork in my eye than see him at rovers.

mr drake has a very valid point the signing's have been mediocre to say the least,goped is unknown to me but if he was that good why was he not in poooooooooortuuuugal

Because the spanish have at least three of the greatest wingers in the world currently available to them. All of them are worth in excess of 10 million- we got De pedro for free.

Who would of you signed instead? Someone who would come to sunny Blackburn and we could afford. I for one cannot think of a single chap- that Petrov guy was good for Bulgaria, but I think he is already in the Bundasliga and his value has just trebled after his excellent performances.

Second thing here is, whether he likes it or not, I would say that Flitty is no longer an automatic first choice. Thompson, Ferguson, Johnson, Tugay, Reid (?) and Flitcroft. If he's fit and up and running and showing the same form that he did before his injury I'd suggest that Fergie is the only automatic first choice. The others can fight it out amongst themselves.

I thought we just signed seth Johnson, I nearly had a bloody heart attack!

Is Scott Parker a top player?

One of the very finest, he is THE up and coming young midfielder in the premiership domestic or foreign. Can dribble, tackle, create and score- very similar to a certain Mr Gerrard although I think he might feel somewhat under appreciated at Chelsea next season.

I would kill to have him at Rovers, imagine him and Ferguson in the middle, it is enough to make you drool....

The future of England is right there- it will be tough to displace Lampard but I do not think it is beyond him, a far more naturally talented player IMHO. Joe Cole is a trick pony in comparison.

I guess they're put off by the size of the squad, and that it seems to be a group of talented individuals, rather than a close knit team. You may be the bees knees one season, but then another player may be signed and take your place the next.

The way Abromovich has run the club has been appalling and belies the fact that it is essentially a game to him (I know techinically football is a game, but you know what I mean). Everybody realised that in investing all the money the russian would be holding the reigns but it has been amazing just how involved he has been. He lacks any real startegy for winning the title beyond a simple formulae of buying the best (whether that means coahes or players) and has wasted a obscene amount of cash doing it.

It does not bode well for Chelsea at all, it suggests impatience and a lack of commitment and if Chelsea win the title and the Champions League or alternative do very badly you have to wonder whether he will just walk away.

He is upgrading thestadium and so on yet the capricous nature of the bloke means nothing is for certain.

His record looks good, but England havent actually come that close to winning anything.

Brazil with ten men, an average Portugal team, playing the lad Powell from Charlton.

Probably would of been Chelsea manager if there wasnt a photo of him walking into his house. Secret talks with Chelsea, but mind you the cash he gets paid for the England job I would probably stay for a bit as well.

Your being way too hard on Sven IMHO, the guy is cautious but then Keegan was cavalier and he got a kicking. He has formed an excellent side by emphasising those qualities we are world leaders in- work rate, finishing, long range passing. Also he has taken risks, picking rooney was a massive risk due to his lack of club form and low goal tally.

He has a clear idea of how he wants England to play (in stark contrast to some of his predecessors!) and as the four years have worn on since his appointment we have steadily risen in the 'attractiveness' stakes. Some of the passing and link up play against Croatia was sublime, and we looked fairly decent in the first half against portugal.

There were, by common consensus, eight teams at least who could win the tournament at the start. That makes England at best have a one in eight chance of winning it, longer odds once you consider that in terms of personnel at least four of those teams had frankly better players. Even if we were fantastically,brilliant amazing and manged by Jesus Christ we would still never had more than a one in four chance of winning the whole thing. It is a sixteen horse race of a high quality after all.......

Sven needs to now get behind the team and turn them into a side which can dictate a game against top opposition and I believe he will. Naturally a defensive mided man he will of recognised that we now have the quality in the middle of the park to compete with the best sides. Our future essentially depends upon the full backs getting forward, a high defensive line and an attacking passing outlook- and this will be what Sven is aiming to do.

And to finish, who would you get in? McClaren, Bruce, Venables again? None of these would strike me as a definitive step forward.

I think Sven is going to have a bit of a re think now and I expect the next england friendly to be characterised by attacking verve. We know we are, largely, a good defensive side but we have to not be afraid to put our stamp on a game. Practically the same line up will start but maybe without Scholes and instead Joe Cole, Parker or Wright-Phillips. Personally I would stick Parker on the left to help with ball retention and he can drive forward too.

We do not really need to change much, just find the confidence to stay on the front foot for the whole game. A basic point should be made that at all times Campbell should attempt to marshal the defensive line to a minimum of 30 yards from our own goal, preferably more (it exposes up to fast strikers, but that is by far the lesser of the two evils). If it sits on the edge of the box then our midfield cannot function.

A few simple adjustments and we should improve vastly, and we were not too ba before .

You heard it here, we lost that match because Sven didn't bring on Heskey for Rooney.

Please don't write that like it is fact, because it's not.

We played terrible, Sven made mistakes...but despite all that if we had a half decent referee we would be through.

It was meant to be taken in a light-hearted manner.

I still think that the Vassell for Rooney substitution was one of the factors that resulted in us losing.

Heskey up front would have been able to hold up the ball and allow midfielders to move up the park to join him in attack. Instead we had Owen and Vassell isolated and overpowered, providing no decent possession in the Portuguese half.

Imo, Sven should look for Alan Smith and Wayne Rooney to be first choice partnership for England. They'd compliment each much more than the OWen - Rooney partnership. And it'd mean we might actually have an aerial threat up front.

I agree that Owen should maybe be dropped in favour for a more powerful striker. On the other hand a forward needs to score goals which Smith has not done consistently although that might change at Man Utd. Rooney, despite his amazing form for England, is not an out and out goal scorer either, prefering to drop deep.

I would suggest, even if I am little biased, Stead is (if he improves in the air) the ideal partner for Rooney with good technique and link up play along with an eye for goal. He needs to be better with his back to goal too, but the potential is there. If it is a big chap we need up front then it is really a two horse race at the moment between Smith and Stead. I am very optimistic about our jon's chances of breaking in to the squad next season.

Ferguson is our 'best player' (he hasnt shown it in rovers shirt yet, but frankly he is the name that sticks out in the squad. But then so does Emerton's....) and was always going to inherit the captaincy sooner or later.

Firstly it clears up selection problems, Souness will want to start Tugay from time to time and maybe give Thompson a shot in the middle without worrying whether the captain is in the team.

Secondly if we are signing players they will want to see that they will be able to start. After saving a load of cash on astute buys on free (de Pedro, Dickov, hopefully Matteo) we might have the funds for Butt. He will want to know he will be in the the team regularly before he signs (if we get him...), so having an automatic starter in Ferguson and Flitcroft as captain on our books would not fill him with confidence.

The bottom line is Flitcroft is now deemed a squad player by Souness, not a first choice, and he has been sniffing around midfielders (Izzet for example) for quite a while. Souness, despite accusations of only trying to get 'athletes' in, likes his players to be technically able- especially in the centre of the park. Flitcroft, while he has many talents, is lacking in this area.

Parker and Duff are two of the finest young talents in the the world, to just throw them away like that is not only callous but ultimately stupid.

If this happens it might well be considerably harder for Chelsea to attract players as they will be aware of how shabbily they will be treated.

Parker is almost of Gerrards quality IMHO so if Liverpool do not jump at this they are most certainly banonkers.

Clive is the biggest tosser on telly. Does anybody like him? I fail to see why he gets to froth nonsense all over the beautiful game.

Drop Scholes for Bridge. Bit more controversial, especially as Scholes scored and played reasonably well from the left. But noticeably, in the second half, Ivica Mornar played down the right and gave Ashley Cole merry hell, providing numerous decent crosses. Where was Scholes? Galloping off into the centre as is his want being a natural centre midfielder.

Bridge will have the positional discipline to stay on the left and help out Cole.

This will be even more crucial if Cristiano Ronaldo plays on the right for Portugal.

I am majorly worried about this too. Ronaldo or Figo consistently one on one with Cole is a recipe for disaster, especially when the full back is also expected to provide all the width on the left too! I cannot see Sven dropping Scholes however, so I would expect to see Gerrard moved out to the left and Scholes shuffled into the middle.

This could work quite well as Scholes should be afforded a bit of room by the Portugese midfield. Would have to agree that Bridge deseves consideration though.

I have a feeling that this game is going to be a corker- both teams will be looking to attack as Portugal lack the defensive players to sit back and we have found our best form when going forward. Ultimately we look to have the most effective system and formation even if we lack the flair players (apart from Rooney, obviously!) our defensive superiority and versitility in midfield should make us favourites.

Just been at the gym and ysaw sky sports running a story to do with Fowler and Cole. There was no sound unfortunately.... does anybody know what it was about? BBC and Skysports.com are not running anything.

Personally I was very impressed by the standard of passing and the patient nature of the England in general. It is beginning to show that we can compete on an international level in terms of technique, vision and skill. That allied with our more recognised talents of fight, power and pace and we have ot be one of the favourites now.

While contraversial I would say the our main 'world class' players are Campbell, G Neville, A Cole, Gerrard, Rooney and possibly Lampard Hasnt played enough, but is showing real promise). I have never felt comfortable with Owen up front- great finisher, good movement but limited when on the ball out of the box. Still made a great pass for Rooney's third though, but perhaps the exception rather than the rule.

Beckham is great at passing and the dead ball but in open play he must be ultra fit or he is buggered. He lacks the pace or the skill to beat players so he must have the energy to find space before he recieves the ball. That is still lacking. Obviously in the lack of decent competition he deserves a place (as well as being the captain!) but you have to say if we had a player who can beat a full back, even with a lesser quality of passing, he would give our Dave a run for his money.

Gerrard is awesome. Fair enough he was not outstanding to day, but he can do everything. He will be twice the player Beckham wil ever be. Rooney already is! Neville was excellent and shows that dependability is under rated- I hate his little rat face but sheer class defensively and had the engine to get up and down consistently. Any side in europe would put him in their team. A cole is a bit more of a risk, but I would say he is just the converse of G Neville- outstanding going forward, average defensively. Again, most national teams would have him in their side.

I hope we play like that again, we can be an attractive team to watch! Just imagine if we had a left winger........

Excellent news! Fair enough he is the wrong side of thirty but then there is no transfer fee. We can go back in for MGP or whoever later. I suspect if Matteo signs for a minimal fee as well it would clear the way for Butt to come in.

Good dealing Souness

In a bizarre sort of way Abrohimovich is really helping those teams just outside the top five and smaller prem clubs in london. They are able to attract the cast offs on loan or in transfers for next to nothing. There could be as many as ten or twelve ex blues knocking about, all of decent quality.

Birimngham and Villa look like they are going t have substantially improved teams thanks to the dodgy russian which is not good news for us.

Glen Johnson? Yes please....

What... you mean after boro trialled him they suddenly realised that he wasnt a johnny foreigner mercenary they could sign on a free or on loan for extortionate wages. Nor was he a 5 goal a season injury plagued forward or just injury plagued for that matter!!!!

Arent these the guidelines steve mclaren abides by..... the most overated manager in the premiership...well apart from lancashires answer to Derek Trotter, the whealer dealer (2 for a pound) himself... Stand up Big Sam Allaredyce!!!!!

You can say what you like but big sam has been good at Bolton. In terms of money invested they should of been down a long time ago. To be fair you have to wonder what he would of achieved with a decent transfer budget.

i saw on sky sports today that leicester are to play boca juniors at the walkers stadium in a pre-season game. i am presuming that they are touring england or europe for their season so i reckon it would be great to get a side like that at ewood park. anybody heard anything of who we might play at ewood this summer?? anyone with any teams they would like to come here and watch??

Whats happening with the 'presteige friendly'? I would like to see a top quality side at Ewood to kickstart the season. Any of the top four teams from around the major european leagues.

Inter Milan would get my vote at the moment.