um, pleasure is a bit 'eccentric' with his posts. Fact occasionally blurs with fiction... I am just wondering why SWP is so interested in 'roasting' gray. Add I'm not sure Blackburn's more conservative fans will think that's value for money on tuesday evening. I mean, you could get a video for a tenner.

Well, Joe Cole and Carrick have not been too shabby either... Poor motivation, tactics and injuries took Birmingham down. They have quality players all over the pitch. To dismiss them because they have been relegated is just stupid. Look at Roy Keane, the west ham lads, Crouch, Stuart Pearce, Dean Ashton, Kevin Phillips, James Beattie...

Like any player you have to rate him against other possibilities. And frankly in terms of powerful players Heskey is a good option. It is more than likely he will be affordable, two or three million, and although prone to losing the ball he is infinately better than Kuqi. To get an idea of the market you only have to look at Ashton, Crouch and Beattie who all went for massively inflated fees- and why? Becase they are big guys. In terms of value for money Heskey will go a long way. And as for Pennant being over rated - how many wide right players who can trouble a full back will be going for a reasonable fee this summer? Extremely few. And while Pennant is not Wright-Phillps, Pennant is young (with resale value) and genuinely exciting to watch. In the league IMO, outside the top three and Arsenal, only Lennon and Solano offer his kind of ability. Oh, and in the 'replacement to Tugay' stakes Jarosik genuinely stands out. And, again because of relegation, he will not be gong for a huge sum even though Chelsea hold his contract.

Well, brum are down now and I literally think if we expressed interest in Dunnie he would be our player next year for not much money, maybe a million or something like that. He is on his day an exceptional player, world class. In terms of skill on the ball there are very few Englishmen who can rival him. And he is precisely the kind of player Rovers could use at the moment, a sort of player we don't have, and happily a local lad too. But the injuries are ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous. And you have to qestion how interested he is in getting fit. While I am sure he is not feigning injury and would like to play, he does give off the aura of not being as concerned about being on the treatment table as other players- our Bellamy, nelsen, Reid- might be. So, sadly, I can't see him plyaing for us. But I do reckon there will be at least one or two ex city players at Ewood in the Autumn. Upson, Pennant, Hesky, Forsell, Sutton and Jarosik are all players who have something to offer to our club.

How is Nelsen doing? If he is out we are in trouble

This has to be right up there with West Ham in terms of quality players going down. Well don 'arry by the way! From our point of view Heskey, Pennant and Jarosik are all worth more than a look. Pennant particlarly is utterly ideal for us ad we could get him for a bargain two or three million depeding upon interest in him.

To be honest, if Rooney doesn't make it i would stick Gerrard up front. I think he would do a better job of it than Crouch or Ashton or anyone else. But if we are going to have realistic chance of reaching the final we need roon fit!

We looked excellent today but you have to say that Charlton were just poor. The amount of room they gave us was criminal. No closing down or anything. Bentley and Tugay had so much room to pass the ball around it was ridiculous. Nobody played badly but the Ped still did little apart from the throw in, Bellamy was suprisingly subdued but still excellent in running the channels. I am not sure why everybody rates Pongolle so highly. He had a couple of nice touches but he offered so little threat. Often he would check back or mis-control. Reid was outstanding, as was Tugay, and all the defence played well. But is is worth saying again- Charlton were abysmal.

I appreciate the sentiment, but I don't think anyone would give a toss ifit was Sven won it. I certainly can't see anybody in fifteen years time going "Yeah we've won the world cup twice. Oh, hang no the second one doesn't count because we had a Swede in charge..." In ideal world the manager would be English, but I am not sure it is worth compromising our chances of winning a major competition to satisfy.

Youyr absolutely right on that count. He would have been eaten alive. However the tabloid press in our country is an absolute joke, a cyst upon society. People complain about 'self serving politicians', and corrupt government etc. If there is one institution that has no worth in any sense (go on, I challenge anybody to come up with a decent defence), it is that bunch of viscious, base and derogotory rags. Pure bile.

I would be amazed if we hadn't offered the job to Wenger. I rather imagine he just turned it down. Who was the last English manager to win the top division title? Just checked: Howard f-ing Wilkinson with Leeds, all the way back in 1992... (as a side point, and demonstration of how volatile football was in the days before modern CL, Leeds finished SEVENTEENTH the year after they won the league. Cantona left in the summer...)

Well he did get to two international finals, and has won a world cup. Why should he manage Cameroon or South Korea? And tha more accurate comparison to Ronaldinho and Deco would be Rooney, our best player. Bent and Ashton are squad players, like, say, Mendes or Ricardinho. I'm a bit more worried tht he is not going to know about our fringe players, and cannot, at the moment, speak English. But then he could be a breath of fresh air. GIve the man a chance!

Um, can he speak English?

This is an absolute gold mine for the tabloids. 'Big Phil' Scolari, a right old character! I would bet my bottom dollar on a two year love affair and then a swift kicking delivered after we don't win the Euros in 2008. Ha! He is also, if I remember correctly, a conservative tactician too, despite being Brazilian. I rememebr him saying in 2002 that the team needed to play more like England or something to that effect! That said he has more balls, and has to be more creative than Eriksson in terms of formations and player choices. And he has reached two international finals and won one so that has to be good! The only thing that rankles I suppose is why didn't we go for Hiddink when he was available? I presumed it was because we were sticking to British? I assume O'Niel must of turned dwn the job in the last week or so or something.

That is it in perspective. We are doing decently out of Pedersen as the only side around us that has a substantially better left winger is Arsenal. Would you swap Ped for Andy Reid, N'Zobia, Luque and be confident that it was an upgrade? In fact I would only swap him for Ronaldo, Pires, Duff or Robben. Anybody else and I would worry that I was giving goals away a season. He is not perfect but then who is in our team? Apart from Bellamy of course

Well my point is that he can be very abrasive to reporters and the media (not saying they don't deserve it!), and gets worked up in a Fergie-esque fashion on the touchline. Obviously it's good to see the passion and all that, and I wouldn't want him to change it. But mark my words, three years down the line he will be stubbornly refusing to attribute any blame about anything to any of his own players, bemoaning refereeing decisions etc etc. But it seems to happen to every manager after a while I suppose. Wenger used to be the epitomy of the gentleman coach, now just seeing his evil wrinkly face makes me want to blow up my TV. Sort of the same thing (although scratch the gentleman bit) with big Sam.

It could be a sigificantly different looking side; Gallagher, Peter and Tugay all starting. Between the three of them hopefully there will be some decent service for Bellamy!

SHall we do a comparison of our rivals in the league? Get things is perspective? Arsenal- Pires Tottenham- No real left winger. Andy Reid out of favour, Davids sometimes plays there. Newcastle- N'zogbia, Luque Bolton-Giannakopoulos Wigan- Ziegler? Us- The Ped So..... who would you take out of that motley crew, apart from Pires obviously. I actually quite like N'Zogbia, and obviously Stelios has had a great season. But apart from those three I would take Gamst. Still, I want to see Peter start next game.

Managers do have such an impact upon perception of clubs. Man Utd, Chelsea and, increasingly lately, Arsenal have all suffered from their managers appearing peevish, self involved and ungracious. Conversely Liverpool and Tottenham get good PR through having mild mannered, intelligent sounding managers. In the long run I can see easily see Hughes falling in the first camp as he is not one to give credit to the opposition when due nor one to 'manage' reporters. However, who gives a toss if we perform this well, eh? I rather imagine thats the opinion of Chelsea's fans too

I'm not sure why everybody is so bitter, we got a decent price for him at the time, he didn't force his way out a la Ferguson, and he has shown integrity and loyalty in regard to Newcastle who were his first footballing love. He is fantastically dull though, and should never be a tv pundit. I can't really imagine him being a good manager either, but then I suppose I would of said the same of Hughes a decade ago.

Thats why I rate Peter's set pieces so much, he picks out that area of the six yard box where the big men can attack, and with pace as well. To be honest MGP isn't exactly bad, he is certainly better than Savage, Reid and Emerton, but (albeit in the short period we have seen him) Peter looks genuinely gifted.

I posted this in another thread but it wasn't really relevent... How would people feel if Hughes put out a 451 against Charlton next week, in light of the poor performances by Bellamy's various partners in recent games? I was thinking summat like: Provided we don't defend deep and the midfielders make runs beyond the striker, it could be decent going forward.

That would be a move sideways if ever there was one. He would get more cash than he gets here but to be honest he might as well wait for a bigger club. Newcastle is the club to worry about at the minute.

Woops! Didn't mean to include Reid at all. But the rest still stands, MGP is defensively sound.

Um, maybe its just me but i have thought that MGP is an extremely good "tracker backer" to be honest. Points of comparison: Emerton, Reid, De Pedro (ha!), Thompson, Bentley, Mahon, Duff, Peter, Gillespie. Out of all of those he has been the best IMHO.