What is the obsession around here in passing off gossip and possibilities as facts?!?! Don't label a topic "Hughes New Manager" until its official. We all remember how it took from the start of the "MGP Signs" thread to when he did actually sign.

Give me a source or give me death!

American: I play 3-4-3 with 3 inner mids and one winger. This means that you sacrifice one central defender as the extra inner mid and one winger as the extra forward. I also play 4-3-3 counterattacking every second friendly just so i have decent experience in the formation should i need to use it. This uses 2 inner mids and an offensive winger. I have never used 4-3-3 for an actual league match as i reckon counter attacking is a suckers bet (at least in my div). With a half decent defence and a nice attack you can always beat a CA team. EDIT Phew...someone made a bid, actually the same guy bid twice on him proving that there are other people as prone to mistakes as me . I would be keen on advice as to whether to PIC my next match. It's against the bottom team (bot) whose last ratings were: Inter Lezzos 4-4-2 Midfield: disastrous (very high) Right Side Defence: weak (very high) Central Defence: weak (very high) Left Side Defence: poor (very high) Right Side Attack: wretched (very low) Central Attack: wretched (very high) Left Side Attack: wretched (very low) while my ratings were: Supine Rovers 3-4-3 Midfield: wretched (low) Right Side Defence: inadequate (low) Central Defence: weak (very high) Left Side Defence: weak (high) Right Side Attack: poor (low) Central Attack: inadequate (very low) Left Side Attack: inadequate (very low) My TS is irritated but i have played with that for the whole season. I *absolutely* cannot afford to lose or draw or I *will* forfeit top spot on the ladder as the second place team is one point behind and has a forfeit this week. My gut says just play normal but i would value your advice. If I PIC it means that I should be able to MotS the playoff game which would be a bonus. I suspect the reason i am on top is because the 2nd placed team, which was leading last week, PIC'd against the 2nd bottom team and lost. I would hate for the same thing to happen to me.

American the best move i ever made was switching from defence training to striker training. hattrick doesn't reward a good defence. I played a game against a guy who had 5 defenders (5-4-1), all of whom had at least 4 stars and I still beat him 1-0 because he had to sacrifice so much attack. Even against a great defence like that you will still get enough opportunities to score from provided you have a half decent midfield and attack. In that graph i posted earlier you can see the moment where i got fed up with training defence (down in 4th place) and the immediate effect that switching to scoring had. The team AFC Resolution is the one with the awesome defence but no attack. Even a great striker isn't going to make enough of a difference American.

Nice work PG. How much cash do you tend to have on reserve when playing at that level? Are you perpetually in debt or do you have to have some money in the bank in order to survive?

If we don't win this one.... Blackurn 2-1 Portsmouth

I think our new manager should be Scott Baio from Charles in Charge. Sures he's the new boy in the neighbourhood, but he lives downstairs and it's understood that he's there just to take good care of me (by which i mean blackburn rovers) like he's one of the family. Charles in charge of our days and our nights, Charles in charge of our wrongs and our rights, that's why i want (i want) Charles in charge of Blackburn Rovers.

People i have really stuffed up. I listed one of my playmakers for sale and then accidentally bid on him (i thought that the listing hadn't gone through...obviously i was hungover). Could someone please bid over me? I absolutely cannot afford the hit i'll take on the agents fees and i'm worried that if someone sees the owner bidding on a player that'll put them off. He's only listed at AU$190K which is damn cheap for a solid PM/passable passing (market price is ~AU$350K). Stuart Haugthton (35567830) 19 years, inadequate form, healthy A pleasant guy who is temperamental and dishonest. Has disastrous experience and wretched leadership abilities. Nationality: England Total Skill Index (TSI): 470 Wage: 1 680 AU$/week including 20% Bonus Owner: Supine Rovers Warnings: 0 Stamina: wretched Goaltending: disastrous Playmaking: solid Passing: passable Winger: wretched Defending: wretched Scoring: poor Set Pieces: inadequate

YES! YES! YES! Pinksnitch (leader of my div) lost to the second bottom team and i pumped the fourth-placed team 4-1 so i just took the lead. And my final two matches are against the last and third-last teams! Looks like I will be joining Okie in the push for promotion. 1. Supine Rovers 12 31 - 11 26 2. PinkSnitch 12 22 - 7 25 3. AFC Resolution 12 15 - 5 19 4. Woonona Wednesday 12 26 - 22 19 5. Trakyaspor SK 12 19 - 24 18 6. Geelong United 12 11 - 22 11 7. Beaconsfield Bomber 12 14 - 32 11 8. Inter Lezzos 12 9 - 24 6

After hearing Shorty's comments (here) i am moving out of the anti-Hughes camp and into the wouldn't-be-too-upset-if-it-was-Hughes camp. Shorty is no idiot and both he and Tony Parkes (here) think Hughes would be fantastic. Both have worked with Hughes as well and are in a good position to judge the man.

I imagine most of that know enough about Newton voted for Garner at right back as Den has already indicated that Newton will be listed again as an option for centre-back (where he will undoubtedly be voted in).

Well it seems like I am the last remaining Flitcroft fan left amongst Rovers supporters. Personally i can't wait to see him back on the pitch. I reckon he would do alright in the holding position that Souness pigheadedly insisted Matteo would play. Flitcroft is after all the longest serving player at the club having played a whopping 241 games (plus 16 from the bench) and he deserves a chance to show he can still play.

Calm thyself newish member with a name two letters away from being a double serving of 'i can't believe it's not wang'. This is probably the article Jim was referring to when he started this thread. Don't forget that the papers had El Tel as the Newcastle manger...

I agree Rover6 (wow i never though i'd hear myself say that) but there is a difference to starting in the Premiership and starting with a Div 2 side. We are not in a position that will allow a novice manager to come in and spend a couple of months finding his feet. We need a manager to come in and help us start winning games *immediately* and it is far more likely that an experienced manager with good credentials and good premiership experience can help us achieve this. It's early days but we are already knee-deep in the relegation zone.

Bah! I have as much faith in the English Press as I do in a French marriage vow.

I don't believe a word of it. Our board isn't chock-full of the evil ###### of other boards. Surely they wouldn't let us down like this....

Was there some other Roy Hodgson doing the managerial rounds that i don't know of?!?!?!?!

Umm Bilbo, you are either a shocking student of history, a woeful judge of managerial talent, or a tremendously subtle humorist. For your sake i hope the latter is true.

That sure is a raise-your-hopes-and-dash-them topic title.

T4E I can't access that article....can you post the full text here?

Has anyone mentioned Harry Redknapp yet? Of all the managers in the premiership he had the most controversial off-season. He very nearly quit Portsmouth after his assistant was (almost?) fired and he would appear a much easier target than Alan Curbishley. Obviously I would much prefer Curbishley (don't rate Redknapp at all) but it may be a case of taking who we can get rathet than who we want.

Centre Back?!?! If Souness comes for Amoruso it will be because he needs a forward or a goal keeper

I hardly ever hear anything about the backroom staff...is this good news or bad news?

Youth players can't afford to pick and choose Phil, they'll pretty much do what they're told.

Man, I enjoyed that little free verse poem way too much