Turns out I got my restaurants mixed up here, I noticed my error on the bus today. I meant the Bella Roma about two minutes away, the Bella Italia looks very nice (I'd never paid attention to the name until today). I keep meaning to drop by there in the summer when they open up the front. I tried to book a table for Croma last week but they said they weren't taking bookings, they said to drop in and they 'hoped' everyone would get served, although a wait at the bar would be expected. Sounds like it could be a little chaotic for those wanting something slightly romantic...

I hate watching Petrov play for City, oh what I would give to have a player like him on our left wing.

Did you watch the BBC report Phil? If not, I think you'd be very surprised about what they'd be taught based on most recent evidence and research.

Probably not because we bloody well weren't!

You seem to be forgetting that Dunn should have been sent off, Ooijer flattened Johnson in the area and Everton had a fairly legitimate goal disallowed. You'd think Hughes would want to try and get on the right side of the officials, so why he's complaining after we got the rub of the green I'll never know.

I'd rather watch this 'joke' of a tournament than Greece 4-5-1-ing their way to way victory.

Oh don't worry Colin, he does. Whenever my friends and I get together (at least every weekend) Tropical Hot Dog Night inevitably gets played several times. The neighbours are probably sick of it, but we're not yet. If you haven't heard it give it a listen, it's impossible not to feel happier after it.

So basically we've lost out on at least £850,000 (in reality probably more) by selling him this summer instead of loaning him out.

Thanks, but I think I'll pass...

I'll give that a try next time I decide to go. I've been to Punjab and what was Monsoon Nights (now Pink Garlic I believe). Apart from the water fountain in Monsoon Nights, neither impressed so I've always played safe since then. Piccolino looks a bit too expensive, but I really like the look of Croma from what I've Googled so far.

Oh I like this thread. I'm also after recommendations for the very same reasons as pks, but specifically Italian restaurants. I don't want anything that's TOO pricey, but I'd also like somewhere that will be a little more memorable than a standard run-of-the-mill place...so a nice compromise between the two would be ideal. An ample amount of vegetarian options is essential, but Italian restaurants generally cater quite well for this anyway. I heard awful things about the one in Picadilly Gardens, from the food and service to the grotty table covers. Annoying really because that's virtually the only Italian restaurant in Manchester that I know of... My favourite restaurant in Manchester is Lal Haweli on the curry mile. I've been several times and the food is always great, by far the best I've tried in that area, and the service is always excellent. I suppose the decor could do with a face lift, but it's a minor complaint.

Very please with him signing a new deal. For a club of a our stature, we're very lucky that we have someone of his quality who's happy to be 4th choice and not moan and disrupt at not being selected.

"he is now not content with his breathtaking £55,000-a-week salary. Although he is approaching 30 years old and has been far from being the club's outstanding performer this season, Neill believes he is owed at least parity with the former Arsenal midfielder Freddie Ljungberg's £70,000 a week and has asked for a contract extension. His request was understandably dismissed." I always had a strong dislike for him when he was with us, there was something about his general demeanour that I couldn't stand...not to mention that he seemed to like bad-mouthing us every time he went on international duty. What an arrogant arsehole he must be to believe he deserves a £15,000 pay rise on top of what is already a ludicrous wage for an average footballer, especially given that Ashton is still on £20,000 a week. It's one of life's injustices that he was born with footballing talent, because he plainly doesn't deserve it. You get the feeling he wouldn't give a toss how many medals he gets in his career, he'd be far happier with an extra figure on his pay cheque. I can't think of many players I'd say this about (only Barton springs to mind), but I'd be quite happy if he was on the end of a rather nasty challenge.

After a quick glance at the scoring charts, it seems the only striker in the entire list to have scored goals at League One level or lower is Dave Kitson from Reading. After an even quicker look at the Premiership, only Marcus Bent, Kevin Davies, David Healy and a few Derby strikers have been at that level and since forged a Premiership career (in the case of the Derby strikers I use this term very loosely). The stats certainly aren't on Garner's side, and even the players that have made it up from that level probably wouldn't touch our starting line-up.

Why Drog? I don't think we need a midfield battler at all, what we desperately crave is someone with a touch of creativity who can support and supply the front men. Barton is really just a higher class version of Mokoena or Savage, and no better than a fully fit Reid. I'd have Huddlestone much further up my wanted list than Barton in terms of what our midfield needs right now.

Isn't that situation the same with any group of rich people that throw parties? It's the first rule surely; make sure there are plenty of attractive women around. Rock stars, Formula 1 drivers, film stars...I needn't go on, but they'll all do it. In fact, isn't F1 renowned for it?

Try a different approach? Obviously the 'being hard done to' approach is getting us nowhere. There are plenty of managers who don't openly criticise officiating, maybe that's the better tactic for not getting on the wrong side of the men in black. Actually I'm not even sure that applies to the offsides, linesman don't think "that's offside...but sod it, it's against Rovers so I'll let it go". The amount of yellow cards we receive could apply though, we're certainly no dirtier than other teams in the division anymore, and haven't been since Hughes' first season really.

I'm not saying he should be criticising our players, but there should be a compromise somewhere. It's a little bit embarrassing to read headlines after the game like "Hughes: I couldn't speak to referee" after we've just conceded five against a p*** poor Wigan side. I suppose you could argue that problem is as much down the headline writers as Hughes, but it's irritating nonetheless.

As anyone else getting tired of Hughes complaining about officials week after week? You can certainly see Alex Ferguson's influence on him on that respect, he would never acknowledge defeat either...I thought Sparky had a bit more class than the drunk Scot though. We've only kept one clean sheet in thirteen games. One in thirteen! That's abysmal really, and the constant whining about outside factors is just trying to gloss over the fact that we have major problems of our own. Maybe we should have seen the warning signs against Larissa, instead we all chalked that down to a freak result.

Although, Hughes does see Mokoena every day on the training field and deems him good enough to be starting, so maybe we can't rely 100% on his judgement as the yardstick. We've had poor performances from the left hand side for a while now, I don't think we'd lose much, if anything, by trying Treacy out there for a couple of games.

Whilst I agree that Celtic and Rangers are bigger clubs than Rovers, that's not necessarily the point. Rovers are the more attractive club to play for by quite some distance though, due to the Scottish league being miles behind the English in terms of prestige. That is unless, of course, you're a Glaswegian mummy's boy.

Jesus. One minute he's a lazy sod who just wants to earn money... ...the next he's getting chastised for being unhappy about not being on the pitch. What do we want it to be? Happy to take the money, or wanting to be on the pitch influencing games and scoring goals? We can't have it both ways. Selling Benni would be madness, we'll never get a replacement as good as him.

McClaren has probably destroyed his career tonight, if that's any conciliation to anyone. It was obvious to everyone he wasn't international class, but at least at Middlesbrough he had built a reputation of being a reasonably successful club manager. What chairman in their right mind will appoint him now, the backlash from fans would be vicious. His only chance will probably be at a lower league club, but having been England manager he will now probably suffer from delusions of grandeur and see himself 'above' that. Hopefully he'll have to settle for a back-seat coaching role at a Premiership side, meaning we won't have to see his smug face on television again.

Will any of our squad be at Euro 2008, we always seems to be woefully underrepresented at international tournaments. The only player I can think of that will have a chance is Ooijer.

Why would he be a disaster? Klinsmann, Dunga and van Basten haven't done so badly have they?