Sorry Bellers isn't even close to Shearer at the moment. How many games has he actually played for us ? Yes he has looked good - but he still has a way to go. However - I will say that he is without doubt the best striker we have had since Shearer. And probably our fastest player - after Donis and Windy Miller (boy could he move).

I think we will win this one - mainly as the home team the onus will be on them to attack us. However - if they play as they did at Ewood they are in with a chance - as they can't surely miss as many chances again. Hughes doesn't seem to respect the Rovers tradition of getting beat by inferior teams - well not to the extent of previous teams anyway. So hopeful this will give us the three points to set up the Wigan showdown.

Interesting to hear the opposition perspective - maybe he just looked poor alongside Bellamy - which most strikers would at this moment in time On a similar vein, what did they think of Emo - football genius or what

Can't be bothered looking through all the previous posts - but has anyone mentioned what a good game Reid had ? I thought he was excellent - and is starting to look the genuine atricle again in centre-mid. In fact, if Tugay regains his form from earlier in the season I would prefer Reid to Savage. Also thought Pedersen had a good game. Zurab tackle following Friedal's "wonder" save - as good as Nelsens in the Villa match ? From my view in the BE it was an unbelievable challenge. As for Pongo - sorry at this moment in time I would play Bentley alongside Bellamy. His first touch was very poor - indeed we may as well have been playing with 10 men for parts of the first half. For those having a go at the attendance - lets not forget the backing that those that did attend gave. Excellent response to Hughes' prompting

That is probably the truest sentence - there is nothing we could do about this one. Whichever way you look at this Rovers lose - either losing a day of valuable rest between matches or risk a media out cry from hacks too quick to jump on the bandwagon. I agree with previous post - that it is the Premier League that bottled the situation and left Rovers in a no-win situation. As has been said - it is now time for Rovers to go on a media offensive to make thebest of this "kind" gesture. The only shame is that, if it had been the other way around, we would still be playing the match on the set time and date.

I agree - but can also easily see a scenario where Liverpool end up fourth - and even outside the top 4. Their strikers really need to pick up a bit of form (hopefully not when we play them) - or I can see problems for them.

I find it worrying that people are saying what a good game Nelsen had - when we were so obviously poor at the back. For me - one of Nelsen's better qualities since he came - has been his ability to create a defensive unit. This was sadly missing yesterday - and doesn't bode well for the remaining games if we can't get it sorted.

My only worry - I can take the huge disappointment of the Spuds defeat IF we produce a similar performance against Villa on Saturday but this time come away with three points. We have to follow the Spurs performance with 3 points against Villa. If we can do this (and given Rovers great ability to follow up good performances with totally inept ones it is no means certain), we could be 3 points behind Spurs again following the weekend games. And effectively back in the hunt. Though I would hate Chelsea to win the Euro Money League - I will cheer them on tonight. Hopefully the distraction of continued involvement will help when we play them.

Referee 2 - Rovers 0 Nuff said

I do wonder whether John Williams previous statement that he will be happy to see Mark Hughes move to Man Utd were a start to necogiations. In reality there is no way that we could prevent him going back to Old Trafford - contract or not. By making it clear that we wouldn't stand in his way if the opportunity arose will hopefully make contract necogiations a little easier. This will be VERY interesting - Hughes recently asked the board to back him in taking the club to the next level. Offering him, and his entire back room staff improved contracts - is the first step. Whether he signs a new contract may depend on whether John Williams is able to give him assurances that the board will back him in the transfer market. If he signs a new contract - I would see this as a positive statement to the clubs future intentions. I would see any undue delay as a bad sign that the club can't or (posssibly realistically) can't match his ambitions. Personally I see this as possibly the Trusts last chance to retain the Jack Walker dream for Rovers. With Blatter after a reduction to 16 teams in each countries top league - it seems certain that there will be some form of reduction in numbers in the next few years. If Rovers aren't able to maintain a top half of the table team and management - I can see us easily being one of the teams to lose out. Relegation would, without doubt, see the end of Jacks dream. My message to the Trust is clear - give Hughes the ability to operate in the transfer market with a reasonable budget of £10 - 15m - give it one last go for Jack's sake.

I can't see how John Williams wouldn't at least have an idea of the structure and intentions of the trust. After all - how can he set up and follow a business strategy without knowing their intentions ? However - getting a straight answer out of him would be virtually impossible. Little bit like asking him whether we were going to sign Bellamy in the weeks before he signed him. Any confirmation that we were up for sale would weaken the club's position with any potential investors.

Is this not old news ? Did John Williams not say a while ago that Rovers would welcome outside investment - as long as it was felt to be in the long term interests of the club ? I am presuming that outside investment would probably include selling part or all of the Trust interest in the club. The one thing that I always remember was following Jacks sad passing - the Rovers fans were assured by both John Williams and the Trust, that it had been set up by Jack to ensure the long term future of Blackburn Rovers. I am sure that the Trust will only sell on their interest if it is felt that an outside investor will provide more funds for the club than the trust can currently. Lets not forget (excluding debt right off) they put in approx £3-4m per season - for some Russian billionaire this isn't a huge amount (beyond the actual purchase price). I wouldn't be surprised if this story has been "encouraged" - any outside investor is going to be more attracted to a club seeking a place in Europe rather than one fighting relelgation. But ultimately (rightly or wrongly) I don't believe that Jack would set up a trust that in anyway would put at risk the club he loved. So I cling to the hope that whatever they do - will be in the long term interests of the club

I must have missed something - has Hughes come out and said he would like Dunn back at Rovers ? I have two concerns about Dunn :- 1. His injury record - but I am certain the club wouldn't pursue a deal if he wasn't fully recovered from his various injuries. Or any deal would be structured to account for this. As has already been mentioned - we can't afford injury prone players with such a small squad - but the club has already shown the way forward with players like Jansen. 2. His ability to play in a four man midfield - mainly due to his inability to get back into defensive positions. Too often he was left isolated up field without the pace to get back. To an extent our current midfield would make up for this - as MGP, and especially Reid have the athletic ability and pace to make up for this deficiency in Dunn's game. Personally - IF available and IF fit - I would take a risk. How many times have we cried out for a midfield player with Dunn's ability for the unusual - and ability to go past a man.

I hate to say it - but I feel that fatigue and a smallish squad will start to catch up with us before the end of the season. The one joker in the pack will undoubtably be Bellamy - having missed large parts of the season - if he can stay fit he should be fairly fresh for the remainder of the season. Having his pace up front does mean that, as fatigue starts to kick in, we will at least have an outlet and threat up front that could make all the difference.

Gaining back support will take time - even a couple of seasons in the Championship didn't erode the support as much as two years of not winning at home. The Rovers support showed a favourable increase - and for the first time in a while those floating fans were given something to cheer about. We have key games against Liverpool and Chelsea - if we can put in good performances - hopefully coupled with good results - we should hopefully see even more of an increase. The only real way to stop fans picking and choosing matches is to make the season ticket more affordable or workable. I have long fitted into the bracket where a season ticket wouldn't make financial sense. The lack of regular Saturday matches makes this even worse. Rovers pricing policy probably needs to start taking into account how unattractive non-Saturday matches are to most fans. Maybe start offering season tickets for groups of matches - though with only limited discount in comparison to full season tickets. Start letting people buy tickets well in advance - with discounts (similar to the Sunderland match) - i.e. buy two matches at once - get the second 10% off. Above all - advertise the damned fact. How many people know that kids can get into Rovers for £5 for some Premiership matches ?

Can I just add a word of caution - remember Rovers 4 United 3 - and what followed. Arsenal have been sussed this season - and we aren't the first team to beat them on their travels. An excellent result - but just another 3 points. There is a long way to go - we need a huge slice of luck to get that 4th spot (or even UEFA) - both with injuries, referees and that rub of the green that makes so much difference. But it is a nice change to actually start dreaming again - thank you Mark Hughes for bringing that back to Ewood.

Apparently Bergkamp won't be risked - so everyone is now safe from his flying elbows

Is today not supposed to be the day - come on somebody must know However - as this case has huge ramifications for football insurance - I wouldn't be surprised to see the results of the case plastered across a number of web sites when the hearing is completed The case is far bigger than just a few extra quid for Mark Hughes' transfer budget

Ok - and the flair in that team was built around home grown talent, and a certain Mr Jansen who had been bought previously. I beleive that our good defence at the time was more due to the experience of Berg and Short than anything that the coaching staff did. I am not knocking Souey - he did a good job for us. But I can't help wonder - give Hughes players like Duff, Dunn and Jansen - I would expect us to be looking to get into the top four, let alone the top six. I also have distinct memories of some very poor games - that were only brought to live by a certain Mr Duff - who in the second half of the season was as good as any winger I have ever seen at Ewood (either home or away). Never has Ewood seen such left wing play since the days of Noel

Personally given our current turn out 22k would actually be reasonable - considering when we played United only 18k Rovers fans turned out. We need to reverse the erosion , but it won't happen over night. At least the club are putting out positive vibes for once - under Souness we would still be going on about getting a few points to avoid relegation rather than the far more positive approach under Hughes

That doesn't really bode well - as they created a number of very good chances against us. Though we kept a clean sheet - it is obvious that the defensive mistakes that cost us the previous two away games are still there. Lets hope an extended rest will see them coming out of the traps against Arsenal and Spuds. Two positive results from those matches would go a long way to cementing a top half of the table finish.

Neil doesn't cop the flak because he is a football genius Lucas has had one of his best seasons - both defensively and attacking. Fair play to the guy as he came out in the press and admitted the goal was his fault.

I am not saying that he will become a star - as you say one swallow doesn't make a summer. Though I do beleive that he has enough potential to take a risk with - it will just be a question of how he develops from this point on. My main point was (as everyone at the match will agree) Ticket £32 Bentley - £500k Seeing him score a hat trick against United - priceless For everything else - there's Rio

Why didn't you come on the board complaining about signing Bentley after the United match ? Most people will agree - he was worth the money for that night alone

A thought for the Rovers players following their lack-lustre performances recently. Prior to the WBA and Everton matches I expected us to get 4 points - given that Everton had their keeper sent off - 6 points should have been achievable. IF we had secured those points - a win tomorrow would have put us in 4th position. It shows that the ultimate dream of a European place is achievable. Tomorrow the players have to show that they want to push for a European place - rather than settle for mid-table (which is how it looks at the moment). A lot depends on the defence tomorrow - we have had too many individual mistakes in recent matches. Personally I would drop Todd and Savage - lining up with :- Friedal Neill Zurab Nelsen Gray Emerton Tugay Reid MGP Bentley Bellamy I would consider dropping Gray - but for me he would keep his place for his attacking capabilities. Though I was very depressed on Saturday night - I am going to be optimistic and go for a 3-1 victory