Pretty men are the way to go.

Had a strange day. Wanted Blackburn England to win. Although the Italians were VERY pretty!

I'd pick Ashley Ward ahead of either. He was a grafter, working hard for the team. None of this poncing about and trying to back heel it into the net. And he had the most important thing the the beautiful game: passion.

Ah, but he did make the shirt look even prettier!!!

Wow. That might be the first post you've made in months Rev that I completely agree with.

I remember going to the first league game of the season with a mate, away at Derby, to see Grabbi's league debut. We both couldn't believe Souness had paid £7m for Grabbi. He was useless and got progressively worse.

If there's ever been a dodgy transfer in the history of the game that was it.

BUt at least he looked good in those lycra shorts!!!!

Just speculating idly here, but does anyone reckon that if Grabbi had come here recently (but just as he was then) under the MH regime instead of the Souey regime, then MAYBE things would have worked out differently for all concerned.

Sparky does seem to have a talent for taking on players with unfulfilled promise and a shortage of confidence and turning them into very useful players.

But was there actually any potential to start with? Remember we bought him based on his agent's compilation of goals and it wouldn't surprise me if a few of them weren't scored with his back to the camera! (Or when he was at school)

He was mostly a sensible boy- getting on a moped in Rome excepted. He's made a good living from his time in football, I suspect and he had a good enough brain to get qualifications and a decent career after football (as long as the accident didn't affect it).

I wish him nothing but well.

As far as I'm aware, I think that Matty is training with Bolton, but has not been issued with a Senior Squad number.

Surely it shouldn't be that hard to get a club for a player of his calibre. Certainly at the worst he would be a top Division 1 player.

He's a school playground player.

In fact I don't think he's a player at all now. Hopefully he's been sensible and is getting on with the rest of his life- the life after football. Good luck to him And he wouldn't keep ME out of the Ipswich team

Would we have him back?

Perhaps on the right terms I think.

No

He wouldn't be our best right back- that was Emo when Lucas was here. He wouldn't be our best left back, that's Warnock and he wouldn't be one of our best centre backs- those are well every one that we have is better than him. So why waste the cash?

Strange that so many managers still speak to the TV camera's directly after a match. Even stranger that their chairman allow em to. I'll wager Sam n RFW's lives are so much easier now without the beeb shoving mikes under their noses and goeding them to overreact.

Whats more when they do choose to speak (Sam last week) people are more disposed to listen.

There's a requirement for them to do so after matches. Sir Alex doesn't because he's boycotting the BBC (or at least 5 live). Mourinho hasn't a couple of time, and Wenger, but I think all the rest always have.

Can you imagine that reaction of the press if a foreign coach, whoever it may be, came in and took a stand against someone like Lampard? Even if the coach was right, the media would kill the guy for it.

Not if you drip feed the press with stories about how fat and unfit he is, and how unprofessional. Give him time off from training and make sure that EVERY time he's out, even for a meal, someone from the paparazzi is there capturing the so-called bad behaviour.

Eventually he'll be seen as trouble, and neither the fans nor the press will care if he is left out.

Bizarre- one minute it's 3-1 with a goal from McEveley and the next it's 2-2. I give up on the BBC

Oh and you're right about wee Shauny!

Just to make matters marginally more amusing, Jay McEveley has just scored for Scotland's B team!

I don't think that any player should play a different position for his country from what he plays at club level. Also, Barry's performances have been hyped up and to be honest Neville has been the better player. Barry benefits from the extra attention given to Aston Villa this season and from the fact that he scores more goals.

Not being English I couldn't really give a stuff, but isn't the whole point of the game to score more goals than the opposition. Therefore wouldn't having someone who can actually do that be better than having some useless duffer who can't?

Guess he was that desperate to move North (and that confident we'd come in). Remember they probably threatened him with taking up the 2 year option so he'd still cost money for any buyer and be stuck in the hell-hole that is Birmingham until he was 29, with the risk that no-one would pay the money.

I heard that while at Notlob, Dunny tried every avoiding tactic in the book to avoid signing. He had the pen in hand, and decided he had to go to the loo. Then he had to phone his advisors, basically anything to avoid signing. He was sitting in Notlob training gear when the call came through from Rovers and apparently he sprinted out of there still wearing the kit got into his car and arrived at Rovers in said disarray.

Wonder if he gave them back eventually??

Phil, Ooijer broke his leg a while ago not 5 hours before the transfr deadline. !

Wigan's move was made 5 hours before the deadline, I suspect. We said no. Simple as. At least that's how I read it!

Don't think he's in a huff or anything- he was there for the entire game today.

I thought Tugay looked very tired today. Hopefully he'll get a couple of days off this week, hard times ahead.

I agree. Tugay's a bit old for this many games, but with Mokoena being absolute toss he kind of has to play.

I liked Dunny's Radio Rovers interview when he said that Mark Hughes had told him to "go on and get us playing". I also loved the way that he (along with Ryan) was trying to gee up the rest of the lacklustre team (David Bently excluded- he was tremendous)

We cant really say we had an unlimited budget under Souness.

I think net spending was very low under him. Considering all the sales we made during that time.

And the legacy players like Peacock, et al?

Yes, but if you exclude sales of players he DIDN'T buy- ie Duff and Dunn- he spent a fortune. I remember Grabbi, Andy Cole and Ferguson. Each in excess of £6m. How much EXACTLY did we recoup on them? I think you''ll find that sales of Sourpuss bought players in total haven't amounted to a molehill of beans

And I remember that Peacock had been jettisoned by Tony Parkes, and Sourpuss actually brought him back into the team "because he'd heard of him".

You dont win the League Cup, get us promotion and finish 6th if you arent a decent coach.

Maybe he isnt in the class of Ferguson, Mourinho, even Sparky in man management, but he was decent during his time.

You do if you have decent legacy players and an unlimited budget. When the money runs out and your own buys rule the roost with YOUR training methods, that's when it goes horribly wrong.

I hope he plays as well as we all know he can and that he stays fit enough to do so. BUT I do wonder if physically and mentally he is tough and hungry enough. We'll soon find out I guess.

I rem posting on here after we were promoted that Souness should sit Dunny and Bent down with him in his office throughout the close season to watch endless re-runs of Liverpool matches from around 1980. Dunny (who does possess more actual skill) to watch the peerless Souness dominate midfield opponents and boss a game and Marcus to watch and learn not only from Ian Rush's breathtaking finishing skills but mainly his total involvment in the game. To any young un's, it was often said that free scoring centre forward Rush was Liverpools best defender.

The basic lesson was to impress on our two how the burning hunger and desire displayed by Souness and Rush took them to the pinnacle of European football!

I guess Souey chose to spend the summer on holiday with his family though!

Well he certainly shouldn't have shown him his Scotland performances from that time- f*ing waster. Bloody good reason why he got 50 caps to Kenny's 100.

Why some aren't welcoming home a true Rover and a true talent is a mystery. Some people are very odd.

It's mainly made up of two types. People who are hugely jealous because Dunny is a local boy made good, which shows up the worthlessness of their own lives (or their girlfriends have left them to try to get off with Dunny), or the "he's left me and I'll never get over it" (about Souness) types. The latter hate Dunn because he had the temerity to argue with their beloved.

They're sad, I agree.

I go out for one lunch and we get all sorts of silly children making daft points.

Point 1

Todd is an infinitely better passer of the ball than all of our other central defenders. That is why Todd and Nelsen are the best combination we have. Nelsen tackles cleanly, Todd passes safely. It's when they try it the other way round that everything goes horribly wrong.

Point 2

Todd spat the dummy twice. Oh yes? where's your evidence for that? Souness? The man was a liar and couldn't be trusted if he said that it was usually dark in Blackburn at midnight. Even if Todd did, on both occasions he was right. Anyone who would think of claiming Amauseless was in any way better than Todd and should have come into the team on his return from injury should make themselves known and we'll send round the men in white coats. And if, as some surmised, he was a bit peed off at Ooijer coming in for him, well, the god-like man that is Mark Hughes has even admitted that was wrong, and that Ooijer should have been given time to adjust. Then he might not have given away the THREE justifiable penalties he has given away this season. (rather than the one completely bogus penalty which Todd gave away).

The trouble is that people get silly ideas in their head, and even when they are proven to be garbage, still believe it. I'm sure there are still morons out there that believe that Sergio Peter stormed off after one game when he wasn't named on the bench. Unfortunately I saw him leaving the ground that evening WELL after the end of the game, with his entire family in tow. People believe what they want to believe- this is especially true amongs the perennially stupid who cannot see when they're being taken for a ride. "Emperor's new clothes" anyone?

Most of the people I work with seem to be Hammers fans. I told them:

about how he only plays really well in the year coming up to his contract negotiations;

about how he'll increase their yellow and red card cound immeasurably;

about the three penalties he's given away this season already;

about his plans to go back to Oz as soon as he's accumuated enough money to buy a team there- probably at the end of this contract.

They were absolutely delighted with their new signing (NOT). I guess they'll be even happier now.

I liked Lucas- he was very pretty and Warnock just, well, isn't, but I've never been under any illusions that he is more than a player who can have great moments but absolutely awful weeks.

Tat indeed.

Surely if he was anywhere close he'd have been involved today.

After all, Hughes included a Liverpool reserve who last started a PL game on September 17th - and a Hertha Berlin bench warmer who's been lucky to grab 20 mins here and there this season.

If Dunny was "anywhere close" he'd have been on for 20 mins to get even closer. The fact he didn't even make the bench in the absence of Tugay, Savage and Reid speaks volumes.

Both the players quoted above, however, have been physically fit all season, and match fit as they(Warnock at least) have been having reserve run outs when not on first team duty.

They also haven't had to contend with Souness-esque training methods which are guaranteed to make lumps of lard out of previously healthy specimens. (Certain ex-players have been as complimentary about Bruce's methods as everyone was about Souness')

Hughes is, as he's saying, keeping Dunn at home, building him up to the level of fitness that you would expect from a Premiership player not doing "old-style" training. We didn't need him today, and Hughes (being clever) knew that. All those on Dunny's side would rather that when he came back he was 100% and ready for the rest of the season. Anything less and we might lose him- and make no mistake- if he gets to the 100% that Hughes obviously sees him to be we have a much better talent on our hands than most other teams have.

Hughes, an honest, decent and truthful man, says that Dunn may be involved at Sheffield United. I personally hope he is, but only if he's ready.