Think it'll be a bad day at the office on Saturday with a defensive shake-up and Villa looking a decent side. 0-3 (Baros (2), Barry pen).

Note who it was posted by. I assume they're one and the same.

Football365 has given us a fairly decent write-up - link

That's gotta be a record surely? Didn't realise we had that many fans!

Strauss and Pietersen gone within the space of two balls.

West Ham seem to have power (Harewood), pace (Etherington) and and skill (Benayoun). What do we have? Hackers and a bunch of overpaid foreigners who flatter to deceive. So angry and disappointed and I usually hate to criticise Rovers but I'm seriously gutted.

Sounds a good idea, I'd be up for that.

Tough one to call this. If our defence carries on where it left off last season (the Fulham game aside) I think we can hold them. Zamora and Sheringham, on paper, don't look the most threatening attack in the Premiership. Going for a 2-0 Rovers win, with Kuqi and Pedersen to get the goals.

Marlon Broomes is on his way to Stoke -> Link.

Now he's bidding on Anelka and Boa Morte. Both quality players, but that's gonna be a hell of a dressing room to handle!

Just reading through some of the articles on the official site, and around the place at the moment, and Hughes seems to be saying all the right things as a manager - the things that both players and fans alike want to hear. Am feeling really optimistic about the new season, a fully fit squad with maybe - although not necessarily - one or two more additions actually seems an exciting prospect, unlike the same time last season!

The figure mooted around in the press was closer to $30,000 a week (excuse the dollar sign, my keyboard's knackered).

Indeed, the first team players alone add up to £85.5m without any word on the subs

GK: Jaaskalinen Sub GK: Carroll DF: Nelsen DF: Yobo DF: Cooper Subs DF: Nosworthy DF: Wright MF: Lampard MF: Robben MF: Cahill MF: Gerrard MF: Benayoun ST: Bellamy ST: Henry Sub ST: Brown I normally make the mistake of spending too much on my defenders, so this time I picked all the cr*p ones!

rovers.co.uk - sounds promising in regard to Gresko and Jansen.

For what it's worth (not a lot!); 1. Chelsea 2. Man Utd 3. Liverpool 4. Arsenal 5. Middlesbrough 6. Everton 7. Tottenham 8. Birmingham 9. Bolton 10. Newcastle 11. Blackburn 12. Man City 13. Aston Villa 14. Charlton 15. Portsmouth 16. Fulham 17. Sunderland 18. West Brom 19. Wigan 20. West Ham

I feel much more confident having a strike force that scored 38 goals in all domestic competitions (assuming both Bellamy and Kuqi play) last season than Stead and Dickov who got 11.

I've been in Greece all this week and went to pick up a paper on Friday to see if we'd won the Olympic bid, to be confronted by the horrible scenes in London. It really shook me up actually, being far from home and knowing this had been going on, I can't imagine the effect on those involved. My thoughts and sympathies are certainly with the victims.

In my opinion a brilliant signing: Bellamy is world class, can win games and provide genuine class up front. OK so he's not whiter than white by any stretch, but these type of players never seem to be; Gascoigne or Dyer anyone? If we got him for less than £4mil. that rates as bargain of the summer so far (although Everton's forays into the transfer market look wise investments). I'll be toasting Mark Hughes with a beer tonight. Top signing!

Sad to see the guy leave, especially as his goals alone virtually kept us in the Prem. It just remains to be seen who we have as his replacement as to how big a loss he'll be.

If playing in Italy, a 4-3-3 formation with the two wide strikers having arrows moving out toward the wings and themain striker remaining in the centre, with team instructions set to play fairly wide, works very well.

Fantastic Final. Fantastic Night. Liverpool won my heart round with that second half display and I was delighted when they won - my Liverpool supporting friend's change in mood was something to behold!

We wanna be looking to West Ham - they've got this cracking midfielder called Holmes I think, might be worth signing in the summer?

Southampton 3-3 Norwich at half-time

Just got back as well, overall had a terrific couple of days - good night in Bristol on Friday then the fantastic experience that was the semi-final. O.k. we lost, but to a top quality side and 3 excellent goals. Bit of a shame we didn't create more up front as I wanted a goal to cheer Thought the atmosphere from the Blackburn fans was excellent and had a good bit of banter with the Arsenal fans on the way there and back! Btw I noticed the BRFCS flag not too far away from my seat in block UN3... which was nice!